What is the role of an interior designer in Malaysia?
Many consumers thought that interior design focuses only on making an interior look good. However, there are other skill sets/services that a professional interior designer will provide. These includes space planning, material selection, project management, budgeting and most importantly, able to identify the homeowners’ preferences, lifestyle and taste to cater the design to their needs.
However, there are many freelancers in Malaysia provides a more affordable “interior design services”, which only includes some 3D renderings and furniture layout plans. This type of service is most suitable to homeowners (whose houses are newly built) who do not want to spend much on interior designing, and yet need some ideas and space planning for its furniture and fittings.
For professional and good IDs, they ought to have the knowledge on the technicality aspects. For instance, when designing the wood work, the ID must be familiar with the types of materials (e.g. plywood vs melamine, veneer and lamination vs painting) and some know-how on the practicality and feasibility aspects of certain designs. When designing the lightings, the wattage and colours of the lights create different ambience. After conceptualizing the ideas, the ID ought to be able to transform these designs and ideas into actual, functional items.
Do you really need an interior design service?
There are many homeowners who prefers to DIY the design of their houses. This can be done by spending hours referring to various designer magazines (examples of interior design magazines in Malaysia includes iN Design, Creative Homex and Home & Decor), Pinterest, websites, etc. If you have a tight budget, this is one of the best way to create your dream house. If so, what’s the additional benefit of engaging an interior designer?
Most IDs have had formal education in design aesthetics, colour theory, space planning and project management. Coupled with the hands on work experience from various projects, they will be able to provide much more than just styling and decoration. They will be able to design custom furniture arrangements to maximize the space you have, give you options which is relevant to your needs and lifestyle, coordinate the lightings and wall colours to create the ambience you prefer.
Some IDs will be able to help you to save cost in various ways, including material selection (mixing the high-end and low-end materials without compromising the elegance of the design), advising which is nice-to-have vs necessity, and managing your renovation projects to avoid costly mistakes. Last but not least, engaging an ID will save a lot of your time!
What we can provide?
At LKY Renovation Works, most of the time we will provide the basic space planning and 3D rendering services at an affordable price, and ensure that the design is not just aesthetic, but able to transform the design to reality. Other drawings/services are also available upon request, such as lightings, ceilings, M&E, details specification drawings, material selection and project management.