I don't have experience with both. I had an architect who also studied interior design. He and I collaborated on a lot of the interior spaces and he helped with color selection on the exterior and he did all the trim design in the house. I got his input on the paint colors I selected as well. But he is not going to go shopping for furniture or artwork and the like and he doesn't have those kinds of connections. I did all the window treatments and furniture selections myself, so I didn't need an interior designer.

Ditto to Annie! The architect does the house plan. The Contractor comes next, and he oversees the plumbing, electrical, and the basic walls and roof. There is a HUGE climate change between the two areas, and the homes in PA are designed for that climate. You might find your SW design really cold in winter, and unbearable hot in summer.

Once the house is up and running, THEN you hire the designer. There is an orderly plan. No Interior designer can visualize anything without walls and windows.

Since you want the architectural features of New Mexico AKA South West, you need to hire an architect and an interior designer familiar with that. OH, and pay their plane fare!

JMHO

You start with the building site first, and the architect second when you plan a home. Then, after some planning has been done, it's beneficial to have a contractor, designer, and kitchen designer look over the plans before you are in the final stages. Each has a different perspective. The contractor can give you an idea if what you want will be way out of your budget. The designer can tell you if you can really fit your desired seating arrangement into the great room by the time you account for the traffic flow through it. And the KD can tell you that your aisle room needs to much wider if you really do want seating at that island.

If you have a super talented architect, you don't really need much input from any of the other trades, but that is the .01% exception rather than the rule.

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I see what each of you are saying... the confusion lies in what the interior designers and architects are telling us in their initial consultations and if it would be more beneficial for us to hire BOTH.

The interior designers want to be involved from the beginning. They will draw out each room and 3D model it. Basically, work hand in hand with the architect to turn the vision into reality.

Annie mentioned that her architect also studied interior design, thus served both functions minus shopping for furniture / window treatments.

I understand the definition and difference between the two professions. However, my questions center more on who is the best at leading the design team and how much is overkill.

Another way to look at it is cost effectiveness. If an architect plans to charge $145 / hr for their services and an interior designer charges $125 / hr, then why spend more on an architect to do interior design work AND construction administration?

Also, I should probably have mentioned we already own our land, thus the building site is already in hand.

i involved my interior designer from the beginning - she reviewed all versions the architect provided and then helped with feedback. So, the design/details for built ins, ceiling treatments (wood beams, coffered ceilings, barrel vault), kitchen layout, window style/type...the list goes on! She also had great suggestions/changes for the floor plan when it came to furniture layout, etc. So, it's really having the architect start it with your vision in mind, and then collaborating with your builder, interior designer, etc. so the final product is what you want.

We had our architect attempt the interiors first. While we love the exterior that they created, their interior design was not to our liking...it just didn't feel as fresh and comfortable as we had liked. So we now are working with interior designers who are doing an amazing job. They have helped tweak everything from the flow of the floorplan to creating custom furniture. It's proving to be more costly this way, but we are, thus far, really happy with the outcome!

What you need, more than anything else, is a team of professionals who can and will communicate and cooperate together--architect, interior designer kitchen designer if you really think you need one, and builder. One or more who won't or are reluctant to work with the others will sour the effort.

Thus, step one, should be to identify professionals with a proven track record of working in a collaborative interdisciplinary manner.

The architect is the beginning point, since s/he must work with you to build a design which is responsive to your site, life style and budget. If you want the design and construction to be integrated, then you will want to retain the architect for bidding assistance, and construction administration.

The interior design will need to have its scope clearly defined so that it is clear to everyone where the ID role begins and ends. Generally speaking, the ID will be responsible for the design, specifications of the interior finishes, furniture and equipment (FFE). There may well be special interior construction for featured areas, etc., that would also be part of the ID work.

The typical separation of work is for the architect to be responsible for site work, the building structure and shell, general building systems and all exterior items. The ID will be responsible for everything inside the building shell, including specific locations of all building systems and controls, ie, light fixtures, HVAC supply/return vents, plumbing fixtures/ fittings, hardware, etc.

Kitchen design, detailing, purchasing and installation is a wild card. It could be the responsibility of the architect, the interior designer, a kitchen designer, the builder or you!

Since this is a complex coordination effort, professional firms that offer integrated or comprehensive services, ie, architecture and interior design, may be a good option to consider.

You will need a contract for architectural services; a contract for ID services; and a contract for construction. All three contracts should clearly spell out the specific scope of work, responsibilities and limits for each professional.

Interior design and kitchen design contracts generally are one of two categories: 1) Professional services, where you pay a professional fee for services, plus the direct cost of purchases of FFE in your behalf; 2) Retail costs of fixtures, furnishings and equipment, which have ID services rolled into the total FFE expense. You'll have to pick which arrangement and relationship you prefer.

Unless you designate one of the professionals as your Agent, to make decisions and coordination on your behalf, it will be up to you to coordinate and manage the work of all three professionals. This is why you want adults who can play well together from the get-go.

Good luck on your project.

I can tell you one story our architect told us. He's working on a very difficult remodel....wetlands, wind loads, cantilevering to create more sq footage where no larger footprint is allowed. It's been an incredible design challenge. After they installed the steel and the walls were going up, suddenly the client's ID decided that a certain wall absolutely must go! The homeowner is going with the ID. But the ID is totally unaware of the structural requirements and load bearing issues so he had to redesign, remove and reinstall some of the steel and it is costing the homeowner $$$.

So if you are going to use both, make sure they talk...

I guess I also should say that we had the lighting designer (from the lighting store) and the architect meet to review the lighting plan with me.

