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A Day in the Life of an Interior Designer

What Do You Do?

Just like everyone else, I get the question “What do you do?” all the time.

When I say I’m an interior designer in Massachusetts I get all different responses – “That must be fun.” “Oh, I could never do that. I’m so bad at decorating.”

But, I just realized that most people, including my own family, have no idea what I actually DO.

I LOVE my job.
I love that it’s different every day.
I love that I get to set my own hours.
I love the creative part of it.
I love making people’s lives’ better by creating homes they love to live in.

But, it’s a lot of work.

So here’s my Day in the Life of an Interior Designer.

Most mornings I wake up to Ozzy staring at me, wagging his tail. He’s hungry

I get up and start my coffee.
Feed Ozzy
Empty the dishwasher while waiting for coffee
COFFEE
While I have my coffee I catch up on the news on TV and check Facebook.
I try to answer, like, comment on the Details page.
My son texts me to go to the post office for him (in my spare time, haha)
Time for a quick shower.
I plug in my phone to the speaker and play some music, usually country, to get me going while I get ready for the day.
I make the bed and pick my husband’s clothes up off of the floor, where he leaves them EVERY damn night!
I throw in a load of laundry.
Then I head into my home office to answer emails.
Sometimes this takes longer than others.
Sometimes clients need pictures and prices of options for furniture, which takes some research.
I spend some time working on choosing furniture that’ll work with a client’s new home.

By this time it’s late enough to make any necessary phone calls.
Contractors need scheduling and timeline adjustments.
I need to call about granite pricing.
I need to call potential clients to book consults.
Next comes the dreaded paperwork.
I send out any necessary bills.
I record and file any receipts.
I set up social media posts.

And I check on my monthly home staging rentals to see if anyone is due to be charged their rental fee.
And it’s time to get running.
My daughter texts me about a problem with her college summer course.
Even though I’m an empty nester these kids are still needy 😉 haha.

I try to get Ozzy to go out and go to the bathroom by bribing him with a carrot. He loves carrots.
Then I head out.
I stop by any active job sites.

I check in with the contractors and subcontractors, answer any questions and concerns and go over plans.
I measure a countertop that needs replacing (and do this fabulous drawing)

so that I can get pricing.
When I get in my car I check my emails again to see if there’s anything pressing that needs to be responded to right away.
I have a fleeting thought about whether I’ve planned anything for dinner…
Back to that later.
Then I head to the granite yard to pick out some options for the countertop.

I head to the furniture store to grab some fabric samples for a sofa we need to order ASAP because it takes 12 weeks for a custom sofa.
I try to take some pics for my social media, but half the time I forget.
Music gets me through traffic (Shake your rump.)

I stop off at CVS because my allergies are kicking my ass today!
I head home.
What the heck is for dinner?
Ozzy is always happy to see me, so I chase him around a little, feed him and let him out.
I head out to meet with clients that work during the day and can’t meet during the day.

Then I finally head home for the night.
I head upstairs to change my clothes and throw the laundry in the dryer.
I figure out something for dinner.

While dinner is cooking I check the Details Facebook page.
Sometime during this craziness my husband finally comes home from work and we have a minute to chat and catch up.
While he showers I have a glass of wine.

Time for dinner and maybe a little TV or reading.
Bed……zzzzz
And it starts all over again………

The next day could involve –

• Figuring out a budget (lots of dreaded math!)
• Drawing up floor plans
• Writing a blog post like this one for my website
• Writing a newsletter for my email list
• Shopping for accessories
• Meetings with contractors for pricing
• Putting a whole room together, accepting furniture delivery and then hanging artwork and arranging accessories
• Staging a house for sale
• Or coming up with a plan for an eDesign client across the country

It’s different every day, which is fun.
But, running your own interior design business is a lot of work.
I love it! If you are looking for help with interior design in Western Mass check out our interior design services.