What is the Role of the Interior Designer?
In explaining our services to new clients, a question is often asked: What is the role of the interior designer? Is there a difference between interior planning, design and decorating?
- Interior space planning, simply put, is the arranging of interior spaces to fit the lifestyle of the client. These personal choices are made with an interior designer who clarifies the client’s needs and desires. The designer can advise the client with practical design expertise.
- The essence of interior design is choosing a concept. This includes choices of building materials and components (such as appliances, hardware, and fixtures), colors, surface finishes, and components throughout the building.
- Decorating is choosing materials, colors, finishes, furniture, and accessories.
Interior design is a phrase that includes a range of services including programming (formulating the client’s needs and desires), planning, construction details, and finally decorating. Some clients prefer to work with an interior designer through all of these phases; while others may feel confident enough and have the extra time it demands, to make many of these important decisions themselves.
Someone asked us how an architect and interior designer could work together. The expectation was that the two would be at odds with one another. In the worst case, the interior designer comes in after construction is complete and complains about how decisions were made and then tries to work around the problems to arrive at the best solution. In the best case, they are both working together with the client from the ground floor up through all the design and construction phases.
At Jana Caron Design, the interior designer is a team player in the design of any building requiring aesthetic considerations. Jana Caron’s degree is in interior architecture, encompassing a broad scope of interests and talents. Her first objective is to meet with the clients and get to know them and their lifestyle. The space planning puzzle becomes a personalized plan which naturally unfolds. With meetings and visits to the building site, the clients and the designer develop design components, solidify a concept and implement the interior finishes, colors, and construction details to accomplish the client’s dream. Jana’s passion and goal have always been to go beyond what the client has expected or envisioned and to produce an environment that is truly the client’s own.
Jana Caron often works together with architects to develop the preliminary plans for a new or renovated building. The architecture is better when interior details are considered and interiors are more exciting if architectural space and structure are designed together. The team efforts overlap in solving the design puzzle that each client brings to us. It is an exciting adventure to which we always look forward.
© 2000 Jana Caron
