Whole-Home Concept · 9 min read
The Interior Design Project Process: Six Chapters from First Call to Your Front Door
You stand in an apartment you have just bought, a bare bulb swinging above you, a stack of purchase documents in your hand. You know you want to change a great deal. You do not yet know where to begin, or whom to trust with it. Now picture the same room a year later: the evening light on a freshly oiled floor, a table set for friends, and not one thing you would do differently.
What lies between those two pictures is a process. To show how it feels from the inside, here is a scenario, put together from many typical projects. Let us call the couple Anna and Thomas, both in their mid-forties, with a fifteen-year-old daughter and a newly bought Altbau apartment (the pre-1945 Viennese apartment building) in Währing: 140 square metres, built around 1900. The kitchen is a closed room at the end of the corridor, the bathroom dates from the 1980s, and in the largest room the previous owners' tiled stove still stands. Follow the two of them through six chapters.
Contents
Chapter one: The first consultation
The first conversation takes place on a Tuesday evening, by video, thirty minutes. Anna sits at the laptop, Thomas next to her, and behind them the empty apartment with bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling.
We do not ask first about style or budget. We ask: how do you want to live? What does a weekday look like, what does a Sunday look like? Who cooks, who works from home, when do guests come? The two talk about long dinners with friends, about Thomas, who works from home twice a week, and about their daughter, who would like a room that is not next to the living room.
At the end of the conversation there is no plan yet. But what it is really about is settled: an apartment in which togetherness and retreat are possible at the same time. And there is a next step.
The first consultation does not answer what the apartment will look like. It clarifies what it is there for.
How to prepare for such a conversation, which questions we ask and what you can bring along are described in our article on the initial consultation.
Chapter two: The project sheet and the survey
After the conversation, Anna and Thomas send photos of every room and the floor plan from the purchase documents. From these a project sheet is created: one page that records what the apartment is, what it is meant to become and which questions remain open.
The first visit on site follows. We measure the apartment afresh, because purchase plans in an Altbau are rarely accurate to the centimetre. We check the ceiling heights, the position of the risers, the condition of the floor under the carpet, the windows, the electrics. We take a closer look at the wall between kitchen and living room, which Anna would most like to remove straight away.
This wall shows why the survey matters so much. It is thicker than the other partition walls and runs along the axis of the main walls. Whether it is load-bearing, we clarify with a structural engineer. When such a wall can come down is described in detail in our article on the open-plan kitchen and living space.
The result of this chapter:
- An exact measured survey as the basis for planning.
- A list of the technical constraints: risers, structure, electrics, heating.
- A first assessment of which permits or consents might be needed.
- A budget framework that Anna and Thomas state openly and that we compare against the scope of work.
With these four things on the table, the design can begin.
Chapter three: The concept
Now the actual design begins. Over about six weeks the concept takes shape, in two to three rounds of discussion. We draw variants of the floor plan, lay materials side by side and think of the apartment in terms of life situations rather than rooms: when you cook, when you work, when you receive guests, when you withdraw.
Three variants emerge for Anna and Thomas. In the first, the kitchen stays where it is and is simply opened up. In the second, it moves into the former dining room, directly next to the living space. In the third, kitchen and small side room become one large room with a cooking island, and the children's room moves to the quiet courtyard side.
The two decide on a mixture of the second and third variants. Along with the floor plan come the material concept, a first lighting idea and a picture of where bespoke built-ins are needed. For the first time they can see it: a Saturday morning, the daughter at the island with her cereal, Thomas reading at the long window, no door between them and no one in anyone's way.
What matters to us in this phase is that the concept is complete before the details begin. A concept that thinks kitchen, bathroom, light, colour and furniture together is the foundation for everything that follows. Why this is often cheaper in the end than piecemeal work is explained in our article on a life concept instead of furnishing.
What doing nothing costs. Many owners skip this chapter and go straight to a bathroom or a kitchen. They then live for years with a room that works but never quite fits, and each later decision has to bend around the earlier one. A concept costs a few weeks. The absence of one is paid for every day.
Chapter four: Detailed planning and the budget
Now ideas become a buildable plan. For Anna and Thomas this phase lasts around ten weeks and is the most labour-intensive for us but the calmest for them.
We produce floor plans with all dimensions, elevations of every wall, plans for electrics and plumbing, detail drawings for the kitchen, bathroom and fitted wardrobes. The position of every socket is fixed before the first wall is opened. Why this matters so much, you can read in our article on electrical planning. In parallel, the lighting plan is developed, with the positions of all light fittings.