We definitely used both professionals. The ID was better at the floor plans, the architect of course knew the structural/construction side the best. We started with the architect, and then had the ID make suggestions for how to improve the floor plans the architect had roughed in based on what we had worked out with him. If I ever needed to do this again, I would have started with floor plans from an ID rather than pay the architect to do floor plans, that the ID had to rework. I agree that having a team of adults that have worked together before would be ideal.

Carol

Where does one find an interior designer?

On our house, we began with the architect. He encouraged us to hire an interior designer sooner rather than later. Lucky for us, his wife is an interior designer, and they definitely work well together. We benefit from the opinions of each of them. Also, in our situation, our architect is doing all of the interior elevations and modeling, so it's not split between our architect and a third-party interior designer (one of the reasons we wanted to use his wife). I can't imagine her suggesting anything like moving a wall! She probably looked at the floor plans as he designed them, but she was not involved at that point. Based on what virgilcarter described, it sounds like our architect may be more involved than most - he did the electrical and lighting placement (for the can lights) and stuff like that.

In our situation, we are paying the architect a per-foot fee that includes construction administration and 3D modeling. We are paying the interior designer a per-hour fee. We specified what we need her help on, which includes lighting, plumbing fixtures, flooring, tile anywhere and probably some other items I haven't thought of. Things like kitchen design are more the architect and us. We will choose our own appliances (we're really into cooking, and don't need any help in being particular in that category), and will select and purchase our own furniture.

Our builder we selected ourselves from some suggestions of the architect; he and the architect have worked together before, and the builder is familiar with the modern design and materials that the architect uses. We really, really like him, and know we will get a lot of helpful advice from our builder once the build starts (just waiting for snow to melt); he's already provided input on some elements such as use of pocket doors. So we're quite confident that he will work well with the architect, but be able to provide us with his independent viewpoint as well.

Many architectural firms have an in-house interior designer. But I'm guessing this is not the case with yours? Or do they, and you just didn't say so. On the other hand, there are architects out there that can do it all (Bobby McAlpine, for example).

I would look at other projects the architect has done, including the interior design - if you like them, then you've got your answer. If not, I would ask the ID firm what architects they are suggesting - you might find you don't like those, or find one better than your current prospect.

There's a lot of if's in your scenario. Good luck with the progress and your build.

These are excellent pieces or information and thank you very much for sharing your experiences and recommendations. It appears having both parties on a design team is very important with the caveat that we find two that can work well together and effectively communicate.

I like the idea of designating which party will do what and having them both participate early in the design process. When the construction /bidding phase eventually arrives, we will be relying heavily on our design team to make recommendations.

Did each of you have your architect design your landscaping / outdoor space or did you need a separate landscape architect? Does the ID play a role in outdoor design?

@ Allison... At this point we have only interviewed and had an initial consultation with 1 architect firm and 2 interior design firms. The architect said he could do all the interior design himself and we would only need him. However, we feel we may be overpaying for his "interior design" services and he was pretty adamant about not liking to work with interior designers (which raised a red flag for us).

We have some national recognized and extremely talented interior designers in our area, and their hourly rate is cheaper then the first architect we met with. Thus, if we hired one of the ID firms, why default to the architect for interior design decisions?

Now with that said, we WILL be meeting with other architects to get comparisons, but I figured discussing our experience and questions with the garden web community would prepare us further for those consultations. Furthermore, your input and experience will likely help us ask questions we may not have thought of in future consultations.

We did ask the ID firms for recommendations on architects (especially architects they work well with). Unfortunately, I can not find any information online about one of those recommendations. No individual website and no online portfolio. that worries me a bit and I will need to check and see if I can get that architect on the phone.

The second firm's architect recommendation may be a solid option. We will be setting up a meeting with them and see how it goes.

I think at the moment my wife and I are a little overwhelmed on how MANY service options there are within architectural firms and ID firms. It appears many of these service options overlap, making it more overwhelming on who you go with for what services.

I liked how virgilcarter described the separation of the two and it seems like we need to tailor services around the strengths of each profession.

In our case, we hired a landscape designer and ran the plans by our architect. He made some important changes, like the design of the front walkway and the design of the patio shape and walkway with the barrel-vaulted ceiling. It really made a huge impact on the hardscape, but he was not going to pick and place plants.

Great thread. It's hard to find one person who can do it all well and who likes to do it all. There's just so much to know, and few opportunities to hone all of the skills to the same extent. Did the architect who said he could do the interior design show you good examples of this type of work? A good architect will know and acknowledge his or her limits. Fine, and not unusual, to hire both.

Glad to hear you're thinking to get everyone on board early. Costs less to change pencil than ink, less to change ink than concrete and steel. Landscape, furnishings, and lighting can make or break otherwise great architectural design and builder craftsmanship. And help to find/fix problem areas and improve the overall design before its bid or built.

Keep us informed. Good luck.

@dadereni during the initial consultation, the architect showed us several sketches for a current project he is working on. It was a gorgeous lake house that was designed in a similar style that we are looking for. He showed us exterior sketches, floor plans, and 3D models for the same home.

We did not see any examples of his interior design work at the initial meeting. I did see pictures on his website (in the portfolio section). I am not sure if he would go as far as picking out furniture / artwork options to match room design.

That's always part of the problem when they show you their work...you're never sure how much is the architect, how much is the builder, how much is the homeowner, how much is the interior designer, and how much is the budget for all that work....

Interesting discussion! @jc_ufl what did you end up deciding for your design professoinal selection(s)?

(I'm an architect and do interior design as well) so much of this depends on the experience level of the different firms, and definitely communication is key.