The Hidden Skills All Interior Designers Need to Have

Everyone knows that good interior designers need to have a whole range of skills. They need to be good with colour, good with textiles, good with bringing a scheme together. But aside from all of the design work, there are also a raft of hidden skills that interior designers need to have.

Hidden Skill #1: Marriage Counselling

You may laugh at this one, but honestly, if I had a pound for every couple that has stood in front of me arguing about how they want a design to look, I would be lying on a beach right now, instead of writing this!

A successful interior designer needs to be able to listen to both clients' opinions and help to navigate them towards a unified and cohesive scheme, whilst also keeping the peace and not taking sides!

Hidden Skill #2: Mind Reading

Most people engage an interior designer because they don't know what they want, or how to achieve what they want. One of the most important jobs an interior designer has is to get into their client's "groove". With careful questioning the designer needs to suss out what's in the client's mind, not always an easy task!

You need to be able to read between the lines of what they are telling you, to elicit the sort of look they want, even if they don't know how to articulate it for themselves.

Hidden Skill #3: Plate Spinning

Being an interior designer isn't just about doing the design work, it's also about being able to manage a project.

A designer needs to be able to manage and co-ordinate contractors, purchase orders, furniture deliveries and project timescales. There are a lot of plates to spin!

And of course, you need to keep a professional veneer at all times; making the client feel reassured that all is on track, which sometimes requires you to appear as though you are gliding calmly across the water, whilst your feet are paddling frantically underneath the surface.

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