Interior Designers
Plan, design, and furnish the internal space of rooms or buildings. Design interior environments or create physical layouts that are practical, aesthetic, and conducive to the intended purposes. May specialize in a particular field, style, or phase of interior design.
Also known as: Bathroom Designer (Bath Designer), Certified Kitchen Designer, Color and Materials Designer, Commercial Interior Designer, Decorating Consultant, Decorator, Design Consultant, Designer, ...
Annual Salary
Median annual wage (May 2024)
Job Outlook
Projected growth, 2024–2034 (About average)
What You'd Do
- Estimate material requirements and costs, and present design to client for approval.
- Confer with client to determine factors affecting planning of interior environments, such as budget, architectural preferences, purpose, and function.
- Advise client on interior design factors, such as space planning, layout and use of furnishings or equipment, and color coordination.
- Select or design, and purchase furnishings, art work, and accessories.
- Formulate environmental plan to be practical, esthetic, and conducive to intended purposes, such as raising productivity or selling merchandise.
- Subcontract fabrication, installation, and arrangement of carpeting, fixtures, accessories, draperies, paint and wall coverings, art work, furniture, and related items.
- Render design ideas in form of paste-ups or drawings.
- Coordinate with other professionals, such as contractors, architects, engineers, and plumbers, to ensure job success.
- Review and detail shop drawings for construction plans.
- Use computer-aided drafting (CAD) and related software to produce construction documents.
- Design plans to be safe and to be compliant with the American Disabilities Act (ADA).
- Inspect construction work on site to ensure its adherence to the design plans.
- Design spaces to be environmentally friendly, using sustainable, recycled materials when feasible.
- Research and explore the use of new materials, technologies, and products to incorporate into designs.
- Research health and safety code requirements to inform design.
- Plan and design interior environments for boats, planes, buses, trains, and other enclosed spaces.
Top Skills
Importance scale: 1 (low) – 5 (high)
Knowledge Areas
Importance scale: 1 (low) – 5 (high)
Education Level Distribution
Percentage of workers in this occupation by education level
Technology & Tools
Software and tools commonly used in this role
In-Demand Technologies
Other Tools
Work Styles
Personality traits and work styles important for this career
Key Abilities
Cognitive, physical, and sensory abilities important for this role
Importance scale: 1 (low) – 5 (high)
Work Activities
General types of job behaviors occurring on this job
Importance scale: 1 (low) – 5 (high)
Work Environment
Physical and social factors that influence the nature of work
Related Careers
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Salary data: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024. Outlook data: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–2034.
This page includes information from the O*NET 30.2 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license.