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If you’re looking for a designer to update your home from afar, it’s now easy to do as remote interior design has become part of the mainstream. Enterprising startups and individuals have combined new tech innovations with our greater, post-pandemic openness to conducting more of our lives remotely. Blend this with a generous helping of creativity via props like 3D renderings, to make remote home redesign a doable, greener, and more affordable choice.
Zora dreamed of creating the perfect NYC apartment, but her high hopes gave her a case of design paralysis. So she decided to use Modsy and quickly discovered the perfect design style for her space and unlocked its full potential.https://t.co/ccze1gujKa pic.twitter.com/4FkkzUmtC7
— Modsy (@modsy) October 6, 2021
All you have to do is to share your space, explain your hopes, and wait for the designers to dream up ideas for you to approve!
A Zooming response to pandemic reality
Homes and Gardens christened the recent year “The year of digital decor”. No doubt, the pandemic has spurred many people to reinvent their homes, particularly when so many need to work from home and so create multifunctional spaces.
Spending so much more time indoors also helped people focus on the real value of their home environments, and wanting to use their time indoors to transform their homes without moving from their sofas.
We may not be able to meet with you or visit your property at the moment, but we can still assist with your interior decisions via remote consultation. We can help with room styling or schemes with decor, soft furnishings, lighting, furniture. Even showhome designs are possible! pic.twitter.com/UjbIQYcWV5
— Design Fix - Interiors (@DesignFixUK) May 4, 2020
While some interior designers such as Design Fix shown in the above tweet, started off trying to be more flexible and blossomed into fully-fledged remote home design consultants, already-established virtual interior design companies witnessed an accelerated demand for their services.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that remote interior designers dispense with the real world, however. They still call upon additional help from onsite crews when needed to measure spaces and liaise with contractors, and are not beyond finding out which local shops stock chairs and sofas so clients can do a “sit test” for comfort, for instance.
The New York Times, as part of its Business Transformation report series looking at how the pandemic has changed business, spotlighted some of the changes happening in remote room design. It reports on a Vancouver-based interior designer. Gillian Segal, who found that the “Zoom boom”, aka the popularity and acceptability of remote connectivity software, made remote designing a workable possibility for her. She has since completed work on houses she has “never even set foot in” with the help of Facetime to liaise with contractors on the ground.
Faye Robinson-Hey, head interior designer at Robinson King Interiors, told Homes and Gardens that her team harnesses Zoom video calls, WhatsApp, Pinterest, as well as email and regular calls to communicate with clients, backed up by mailed sample packs.
Ellen Fischer, the Vice President of Academic Affairs for the New York School of Interior Design, shares her belief that this timing has helped make remote design “totally mainstream”, overcoming the initial hesitation which existed, just like with online dating. This is shown in how the school’s continuing education courses now include teaching students how to add notes and little diagrams to shared screens on Zoom, and follow up with meeting minutes featuring them after video calls.
Since February 2021, it’s now also possible to consult with some of the world’s top home designers via the expert, making them one video call away from solving your burning questions. You show them your space, they offer personalized guidance drawing on their know-how and experience and flair so you hopefully get to “experience your a-ha moment”!
Meet three trailblazing remote home design startups
San-Francisco-based Decorist, experienced an increasing demand for its services in the past year. Vice president of operations, Susie Doyle, shares that people have enjoyed their simple, fast and inspiring service and its emphasis on collaboration, while at home for longer. This service offers a classic design package with a flat fee per room.
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Modsy is another affordable, cutting edge remote design company. Its Instagram caption, “Interior design you don’t have to imagine,” highlights another plus of remote interior design; not everyone’s a designer, so you get to preview what you may find a tad difficult envisaging in advance.
If my office looked like this I would simply wear a white pantsuit every single day. https://t.co/prIxrfMWD7 pic.twitter.com/dTsygH52Ot
— Havenly (@thehavenly) June 19, 2021
Havenly is a popular online interior design service underlining the fun of its affordable remote interior design process. Clients collaborate with an interior designer to bring “your personalized home vision to life”. Once the user chooses a designer, s/he shares their dream room vision and the designer starts sharing inspiration to help the client share a creative direction. Customer reviews and the “after” photos are impressive.
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