Interior design consultants are trained to deal with more than the furnishings and finishes that go into making a space look wonderful. They use analytical problem-solving skills that focus on your needs and aspirations. Designers listen, understand and ultimately create a space that exceeds expectations.

Interior designers plan and design or redesign attractive and useful interiors for home, hotels, ships, hospitals, office buildings, and other commercial structures. They can be classified by the following general categories:

Designers often work from blueprints, make detailed floor plans, and draw furniture to scale. They shop in wholesale markets to locate furnishings and accessories, and, when necessary, design original pieces to be made to order. They often work closely with both building and landscape architects in planning the interiors of new buildings or remodeling old ones. Presentations for client approval usually include a sketch or scaled floor plan showing furniture arrangement, color charts, and samples of upholstery, draperies, and wall coverings. The complete proposal includes an estimate of the cost for the installation. After the proposal is accepted, Interior Designers assemble furnishings and act as agents for their clients by contracting and supervising the services of craft workers.

Qualifications

Creativity is crucial. People in this field must have an eye for color and detail, a sense of balance and proportion, and an appreciation for beauty. Designers also need excellent communication and problem-solving skills. Despite the advancement of computer-aided design, sketching ability remains an important advantage in most types of design, especially fashion design. A good portfolio often is the deciding factor in getting a job.

Training

A bachelor’s degree is required for entry-level design positions. Many candidates in Interior Design pursue a master’s degree to increase their chances of selection for open positions. Interior design is the only design field subject to government regulation. Twenty two states and the District of Columbia register or license interior designers. Passing the National Council for Interior Design qualification examination is required for registration or licensure in these jurisdictions. To be eligible to take the exam, an applicant must have at least 6 years of combined education and experience in interior design, of which at least 2 years constitute postsecondary education in design. Because registration or licensure is not mandatory in all States, membership in a professional association is an indication of an interior designer’s qualifications and professional standing- and can aid in obtaining clients.

Earnings

Designers can be paid in a variety of ways from salary, commission, or salary plus commission. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook 2003-2004, median annual earnings for interior designers were $39,180 in 2002. The middle 50 percent earned between $29,070 and $53, 060. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $21,240, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $69,640. Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of interior designers were as follows:

Advancement

Promotion for Interior Designers usually consists of assignment to more complex jobs with larger budgets and salary increases. Very talented Interior Designers may advance to the head of a decorating or design department. They may become interior furnishings coordinators or be given other supervisory positions in department stores or larger decorating or design firms. Designers with additional experience and consulting expertise may go into business for themselves.

What are some important things to think about when deciding on an interior design school?

Really talk to the professors and the other students if you can in the department at the schools you are looking at! Look over resource libraries, browse through their projects on display. More and more, the industry is passing legislation that you have to be a licensed designer. By passing the NCIDQ (National council of interior design qualification) exam in order to practice. With that, there is discussion and/or legislation being passed that you have to attend a FIDER accredited institution. I would encourage that as well.

What is a big misconception an outsider might have about interior designer?

On my first day of class I told my students that this isn't Trading Spaces and if you think it is, check your schedule, you are in the wrong class!!! People think it's just about the "fluff" and just spending someone else’s money to "make it look pretty". Designers are responsible for many aspects of a building. Education in Interior Design is a must!

What advice do you give students who want to become interior designers?

Begin to gather your resources where you live and where you attend school! Get to know your future colleagues. Try working or shadowing a designer for a week or two to see if it's really what you think it is!

Get geared up to be technical - not just creative. Our field is very demanding and can take a lot out of you. Always be aware of your surroundings. However, like I tell my students, don't go into a place leisurely with friends/family and critique it to death. If you do, you won't enjoy the time for why you are really there. Separate yourself from your profession! It will drive you crazy later.

As a professor, what are some of the mistakes you see your students making?

Honestly, my students are doing beautifully across the board, (I'll brag about them). I guess most freshmen still need to understand portfolio quality work from the get go. They just spend way too many hours on their projects to not be proud of their work. That and maybe get into the mindset of what they've been "taught" by HGTV or Trading Spaces! Those are good shows, but this is a very technical field. Breaking some of those molds is tough. Oh, and not coming to class can really hurt them too, you have to build from square one and stay on top of it.

What are some of the right things you see students doing?

Getting it! Applying real life principles and examples to what they are learning, “getting it” makes it more tangible for them. I love to see the light-bulbs go on. One of my favorite quotes is, "I heard and I forgot, I saw and I remembered, I did and I understood." That's what I'm trying to do with my students and it seems to be working.

What are the most important skills an aspiring interior designer needs to have?

