The Stages Involved in the Interior Design Process

Designing office interiors involves creating interior settings to meet the client's requirements from a particular space. Every corporate project related to interiors involves some generic stages to be followed while moving forward with the office design and fit out process. These include:

1) Programming: An office comprises of different facilities such as administrative, hospitality, recreational, food/canteen and each space has its own requirements and functions. During the programming stage, the interior designer has to take care that the design of the office meets the functional requirements of each facility whilst understanding the user's requirements. He should understand the functional aspect of each space, space allocation requirements and the furniture and accessories required in each facility. Site-visits, research, surveys or meetings with clients and users are the best methods to get a clear idea of the design requirements and expectations.

2) Concept Development: After attaining a solid understanding of the client's requirements through the information compiled, the designer formulates its concept in the form of design and diagrams. The concept development stage comprises of different sub-stages. They are:-

a) Space Planning: Space Planning is an integral component of interior design services as it involves the use of the desired space efficiently. After the completion of the programming stage, designs of space allocations and adjacencies are prepared. While planning for the effective space utilisation of an office space, numerous factors need to be considered, including the organisational hierarchy, work flow, clients goals and objectives, building regulatory codes, furniture requirements, comfort, flexibility and future needs. Depending on whether the client's office promotes teamwork or individual work, the office space is planned accordingly.

b) Light: Light is one of the most important factors to be considered while designing office interiors. The designer should understand the scientific as well as aesthetic aspect of light. Quality as well as quantity of light matters too, for creating a comfortable and healthy office workplace. Light plays an important role in setting the atmosphere of the room and hence an interior designer should consider lighting that not only enhances the interiors and boosts efficiency but also meet the building codes and creates a pleasant atmosphere.

c) Colour: Colour is a vital element in any commercial interior design. While choosing a colour scheme, the designer should see to it that the colour of the office reflects the company's brand, value and culture. Since colour has the power to elicit a variety of emotions and psychological states, the interior designer should consider a nice colour scheme in the office that improves mood, concentration and creates a vibrant working atmosphere.

d) Material Selection: Considering factors such as quality, product performance and sustainability, furniture and other accessories are selected for the office interiors.

3) Design Development: During the design development stage, the designer is very clear about the design intent of the project. He develops floor plans, elevations, sections, and other detailed drawings whilst explaining the design, colour, furniture and finishes selections made. This phase also involves the budgetary proposal for construction and FF&E items.

4) Concept Presentation: The design prepared is presented to the client for review, revisions and approval.. On the basis of the client's feedback, the design is altered accordingly to meet the clients' requirements. After incorporating all the changes, the final design draft is prepared.

5) Construction Documents and Procurement: The construction document is critical for any successful design execution. It consists of final sets of documents with all the necessary specifications that will help the contractor to start building the project. Besides including complete sets of floor plans, elevations and sections, it also consists of the finish schedule, furnishing specifications, material details etc. Once the construction documents are approved, it is sent to potential contractors for bidding. In the next step, bids are obtained, the contractor is finalised, purchase orders are issued and the project is started.

6) Construction Administration: The interior designer needs to supervise the work by paying frequent visits to the site. He needs to check whether the work is in compliance with the construction drawings and specifications. The designer also needs to check for any defects and errors during FF&E installation and completion. The construction process is completed when the interior designer is satisfied that the work has been done as represented in the construction documents.


Sachin Boradia is the Managing Director at Transcend Design and Consultants which is a leading interior design company offering office interior design services to the customers in the UK, US, India, Canada and the Middle East.

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Interior Design Marketing.

