Hiring an experienced interior designer to plan your renovation may be the best investment you make. Designers are not just people who know where to place the furniture. They are educated individuals who, in many cases, work side-by-side with a contractor and crew to complete every aspect of your dream reno, including personal shopping trips to find the perfect items such as a throw rug to blend the undertones of a room together.
"Undertones are not widely understood by people who are not trained to see the colour behind the colour," said Alex Veldkamp, a junior designer at Fenwick & Co. Interior Design, who has a bachelor of environmental design from the U of M.
She said undertones exist in paint, flooring, rugs and other renovation materials. "A similar colour of paint may have a pink or a green undertone. Though ostensibly the same colour, the hue will be different when applied to walls. An inexperienced person will realize something is wrong when they look at the paint, but they won't know why it is wrong," said Veldkamp.
Discerning between undertones is just one of many skills possessed by professional designers. "We provide drawings at an hourly cost to homeowners who have any size of reno in mind from a small room to a full home. For larger jobs, we offer a percentage discount to our clients," she said.
Veldkamp is a believer in the "less is more" school of design; however, she said she and her colleagues will accommodate different styles by looking for something that is more transitional. "I like to experiment so I enjoy the challenge of melding two dissimilar styles."
As Fenwick & Co. is associated with experienced contractors, the company is capable of undertaking a complete home renovation from basement to gable, including new additions.
Carrie Robson of S3 Interior Design said a professional designer will ensure a reno will look like a finished project throughout, rather than a patchwork of mixed colours, fixtures, cabinets, flooring and furniture. "For a big renovation, we offer a four phase procedure that includes an initial idea and design process, a building phase in which specific details about kitchen and bathroom cabinetry, light fixtures and special millwork requests are confirmed, a final planning stage when architectural drawings are prepared for the contractor and a quality- control phase when we return to the house to ensure there are no unexpected glitches," said Robson, a graduate of the U of M's environmental design course.
S3 Interior Design works with a couple of reputable and reliable Winnipeg contractors including All Canadian Renovations to guaranty renovations are completed to high standards. The cost to hire the company is about seven to 10 per cent of the price of the overall renovation.
Doreen Gauthier of Make It Home operates a combined design and construction company that benefits clients by offering them a team of experienced professionals that have worked as one for many years. "I've kept my team of trades people together because I know they produce first-rate results and we have developed a relationship that includes mutual knowledge, trust and expectations of each other," said Gauthier, a multiple winner of Manitoba Home Builders' Association awards. She said though it is possible for homeowners to plan and undertake their own renovations, the time involved to complete a $50,000-plus project is substantial and not many people can afford to spend weeks on end finishing a big project. "Hiring professionals will save potential DIYers a lot of time and frustration. Many people end up going round and round in circles because it is easy to lose focus in the midst of a big job," she said, adding a good interior designer knows how to organize a reno into steps that follow a logical sequence.
Moreover, because Gauthier is connected to both the design and construction markets, she can source anything from light fixtures to furniture to building materials with a few strokes of her computer's keyboard, a service not available to most amateur renovators.
Kim Schroeder, owner of Charisma Design, said professional designers will introduce all the possibilities available to a homeowner, free of personal biases.
"When people attempt a renovation of their own, they often become fixed on a single idea or an idea that is derived from conversations with friends. Designers are trained to keep their personal feelings out of the design process so clients will end up with the look they want -- a look that has not been influenced by outside sources," said Schroeder.
She also said designers can anticipate the major decisions required and how one decision will affect another as the reno progresses. "I like to push clients a little further so more of their own personalities are expressed in the finished product, not just a show home or magazine clipping," said the U of M trained interior designer with an impressive list of awards and accomplishments to her name.
"Finally, I can't over stress how important it is to plan ahead in detail. I think lack of planning is a big reason why many DIY jobs go awry. A major reno is a huge investment and a professional will spend many hours discussing and plotting every element of a design with a client and a contractor to ensure the end result is glitch free and visually stunning," said Schroeder, "and we're fun to work with."
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