How much does an interior designer cost in the UK?

Q: What is the cheapest way to get a proper design for a room?

A plan made from a photo, such as a Render Homes plan at £150: a picture of your room finished, the colours, and a complete shopping list.

Q: Does Render Homes work outside London?

Yes, anywhere in the UK. Nothing depends on a visit.

Anywhere from £150 for a complete plan for one room to several thousand pounds for a designer who runs the whole project. The right amount depends on what you need doing, so here is what each level includes.

The price bands

Full-service design, from around £3,000 a room. A designer visits, measures, draws the room to scale, sources everything and manages the trades. The right choice for a whole-house renovation, a new kitchen, or anything structural.

Single-room studio packages, £1,000 to £3,000. A visit, a layout, a scheme and a shopping list, usually over four to six weeks. Good if you want a designer in the room with you.

Online design packages, £200 to £700 a room. You send photos and measurements and receive a mood board, sometimes a 3D visual, and a shopping list, typically in two to four weeks.

A Render Homes plan, £150 a room. Everything you need to decide and buy, for one room, from a photo, in days.

What £150 gets you with us

A photo-real picture of your own room, redesigned. Not a mood board of other people's rooms: your window, your floor, your proportions, with the new scheme in place. It is the thing that stops you buying the wrong sofa.
The exact paint colours, by name, for walls, woodwork and ceiling.
Every piece priced and linked to a UK shop. Furniture, lighting, rugs, art, the lot. The shopping is done; you just decide what to order first.
Three budgets and an order of work, so you can do it in a weekend or over a year and the room still comes together.
A person to ask. Every plan comes from Matt or Paul, and so does every reply. One full revision is included, and as many questions as you like.
Nothing charged until it arrives, and a full refund within 14 days if it isn't right.

When to spend more

If the room needs walls moved, plumbing, fitted joinery, or you want someone on site managing builders, a designer is the right call and worth the money. If the room is structurally fine and what you need is to decide, and to see it before you commit, a plan does that for a fraction of the cost, and you can put the difference into the room.

A rough rule

Spend about 5% of the room budget on the design. A £3,000 refresh justifies a £150 plan. A £30,000 kitchen justifies a designer on site.

Common questions

Is it worth paying for interior design for one room?

If you are about to spend more than about £2,000 on the room, yes. One wrong sofa or the wrong paint costs more than a plan, and seeing the room finished before you buy is what a plan is for.

Do interior designers charge by the hour in the UK?

Some do, typically £50 to £150 an hour outside London and £100 to £250 in it. Most now quote a fixed price per room, which is easier to compare. Ours is £150, fixed.

What is the cheapest way to get a proper design for a room?

A plan made from a photo. It removes the visit, which is where most of the cost of design sits, and keeps the parts that matter: a picture of your room finished, the colours, and a complete shopping list.

Does Render Homes work outside London?

Yes, anywhere in the UK. Nothing depends on a visit, and the shopping lists link to shops that deliver nationally.

See what a plan looks like.

The whole thing is on one page: the room redesigned, the colours, every product with its price and link, and the three budgets. Have a look before you decide anything.

See an example plan