Determination, constant creativity, people skills and patience. Having a trained eye for things, applying your education to everything and good business sense is a must. Also, think out side the box and always be looking for new ideas and utilize references and resources. In other words - go spend quality time at Barnes and Noble! Take your sketchbook and ‘practice, practice, practice’ your craft!

What suggestions do you have for students while they are job searching!

Don't get discouraged. Just sell yourself. Some students have a hard time with "bragging" on themselves. Do it! You've worked hard, hopefully and if you've done your homework on the company/designer you are interviewing with before hand, you should be able to focus towards being a dynamic team member for their company and tell them why. Have a fantastic looking resume. Get involved with school clubs/organizations. I recommend, ASID (American Society of Interior Designers), IIDA (International Interior Design Association) and volunteer for work projects with organizations like Habitat for Humanity. All this may be impressive, especially for a student who doesn't have much experience. Don't worry. Remember the person you are interviewing with had to have someone give them their start too. Don't be afraid to ask for your start with them.

What are some hot trends in interior designing right now?

You really see a lot of the Country French, a lot of distressed blacks, and reds also, Contemporary versions of vintage prints from the 20's and reds and golds are still around. But trends tend to be leaning more towards the muted tones, coppers, rusts and pale blue-greens. The animal print is around some but I see it fading off. I am seeing more subtle prints, not so much CRAZY bright and bolds.

Where do you see the interior design industry moving in the next ten years?

I've noticed that more and more people are building quality - with or without quantity. I admire that! Like it has for centuries, trends change but I expect there to be consistency in design, as far as workmanship and creativity in concerned. With the resources that we have at our disposal and constant innovative designs - there's no telling what builders/architects and designers can come up with together!

Who are some of the best interior designers today? And what, in your opinion, makes them great?

Every one is different! I honestly couldn't tell you. However, what makes a great designer is the person who knows their clients needs and makes those things happen. It’s not what the designer "thinks" they should have in there. The designer doesn't live/work there. The client does. One of my favorite verses in the Bible, references the thought - "a great castle does not mean he is a great king". Just because I create something beautiful, doesn't make me a good designer. I want to be good in all aspects of design, i.e., taking care of people, business principles, constantly learning new things and going the extra mile.

What would be your dream interior design/redesign project?

Having no budget of course! No seriously, there are a couple things, I would love to get involved more with the types of companies that are adopting families and tearing apart their homes and rebuilding to suit their needs (extreme makeover) but also historic buildings! I’ve always wanted to gut out one of those!

Okay, what do you really think about shows like Trading Spaces and Designer's Challenge?

HA! I think they are good for what they are - inspiring people to get creative and show them ideas of what to do. However, I don't agree with the emphasis that the general public seems to take from it. For instance; in most cases, you cannot go in and redo an entire room for a thousand dollars. Not to say you can't, and that it would turn out beautifully. I just find clients almost get frustrated when they want to tear apart everything and then start over, but at the bottom line price tag, it's not a $1,000.00. I try to emphasize to my students that this is a technical field as well as creative and knowing what you are legally responsible for goes way beyond just a TV show. The joy of TV is that you can also EDIT!!!! In real life - there is no editing. You have to take the good with the bad!

The student version of the redecorating show is better I think. In the respect that hopefully, those students have gone through a strenuous program and are now getting the opportunity to understand the “real” stresses of the job and what it takes to make all that come together. But, no pressure being on TV and all!

“A basic principle of interior design is that we can create new opportunity to enter and enrich our lives through decorating, and clutter can greatly impede this process. The clutter can be either physical or mental. Is a room too busy with furniture, mementos and remnants of everyday life? Are closets and drawers full of stuff that you think you might need some day even though you haven't used it for years?”

Remember, clutter isn't just a physical thing, it's mental, too. Clean out the clutter and start enjoying life!

“One thing that's starting to happen is that the kids and the whole family unit are part of making the decision. We want to get them excited about moving here. We want them to picture themselves lying on the bed doing their homework, picturing themselves putting their trophies up and those kinds of things.”

What's interesting is that, while specialty rooms are nothing new, kids have taken them to new creative heights recently -- aided in large part by ideas they gather from both home decorating TV shows and the Internet.

“Kids are so much more savvy these days... They get on the (Web) and figure out what they want to do. They're involved a lot of times in designing what the room is going to look like and come in with their own ideas... It tends to be a very good springboard for them saying, 'I want to do something like this or that.”

“'My secret?' said Kaplan. 'I've grown the business slowly and steadily, I totally care about helping my clients market themselves. Plus I love home design and all aspects of it.'

