Category: DESIGN vs DECORATE

“Should I hire an interior designer or an interior decorator?”

That’s where we left off in the last post. Here’s the deal, you have to decide what type of professional you’ll need based on your individual project requirements. That might not sound very helpful, but here’s what you don’t want to happen:

You don’t want to hire someone and find out half way through the project that they don’t possess the specific skills needed to complete your project to your expectations.

This doesn’t mean that you have to know how it should be designed (that’s why you’re hiring someone). But you do need to have a pretty good idea of what the final outcome will be. Not exactly what it will look like, but how you anticipate your room will feel and function.

For example,

• Do you need help picking materials and colors? Or deciding on drapes and accessories?
• Is your entire room or house in need of a complete overhaul?
• Is it strictly a cosmetic overhaul?
• Will it require some demolition, construction, electrical, or plumbing work?

You have to determine your needs beforehand so that you can make a good hiring decision. If your project requires other professionals (like an architect, contractor, plumber, etc…) then you need to know that the person you hire to design your project understands how to navigate that entire collaborative process. You will need a designer.

You will NOT be able to determine if a person is a “designer” based on what they call themself OR their services!

Let’s face it, people don’t know what they don’t know. This is true in all industries, but especially in Interior Design, because there’s so much confusion about the difference between design and decorating. Even amongst professionals.

Many people who exclusively provide decorating services don’t even know that’s not really design. They think that what they do, decorate, is ALL there is to design. That they are the same thing.

They don’t know there’s an entire design process and that they are just providing the last step of that process. Therefore they innocently continue to refer to themselves as designers.

To complicate things further, many actual designers, those who know and employ the process, often take on decorating projects but they still call themselves “designers” and their services “design.”

For whatever reason, they do not draw any kind of distinction between the two, confusing the issue even more. This is probably because it’s so hard to articulate the subtle difference between the terms. Obviously – as evidenced here by my ramblings!

It’s my hope, that if you get only one thing out of these ramblings it’s this:

Not all projects require the entire design process. Sometimes they just require the last step…decoration.

If that’s the case, then a person’s title really doesn’t matter. A designer or a decorator could get the job done. Without your own understanding of your project needs, you will not be able to assess your potential designer’s ability to complete your project.

If you determine that your project does require a designer, be sure to ask your candidates about their process…this should tell you everything you need to know! If they don’t have one, or much of one, they’re NOT you’re guy!

Of course you’ll also want to carefully consider your candidates’ credentials and previous work, but the most important factor is how well you connect with the person you ultimately end up hiring.

The journey is just as important as the destination.

And speaking of credentials…you might be wondering if it’s important to hire a design professional that has the 3E’s (Education, Experience, Examination)?

Again, it depends on your project, but all other things being equal, I’d recommend choosing the 3E’s every time!

I don’t know about you but I’m ready to move on to a new topic! Like maybe the actual design process itself…

If you’d like to get more interior design REVelations, leave your email above! Not to mention that you’ll get a FREE outline of the REVdesign Process…can’t beat that!

REV-Up! -Kim

After all that differentiating between the terms design and decorating, we’re still left with the questions:

“Is there a difference between an Interior Designer and an Interior Decorator?

And if so, which one should I hire?”

Since we determined that there is in fact a difference between design and decorating, I think it’s safe to say that “yes” there is also a difference between a designer and a decorator.

In an earlier post I stated that:

Designers design and decorators decorate.

But now that we’ve thoroughly explored the difference between design and decoration, I think it makes more sense to say:

Designers design AND decorate, while decorators just decorate.

When we defined design, we said it’s a process and that decorating is the final step in that process.

Given this, I would define a designer as someone who engages in that process and concentrates on the project as a whole. Someone who is equally concerned with the functional aspect as well as the look of the entire space.

Through the use of concept, floor plans, elevations, photos, samples, details, renderings, etc…A designer will present you with a complete vision and a plan to achieve that vision (subject to your approval) before your project ever even begins.

A decorator would be someone who concentrates on applying products and materials to the room and is pulling it all together as they go, taking it one piece at a time.

In other words, they’ve not gone through the design process and are not operating from a cohesive plan. They are more concerned with the individual elements of a room and how they look.

