Interior design services for residential and commercial spaces

Interior design services, also called design consultancy, interior styling or space design, are professional services that plan and furnish an interior so it works well and looks cohesive. They range from a single paid consultation to a full-service project where the designer handles layout, colour, lighting, furniture selection, ordering and installation. Homeowners, landlords, developers, hotels, restaurants and retailers all buy them.

This guide explains the types of service, what each includes, how designers charge and how to choose one. It's part of the furniture for interior designers series. If you're a designer, the guide also shows how the furniture side of a project is sourced.

What types of interior design services are there?

There are five common service levels, each a subset of the full design process:

Specialist services sit alongside these: kitchen and bath design (often by NKBA-certified designers), lighting design, home staging for properties going to market, and hospitality design for hotels, restaurants and cafés and short-term rentals.

What does a full-service design project include?

A full-service project moves through six stages, and each produces something you can see and approve:

1. Brief and consultation. How the space is used, who uses it, what must stay, budget and timeline. See what happens in a design consultation.
2. Measured survey. Room dimensions, openings, ceiling heights and delivery routes. The room dimensions checklist shows what gets measured.
3. Concept. Mood boards, a colour palette and a material direction. See how designers build a mood board.
4. Design development. Furniture layouts, lighting plan and a schedule of furniture, fixtures and equipment (often called the FF&E schedule) with dimensions and finishes.
5. Procurement. Ordering, tracking and receiving every item, usually through the designer's trade accounts.
6. Installation and styling. Delivery, placement, art, accessories and a final walkthrough.

How do residential and commercial design services differ?

Residential design serves one household's needs and taste; commercial design serves a business, its customers and its brand. Commercial projects add building codes, accessibility, durability for heavy use, brand standards and stricter budget control. A café needs seating that survives hundreds of covers a week; a living room needs seating the family wants to sit in every evening.

What do the main design services cover in practice?

Space planning decides where everything goes: zones, walkways and furniture footprints. It solves crowded rooms and open plans that don't feel defined; see zoning techniques for open floor plans.

Colour scheme advice sets the palette for walls, floors, fabrics and wood tones, usually on a 60-30-10 balance of main, secondary and accent colours.

Lighting design layers ambient, task and accent lighting and makes the most of daylight; see the natural light checklist.

Furniture selection guidance matches pieces to scale, style and use, then specifies exact dimensions and finishes. This is where most of a project's budget goes.

Decorative elements such as art, rugs, cushions and accessories finish the room; see selecting art that complements a room and mixing patterns.

How do interior designers charge?

Designers charge in four main ways, and many combine two:

• Hourly rate for consultations and small jobs
• Flat fee per room or per project
• Percentage of the project budget, common on larger projects
• Markup on furniture and materials bought through the designer's trade accounts

Markup-based pricing depends on trade pricing. At Artisan Furniture Canada, design trade accounts get 25% off MSRP and bulk wholesale purchases up to 50% off MSRP, with no minimum order. The guide to trade discounts for interior designers covers what's normal in Canada, and how designers stop clients price-shopping covers protecting that margin. Always get the fee structure in writing before work starts.

How do you choose an interior design service?

Choose the service level first, then the designer. Compare designers on five points:

In Ontario, "Interior Designer" is a protected title for ARIDO members; decorators and stylists can offer many of the same services under other titles. In the US, ASID and IIDA are the main professional associations, and the NKBA covers kitchen and bath specialists.

How do designers source furniture for client projects?

Designers source furniture through trade accounts with suppliers that make specifying easy: published dimensions, spec sheets and CAD files, Canadian stock and delivery to the client's address. Artisan Furniture Canada supplies handmade solid-wood furniture to designers on those terms. Trade prices show as soon as you sign up, every design comes with spec sheets plus CAD and SketchUp files, stock is held in Brampton, Ontario, and delivery is free to residential addresses in all 10 provinces. Custom finishes and sizes are available on the handmade range for projects that need them. See Artisan for interior designers or browse wholesale furniture by category.

Doing it yourself instead of hiring a designer?

DIY decorating is the alternative: you plan, buy and style the room yourself. It suits single-room refreshes and confident clients, and costs only your time. Start with room design ideas and the tools for DIY room makeovers. If the room has competing uses or a big budget at stake, a single paid consultation is often the middle ground.