Interior Decorators

You know the whitebrick raised hearth fireplace that screams 1970s has to go - that perhaps it's time to opt for a colour scheme more adventurous than magnolia and cream. But then the arguments begin. Everyone in the family has strong ideas on what should be done to transform the livingroom. One favours painting it bordello red, filling the room (shudder) with 70s retro furniture. Another is all for period fireplaces that cost the debt of a small country, new period windows, ditto.

You need outside advice even if you're prepared to do the work yourselves. An interior decorator or designer can provide it - at a surprisingly reasonable basic price. Olive Treanor of High Trees Design in Clondalkin explains: "For me to go out and have a look will cost a call-out fee of £50. For that, I'd come up with some ideas.

"If you want me to go ahead, I'd work out the cost of the job - the rough price of curtains, carpets, flooring - and I'd give you my fee. No, up to then there's no commitment on your part whatsoever. If you want me to do so, I'll organise it all for you. How long would it take? Of course it depends on what's to be done, but if you said go ahead now, I'd hope by Halloween."

The basic consultation fee of most interior decorators seems to be around £50 to £60, plus VAT, for which they will come to your home, discuss what rooms or rooms you want to make over, and provide you with specific ideas and advice on redecorating. If you want them to implement the plan, fees generally appear to be around 10 per cent of the total cost of the job, although many charge a flat fee, which may well come to less than that.

Patricia Keating, of Patricia Keating Interiors in Ranelagh, Dublin 6, says "My initial consultation costs £50. I can come out to your home, go through all your requirements; that would take about an hour, an hour and a half. We'd discuss what you want to keep, and what you want to change - soft furnishings, lighting, a new colour scheme, whether you want, say a wooden floor and so on."

Asking an interior designer over the phone what it will cost to make over your livingroom is like asking how long is a piece of string. It all depends, of course, on whether you want a new three-piece suite, wooden floor (easily costing £1,000-plus by itself), fireplace, curtains and so on, or a simple change of the colour of the paint on your walls. But as Angela Gleeson of Abbey Interiors, in Firhouse, Dublin 16, says: "Once you start with one thing, you start to want to change everything."

After an initial consultation, costing £50, she would come back with some specific ideas and some costings. "I could come back, for example, with samples of wooden flooring that I wouldn't have with me on the first day. And yes, we can organise everything from choosing a wooden floor, or fireplace or whatever, to getting everything installed. With a lot of our clients, for example, we'd go to our regular suppliers, we'd go with you to pick tiles and so on.

"With some clients money is no object, but I'd do it sensibly. But the price will depend on what you want - wooden floors are expensive. For a new fireplace you're looking at around £1,000, maybe more. The thing to do is get the dirtiest work done first, and perhaps consider going back to do more in six months time. We keep plans on file."

Abbey Interiors does carry out work for clients. "We do a lot of work for architects; we've been in business 23 years." It's worth clarifying exactly what an interior designer will and won't do for you during the initial phone call. If you simply need some professional outside advice on how to get away from a bland colour scheme, or how to accommodate 1,000 books, a piano, storage for good china - and still have room left for seating in your livingroom - you might simply want the initial consultation.

If you want someone to take on the entire job, from advising on, choosing and arranging for curtains, carpets/wooden floors, tiles, fireplaces to be fitted, painting to be done, then make sure that the person you choose offers that service.

A professional's trade contacts may save you money. One investor who paid around £7,000 - including the designer's fee - to have a one-bedroom apartment smartly designed and fitted out from cookers to curtains, sofas to spoons, reckoned that he could not have done the job for less himself.

You may want the particular "look" that some interior designers, who make their own fabrics, wallpapers and so on, produce, and if that's the case, you should go straight to them. Peter Johnson Interiors of South Lombard Street, Dublin 8, has the reputation of being the doyen of country house interior design. "An initial consultation, in which someone will come out to discuss things with you, will cost £60 plus VAT," a woman at his company says. "We have fabric and wallpaper books, and you can come in and work up a scheme. We make curtains, and can recommend paperhangers. For flooring, we'd only recommend what you should do; you'd have to go and get it."

Another well-known interior designer is Angela O'Connor. She charges £60 "to talk to you for as long as you want," according to her office. "It's impossible to give even a ballpark figure for redecorating, e.g., a livingroom, over the phone. We do all our own upholstery fabrics and wallpaper.

"We work around your lifestyle. And we'd be quite happy to advise on structural stuff, telling you where you'd get best value on stuff like wooden floors," she explains.

Choosing an interior designer can be a problem: go to the Golden Pages and you'll find four pages of individual and company names. So how to choose? Word of mouth is always a good bet, especially if you've been impressed by a job done for a friend. Another idea is to get a list of names from the Institute of Designers, which includes interior decorators.