HAVING a design professional to guide a newbie interiors shopper can cut their stress and maximise the best choices for their taste, lifestyle and property, writes Carol O’Callaghan
Doing something for the first time is always the hardest, and when you’re a first-time home buyer, wending your way around mortgage applications, estate agents, negotiations, and possibly a bidding war, can be an exhausting and time-consuming process, so by the time you’re ready for the much-anticipated decorating and furniture buying, the combination of fatigue and pressure to get something to sleep on and sit on can be overwhelming.
So too can the endless choice available, especially when the first-time buyer is confronted with a sea of sofas blending into each other in a badly laid out showroom.
Enlisting the help of an interior design professional can make the process so much easier and eliminate concerns about impulse-buying furniture you might want to purge in a year or two when you find the size is wrong and the colour and style are dating quickly, something Aparna Lahiri, a locally based IT professional found when she was furnishing her new three-bedroomed duplex apartment recently.
“I was looking at options, going from shop to shop but places were not customer friendly,” she says. “Then a friend told me about EZ Living Interiors’ design service.”
Availing of the £50 one-hour consultation with interior designer Lisa Glennon, Aparna explains, “If I didn’t have Lisa, I would have been overwhelmed but when there is someone to guide you, it makes the process very smooth. I have been to flooring shops, furniture shops and other places but this was the best customer service I’ve had on the whole journey.
“I loved how the showroom is laid out. I like colourful, but if you want grey, they have grey. If you want blue, they have blue. I had narrowed down some choices, but Lisa also recommended some alternatives which looked better.”
For someone buying on their own, the service brings added value for first-time buyers being able to tap into Lisa’s interior design skills and experience, and her in-depth knowledge of the EZ Living Interiors’ collections.
“They have no one to bounce ideas off,” Lisa explains. “It can be overwhelming, but I promise them that at the end of the hour they’ll feel more relaxed. Coming into the store for their consultation is nicer. It’s calm and puts them at their ease, and it gives people confidence knowing they’re making the right choices having a second opinion from someone who has done so many other homes.”
Working from video footage of the duplex, Lisa was able to advise on flooring and wall colour before getting down to the business of furnishings.
“It all starts with layers,” she says. “Literally like building a house and working your way up. I direct customers to flooring companies and I’ll recommend paint colours if they need. Often the customer will say they know nothing about interiors but they do: they know what they don’t like. People might have things saved on Pinterest, or what they’re wearing tells a lot about them. You’ll see their style.”
The comprehensive consultation meant a coherent approach with size- and colour-appropriate furniture choices which satisfied Aparna’s taste and her priorities of budget and quality.
Conscious of space considerations and storage requirements, Lisa suggested, for example, a sideboard rather than a TV stand. “It’s not something I would have thought about myself,” says Aparna. Equally, there were things Aparna thought she couldn’t have, but Lisa was able to find a way around.
“I really wanted velvet sofas,” Aparna says, “but I thought they wouldn’t be practical until Lisa told me about the Guardsman policy which will cover removal of any stains. These were things I didn’t think about.”
And the relationship with the customer doesn’t end after the furniture is delivered, as Lisa explains.
“Once they’ve bought the furniture and parked it, they come back in for the accessories. I say that’s the fun bit. I actually do a lot of video calls later putting in things like lamps and cushions.”
Circling back to her approach of furnishing the new home being done in layers, Lisa’s parting advice to first-time buyers is, “Take your time with it. Get your sofa, beds and dining and see how you move around the house before you get more. Then buy the rug, the cushions; artwork and accessories will follow.”
