Breaking Down the Difference Between a Designer and a Decorator

When I last spoke at PRINTING United, I described the difference between an interior designer and an interior decorator in my presentation. Afterward, a lot of people were asking me about this detail. Dan Marx also asked me about it when he had me on as a podcast guest. Since you all seem curious about it, I thought it was worth another look.

What’s the difference between a designer and a decorator?

Interior Designer

Interior designers design spaces within buildings that are safe, inclusive, and accessible. They are responsible for understanding people’s behavior and designing functional interior spaces only, not the physical building. (An architect does that.) Interior designers must be licensed and keep that licensing current by taking periodic continuing education units (CEUs). Interior designers are often part of a larger team of professionals, including architects, engineers, project managers, and specifiers.

Interior Decorator

While interior designers create the space, interior decorators fill the space. A decorator focuses on the visual finishes and furnishings in a space but not in creating the actual space. For example, the decorator may choose the furniture for a room and develop a plan for furniture placement. They may also add decorative touches such as pillows, artwork, or style objects on shelves. Many of them do go through some type of training program, but many do not. There are no required licenses to be an interior decorator.

For example, imagine you want to refresh your home. If you want to upgrade your kitchen by knocking down a wall, repositioning appliances, or rewiring the lighting, you would need a licensed interior designer to draw up plans and schematics to make that happen. However, if you want to update your living room with a new color palette, furniture, or storage solutions, you could work with a decorator to help you pick out those visual elements.

As a print services provider, will you work with a designer or a decorator?

Hopefully both. Working with an interior decorator might likely be for smaller-scale and residential projects. They might be giving a space a refresh and need vinyl flooring, upholstery, or wallpaper. This would likely have a faster turnaround for the entire project and smaller quantities. When working with an interior designer, they may be working on a larger-scale project. They may sample material from you, but then it may be a project manager or specifier who works with you when it’s time to place an order for production. This would likely be a much longer turnaround but higher quantities.

Do you have questions about the interior market or the people working within it? Feel free to reach out and I will do my best to answer it, possibly in a future column.