What to Expect When Working With an Interior Designer

Hiring an interior designer can feel like a big step, especially when you’re not sure where to begin. You don’t need to come with every answer, a finished Pinterest board, or a plan for every room. You just need a sense that your home could work better for the life you’re living now.

At Murphy Lane Interiors, our process is designed to bring clarity to a project that can otherwise feel like hundreds of connected decisions. We do the listening, planning, editing, and problem-solving so you can feel supported from the first conversation through the final layers of your home.

1. Start With a Conversation

Everything begins with an inquiry and a Discovery Call. This is a chance for us to hear what’s prompting the project, what you hope will change, and where you are in the process. We’ll also talk honestly about your scope, priorities, and investment so we can determine whether we’re the right fit.

Tip: You don’t need to know exactly what you want everything to look like. Often, clients simply know that their home or space no longer supports their routines, their family, or the way they want to feel there - and that’s okay!

If it feels like the right partnership, we’ll create a proposal tailored to your project and then, it’s time to get to work.

NOT SURE WHERE TO BEGIN?

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2. Plan Around Your Real Life

Our work begins with a project questionnaire and a kickoff meeting in your home. We want to understand the spaces you love, the ones that frustrate you, the routines that happen without you even thinking about them, and the things you’ve slowly learned to live around.

Inspiration images are helpful, and we absolutely want to see them. But they don’t give us the full story of how your family moves through the house, where the shoes pile up, or why a room with plenty of square footage still doesn’t function. Those details are what give the design its purpose and that’s part of what we hope to discover during our kickoff meeting.

We’re looking for opportunities as much as problems: a better furniture plan, a view worth highlighting, a layout that could make daily life easier, or a room that has more potential than it’s currently showing. This is the foundation for every recommendation that follows.

3. Find the Direction, Then Make the Plan

Before we select individual finishes, we establish a clear creative direction for the home. This phase is called Concept Design. In Concept Design, we translate our initial conversations and inspiration into a fully developed creative brief. This brief gives us the overall feeling, character, and point of view we hope to create throughout the project. It gives us a shared answer to a simple but important question: what are we trying to create here?

That direction then becomes our north star. Instead of evaluating a tile, light fixture, or cabinet style on its own, we can consider whether it moves the home closer to the vision we’ve built together.

Then, in Schematic Design, we turn that vision into a plan. We explore floor plans, furniture layouts, preliminary cabinetry concepts, and the flow between rooms. When there are multiple ways to solve a problem, we’ll explain the tradeoffs and give you a clear recommendation.

This is where the process saves both time and costly second-guessing later. It’s much easier to test a layout or adjust a wall on paper (or rather, digitally in our software) than after construction has begun. By the end of this phase, we know how the space will support the way you live, not just how it will look.

4. Refine the Details and Document the Decisions

With the plan in place, Design Development is where the home begins to take on its personality. We curate the materials, finishes, furnishings, lighting, window treatments, and layered details that make the space feel collected and personal.

You won’t be left to sort through endless options. We bring a thoughtfully narrowed selection, explain the quality, cost, and design tradeoffs, and help you make decisions with confidence. Depending on the project, that can include everything from visiting a stone yard to sourcing an antique with just the right amount of character.

Once the major decisions are complete, we turn them into clear direction for the project team. Documentation may include plans, elevations, cabinetry drawings, lighting plans, finish schedules, and specifications, depending on scope. This work helps contractors and trades understand the design intent, reduces avoidable assumptions in the field, and protects the choices we’ve made together.

5. Carry the Vision Through to the Finish Line

The final phase looks different from project to project. Depending on your selected services, Murphy Lane can coordinate procurement, support the construction process, and lead installation.

Procurement means managing the many details behind the scenes: placing orders, tracking lead times, communicating with vendors, coordinating receiving, reviewing deliveries, and helping resolve issues when they arise. During Construction Administration, we remain a resource for you and your contractor, clarifying the design intent on-site when needed and helping the project stay aligned with the plan.

Installation is where it all comes together. Furniture is placed, lighting is installed, artwork finds a home, and the finishing layers turn a set of decisions into a space you can finally live in.

The Goal Is a Home That Feels Like Yours

The best part of a completed project isn’t just the magical reveal. It’s also the quieter moments that follow after: a kitchen that makes a busy morning easier, a bedroom that actually helps you unwind, or a home that feels ready to hold the people and memories you care about.

That’s why we plan carefully. The goal is never to make your home look like anyone else’s. It’s to make it feel unmistakably like yours.

FULL-SERVICE INTERIOR DESIGN

A home full of decisions deserves a thoughtful place to begin.

For renovations, new homes, and furnishing projects that need a clear plan, confident guidance, and a designer who can carry the details forward.

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