Im interested in going to school for interior design. Help.?

Question

Okay, i have been really interested in going to school for interior design.

But im afriad im going to go and do stuff i think is right for the room and not what the people want.

I want to know how long you have to go to school for interior design, How much a average interior designer makes, What is a good school in my area..

And Honestly what you do in the school and How it is in the "real world" of interior design..

The good and the bad of beign a interior designer..

etc.

Please help thanks!

Answer 1

o man where to start...well i will first issue a word of warning to you. this is not a field that is anything like what you see on tv. you will likely not be working in a firm that "decorates" homes.

interior designer work mainly on commercial projects such as hotels (snooze fest, don't go into that facit) offices, resturants, retail, Mcdonalds, you name a building and someone had to design it and if it has any sort of appeal to it at all than it was likely an interior designer, not an architect.

in school, you shold enter a four year program at a university that is big in arts b/c design is a field in which you will need to study fine arts to be sucessful. make sure the school is accredited by CIDA or FIDER otherwise you will not be qualified to work.

what you will learn in school is so vastly different that what you'll learn outside of school, but just enjoy it while you can, b/c the real world is not forgiving. in school you will likely study arch. history, arch. drafting using CAD, hand rendering, and of course how to space plan and design for the client's needs.

in the working world, business is a big factor, you will do more paperwork and spend more time on the compter, phone, or at a job site than actually designing. in the place i work we spend about 2 weeks designing for an entire hotel (most of the design is already decided for us by the franchise)and up to a year ordering products and making sure everything goes well for the opening date.  

as far as money.... starting out you will make about 35,000 and like any design career, experience holds its weight in gold,  so eventually you could be making about 60-80,000

another warning i must tell you is that b/c of so many people majoring in ID it has become increasingly hard to find jobs, so job security is an issue for the feild now. but if you have talent and a love for what you do, than you can find a job easily.

i love my career choice, i would want to be doing anything else. i know now being through school and the working world that this is where i am meant to be, but you will not know until you give it a try!!!

Answer 2

I dont know much about interior design but you could always go to a design school for a year and see if its right for you. Im sure they will answer all your questions and everything. If it seems like fun and you want to try then the only thing thats stopping you is yourself