Interior Designing VS Interior Decoration: What’s the difference?

Interior Designing VS Interior Decoration

Interior design and interior decoration may seem similar at first glance, but there are key differences between the two. While both involve the use of space, colour, and design elements to create visually appealing and functional living spaces, the approach and focus of each profession differs.

Interior design often deals with the layout and functionality of a space, while interior decoration focuses on the aesthetics and surface level design elements. In this article, we will explore the differences between interior design and interior decoration and help you understand which profession is best suited for your project.

Interior Designing

Interior designing is an art as well as a science. It requires extensive formal training and education. Interior designers need to have a thorough understanding of visual relief, aesthetics, art and architecture to effectively design and build from their minds.

It is not just a job that ensures beautification but it also takes care of the utility aspects of design. It is the job of an interior designer to ensure that a room or hall does not feel cluttered up and has an aesthetically pleasing outlook in general without any additional accessories.

Interior Decoration

Interior Decoration on the other hand, is a job that requires virtually zero formal training. Attend a few courses and you are all set to get started with interior decor. It is all a matter of vision, experience and expertise.

It is needless to add that the scale of pay is different too. Interior decorators choose colours, the right furniture and the proper elements to add to your halls and rooms to make them appear complete and beautiful. It is therefore evident that if you contact an interior designer, you may get a decorator for free but the converse is not true.

Job Responsibilities of an Interior Designer

Job of an interior designer involves a complete refurbishment of your setup and may even include scrapping and rebuilding items. It ensures the ultimate output but has an associated higher cost and time. If you are asking someone to design your office or apartment, you are basically giving them complete authority to displace, remove and introduce pieces as and when they please.

Now while this may seem to be the best solution and a long-term investment, it is not always the viable choice.

Job Responsibilities of an Interior Decorator

More often than not. Interior decorators are called to redecorate entire floors or offices. Interior decorators also find their use in temporary setups, such as a house party or a convocation. Decorators possess the skills to change the complete atmosphere of a normally boring workplace in a short time by introducing a few makeshift changes and temporary elements here and there.

Decorators as a result, tend to have a much wider use case and a cost-effective, reasonable solution that is approachable, feasible and can be performed under several constraints.

Interior Designer vs Interior Decorator: Career Opportunities

From residential establishments to workplaces, the need for design is tremendous. Any major design project provides employment to a team of designers led by a designer or an architect.  It has an enviable pay scale with the proper technical knowledge and enthusiasm, it is possible to scale sky-high in a very short span of time.

Interior Decorators too have numerous opportunities however, since no formal education is a pre-requisite to get started in this field, the pay-scale happens to be somewhat low for small-scale project, as compared to designers. However, it has numerous freelance opportunities and can serve as a viable side-hustle.

Conclusion

From the discussion it is evident that while an interior decorator gives you a cost-effective makeshift solution to decorate your existing design, an interior designer offers you the best output when it comes to laying out the structure of your interiors. To be an interior designer it is necessary for you to pass through a formal education pertaining to design while interior decoration is all a matter of experience and vision. Designers can decorate but decorators cannot design. Overall, it is a matter of varying use cases, constraints and available resources.