Let me just say for the record:

There is nothing wrong with this approach IF, as the client, you are comfortable with it. Your project might not require all the steps of the design process. That’s up to you to decide.

So should you hire a designer or a decorator? We’ll wade into that next time. So stay tuned!

Or better yet – sign up with your email above to have all posts delivered straight to your inbox!

REV-Up! Kim

Can the terms “Design” and “Decorate” be used interchangeably?  We’ve already established that they are, all the time.

Should the terms be used interchangeably?…I say no.

Last week I explained the difference between the two when used in the verb tense.  Today let’s take a look at the difference when being used as nouns, which is even more elusive.

Take these two statements:

I love the design of that room!

OR

I love the decoration of that room!

They seem pretty much the same right?  Both terms are referring to the final outcome of that room. But there is a slight difference in that design really means the culmination of the entire design process. Whereas decoration is more reflective of the individual products, finishes, and materials that have been applied to the room.

But let’s face it, nobody (including me) is going to take the time to analyze which of these two things they’re really trying to say. In noun form the difference is so minimal that it’s almost non-existent anyway. Plus you would have to know if there was even a design process involved to begin with.

It is possible to decorate a room, on the fly, without going through any real design process at all…I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s the harder way to do things. But it’s possible.

So what have we learned?…

Design (v.) is the BIG Picture process of planning that results in the overall design (n.) of a completed space.

Decorating (v.) is the final step of the design process. It is the physical execution of the details as specified by that process. The application of individual products, finishes, and materials to a space results in its decoration (n.).

The difference between the terms is very subtle, but different none the less!

Which leads us to our next big question:

“So then what is the difference between interior designers and interior decorators?”

Check out the next post as I attempt to answer. And be sure to sign up with your email above so you don’t miss a thing!

REV-Up! Kim

Can the terms “Design” and “Decorate” be used interchangeably?

Well they are, ALL the time. So a better question to ask is,

“Should the terms be used interchangeably?”

In my youth my answer was definitely NO, but that’s because I defined the 2 terms as people “designer/decorator“, and my definition of a designer was someone who possessed the 3-E’s (education, experience, examination), and a decorator was someone who did not.

So according to this limited view, only designers designed.  Decorators decorated. End of story.

However, as I’ve gotten older and wiser, I’ve realized that this is a very narrow-minded stance of the interior design profession. So what’s my answer now?…

It’s still NO, but for completely different reasons. As I mentioned in my last post, in order to really understand the difference between the terms,

We must first understand the “what” as opposed to the “whom”.

Let’s dissect:

Both words can be used as nouns AND verbs. The verb decorate changes form to decoration or decor when used as a noun. However, the word design stays the same in either case which only adds to the confusion because the word design is often improperly substituted for both the verb and noun tense.

So let’s look at the verb tense first. You could say:

I am going to design my kitchen.

OR

I am going to decorate my kitchen.

Both make sense, but they do not mean the same thing. In both, the words represent the action that will take place, but it’s that action that’s different.

To design is to engage in the creative, thoughtful process of planning.

This process includes, but is not limited to, such actions as:

• dreaming
• brainstorming
• measuring
• inventorying
• surveying
• analyzing
• drawing
• detailing
• specifying
• budgeting
• researching
• shopping
• purchasing
• bidding
• scheduling
• building (or hiring someone to build) and believe it or not…
• decorating!

If you are designing something you are performing most, if not all of these tasks. So the term design is never an adequate substitute for any of these actions individually.

To decorate is to actually implement the final details of that plan, completing the design process. It is the last phase where someone is physically placing items or applying finishes and materials in a room.

You could decorate a pillow by sewing beads on it – applying the beads to the pillow. Assuming that you bought that pillow at a store, you did not design that pillow. You decorated it. You might have even designed the decoration (noun) that you applied to the pillow. But you still didn’t design the pillow.

The same premise holds true when dealing with a room. If you actually engage in the process of planning out your entire room and making decisions beforehand, you are designing. If you just start with shopping and then applying the things you bought or picked out, you are strictly decorating.

Make sense?…maybe. But now that you have a better understanding of the difference between the terms as verbs, it will be easier to grasp the even more elusive difference as nouns.

