Blog

A large number of people would often mix up the roles of a designer and a decorator or all together insinuate that they are the same career.

This blog post is about how they definitely are not the same career. Of course, they’re similar and may sometimes overlap, that is why the misconception may be excusable. But they still are not the same. As a designer, it can be frustrating to have people regularly refer to you as a decorator. That’s why we have this post up. It will prove very helpful to you if you formerly did not know the difference.

So let’s begin…

An interior decorator’s major concern is aesthetics. A decorator adorns a space to make it look pleasing and stylish. They are concerned majorly with how a place looks so they work with colour, fabric and elements of art. And of course like every other service giver, a decorator has to consider the client’s budget when making decisions on how to beautify a space. In Nigeria, most decorators own stores where they supply their decorative elements and in most cases, they don’t have to physically observe the space being decorated. They sometimes just supply a client’s desired ornaments.

Being a designer, however, is more technical and involves personal interaction with the client and space. A designer analyses the needs of a client creates plans and makes sure the project is completed in accordance with the projected calendar and within the client’s budget. An interior designer’s major concern is to plan or improve the look, functionality and safety of spaces. We enhance and optimize all areas of a space. In our planning, we specify materials, and furnishings like lighting, furniture, wall and floor finishes and sanitary fittings.

Designers have to work with sketches but nowadays, we are able to use Computer Aided Design applications to portray our ideas and even produce images that are photorealistic to help clients visualise how their spaces will look.

After the planning space, an interior designer must oversee the correct installation of all design elements until the completion and very importantly, ensure that the client is satisfied with the design.

It is often said that “A designer can decorate but a decorator cannot design”. Both careers are very important to the society that is why it is important for people to understand the difference so they know what services they require.

We at Structured Spaces are Interior Designers but since it is known that a designer can also be a decorator, you all can bring your decoration projects to us!

We hope you enjoyed this post as much as we enjoyed writing it. Thank you for reading this!

Drop your comments on how this post has helped you or questions you may have. Also, watch out for our next post!