At the same time we obtain quotations from the trades and draw up a budget, item by item. In a few places the first calculation is above the framework. We discuss openly where quality is worth paying for and where it is not. The two decide to plan the dressing room in the bedroom in a simpler specification and instead to keep the kitchen block in Cosentino Dekton.
| Planning result | What it is needed for |
|---|---|
| Working drawings | as a shared basis for all tradespeople |
| Electrical and lighting plan | for the electrician, before the walls are closed |
| Plumbing plan | for the plumber, including risers |
| Detail drawings | for the joinery, kitchen, bathroom and built-ins |
| Budget by trade | for decisions and cost control |
| Schedule | for the sequence of trades on site |
An honest word on costs: how high a project comes out depends on floor area, depth of intervention and choice of materials. The interior design fee depends on the effort involved, the depth of intervention and the number of trades, and a reliable estimate comes in the first consultation. A more precise classification is given in the article What does an overall concept cost. Once the plan holds, the building site can start.
Chapter five: Execution
On a Monday in March the building site begins. The apartment is empty, the floors are covered, and a notice for the neighbours hangs in the stairwell.
The first weeks are loud: demolition of the old tiles, opening of the wall after structural approval, new pipes for water and cables for electricity. After that it becomes quieter and more precise: screed in the bathroom, waterproofing, plastering, tiling, painting. The old herringbone parquet is sanded and oiled.
While work goes on at the site, the built-ins take shape in the workshop of Tischlerkultur: the kitchen, the vanity unit, the wardrobe wall in the hallway, the bookcase wall in the living room. Tischlerkultur is the family joinery behind Richard Atelier, a Viennese craft tradition since 1935. Because planning and manufacture belong together, the joiner can re-measure on site as soon as the walls are plastered. What this means in everyday terms is described in our article on planning and execution from a single source.
Anna and Thomas are on site once a week, usually on Friday. In between they receive photos and a short summary from their one contact person, who has been with them since the first sketch. There are surprises, as in any Altbau: beneath the bathroom lies an old timber-beam ceiling that has to be reinforced. That costs three weeks and part of the contingency. Because a contingency was planned from the start, the project stays within the framework.
The question on a building site is never whether something unexpected will happen. The question is whether someone is there to absorb it.
A realistic view of how long such phases take is given in the article on the schedule of an apartment renovation. And the last day?
Chapter six: The handover
Nine months after the first consultation, and just under five months after work began on site, the handover is due. The kitchen is installed, the light fittings are hanging, the curtains have arrived. The sofas, chosen in the concept, were delivered the day before.
We walk through every room together. We check every drawer, every door, every light switch. Minor defects go on a list and are put right over the following weeks: a cupboard door that needs readjusting, a silicone joint in the bathroom, a dimmer that flickers.
The handover also includes documents: care instructions for the parquet and worktop, operating instructions for the appliances, the plans showing all pipes and cables. Anyone who wants to hang a picture in five years' time then knows where the electricity runs.
On the evening of the handover, Thomas cooks in the new kitchen for the first time. Their daughter has already unpacked in her room on the courtyard side. And Anna stands where the wall used to be, and sees from the hob all the way to the window.
What the interior design project process teaches
Every project is different, but a few patterns repeat. Anyone having a home designed can draw some principles from this scenario:
- Begin with daily life, not with style. The question of how you want to live saves many detours later.
- Take the survey seriously. Structure, pipes and cables, and floors determine what is possible.
- Finish thinking through the concept before the details begin. Half-finished concepts lead to expensive changes on site.
- Discuss the budget openly. An honest framework makes good decisions possible.
- Plan a contingency. In an Altbau we usually recommend ten to fifteen per cent.
- Have one point of contact. The fewer the interfaces, the less gets lost.
If you would like to know more about the individual steps of working together, the article Working with an interior designer offers a factual overview. How we work together as a team is shown on the Team page.
Frequently asked questions
How long does an interior design project take from idea to moving in?
For an apartment renovation with kitchen, bathroom and built-ins, a rough guide is eight to fourteen months. Of this, around three to five months go on concept and planning, and the rest on manufacture and the building phase. In an Altbau and where permits are involved, it can take longer. The first call shows you where your project is likely to land.
How often do I need to be on site during the building phase?
That is individual, but a fixed weekly appointment has proved its worth. In between you receive photos and short summaries. For important decisions such as colour samples or the position of light fittings, we arrange additional appointments on site.
What happens if something unexpected turns up on site?
In an Altbau this happens regularly, for example decayed pipes or a damaged timber-beam ceiling. We assess the situation, bring in a structural engineer or specialist planner if needed, and discuss the solution, the cost and the effect on the schedule with you. A contingency planned from the start keeps the project within the framework.
Do I have to know what I want at the first consultation?
No. It is enough if you can tell us how you live and what bothers you today. Most people know at the start what does not work rather than exactly what they want. That is precisely what the concept phase is for.
How is the budget set in a project like this?
At the start there is a framework, which you name and which we compare against the scope you want. In detailed planning, a budget by trade is drawn up on the basis of real quotations. If it is above the framework, we decide together where quality is worth paying for and where things can be simplified.
What belongs to a proper handover?
A joint walk-through of all rooms, a list of minor defects with a date for putting them right, and complete documents. These include care instructions, operating instructions and plans showing the position of all pipes and cables. That way the apartment remains easy to maintain years later.
