Difference Between Interior Decorating and Interior Design

Interior Decorating vs Interior Design

Most people confuse interior designing with interior decoration. It is a general opinion that decoration as well as designing are both the same, and these two skills can be used interchangeably with each other, but it is not true. Both of these skills require a different kind of skill set. Interior designers have studied about many subjects more than an interior decorator and in more depth.

Interior designers have to deal with the architectural integrity of a building’s insides. They have to deal with redoing and changing the structure of the interiors if required, which requires a knowledge of architecture also, such as which walls can be removed from a space and which cannot be removed for the safety of the building. Interior designers have to study about environmental psychology and create a living space which suits the lifestyle of their clients. For example, when designing an old home, one cannot design two, three levels of a house with staircases of all kinds as it is difficult for elderly people to utilize the stairs.

Interior design basically involves many projects related to each other for the interior of a space so that it is functional, effective, and beautiful, and suits the lifestyle of the people living there. It includes the conceptual development or designing of the interior space which might include everything thing from designing the woodwork, to the windows, to other small and big features of the interior spaces. It also includes coordinating between the workforce and the client, getting supplies at a reasonable cost, supervising the project, and finally finishing it. An interior designer has to work with an interior decorator, or sometimes the designer is skilled enough to decorate the space without hiring a decorator. In other words, we can say that interior decoration is just a part of interior designing. A designer studies about decorating the interior spaces in their three-year degree course, but a decorator does not study about interior designing which is vaster than decorating.

Interior designing includes functional and effective design of the space as well as things like lighting, acoustics, temperature in the interior spaces, the placement of lighting, etc. There are different types of interior designing; residential, commercial, exhibition design, spatial design, universal design, etc. For each type of design, the designer needs to be aware of the codes which need to be followed. For example, the safety codes for residential and commercial spaces are different.

An interior decorator is the one who is especially skilled to decorate the interior of a space and give it the finishing touches. They do not study about structural functions or designing of a building. Decorators deal with things like: which wallpaper to use, rugs, curtains to use in a space, what kind of furniture should be used for which kind of interior space, the color schemes, the themes of a room, the arrangement of furniture, arrangement of decorative items, and what kind of lighting accessories to be used. Decorators in the simplest meaning of the word decorate a room.

Summary:

1.Interior designers have to deal with the structural integrity of a space and design for maximum functionality and effectiveness. An interior decorator has to decorate the interior space with furniture, rugs, curtains, wallpapers, etc., giving the room a finishing touch.
2.Interior design is a vast, three-year degree course; interior decoration can also be a diploma of one year or more.

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