7 Essential Tools For Interior Designers
Featured in GoodHousekeeping, inRegister Magazine, 225 Magazine, and many more, we are beyond excited to welcome our guest blogger for this week, Arianne Bellizaire! She is a well established Interior Designer in the Baton Rouge area and today she is sharing with us “what’s in my bag!”
Hi friends!
As you may know, I pop into Instagram once a week on Tuesday afternoons to do a Q&A session.
During those sessions, I invite people to post any questions they may have about decorating, design, entrepreneurship, and marketing.
Most times, the questions are simple and easy enough to answer during those LIVE sessions, but every now and then someone will send me a question that I feel like I need more than just a few seconds to answer.
Today’s post was inspired by one of those questions!
As an interior designer, I frequently make “house calls” to meet with clients to assess their spaces, offer suggestions, and talk to them about how we can transform their space for the better.
One of the questions I received from an up-and-coming designer was related to the tools I use to stay on top of my projects while I’m on the go.
I loved this question so much that I decided, “Hey! Let’s make a video about this!”
So today, I’m sharing with you “what’s in my bag!”
These are the tools I use to seamlessly transition from my office to site visits without missing a beat!
① The most critical tool in my bag is my laptop. This is my mobile design studio, so to speak. I can easily pull up floor plans, show clients inspiration photos on Pinterest, and send them a summary of all of the things we discussed during the meeting before I even leave their home.
② The next “essential” is of course my cellphone. And not just to connect with team members and installers, but I also use my phone to provide a hotspot for internet access on construction sites. As an added bonus, my phone is my camera so I use it to take before and after photos and videos to document the progress of my projects. This is by far the most versatile piece in my arsenal!
③ Next up is my retractable tape measure. To be honest, I always have one of these within reach, whether it’s the one in my bag, the one in the glove compartment in my car, or the one in my desk drawer. Being able to capture room dimensions and gauging the scale of things is essential to effective space planning. In my bag, I have a 12ft and a 25ft measure
④ This next tool, the digital tape measure, allows me to measure vertical spaces, room lengths, and hard to reach spaces with ease!
⑤ The next essential is painters tape! I use this to block out furniture and art placement if the client is having a difficult time visualizing how much space a piece of furniture or art display will take up in the room.
⑥ One of the newest but no less critical additions to my toolkit is my Remarkable! This powerful device has replaced my spiral-bound notebook. I use it to jot down notes, stretch ideas, and dictate summary briefs for each meeting. Then I press a button to transform my handwritten notes into text and email a pdf copy to my client, trade, or team member with the press of a button!
⑦ My final tool is my paint color fan deck! Like my retractable tape measure, I’m never far away from one of these, and here’s why. Despite what you might think, this baby can be used for more than picking out paint colors!
I’ve got even MORE tips on how you can get the most out a paint deck coming up in a future video, so be on the lookout for that!
For now, I want to know from you, are you surprised by any of the tools I keep in my bag? Which one was most unexpected and what did you THINK you would see in my bag that you didn’t?
Let me know in the comments!
To view the original post and see more from Arianne Bellizaire
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