It is estimated that only one in every five interior designers has any kind of formal marketing plan. They usually only market when business is slow and they more or less advertise in an impromptu manner. There are several ways to work on your interior design marketing. I will just name a few of the many ideas.
If you want to market your interior design business and see results, follow some simple guidelines to put you ahead of the game in your industry. You should first research your competition. Learn what they are doing to attract business. Find out where they are marketing their business and who they are targeting.
Take several pictures of your work and publish them in trade publications. Also include any specials or other items of interest you want to promote. Arrange speaking engagements whenever possible and have a professional sounding, well prepared speech ready.
Another great idea for interior design marketing is to create a portfolio with plenty of samples of your work. Put it together in a format that is easy to add new items or update. Rent a booth at trade shows or buy advertising time on radio or local television stations.
Any lead is a potential customer. Don't presume any lead is not worth the effort. Even if a particular lead does not turn into a future customer, they may send others your way if you keep a professional demeanor and treat each lead special.
If all else fails, don't forget cold calling. Okay, calm down. Take a deep breath. I know, I know, cold calling is every business person's least favorite part of the job. However, for every ten cold calls, you will receive one positive answer. So if you make ten calls and you get one appointment, that's one more than you had before. Persistence is the key in cold calling. It will be frustrating and discouraging if you make 25, 50 or 100 calls and get no more than one or two appointments but don't give up. It will pay off in the end.
If your current clients are happy with your services, ask them for referrals. If they are truly pleased with what you have to offer, they will be happy to send more business your way. Equally important as gaining customers is keeping customers. Be sure you keep your clientele happy by resolving issues as soon as they arise.
Always, keep a positive attitude and display confidence in your demeanor. People will be more likely to hire a self-confident business professional. Give your customers a reason to come back. Offer something that your competition doesn't offer or find a unique way to promote your business. Anticipate a client's needs or questions and have the solution ready.
Following these simple tips and ideas will not only help you generate business, but will help you keep that business for years to come. Not only will you keep the business of loyal, return customers, soon you will be receiving the majority of your new business from referrals from satisfied customers and your client base will continue to grow.

David Ledoux is an author, speaker, trainer and mentor to entrepreneurs. His newest report The Small Business Death Sentence can be downloaded for free at [http://bigmoneyfreetime.com]

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Small House Interior Design.

When you have a limited amount of space, you might not know exactly what to do in order to make things look appealing. Interior design can be a complicated thing when you don't feel that you have ample room to create a living space. Even though it can seem like a daunting task, you can in fact do a variety of things that will help you move forward with designing a small area. The following are some simple ideas that you can implement right now to establish a warm, cozy feeling in a short surface area.

Corner Design -When you have a small home and you're not sure how you can fit in a lot of ideas, you'll need to use the corners more than other areas. You have to look for nooks where you can and make sure that you can create living areas where they would normally be neglected. By maximizing corner areas you can find a visual aesthetic that is both modern, and functional.

Loft Areas -If you're savvy you can create spaces that are above the ground and can offer more room for what you need. For instance, if you have a small home and the bedrooms are not exactly very large, you can create a loft space where the bed is raised above the ground and the ground level is used for living, reading, and lounging. This type of idea can easily be implemented in a small space and maximize all the areas with relative ease.

Furniture -When it comes to furnishings go with more square design than round. This modern Mondrian type of idea will help you create a lasting appeal in regards to interior design for small spaces. Because squares, rectangles, and similar shapes can be stacked, and combined you can maximize just about any of the areas that you have in your home and tie it all together for a modern look and feel that will off set the limitations of your home's square footage.

When you're dealing with design elements, always think about maximizing the area that you have with peripherals, furniture, paint, and more. Function needs to be on the forefront of your mind when trying to create a lasting impression in terms of décor. Visual aesthetics can be hard to implement if you aren't sure what to do, so make sure that you take the ideas above and try to see where they would fit for your limited space.


Visit http://homedesignspro.com for more Home Design Interior Tips.

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How to Promote Your Interior Design Business.

Interior designers need perseverance and determination in order to make it in the word of interior design. With so many people competing for the best jobs, you will need to find ways to make yourself stand out from the crowd. This article provides you with several things that you can do in order to make a name for yourself as an interior designer.

Website

A website is one of the best tools that you can have to promote yourself and your work. As your business is in the world of design, you will want your website to also look sleek, modern and be easy to navigate. Therefore if you are not a qualified website designer, it is often a good idea to hire a website designer to do it for you. On your website you will also want to include an online portfolio of your past interior work design. Make sure that all of the images that you use in your online portfolio are of a high quality, and that they display quickly when a visitor to your website tries to view them. Also pick a short, memorable domain name to go with your site to make it look more professional.

