Where Do You start?
The internet has undoubtedly made finding what you’re looking for more accessible: that is, you can certainly access it—but this doesn’t always translate to being able to find what you’re looking for. To the same extent that the internet has made producers and services more available to consumers, so has it produced an increase in useless search results. These can range from the banal to the tedious. In terms of finding an interior designer, clients will often complain about how happy they are to have finally found the one—only after weeding out everyone with a Pinterest or Instagram page from the professionals. This is an especially endemic problem if you are searching for high end interior designers in Los Angeles.
A simple internet search for a high end interior designer in Los Angeles (and the surrounding area) does have the potential to be helpful. However, just as it does when it comes to helping a client create and execute their dream design, narrowing one’s field of consideration—focusing in—can make all the difference. Most designers will agree that the best way to begin your search is by picking up the latest issue of your favorite fashion, decorating, or home/cottage publication; this can be either online or in print. Whatever the medium, and whatever the magazine, the publication will always offer a wide sample of varied and competing designers and design firms: the neutrality of the magazine, relative to something like a browser search, in effect heightens the credibility of potential design picks.
Start with a Vision
These publications are also, of course, wonderful sources of inspiration for clients. And the hope is that someday a client will come and say, “See this? I want something like that!” to which the designer might reply, “Well, you’re in luck; I was the one who designed it.” That said, since there is such a wealth of high end interior designers in Los Angeles, a potential client—even one who narrows the focus of their search—is bound to feel inundated by the possibilities. That’s why clients should be encouraged to come to the designer with at least something of a vision.
Naturally, this vision doesn’t need to be an aesthetic one, or even principally home-related. After all, a good design is the proper answer to a pressing question, and such a question or problem for the designer to resolve could be as simple as the client identifying that, when they get home at night, they find their space oppressive, draining, or dreary. Or the problem could be that they are always rushed in the morning, and they find that the layout and aesthetic of their kitchen-dining space impedes their morning’s progress. Taking the search for a high end interior designer in Los Angeles to one of the best can, for this last reason, often depend on the client. This is just to say that what is best for one client will be less desirable for another, and having a clear vision, or at least a partial understanding, of what the design should achieve will only augment the abilities of the designer to get the job done right.
Care Begets Precision
There are two final tidbits that every potential client should bear in mind; these pertain to finally deciding on a designer and to cost. Before committing to any one designer, or even getting in touch, it is incontestably worthwhile to look up their portfolio. Designers trade in taste: all the skills, techniques, and experiences they’ve accrued over time is essentially a medium through which they can efficaciously express their tastes for the benefit of others. By looking up their portfolio, the client will have an idea of whether or not they will mesh with the designer. As a quick parenthesis, we should also note that style and taste are different: taste would be how someone chose to design or decorate within the parameters of a certain style. So don’t be afraid if you see a designer you think you may like decorating somebody’s house in Williamsburg style. Last, note that, for high end interior designers in Los Angeles, you can expect to pay 10% – 20% of your overall renovation budget.