Be sure to catch the next post in this series as I attempt to explain…and after that we’ll tackle the difference between the “whom” – designers vs. decorators.

REV-Up! Kim

 

A designer is someone who designs.

A decorator is someone who decorates.

Isn’t that clear as mud? If it were that easy then I wouldn’t need to write this post!

The reason the difference is so hard to explain is because everybody has a different definition of what interior design really is! And most of the time we are trying to describe the two terms as “people” (designer or decorator) which as we’ve already discovered is not easily done.

We interior designers tend to fall back on the explanation that a “designer” is someone who possesses the 3E’s (education, experience, examination) and a “decorator” is someone who does not. But guess what?…

Most “decorators” do not agree with that premise!

So we can’t just go around making this claim without any concrete evidence to back it up. That’s why the definition of “Interior Design” becomes so important. Even if you asked a 3E designer what services they provide, many would describe them exactly the same way as a non-3E/decorator would.

Just because a person went to design school doesn’t change the fact that they may be practicing the exact same way as someone who didn’t.

Sure, they elevated their credentials and increased their capabilities, but they also made the CHOICE to focus their practice on providing services that don’t necessarily require those capabilities.

Don’t get me wrong…as a 3E designer myself, I am not saying that our credentials don’t mean anything, because they most certainly do! All I’m saying is that –

The 3E’s alone do not give us exclusive rights over the entire profession known as “Interior Design”.

But they should give us the ability to distinguish ourselves, differentiate our services, and allow us to practice to the fullest extent of our capabilities — Capabilities that actually have some crossover into the practice of architecture.

I’ve come to realize over the years…

The terms “designer” and “decorator” MUST be defined NOT by “who” but by “what”.

If you can make sense of the what, then the who becomes an entirely different discussion.

This whole “Design vs. Decorate” thread is about sorting through all of that confusion and trying to make sense out of the whole debate.

Now if you’re a casual interior design enthusiast, you might be reading this and asking yourself, “What confusion? What debate?” But keep reading and you’ll soon learn. There are all kinds of fights out there in this country concerning this very topic.

Interior Design legislation is being proposed and opposed in almost every state.

It’s an ugly argument for sure, but one that I personally think is just a BIG misunderstanding! So hopefully you’ll stick with me as I try to paint the BIGGER picture of what “Interior Design” truly is and how it actually affects to you.

At the end of the day I believe that “Interior Design” is a HUGE arena and there’s room for us all!

Sign up with your email above to stay up to date with the latest discussions. And be sure to check out my next post…

“Design or Decorate – Which Is It?” – we’ll be discussing “what” design really means!

I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed but interior designers get REALLY bent out of shape when you refer to them as “interior decorators” – oh the horror!

Early in my marriage and in my career I was at my Mother-In-Law’s house for some kind of get-together. She was introducing me to some of her guests and this is exactly what she said:

“This is my daughter-in-law, Kim.  She’s an Interior…oh what do you call it?…an Interior Designist?…Is that right Kim?  (turning back to her guest) She doesn’t like to be called a decorator!”

Ha! It was in that moment that I realized I had been so adamant to my friends and family that I was a designer, NOT a decorator, that I had scared them into making up words! Not only that, but after trying to explain the difference countless times, they still, truly did not understand.

The problem was, and still is, that a good, succinct explanation of that difference does not exist.

Oh sure, you can find many definitions and explanations floating around out there, but absolutely NONE of them have ever been compelling enough to convince people outside of the design profession that there is indeed a difference.

The most popular argument seems to be that a designer is someone who possesses the 3E’s (Education, Experience, Examination). If you don’t have the 3E’s then you are NOT a designer, you’re a decorator.

But this position falls apart pretty quickly when challenged by non-3E designers who also refuse to be called decorators (as evidenced by the forced changes to existing ID legislation going on all over the country).

The fact is that there IS a difference, and unfortunately it is not as simple as just claiming the 3E’s! The lines are so blurred that it is going to take some serious unraveling to clear things up.

So let’s go ahead, jump right in, and start this conversation of “Design vs. Decorate”.  Buckle up!  Cuz it’s gonna be a bumpy ride!

REV-Up! Kim