The end of the year arrives fast for interior designers.
One moment it’s fall, and the next it’s installation season, client deadlines, holiday travel, and overflowing to-do lists. For interior design studios, the difference between surviving the holiday rush and thriving during it often comes down to one thing:
Strategic preparation — not working longer hours.
Read MoreYou can have a gorgeous brand, a waitlist of dream clients, and a killer eye for detail… but if your business isn’t legally protected behind the scenes, one small mistake can become a big, expensive mess.
We’re not talking about the basics like “get a business license” or “write a contract” (you’ve probably already done that, we hope). This checklist is for the things that aren’t always discussed in design school or on Instagram but can make or break your business.
Think of it as the savvy designer’s legal gut check: part prevention, part peace of mind.
Read MoreInterior design is so much more than arranging furniture or picking pretty colors. It’s a subtle science of shaping emotions, behaviors, and energy through the spaces we inhabit. Every design decision (from color palettes to furniture placement) communicates with our subconscious, influencing how we feel, think, and interact. For interior designers, understanding these psychological effects can elevate their work from merely beautiful to truly transformative.
Read MoreWe have some exciting news and updates happening here at Elite Design Assistants! Instead of sending multiple newsletters, I wanted to send you ONE called “The Elite Edit”! This newsletter will have a handful of exciting happenings going on in the industry and with Elite Design Assistants.
Read MoreAre you looking to elevate your interior design game and gain access to exclusive products and resources? Joining trade programs can open doors to a world of advantages that extend far beyond what's available to the average retail customer. Among these advantages, the most enticing feature is the potential for significant discounts, a substantial part of designers' profits. But the perks don't end there—trade members often enjoy expedited customer service, sales tax exemptions, exclusive product previews, and in many cases, custom design options and expedited shipping services.
Read MoreRunning an interior design business isn’t just about picking fabrics and selecting paint colors — it’s about juggling client expectations, project deadlines, vendors, budgets, installs, and about a thousand moving parts at once.
Sure, you already know the "big name" tools like Pinterest, AutoCAD, and SketchUp.
But today, we’re diving into the tools that make a real difference behind the scenes — the ones that help you design faster, manage projects better, create a smoother client experience, and ultimately grow a stronger business.
Read MoreAs the science and medical communities continue to confirm that our environment has a direct correlation with our health, the trend of biophilic design is on the rise. Biophilic design refers to interior design and architecture that centers around nature and bringing those elements inside as much as possible. It may include increased natural light, living walls, eco-friendly materials and feature patterns, textiles, and architecture that mimic elements found in nature.
Biophilic design is a newer concept that arose out of interior designers and architects recognizing their client’s needs, as well as their own, to disconnect from a digital world and reconnect with the calming effects of nature.
Read MoreIn interior design, a niche is a specific area of expertise—something you specialize in that helps your business stand out. Rather than offering one-size-fits-all services, choosing a niche allows you to speak directly to a certain type of client and project. It’s about being known for something—whether that’s stylish urban apartments, holistic wellness spaces, or high-end kitchen renovations.
Your niche reflects your strengths, personal style, and the kind of work that lights you up. It’s not just about what you can do—it’s about what you want to be known for.
Read MoreIn an effort to better understand the biggest challenges interior designers face, I spend time in several interior design Facebook groups, and one issue that keeps coming up is intellectual property (IP) violations. So, let’s break down what IP law actually is and why it matters to interior designers.
Read MoreLet’s spare ourselves the lengthy trip down memory lane—the stomach-churning headlines, the cloth masks, the bleach-sprayed groceries. It started five years ago, to the month. We were all there, and we all remember what those early days of Covid were like.
Those of us in the industry also have a set of—let’s face it—complicated associations with the pandemic. While the world was falling apart, the world was buying furniture. Covid was a boom time, unleashing a fountain of opportunity for designers, retailers, manufacturers, and anyone else who could even tangentially claim to be in the business of home.
That boom is over. Some analysts predicted we’d forever be wearing masks and bumping elbows—that’s over too. Save for scuffed-up social distancing stickers clinging stubbornly to linoleum floors, there’s not a ton of physical evidence that we recently went through a global pandemic.
But we’re all still operating in a world that has been shaped by Covid. And five years later, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on all the ways the pandemic did (and didn’t) leave a lasting impact on the design industry.
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