Behind the Design

From First Conversation to Final Installation: Our Interior Design Process

Hiring an interior designer is an exciting investment in your home, but if you’ve never worked with a designer before, you may not know exactly what the process looks like.

What happens during the first meeting? When do you make selections? Who coordinates with contractors? How involved is your designer once construction begins?

1. Our Philosophy

Before we talk about your project, we want you to get to know us.

Interior design is a very personal process. You spend a lot of time with your design team, so finding the right fit and building trust is important.

At Interior Impressions, Amy Leferink, our founder and principal interior designer, and Kierstyn Timmers, our lead designer, work closely with clients throughout the design process. Our clients also benefit from the support and expertise of our entire studio team.

You are never working with just one person in isolation. Our team collaborates throughout the project, sharing ideas, problem-solving, and supporting one another as the design develops.

Our philosophy is simple: we believe your home should be both beautiful and functional.

A space should reflect your personal style, but it also needs to work for your actual life. How you cook, entertain, relax, work, store things, and move through your home all influence the design.

We aren’t designing a space simply to look beautiful in a photograph. We’re designing a space that should feel beautiful and function well for the people who live there.

That collaborative and personal approach is the foundation for everything that follows.

🎥 Watch Episode 1: Meet the Team & Our Philosophy

2. Discovery & Getting to Know You

Once we’ve connected, the next step is learning about you, your home, and your goals for the project.

This is where the discovery phase begins.

During our initial consultation, we want to understand what brought you to us and what you hope to accomplish. Maybe your home no longer works for your growing family. Maybe you’re building a new home and want help making decisions from the beginning. Maybe you know your space needs a change but aren’t sure where to start.

We want to understand:

• What is working in your home?
• What isn’t working?
• How do you use your space?
• Who lives in the home?
• Do you entertain?
• Do you have children or pets?
• What are your daily routines?
• What do you want your home to feel like?
• What styles and spaces inspire you?

We also use a detailed client questionnaire to help us better understand your style, preferences, priorities, and functional needs.

This information becomes an important reference throughout the project. As the design develops, we can continually come back to the things that matter most to you.

Sometimes clients have a very clear design style. Sometimes they have a collection of inspiration images but aren’t sure how to describe what they like about them. Sometimes they simply know that their home doesn’t feel right.

Our job is to help uncover that information and turn it into a clear design direction.

🎥 Watch Episode 2: Discovery & Getting to Know You

3. Design Development: Floor Plans, Space Planning & Mood Boards

Once we understand your goals, we begin turning ideas into a plan.

One of the first things we look at is the floor plan.

Before choosing finishes or furniture, we want to understand what you want to accomplish in the space. How should the room function? How do you move through it? What isn’t working about the current layout? Are there opportunities to improve storage, flow, or functionality?

Space planning is one of the most important parts of the design process because the foundation of a room needs to work before we begin layering in the details.

From there, we begin developing the overall design direction.

Mood boards and design concepts help bring together the colors, textures, materials, and overall feeling we are envisioning for the space. This gives clients a visual understanding of the direction before every individual selection has been finalized.

At this stage, the goal is to create a clear plan and design direction before moving into the detailed selection process.

🎥 Watch Episode 3: Design Development & Space Planning

4. Selections & Sourcing

Once the design direction and overall plan are established, we begin bringing the details together.

This is the phase many people think of when they picture interior design: choosing materials, finishes, furnishings, lighting, and all of the elements that make up the final design.

We are constantly balancing aesthetics, function, durability, availability, and budget.

We also understand that making hundreds of decisions can quickly become overwhelming. Our role is to help narrow down the options, explain the differences, and guide clients toward selections that make sense for their home and their goals.

Rather than asking clients to sort through endless options on their own, we curate selections based on what we already know about their project.

The result is a design that feels cohesive, intentional, and personal.

🎥 Watch Episode 4: Selections & Sourcing

5. Project Management & Installation

Once the design is finalized, the project moves into the implementation phase.

This is when all of the planning, selections, drawings, and decisions begin coming together in the actual space.

Depending on the project, there may be many different people involved, including contractors, cabinet makers, tile installers, electricians, plumbers, painters, upholsterers, window treatment professionals, furniture vendors, and delivery teams.

Our role is to remain involved and connected throughout the process.

We may be coordinating with trades, answering questions, tracking orders, reviewing details, checking on progress, and helping ensure that the design intent is carried through.

Communication is a major part of this phase.

Projects rarely go exactly according to plan. Products can be delayed, construction questions can come up, and details may need to be adjusted. Our experience allows us to help navigate those moments and keep the project moving forward.

We also continue to build our relationships with trades, vendors, and craftspeople throughout every project. Those professional relationships grow over time and contribute to our growing industry knowledge and experience.

Installation is when all of those individual decisions begin to feel like one complete space.

🎥 Watch Episode 5: Project Management & Installation

6. Final Touches & Project Wrap-Up

As the project begins to come together, we move into the final details.

This phase is about making sure the space feels complete and that the details have been thoughtfully addressed.

We also take time to make sure the space is functioning as intended and that any remaining details are addressed.

If a project is being professionally photographed, we prepare the space carefully. Furniture may be adjusted, accessories may be moved, pillows are styled, artwork is considered, and we look at the space from every angle.

These final details help tell the complete story of the design.

🎥 Watch Episode 6: Final Touches & Project Wrap-Up

7. What Happens After the Project?

A project may have an official completion date, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the relationship ends there.

Many of our projects happen in phases. We may work with a client on one space and reconnect months or years later to work on another. We’ve worked with clients on additional rooms, new homes, vacation homes, and even homes we’ve previously worked on for new owners.

We also continue to grow through every project.

Every project introduces us to new products, new solutions, new trades, new vendors, and new design challenges. Our industry knowledge and experience continue to expand as we work on more projects and collaborate with more professionals.

We also love staying connected with our clients after the project is complete.

We encourage clients to follow along with us on social media, where we continue sharing completed projects, behind-the-scenes moments, and new work. We love when clients see their homes featured and follow along as we share the story of their project.

We may also continue working together through follow-up styling, additional furnishings, window treatments through our sister company Woodbury Blinds, or future design projects.

And sometimes, the relationship simply continues because we enjoy keeping in touch.

Some clients return to us for future projects. Some refer friends and family. Many become friends.

That continued connection is one of the most rewarding parts of what we do.

🎥 Watch Episode 7: Beyond the Project

The Process Is Personal

While the design process has different phases, no two projects are exactly alike.

Some projects move quickly. Others develop over many months or years. Some involve a complete renovation or new build, while others focus on a single room or a specific phase of a home.

What remains consistent is our approach.

We take the time to understand our clients, develop a thoughtful plan, guide decisions, coordinate the details, and remain involved throughout the process.

From the first conversation to the final styling touches—and everything that comes after—we are here to guide our clients every step of the way.

Because at the end of the day, great interior design isn’t just about creating a beautiful space.

It’s about creating a space that works for your life, reflects who you are, and feels like home.

Ready to start a project of your own? Contact Interior Impressions to learn more about working with our team.

As always, remember, we are here to help and would love to hear from you.  Never hesitate to REACH OUT if you have any questions about a possible remodel or new build you might have on the horizon! 

Follow us on Instagram @interiorimpressions for more design inspiration and updates! ?

XO,

Amy & The Interior Impressions Team

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