'People are really investing in their homes right now. They like to surround themselves with high-quality materials, and they are splurging on things like four-car garages.'”

“'It was hard trying to work with clients. I'd never had to do that before -- try to convince them of my ideas, and stuff like that,' says Stoner, who also is pursuing a bachelor's of fine arts degree at the University of San Francisco. 'Plus, I'm not that great at bossing people around.'”

That's a great point; people, students especially, sometimes forget that there's a lot more to design than coming up with a solution and implementing it. You need to be able to manage a team, smooth over disagreements with clients or contractors, and use your powers of persuasion to get everyone on the same page. When dealing with real-world projects, deadlines, and clients, your "people-skills" can be just as important as your design skills; you need both to be successful.

As it turns out, the art students actually won the competition. One student designed a boy's bedroom with an auto racing theme, including a red Craftsman toolbox as a nightstand and a Chevy Caprice's fender as a window topper. A landscape architecture major even designed and installed a backyard waterfall and pond. Check out the photos -- there's a lot of creative work on a tight budget.

“Interior decorating television shows and home magazines have exposed consumers to the kind of appliances once reserved for serious chefs. And three years of low interest rates -- which have fueled home improvement-driven refinancings and lines of credit as well as home buying -- have put the stainless steel gee-whiz appliances in reach for many consumers.”

“The outhouse theme was chosen by Margie after she came across a box of old newspaper clippings one day, dating all the way back to articles on Camp Sherman published by the Scioto Gazette... 'It's been so much fun,' said Margie on decorating. 'Our young ones (grandchildren) love it. They stay in here forever, looking at the pictures.'”

Personally, I like the idea, but it worries me that the kids never want to leave the outhouse...

“Renovation usually takes a mere hour on TV, but in real life, that kind of heavy lifting will require the Mad Science crew to vacate the office Aug. 1-15, Humphrey said.”

I think it will be very interesting to see a design outside of the home that is done by Thom Filicia.

“While many of the key elements of green design are present -- energy-efficient appliances and lighting, water conservation measures, recycled materials and the like -- the gaudiness and size of the homes hasn't gone anywhere.”

These designs take the approach that if one of something is good, two must be better. Within the article, questions are raised about whether or not these energy efficient appliances will actually make a difference considering the fact that these are still very large homes. If you are a nature savvy designer or are considering building a home, you should definitely look at this article. It gives some great tips on how to insure that your new home does not waste energy.

“One of my favorite episodes was when a biological daughter of a NASCAR racer who had only seen her dad once before came to decorate. We all cried like babies and they loved the room.”

I really enjoyed this article a great deal because not only did it talk about the plot for the T.V. show, which sounds interesting, but it was a great interview with Bryan Batt. The interviewer asked questions about why he left Broadway, other T.V. shows that he's working on, the new store that he recently opened and about his success.

“'People who have a lot of windows thought that if they needed a quick fix, blinds were their only solution. But now, we are offering something really glamorous very quickly,' says Andrea Kay, co-owner of the Silk Trading Co., a Los Angeles-based purveyor of haute ready-made curtains.”

Design and decorating companies nationwide have been jumping on the high-end, ready-made bandwagon, taking advantage of the current trend towards long, luxurious-looking curtains and drapes. Customers' choices are usually limited, but that's not entirely a bad thing.

“'The moment you say to someone, 'You can have any one of these 4,000 paint choices,' you've lost them,' says Callan. 'Customers come to you for curtains because they think you've sorted this issue on a seasonal basis, so new designs are always coming into stock.'”

“The design started from practical considerations: What activities will the building be required to handle and how can similar functions be grouped together? After analyzing functions and space requirements, five broad categories emerged: administration and staff, collections, information, public space and parking. The architects visualized the space as five stacked boxes and used that as a starting point for the building's design. The boxes, or sections, were repositioned to allow better views and light. The result is a unique space that solved many of the library's logistical problems.”

Bright colors (such as the yellow escalators and orange stairwells) make key areas easy to spot, call numbers are inserted into the floors, and expanded-aluminum mesh sandwiched between plates in the glass walls deflect sunlight while retaining clear views. After looking at those photos, all I can say is "Wow." First the Experience Music Project (EMP), now this... how come Seattle gets all the cool buildings?

While many of the posts are NYC-specific, there's still plenty to be gleaned even if you aren't a big-city dweller. One of the authors is an interior designer who appears on the HGTV show "Mission: Organization" and is available for consulting. (Or if you're cheap, you can just read his free advice on the weblog itself. That's okay too.) Definitely a great resource.