Interior Designer Vs Carpenter?

An interior designer and a carpenter or contractor are often perceived as interchangeable by the untrained eyes. Is this really true, though? Why should you select an Interior designer over a carpenter?

Let’s take an example

Would you buy clothes – say a dress/suit without trying? I am sure 95+% of us would need a trial to see how it looks on us. For an investment of a few thousands which can be replaced very often we look at a trial, should we not then look at a “trial” for our homes, something that is irreplaceable and costs multitude times more than clothes purchases.

Let us delve slightly deeper into this:

You have a wedding to attend; you go to a store to buy a dress. You try 4-5 different outfits and buy 1 that you really like. You come back home, show it to your friends/family and if they don’t like it you go back and get it exchanged. Simple.

On the other hand – the process of renovating a house or building a new house can take anywhere between a few weeks to several months and cost several lakhs. You wait for completion, and then if you don’t like it, what can you do? Can you “replace” or “undo” it? No, you cannot. Time, money, and effort is wasted, and there is immense dissatisfaction!

That’s where an Interior Designer comes in

An Interior Designer helps you to practically understand how the look and feel of what your newly built home would look like. They also lead the entire process right from planning taking into consideration your individual preferences/tastes, aesthetics to the completion. No surprises, no disappointments – you know the final output even before starting. In addition, a professional team can guide the various people who are working on the site in a better way without you worrying about quality and other such aspects.

Carpenters, of course, are needed to carry out the building, renovating work but they in no way can replace the role of an Interior Designer.

Difference between ways of working of an interior designer and a carpenter

• Interior designers will initiate with the idea of planning the spaces with design standards whereas carpentry includes placement of furnishings according to their understanding.
• Interior Designers amalgamate your vision with a theme or concept according to the context
• Interior Designers will suggest something that is transformable or multipurpose and of course according to your brief while carpenter will simply copy what you ask him without any suggestions on practical or aesthetic criteria.
• Interior Designers have an idea of the current trends and hence will educate you with the latest trends but you cannot expect the same from the carpenters as they are used to working in particular ways.
• Interior Designers will help you choose the right material, it’s a vast part of selection. You might not be aware of the durability, prices, usage, finishes of all of the materials, they will elaborate how and why certain materials can be chosen for certain spaces, whereas, carpenters choose it according to their usual preferences and might not be able to justify all of the choices.

So, “Spend a little more money and hire an interior designer or just avail services from a carpenter, after all, the actual work is done by a carpenter”. The answer should be clear from above but let’s look at an analogy to reinforce it – “Why do sports teams need coaches? Why does Mr Ambani, for Mumbai Indians, invest in coaches (and coaching staff) even though it’s the Sharmas and the Pandyas who play matches?” A coach understands strengths/weaknesses of players & competitors, brings the team together, defines the plan and builds the strategy, while the players are executionists. Interior Designers, similarly, are specialists who are needed to build or renovate homes – the better part being, they often come with their own team of carpenters reducing the burden on you. check out more information about Modular Kitchen finishes