Social Networking

Social networking can play a major part in promoting yourself as an interior designer. Some of the large social networking sites include Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. All of these platforms have different purposes and benefits. You may want to try several of them out to see if they work for you. It is also a good idea to choose the same, or similar, usernames for each site so that you can start to create an online brand for yourself. You can also link each of the social networking sites to one another in order to make yourself visible to more people.

Portfolio

As well as your online portfolio you will want to create a physical portfolio that you can take to show potential employers. Your physical portfolio should contain high quality photographs displaying all of your best design work. Make sure that it is kept clean, up-to-date, and that you know where it is at all times. You never know when you may need to use it next.

Spread the Word

Tell friends and family about you interior design passion and skills, and ask them to spread the word about your business. When people are thinking about redecorating their home they will think of you, and they may approach you for a consultation.

Continue to Educate Yourself

While you are promoting your interior design business it is still essential that you continue to educate yourself on all aspects of the industry. You can read books, magazines and manuals to see what is going on in the world of interior design. You can also further your education by enrolling in a course.


Getting a degree from one of the best interior design colleges is very important for a good career in this field. At the start of your career, you should go for these methods and promote your business. Click here to know more.

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The Future Direction of Interior Design.

With the growth in living standard, people's requirement of beauty has been heightened accordingly. Beauty is demanded not only exist in people's appearance but also in the dwelling space. And beauty is not merely praised highly for its brilliance, people now have more fancy for a certain and unique style which symbolizes his or her own attitude towards life.

Where there is a need, there will be an opportunity for business. Those clever businessmen have caught onto this key point. Now we have thousands of factories which engaged in manufacturing many kinds of decorative materials and products to meet our needs. From the improvement in finishing materials and variety in decoration styles, people can see the speedy progress of this industry and those decoration material manufacturers have become full-fledged.

In the meanwhile, the increasing quantity of sales has focused more on the health issues, which makes the change in growing trend of decoration materials. Features like degradable or environmental friendly become the primary consideration for selecting materials.

The first key point for interior design is energy conservation and environmental protection. From the misuse of wood or plant materials to some degradable materials like melamine faced board or melamine decorative paper can be found in people's houses more often than before.

The second key point for interior design is health concern. People tend to pay more attention to their physical conditions as the contentment in living. Formaldehyde contains a kind of poisonous gas and lives in which for a long time is bad for people's health. But for the desire in making profit, some factories in the past years varnished their furniture with paint containing those toxic gases, which then were prohibited by law. Today's manufacturers insist on choosing the paint which does not contain formaldehyde or other harmful substance like aromatic hydrocarbon.

The third key point is intelligentialize, which combines the production of materials with micro-electronic technique. Through which, the dream of controlling and modulating the furniture has realized and intelligentialize has become the new direction for interior design's progress.

The last key point for its further direction is overall aesthetic perception. During the decoration, more kinds of materials are used, more pollution will be generated. Therefore, the coherence in decorative style and the simplification in materials are required. Some building products like unglazed ceramic tile or plain color panel are popular among the public for their simplicity and the sense of wholeness. Moreover, the unification in interior design won't stop people pursuing the individualization. People are more likely to design the layout of their houses in their own opinions.


melamine faced chipboard

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Interior Design: Good Decor - Good Life.

Psychology of Color

Even though color is taken for granted in design, selecting the right color should be thought out. Fast food restaurants use colors like yellow and red to get more customers coming and going which is great for business. This is one main example how color is proven to affect us. Colors are also attached to our memories and inner feelings. If you had a blue bedroom as a child and had a lot of positive memories, you will strongly connect with the color blue in a positive way. Certain colors can also make you feel either angry, nervous and sad.

Reflection of Self

Home decor is appreciated when a home feels like a home, not just looks like a home. So how to avoid creating the boring home staging sort of look? Make every decision based on your personality and personal taste. Choose furniture you love 100 percent along with accessories and art work. Bringing items from past memories is always a great way to reflect the past and keep you going. Having furniture and accessories that reflect you will also boost your confidence and self esteem.

