Interior Design Advice from Judy Sheridan: Staying Within Your Budget
Jay Johnson Monday, February 11, 2013 at 9:00AM 
If you don't know about interior designer Judy Sheridan's invaluable book How to Work with an Interior Designer, I can assure you that you need to get hold of a copy and learn all about home decorating, from A to Z, and the unique perspective of what a professional designer can do. Sheffield School was fortunate to have Judy give our students advice on camera; she'll be one of many interior design industry experts we'll be featuring in our soon-to-debut updated DVDs for our Complete Course in Interior Design. Here are some of Judy's gems of wisdom on how to maintain control over an interior design budget - and we all know how important it is to stay within budget on any design project!
Project a figure that will be your budget. Add 20 percent at the outset to make it more realistic.
- Decide the timing of your project.
- Allocate your funds into percentages based on the scope of work.
- Keep reviewing your documents and adding up the figures.
- Be aware of any rapidly climbing expenditure.
- Be prepared to make comprises (call them "executive decisions").
- If you have to, revise the early percentages. An allocation for construction 40 pecent/furnishings 40 percent/accessories 20 percent may have to be changed to 50/40/10.
- Do not let one area move beyond a 10 percent change without sitting down and rethinking your objectives.
- Stop saying yes to changes, add-ons, and upgrades.
Sheffield School began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.