Full Service Interior Design: What It Includes and How It Works

If you've never worked with an interior designer before, you're probably wondering how it works, and what full service interior design includes.

Designing a home is complex. Selecting materials, timing, coordinating tradespeople, budgets, furniture, lighting, tile, fabric, dozens of decisions moving at once. A lot of decisions need to be made, and for most homeowners that’s overwhelming. We take that weight off your shoulders, and manage the complexity of the design project, so you don't have to manage all of it yourself and you can focus on the outcome instead of the logistics.

Before you invest in your home, it's worth seeking guidance first, to save time and avoid expensive mistakes. A professional designer has access to resources most homeowners don't: trade-only suppliers, furniture makers, craftspeople who don't sell directly to the public. Add technical expertise, material knowledge, space planning and a trained sense of scale, and what's possible changes: a space that looks good and works even better.

Barbra Fordyce, founder of Ginger Lemon Indigo and an Allied member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), trained in New York, grew up in the Netherlands and spent years in London. That background shapes how she works: an eye trained across three countries, access to European makers, and a belief that a home should be gathered over time.

Our Westport, CT family room: custom oak table, Danish sectional, cognac leather chairs, gathered into one idea. Photography: Nicholas Venezia

What Does Full-Service Interior Design Mean?

In a full-service interior design project, we manage all aspects of transforming your home. You have one trusted partner handling the creative decisions, ordering and delivery from vendors, project management, and coordination with your builder or architect if one's involved. It creates ease and keeps the whole project feeling like one continuous idea, not a series of separate choices. Every detail is considered. Every decision is guided.

This is where Barbra spends most of her attention: making sure every decision holds up against how you live. Proportion, flow, the way a linen ages, the way a finish shifts a shade in different light.

The full-service design model is the right approach whether you're moving into a new home, renovating, or giving yours a substantial refresh. You have complete oversight of the project without having to run any of it yourself.

The Interior Design Process, Step by Step

From first conversation to final installation, this is how working with an interior designer at GLI unfolds.

1. Planning: Consultation, Scope and Budget

During an in-home consultation, we start every project by listening to what you want to achieve, how you live, and what is important to you. Some clients arrive with a clear vision already in mind. Others prefer to hand us the creative freedom. Both approaches work. From there we assess the existing condition of the house. Structural changes can sometimes open up a far better layout than what’s currently there. The geographical location and the architectural style of the house inform the design direction too; Connecticut Cottages & Gardens' roundup of America's most iconic architectural styles shows how varied that starting point can be, from the classic Connecticut Colonial to mid-century modern. Out of these conversations we build a scope and a timeline, so there's a clear direction from day one. We also discuss the budget: how much you're willing to invest, and whether that aligns with what you are hoping to achieve.

If you decide to move forward after this meeting, we’ll send you a contract outlining the scope of the project along with the design fee and project management fee. How long the project takes depends on the scope of work, how quickly decisions come together, delivery times on materials, and whether custom furniture fabrication is part of the plan. That's where it all begins. Next up, we'll walk through what happens once the contract is signed and design work begins.

From fabric selection to soft furnishings: materials chosen for how they wear, not just how they look.

2. Design Concept: One Idea Behind Every Decision

A design concept drives all aesthetic and functional decisions for the project. It influences every element and holds the whole project to one cohesive idea. This is where the vision takes shape for the project, creative direction is explored and alignment on the look, feel and flow of the concept.

We work on spatial planning, floor plans, elevations, mood boards, 3D visuals, lighting plans, material sourcing, and custom furniture or cabinetry drawings. Everything gets mapped out, the aesthetic and the flow of the house. Careful considerations are made about materials and proportion throughout. If we can’t find the right piece of furniture, we can have it made.

Strategic resource allocation is part of this thinking too: where your investment creates the greatest impact, and which rooms deserve a greater share of the budget to reach the desired outcome.

We present our ideas with drawings and sample boards, gather your feedback and adjust where needed. Once everyone is on the same page, the project moves into design development.

3. Design Development: From Concept to Detailed Plans

Conceptual ideas are translated into comprehensive plans. Most of this work happens behind the scenes. We come to you when a decision genuinely needs your input, not for every small step along the way. That's what makes the finished home considered and specifically yours.

4. Documentation: Drawings, Specifications and Estimates

With the design fully developed and approved, every creative decision needs to be translated into clear instructions. Detailed drawings, material specifications, and cost estimates.

On renovations and new builds, we coordinate directly with your builder, architect, and other trades like electricians. We provide the technical drawings and spec sheets, which give them clear guidance and we check the work on site regularly against the design as it's built.

5. Ordering and Project Management: We Handle the Logistics

We handle the ordering, vendor coordination and the day-to-day logistics: tracking, deliveries and any damaged goods that need replacing. You won't spend hours on the phone chasing vendors or tracking shipments. We will take care of this.

6. Installation and Styling: The Home Comes Together at Once

Deliveries can be held in storage at a warehouse until everything is ready to be installed. We handle that coordination, so your home comes together in a single install rather than a slow trickle of boxes over months. We are on site to receive everything and direct the installers. If desired, we can help with art & accessories, the finishing touches that bring the design to life.

How Much Does an Interior Designer Cost?

Every full service project is quoted individually, with the design fee and project management fee set out in the contract before any work begins. What drives the investment is the scope of work: the size and condition of the house, whether structural changes are involved, and how much custom fabrication the design calls for. Those design fees are separate from the furnishing budget, the investment that goes into furniture, materials and finishes. We help you set that budget and allocate it where it creates the greatest impact.

The living room of our Rye, NY town condo, a full-home furnishing designed to gather three generations. Photography: Kirsten Francis

Who Full Service Interior Design Is For

Hiring a residential interior designer for full service makes sense if you're moving into a new home, renovating, or taking on a serious refresh, and you want strong creative direction and careful planning without having to manage the complexity yourself. That was the case for the empty nesters we designed for in Rye, NY, moving from the home they'd raised their family in for thirty years into a modern condo, and starting the furnishing almost from scratch.

If your project is smaller, take a look at the Services page, or reach out. We offer a few different ways of working together and are happy to talk through what makes sense for you.

Working with Ginger Lemon Indigo

We're a small residential interior design studio in Westport, Connecticut, and because we take on only a few projects at a time, every home has our full attention and the service stays personal, entirely shaped around how you live. From custom pieces made by local furniture makers and artisans, to the natural, responsibly sourced materials we favor wherever possible.

The homes we design are calm and cohesive on purpose. But we also look for the one thing that surprises: a vintage find, an object with history, a material paired somewhere unfamiliar. That's usually the detail people remember longest.

Details like that are what turn a house into the place you want to come back to, your sanctuary. And that is what full service interior design delivers: a home that works beautifully from installation day and still feels right years in, with you involved at every milestone and clear communication from start to finish.

If this sounds like the kind of partnership you're looking for, get in touch.