Functional Spaces Create A Nice Flow

Have you ever bought oversized furniture that crammed up a room? A dining table that is so close to the sofa will be uncomfortable. Once we are uncomfortable, we get frustrated and eventually avoid the area to end the whole dilemma. Functional spaces with the right spacing and planning allows a room to "flow" nicely which makes a room feel calm.

Sense of Belong

When a room is planned and truly reflects you, there is a sense of belong. You feel comfortable, safe and assured. Adding photos of family and friends is a great example of how art can make us belong. A room that is personalized indicates that the room is your space, your world.

Importance of Scale

Have you ever noticed that houses with a typical 9 foot ceiling tend to feel more cozy than 12 foot ceilings? Some people like having a lot of space and some don't. Bigger spaces can be a person feel more free or luxurious, but can make another person feel out of place.

Art

All forms of art, whether its music, sculpture or painting, affects our emotions. Listening to a classical song vs metal will create different emotions. Classical music can make us feel hopeful or decisive where metal music can make us feel revengeful or daring. Art communicates a statement and it can be either positive or negative.

Home decor is one simple way to plant that seed of happiness in our lives. The right decor can have a huge impact on your life.


Valarie Baser is an entrepreneur/interior decorator. Visit http://www.posh20.com to request a custom decorating plan for free and receive online decorating advice.

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Ethnic Interior Design.

Global Interior Design takes inspiration from all around the world. Whether it is the geometric patterns of Morocco, the vibrant colours of India or the warm tones of Africa, the ethnic style is always popular. It is a way of escapism through interior design, a way to keep hold of those incredible travel memories or embrace the cultures of those you are yet to visit.

Colour

I'm sure that when most people think of an ethnic, bohemian, Arabian style the colours they envision are bright, deep, warm tones, mixed in with every colour imaginable! And whilst this works if you're brave enough to try; it doesn't have to be overwhelming if your chosen colour palette is much calmer and neutral. One of the most beautiful and simple ways of bringing a bit of ethnic chic to your interiors is by keeping the walls a crisp white and picking a few warm tones for the furniture and cushions with upholstery fabric. For blinds and curtain fabric, a relaxed linen or cotton fabric in neutral tones looks wonderful, especially in a bedroom or living room. For the bold colour lovers out there, combining a hot pink with burnt oranges and browns looks exotic and exciting. Or bring in blues and turquoises with Moroccan tiles in a kitchen or bathroom.

Pattern

Whether you choose bold colours or neutrals, one factor always remains the same - pattern. Asian, African, Indian designs all have strong, detailed patterns. The traditional hand woven textiles from these cultures are incredibly beautiful and if you're fortunate enough to visit and see them in the flesh, a great way to start this design style off is to pick a piece and work around it, taking colour inspiration from it and using for the curtain fabric and upholstery fabric. Mix and match different patterns and designs on upholstery, cushions, wall tapestries and rugs. Using an ikat design for a blind fabric looks great as it creates a focal point.

Accessories

Accessories are a big part of an ethnic interior. Think Moroccan lighting, metals such as brass, gold and pewter combined with clay pottery. For something a bit different, try taking a woven textile and using as a wall tapestry for a real feature. Rugs are also important. An intricate mirror in a strong distressed brass or pewter colour is great in a bedroom or bathroom. Ornaments and souvenirs collected from various cultures really add depth to the scheme.

Furniture

Try and keep furniture as low to the floor as you can. Think floor cushions, low coffee tables, footstools and low, informal beds. Updating the furniture that you already have is easy, distressing any wood pieces and upholstering sofas, chairs and footstools in bohemian fabric will really transform the space.


Just Fabrics provide thousands of curtain fabric and upholstery fabric, including an extensive range of designer clearance fabrics at discounted prices. We also stock hundreds of regular curtain material of which many are exclusive to Just Fabrics and will not be found anywhere else.

Our fabric shops are situated in the beautiful Cotswolds where the company has been for over 25 years. Our two fabric shops, one in Burford (near Oxford) and the other in Cheltenham (Gloucestershire) are easily accessible with free parking available.

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