jessica viscarde – The Interiors Addict

7 tips for becoming an interior designer

Are you considering a career in a creative field but not sure where to start? Do you enjoy decorating and have a natural flair for design? Well if you answered both with a resounding yes, then interior design may just be for you!

Below are seven tips brought to you by the lecturers and students of CATC Design School, to help start you on your way to becoming a fantastic interior designer.

Jessica catc interiors addict (1) — CATC Design School graduate Jessica Viscarde

1. Get qualified

Studying is one of the best ways to ensure that you have the skills and experience to succeed in interior design. Enrolling in an interior design course will expose you to a range of concepts and skills, and see you work alongside talented teachers and industry professionals. You can also fit your study into your current schedule, as many training providers offer full-time and part-time study either on-campus, online or a mix of both, to suit your needs.

2. Stay curious

Staying curious, and keeping an eye on both local and international trends, will give you a fresh perspective. Look for inspiration and try incorporating a range of styles into your work to help your work stand out.

3. Keep it simple

Less can often be more. While you may love an idea, it may not be the best fit for that particular project. Some of your best creative decisions can be the first that come to mind. Keep it simple, trust your instincts and go with what feels right.

Jessica catc interiors addict (2) — Designed by CATC graduate Jessica Viscarde

4. Take risks

The best way to stand out is by trying something new and being bold. This does not necessarily mean reinventing the wheel, but recognising moments of opportunity and when to take them. Interior design is a highly competitive industry and you will need to work hard to give yourself an edge.

5. Get experience

Studying is a great start but you will need something that makes you unique. Many businesses run internship programs (register yourself for free as looking for work/experience on the Interiors Addict job board) which provide young designers an opportunity to find their feet. Do some work for friends and family. Try developing your own blog or website to showcase your work to potential clients.

6. Make connections

In order to maximise your opportunities, it’s vital to network and make industry connections. Go to events, network and meet new people. Social media platforms such as Instagram (we’d suggest our monthly styling challenge 7 Vignettes! Jen), Facebook and Pinterest can also provide a great way to get your work seen. It is important to remain visible as you never know who might stumble across your work.

Jessica catc interiors addict (3) — Design by CATC graduate Jessica Viscarde

7. Communicate well

Maintaining good communication with your client will help ensure your projects are a success. Try to keep communication channels as open as possible as it allows you to work together to achieve a common goal.

Remember to relate your ideas back to the main brief and keep in mind what you are trying to achieve with a room. While you are there to offer your professional advice you also need to be able to facilitate the client’s vision. Sticking to budget and being clear about any budget changes is also vital.

Find more information on CATC Design School.

All images contain the work of CATC graduate Jessica Viscarde of The Eclective Creative Studio.

Rent my style: Jess works her magic on home in need of TLC!

Here at Interiors Addict, we just don’t buy into the idea that rental homes have to look bland or lacking in style and personality. Rent My Style is dedicated to showcasing the best of our readers’ rental home decorating efforts. They’re not show homes, they’re real homes!

Moving to Melbourne two years ago with only the small items that could fit in their car, Jess Viscarde and her partner Ryan were prepared to start from scratch. Finding a 90s townhouse rental home in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne, which was in some serious need of TLC, Jess immediately saw it as the perfect decorating challenge.

“On the whole, the house has great bones, a major reason we wanted to live here. Timber floorboards, high ceilings, lots of natural light. But the house is in a major need of TLC, the walls are in terrible condition, and are about seven years overdue a paint job! We try to hide all the nicks, water stains, peeling paint and eyesores with artwork or just learn to live with it!”

With a style that is an eclectic mix of contemporary, industrial and vintage, Jess has a knack for blending and mixing styles. A designer by trade, she has an eye for seeing potential where no one else can, having decorated the majority of her home with quirky secondhand finds.

“As budget was a major issue, many of the pieces in our home are from thrift shops or Gumtree, eBay or the classifieds. We have a few splurge items, but made sure these things were items we absolutely loved and would be happy to live with for many years to come.”

For Jess, the secret to rental decorating is something very simple: treat the rental like your home! “Make it a space you enjoy coming home to after a busy day or a place where you are proud and happy to invite your friends over as guests. Don’t just think just because it’s a rental and it’s not mine, I can’t be house proud.”

To make your rental feel like home, Jess recommends doing three things: hanging art, being inventive with light fixtures and adding indoor plants and fresh flowers.

“Personalise the space with things you love, make it reflect you and the people you’re living with, hang art using 3M adhesive hooks (or I have used oversized pegs with Velcro 3m adhesive to hang photographs and lightweight prints). Be inventive with light fixtures. I use a bamboo ladder with an industrial miner’s lamp attached to it to add some ambient lighting and height to the room (see below). And make indoor plants and fresh flowers a big feature in your home, they inject life and colour and can be moved around, making that boring, lifeless corner more interesting.”

Having just launched her own small business, The Eclectic Creative Studio, Jess has found the experience of rental decorating really useful in growing her design skills. Not only has it required her to work with a very tight budget, Jess has learnt the importance of experimenting and working with what you’ve got.

“Decorating whilst renting definitely makes you work with what you’ve got and be more spontaneous and open to rearranging furniture and mixing things up. I regularly change the house around; it helps keep things fresh and interesting. And I like to ‘shop your home,’ so change up accessories and soft furnishings that you already own, put some away, take some out, put the cushions on the bed instead of the sofa, that sort of thing.”

See our other readers’ rentals.

Photography by Kate Hansen and Suzi Appel.