Why Good Interior Design Takes Time (And Why You Don't Have to Find It)

I realised this week that I haven't written a blog for ages.

The reason? Time.

Work has been busy. Life has been busy. September has disappeared. And every time “write a blog” has appeared on my list, something more urgent has taken its place.

Which got me thinking.

Because lack of time is one of the biggest reasons people call me.

You can have the ideas. But do you have the time?

Most of my clients aren't completely clueless about interiors. Far from it.

They know what they like. They save things on Instagram. They have Pinterest boards. They've probably got 47 screenshots of paint colours on their phone and three different lamps sitting in an online basket.

And now, of course, there's AI.

You can ask ChatGPT what colour might work with your sofa. You can create a moodboard in minutes. You can even upload a photograph of your sitting room and ask AI to show you what it might look like painted green.

All incredibly useful.

But then you actually have to do it.

And that's the bit that takes time.

Measuring. Floorplans. Finding the right sofa — in the right size, fabric and lead time. Comparing paint colours in the actual room. Ordering samples. Working out whether that beautiful pendant is going to be completely the wrong scale over your dining table. Finding a rug that works with the sofa AND the curtains. Checking whether everything is in stock. Ordering it. Chasing it. Returning the things that don't work. Speaking to trades. Making decisions. And then making another 300 decisions you hadn't even realised you'd need to make.

One room can swallow hours.

A whole house? It's practically another job.

And presumably you already have one of those

The families I work with are busy.

They have jobs, children, dogs, school runs, weekends that somehow get booked up six weeks in advance and houses that need to function around all of it.

They don't hire me because they're incapable of choosing a cushion.

They hire me because they want their home to feel considered and pulled together without having to spend every evening researching taps, curtain poles and the exact dimensions of bedside tables.

They want someone else to keep the hundreds of little decisions moving.

And, crucially, they want someone who knows which decisions actually matter.

AI can help. So can Pinterest. So can Instagram.

I use technology in my own work. I'm certainly not going to tell you that AI isn't useful — it is.

But there is a difference between getting inspiration and actually delivering a finished room.

AI doesn't stand in your kitchen and realise the colour you've been looking at online is completely wrong in the afternoon light.

It doesn't know that the chair you love is going to make the walkway too narrow.

It doesn't order six fabric samples, put them next to the wallpaper and decide that number four is the one.

It doesn't speak to your decorator, source the alternative when something is discontinued or notice that the wall light you've chosen is going to clash with the cupboard door when it opens.

And it can't give you back your Saturday afternoon.

That's where I come in.

Perhaps the real luxury is time

Interior design is obviously about creating a home you love.

But I think one of the most valuable things a designer gives you is something slightly less glamorous:

time.

Time you don't have to spend trawling through 200 side tables.

Time you don't have to spend second-guessing every decision.

Time you don't have to spend wondering whether you've made an expensive mistake.

You still get to be involved. In fact, collaboration is a huge part of how I work. It should still feel completely like your home.

You just don't have to make it happen on your own.

And on that note, I really should get back to work.

It's taken me long enough to write this blog.