Answer? Yes, and yes, and yes.

Inspiration photos are helpful to you and a designer. Appliance shopping in person is nearly a must, unless you eat take out. Basically every surface ........flooring, tile, solid surfaces is something you want to see up close and together with other elements in your space.

But. Having an interior designer? This is the best scenario when building. Many builder provide a version of designer at their "design" center where you will be led through standard options for every category needed in your build. Selections/options will be generally inline with however custom your home is. ......and the designer? Is actually not more than a salesperson, checking boxes. Her goal is to move the process along, she works FOR the builder whose profit is when you close on the house.

An independent designer works for YOU. Most people are somewhat overwhelmed at the sheer numbers of decisions required when building. Many of these come at you simultaneously, and seem in no logical order as well. Designers cut through that process and keep you on track to YOUR look/style and needs. She/he can be eyes, ears, on your site, and lead you to a home that has your desired feel, in a process far less stressful than either a hurried or hand wringing route. A designer can save you mistakes and mistakes can be costly or simply a delayed regret.

In other words.....together, you and that person - that is the best of the new build "world" : ) Get one at the same time you look at that large black and white paper PLAN.

I looked through lots of pictures, decorating websites, magazines, thoroughly used Houzz website, visited lots of stores, collected samples for countertops and flooring. I ended up with a kitchen designer and fantastic carpenter for my kitchen and bathrooms who were very experienced, and who I felt quite comfortable with. I researched them both too. I also hired another carpenter who was a stair specialist who installed a new oak staircase and bannister and stained them to match my Italian porcelain wood look tiles. Educating yourself and thoroughly researching all your craftsmen does pay off❣️It was like having another full time job❣️

A good interior designer will listen to what you like and do the best to bring your ideas to life but also be honest when you want something that does not work. They will aslo help ease the job of all the decisions that will need to be made with a new build . IMO accent walls are at the very bottom of the list but a good overall plan is at the top.

This was our process for hiring an interior designer: https://amodernmountainhome.com/2021/01/25/hiring-an-interior-designer/

Keep in mind that price differences can be dramatic. Like $2k vs. $100k.

We found that getting a big ol pinterest board together was a great first step. https://amodernmountainhome.com/2020/12/06/a-big-pinterest-board/

Ultimately, our designer helped with a fair amount of stuff before she needed to quit the project for personal reasons. After that, we handled things on our own. More on that process here: https://amodernmountainhome.com/?s=interior

How much time do you have? How savvy are you with color and design? How excited are you about designing your own interior by yourself? If your answers to these questions are anything but 1) a ton 2) super savvy 3) really excited, then you will be happy you hired a designer. You can look at pictures and say "I want this" but getting it to flow with the rest of the home is where the challenge is.

We are building a production home, so our choices were limited, but we still had to choose finishes from the options in the design center. We had maybe 15 hardwood flooring choices, 50 counter choices, 10 colors for painted cabinets and 6 colors for stained cabinets (and only 3 cabinet door styles)...you get the gist. Even then it took us all day to do it with the help of the builder's designer, and by the end we felt like we were losing our minds. Faucets were the last thing - there were only a dozen options and it was like picking a baby name. Seriously. AND I still changed things after that meeting - some due to cost, some because I reconsidered our choices. Having limitless choices and having no professional guidance would have ruined me.

I did it all on my own, but I enjoy the process, trust my taste and had time to do all the searching for that perfect product. I had remodeled a whole house before over 10 years, but the new build was in a new area, so I had to do the initial research all over again to find the vendors I liked best. My builder gave me a list of suggestions, which I checked out. I used many of his preferred vendors, but some I didn't like the materials they carried, so I found other options.

I used a designer before in my old area and it was not a good process for me. Later during my house remodel I did find a designer that would work with my style, which was that I did all the research and the designer just came in for an hour or two to review my selections and offer any suggestions for changes, which she rarely had to. She was a good set of eyes/ears to bounce ideas of off.

Totally depends on you and your vision, and as above stated, your time. We did a two floor gut job and I chose all. I went to the stores and found the discounts and figured it out. It was hours of work, weekends spent driving around and making it happen. I had the time and could do it. Don’t regret it one bit.

Fast forward to our house build and we now had three kids and were both working a lot more. We needed an interior designer. We still made boards of what we liked to give them ideas. We still got a say but it was narrowed down substantially. In some cases the ID got it totally wrong and we did source a couple of things. We also had major budget issues where the ID showed us things grossly over budget which was a let down and waste of time.

So my advice would be to definitely interview more than one ID and talk to previous clients who have a similar budget to you. In retrospect this was a mistake we made. Talking to some who used her but had significantly more funds than us wasn’t helpful as they could care less if tile was double what they thought whereas we cared a lot. Also making sure you are on same page with communication and expectations is key. How many projects do they have on the go at once? How budget conscious are they?

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