Professional Interior Design Qualifications

There's a big difference between a decorator and a professional interior designer.  The best decorators have taste, talent, superior organizational skills, and great resources. The best interior designers combine those attributes with functional and technical expertise and experience.  If you want help with any project that involves construction (unless you are working with a licensed architect) or with the decoration of an office or a public space, a Certified Interior Designer is a safer choice than a either a decorator or a designer who has not demonstrated his or her expertise by passing a test administered by the National Council of Interior Design Certification (NCIDQ). The NCIDQ is globally recognized as setting the standard for competence in interior design, and the test includes proficiency in areas that affect health, safety and welfare as well as space planning and construction.  Passing the NCIDQ is required to become a Certified Interior Designer in 29 states, although in most states (including New York) such certification is voluntary.    

The NCIDQ makes the following distinction between decorators and interior designers "Interior design is the art and science of understanding people's behavior to create functional spaces within a building. Decoration is the furnishing or adorning of a space with fashionable or beautiful things. In short, interior designers may decorate, but decorators do not design."

When I was the president of the New York Metropolitan Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) a number of people I encountered started sharing "horror stories" about their own designers.  I listened politely, and often these "designers" did not belong to ASID or any other professional design organization  and their "credentials" consisted of business cards and flair. Members of ASID or the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) have met certain education requirements, and professional members of both organizations have passed the NCIDQ.

Someone with taste and talent might have wonderful ideas but lack the experience, expertise and resources to achieve the desired results.  And if he or she proves unsatisfactory you have little recourse.  Members of professional organizations have standards (including ethical standards) with which they must comply.