There is one question I get asked all the time and that is why hire an interior designer.

***I will be very frank here on this topic so it might be worth reading all of this and the blogs to follow.

HGTV has made the world think it is easy to design a custom home.  I am not going to claim it is rocket science, but even with those “real life” videos on networks like HGTV, they are just as produced as any other video or movie…there are hundreds of man hours behind the scenes you don’t see…things the viewers have no idea about or ever will.

The real reality is there is a lot of hours that go into every interior design…and that is only part of it.  My mom started her interior design company, also in Kansas City, (it is now mine and my business partner’s; Carmen Thomas) when I was a child and I grew up in the industry…complete with a childhood full of showrooms, traveling to furniture markets, going to client’s homes and helping her put together model show homes.  I even did special projects for her and painted murals to help pay for college.  Still, houses and houses and billions of hours later…not a day goes by where I don’t keep learning about new ways to do things, new products, construction tricks, etc., EVERY DAY.  I completely understand while people feel they have to settle doing their own home’s interior design and make fast decisions just to “be done with it” or get so paralyzed with all of the options, they do nothing at all.  There is simply too much to know.

That brings me to WHY hire a designer Experience. 

Look at your own life…think of your clients, patients, family or customers.  How much more do you know than they do?  Between education, training, being on the job, trade publications, constant updates, and industry education, keeping a pulse on your industry by being hands-on, working every day, meeting new people and connecting with those around you, you have seen the good, the bad and the ugly.  You know the secrets and tricks.  Why?  Experience…there is absolutely no substitute for it.

If you are wanting to do a space right, get a great interior designer.   YOUR HOME OR OFFICE WILL TURN OUT VERY DIFFERENTLY THAN IF YOU HADN’T HIRED A GREAT DESIGNER!

Do it right and make it gorgeous!

Jill Tran

Co-owner and lead interior designer at Tran + Thomas Design Studio in Kansas City