Online Interior Design Process – It Is Not Just a Simple Concept Board

Hey everyone! Today I am back with something a little different.  I am often asked by clients what my online interior design process is like.  Just this morning I received an inbox from my now new client, and she wanted to know what to expect with online interior design.  Do I just send a simple moodboard and shopping list and the design is done? Or is there more to it? At first, I thought it was in interesting question but then after thinking about what people see on social media and places like Modsy and Havenly, I understood.  A full online interior design process is a little more involved than a moodboard and shopping links. It truly is a complete process – the only difference is that all the product purchasing, delivery and installation is handled by you. If I think back – every board I have posted on social media has been from an approved project.  I typically only post one image per project, but there are more images for each project than what I post. 

Back in design school, we would routinely create concept boards mounted on 30” x 20” foam boards. I lost count of how many I tossed after my portfolio review and then they mounted up again before I graduated. I think I single-handedly leveled a few forests and burned out several ink cartridges creating concept boards back then lol. Thankfully, I no longer need to create concept boards on foam boards……my Drop Box is full of them now lol. I remember my professors would always remind us that 80% of a designers’ work rarely gets out of the concept phase. With that in mind, I never took my concept boards seriously and never bothered posting them. I typically create them while shopping for myself, watching TV or simply passing time.  I sometimes whip them up on my cell phone in the car if I am not driving. They typically serve me as a way to organize my thoughts for a client or just as a file location if someone needs a product for a room and I can quickly go to it and refer it to them because I remember a concept I put together. Once I start a project and after I have completed my client consultation – I do create two quick simple image concept boards to make sure we are on the same page in terms of look and style of the room.  Once we have narrowed that down, I then complete one final 2D image collage of the room. This is what I typically post on social media. I like to lay out the room for clients because sometimes, placing flat images on a board doesn’t have the same impact as seeing things in a room perspective view (even if they are not paying for a full 3D render). In a typical online interior design process for my services, in addition to the 2D collage you would also get a floorplan, a separate set of written instructions to help you with product placement and of course – a shopping list.

If you have added a rendering to your online interior design package, your inbox online interior design package will include everything mentioned above in addition to the following.

No matter which service you select, I am also around for a week after you receive your design in case you have any questions or concerns about the final plan.

Believe it or not, I do not spend a lot of time on social media. In fact, if I could avoid it altogether I would do just that lol!  Instagram is not my thing and I spend the least amount of time doing anything at all for The Gram lol!  My DMs seem to work for some people, but not for others.  Plus, Facebook messages have a way of being directed to a black hole and a message sent to me today, I may not receive it until six months from now or whenever Facebook wants to show it to me lol!  You are much more likely to find me busier on one of my Pinterest accounts which is not social media at all – and I am cool with that because I am in my happy place there.  For these reasons, I do not typically check my social media inbox messages.  I find it is easier to filter client messages when they are sent in email and that way nothing is overlooked for a project.  So with that being my mindset I was lucky to actually see her message this morning and I was thankful to receive it, not only because I now have a wonderful new client but also because in speaking with her it made me think a bit differently about sharing my simple concept boards. Maybe I will start sharing them more often as a spark of inspiration, but I wanted to make sure to outline the difference between my design process and my simple concept boards before doing so.

I offer virtual consultations, online interior design, and if you are local – I also offer traditional in-home interior design services. If you are a realtor, ask me about my virtual home staging service and how together we can get a home listing sold faster at a fraction of the cost of traditional home stating services! Please let me know what you think of this design in the comments and be sure to check back regularly for more design inspiration! If you find you need any design assistance, please contact me at latoya@panachedesign.co (yes .co) for a consultation.