How to prepare for your interior design consultation
One of the obvious benefits of choosing to build a new home, over buying an established home is the ability to personalise your home - inside and out, to suit your style and budget.
One of the main reasons customers choose to build a new home with us is to access lots of choices, with many coming as a standard inclusion for no extra cost!
This makes personalising your home even more affordable and realistic! Part of personalising your home is deciding on your selections (the fun part!), so we also provide you with a qualified interior designer free of charge, who will guide you through all the possibilities…bringing your vision to life.
Our interior designers are not paid commissions, so there is absolutely no pressure on you to upgrade items - they will simply use their expertise to help you create your very own look and style – your home!
Customers that have built with us describe our design showroom as ‘where the magic happens’. It’s also a space where you can see, touch and feel all the different elements that will go into your home.
By following our tips, you will be prepared and confident in your choices, remembering too that our team will be there every step of the way to support you and provide their expert advice.
Visit display centres
This is an excellent first step to finding your colour inspiration. You can view all the colour schemes and themes on show and make notes about what resonates with you. Be sure to also jot down the actual display homes and products that stand out to you. Ask the display team questions about the colours that are on display and bring them along to your colour selection appointment.
Find out when you can visit your builder's showroom
This is a really important question to ask your builder, along with “before I pay a non-refundable deposit, can I see your upgrade costs?” This means you understand what’s included as standard versus what will cost extra and you can stick to a budget for everything on your wish list. This ensures you don’t pay a non-refundable deposit and THEN find out you can’t afford their upgrades. The Henley interior design consultation will get you familiar with all the products in the showroom, and help you understand what you need to start thinking about and the budget required to make it happen!
Visit as many times as you like
We recommend you visit the design showroom as many times as you like in the lead up to your interior design consultation – you’ll never get bored, we promise! Supplier samples are available for you to take away so you can start creating a mood board and see how all your selections look together. Make sure to ask the interior designers any questions you may have; they love to help!
Virtual Selection’s Guide
We provide you with an informative virtual selections guide, which will quickly become your go to guide. The selections guide lays out all the inclusions that come as standard in your home, and the upgrade options available and is basically our design showroom in a handy book. Use it as a style guide, and keeper of thoughts - tick your preferred selections, write notes against each product that you are interested in and DEFINITELY bring it with you to your appointment.
Inspirational images
As well as collating all of your notes from your display centre visits, it’s really useful to bring along inspirational images from Pinterest and Instagram, which are great platforms to find the latest in interior design styles, colours and trends. You can build your own boards with your preferred colours and designs, which is helpful for our interior designers to understand your style when they bring together your scheme. This also allows the interior designer to delve further into the little details and bring your chosen scheme to life. If you happen to forget a particular product you’ve seen on display that you love, don’t worry, there’s a display home image library with virtual tours that can be used in your appointment to find the style treasure!
Developer/Estate guidelines
This is an incredibly important element to research before your interior design consultation. There is a lot to consider when planning a particular colour scheme and the implications could depend on how strict the developer guidelines are. To avoid any disappointment or delay in your permit process, it’s vital to familiarise yourself with the estate guidelines as some have strict rules around what colours and materials can be used on your façade, for example, which can have a huge impact on the scheme you have in mind for your home. While your interior designer will be able to assist, it is best to be prepared for any impact this may have on your selections ahead of time.
Finally, have fun! Being prepared will allow you to enjoy the experience and give you confidence in the choices you have made. No one knows your style better than you, so be confident in expressing your style and let our interior designers guide you; they are here to help bring your new home vision to life. Enjoy the magic of creating your very own home…for you, by you!
