The first step of your dream has come true. You have finally bought your dream home. But right now, this blank canvas needs a capable artist to transform the dull white walls into a creative splendor. You need the top interior designer in Gurugram to incorporate your vision into your dream home, design according to your personality, and create a welcoming space where you can sign out for the day and truly relax.
And how exactly do you find the top interior designing firm in Gurugram? In a flurry of options available, how do you differentiate the average from the outstanding? To speed up your research and enable you to get the home decor of your dreams as well, here is how you can go about finding the best interior designer in your city.
Interior Decorator vs. Interior Designer
First up, you must understand the key differences between an interior decorator and an interior designer. Although many claim that there are just subtle differences, the job of resident interior designers, in reality, is far more complex than interior decorators.
| Criteria | Interior Decorator | Interior Designer |
|---|---|---|
| Expertise in Structural and Architectural Modifications | No | Yes |
| Involvement in Building Stage of Home | No | Yes |
| Ability to Suggest Structural Changes to Floor Plans | No | Yes |
| Focus on Aesthetic Improvements Only | Yes | No |
| Collaboration with Builder, Architect, and Engineer | Limited | Yes |
| Complete Design Package (including decor needs) | No | Yes |
So, to design your dream home, you must start by searching for the top interior designer in Gurugram. Interior decorators cannot do the job of interior designers but the latter can don the hat of the former.
Why should you hire an interior designer?
However attractive the home decor images on Pinterest might look, replicating them into your blank house is complicated. And the DIY projects that seem so simple online are actually time-consuming and complex. Plus, interior designing is about bringing different ideas together. You might like a living room or bedroom idea online but the decor must add your personal preferences, your family memories, your interests and your tastes in luxury. Without these elements, your home runs the risk of looking mechanical. You might not get the warmth that you seek from your dream abode.
Luxury interior designers work with you. They understand your vision and bring your ideas to reality. The inspiration for your home decor can come from anywhere but the end design will be unique and stand out. Also, the top interior designers have networks that help speed up your design process. Right from sourcing your home decor elements to custom-making your furniture, the firm will handle everything while you view your home coming together beautifully.
When should you hire an interior designer?
As we already mentioned, the best interior designer is capable of working with your builder and architect. And the right time to bring a designing firm into the mix of things is as early as possible. When the foundation of your building is finished, your builder’s architect and your hired interior designer can collaborate on the structural planning of your home. The partnership should begin before the builder plants the first brick of your home’s first wall.
Naturally, your search for the best interior designing company must start earlier. As soon as you pinpoint an apartment and pay the down payment to book your home, you must start researching reputed interior designers in your area. The task, fortunately, is not that tedious. Stick to the following template and you should soon find yourself working with a creative and expert luxury interior designer.
Steps to Selecting an Interior Designer for Your Dream Home
Step 1: Plan and fix your budget
Resident interior designers work in almost all budget ranges. Simultaneously, a particular interior designer can have different packages slotted at different price brackets. Before you make your first call to your first interior designer, be sure to have a clear number in mind because your budget will decide the extent of luxury and customization that the designer can infuse into your home decor.
Step 2: Take inspiration from magazines and websites
Flip through the pages of Vogue or Architectural Digest to understand the contemporary interior designing techniques in trend. Visit Pinterest to take inspiration on how you want your home to look in real life. These ideas will both act as starting points to your home interior designing and help you to test the expertise of the interior designing company that you will be talking to. A top designer will not only say yes to your ideas but also provide suggestions to improve upon them.
Step 3: Ask around
People who have already taken the services of interior designing firms are the best judges of the latter’s expertise. If you like the interior decor of a friend’s or family member’s home, contact his/her interior designer. You can also visit social media applications to take recommendations from your friends/followers. Lastly, visit each interior designer’s official site to read their customer testimonials. You will know from the reviews if you can place your dream home in the designer’s hands.
Step 4: Look into the interior designer’s portfolio
Before you start writing down the potential candidate’s names, give a thorough look into the interior designing firm’s existing portfolio. Where all have the designers already worked? How did they design other luxury homes? What does the finished apartment look like? And what customizations were put into place? A designer’s portfolio speaks about its expertise. Spend a lot of time inspecting the online or hardbound catalogue they send you.
Questions to ask your selected interior designers
At the end of the above 4 steps, you will have two to three names jotted down. Now, to pick the top interior designer in Gurugram among them, ask each of them the following questions.
1. What interior designing services do you offer?
You will not want a designer where the expertise is spread out. For luxury home design, you will want to keep your search narrowed down to luxury interior designers because too many services tend to dilute creativity.
2. How long will it take to design my home?
While no committed designer can give you an exact date, you can, however, expect a short timeline. Top interior designers are backed by a solid team that gets the job done with utmost efficiency.
3. In what capacity do I have to be involved?
As much as you want – is the answer you should expect to receive. But during the initial stages when the designer is still trying to visualise your ideas, you will need to be involved in a considerable capacity. A designer that keeps you out of the loop can never design your home based on your visions.
4. Who all will be working in my home and what are their credentials?
The best interior designer will throw the expertise of an experienced team behind your project. A lead interior designer will supervise the entire decor. Every member of the team should be a professional with specific skills that add value.
5. From where do you get your design inspiration?
The designer should name sources that you do not generally come across along with the typical references that we all know about. Unique design ideas can come from a variety of channels, even from places where most of us do not bother to look.
6. Do you have customisation options?
Customisation is an important feature of luxury interior design. The top designer will have custom furniture services where talented artisans will build your home furnishing exactly as per your requirements. Customisation also opens up the scope of improvisation and you can have unique designs adorning your dream home.
7. Can you incorporate my inputs while the design is going on?
The first blueprint you finalise can never become etched in stone. You can have new ideas or requests as the designer is slowly bringing together your project. Inquire about the scope of making changes and understand the extent of personalisation available. Unless you are asking for massive structural changes, the best interior designer should be able to accommodate your requests.
Some more Questions to Ask with Interior Designer
Learning about someone else’s experience with resident interior designers can become tricky if you do not know exactly what to ask. The conversation can take unproductive turns that will rarely answer your queries. To extract value from your references, consider asking them these basic questions about their interior designers.
- What did you like the best about your interior designing company?
- How well did the designers understand your ideas and incorporate the same?
- Was the designing firm promptly available every time you needed to contact them?
- Did they keep the entire project within your budget?
- Did the custom luxury furniture meet your expectations?
- How professional was the entire designing team while working for you?
- Could they synchronise with your builder and get the designing job done?
- How often did they contact you while designing your home?
- Were there any mistakes made? How did the designer rectify them?
- What, in your opinion, were the designing team’s strengths and weaknesses?
This list can go on. Depending on your reference’s patience, you can ask as many questions as you want to precisely understand an interior designer’s expertise.
Do not settle for the second-best designer
Because your dream home will lose its value if it is not designed right the first time. The top interior designer in Gurugram will tick all the required boxes in the home designing space. An expert interior designer will work in your home along with the backing of a trained team and skilled artisans. At Alive Studio, we bring only the best luxury interior design to the table. You get contemporary styling dotted with custom furniture and a finished home that radiates your personality.
Additionally, our head interior designer at Alive Studio, Anupam Singh, is also a trained architect. Her presence in your home project makes coordination with your builder’s architect easy as the two parties can seamlessly collaborate due to professional similarities. Your home designing work thus speeds up as we help you to save time in the builder-to-designer interaction stage. Alive Studio interior designing is about creating a welcoming ambiance that redefines class. With us, your dream home gets the creative interior design touch it deserves.
