I guess I’ve always been into Interior design and have often thought about becoming an Interior Designer. I remember my Mum giving me full reign of my bedroom when I was a teenager and I went with a hideous yellow and blue Moon, Sun and Star theme with a border running through the middle. I thought I was the owner of the coolest bedroom in Cornwall and was always inviting my friends around so I could bask in my own glory
Some people like to read or play sport for fun, I like to create Mood Boards 🙂
Fast forward 20 years (gulp, how did that happen?) where I spent 8 years in the RAF living in shared accommodation, rentals in London and numerous Army married quarters (where my hatred of magnolia walls grew year on year. There are other paint colours out there Ministry of Defence!), my husband and I finally bought our first house to live in. And the rest, as they say, is history!
Why?
Whilst we were waiting to move into our house, I spent months obsessively swooning over pictures on Pinterest and buying weekly interior magazines to get lots of inspiration. It was never going to be anything more than a hobby whilst we renovated but, 2 years after the renovation, I found myself plunged knee deep into the interior world and myself obsessed. I am a stay at home mum but knew I had to do something once both the kids were at school, so I started looking at becoming an Interior Designer and researching all the available courses out there.
Why not before?
I always feel myself quite lucky that I absolutely loved school and in particular, Design Graphics, Art and Maths. In fact, if I can go back to any single classroom experience, I always remember being taught how to draw a room in 3D by hand and for our coursework we had to design our own shop, logo and business stationary which I absolutely loved doing.
If I knew then what I know now, I would definitely have gone to University to study Architecture but with the lengthy time it takes to become a fully-fledged architect, I feel that ship has sailed along with my youthful skin and boundless amounts of energy! The best thing about being an Interior Designer is that you can set up your own Design business online and off you go…
Who?
I have heard so many people say that you do not need a qualification to become an interior designer. I think if you have the confidence to do it, then why not? You either have “the eye for design” or not. But I think my biggest problem is confidence and whether I would have what it takes to help other people and businesses with their own interiors. I’m a people pleaser and I know I would probably take it to heart if people did not like my designs, so I knew I had to do a course to help me build on my experiences and confidence if I wanted to become a fully fledged interior designer.
Interior design isn’t just about painting a wall and matching soft furnishings, there is a lot of technical factors going on behind the scenes and I felt that if I wanted to be taken seriously, I had to learn the basics like CAD and Scale drawing. The industry is also becoming more saturated and popular (I’m sure Instagram has a lot to do with that!), so to get ahead, I felt it was imperative to get a qualification under my belt.
What I did find at the beginning is that there isn’t a lot of information out there about what courses to do, where to start or what would be beneficial in the long run. I spent several months researching all the different courses and colleges and tried to narrow it down to what I wanted out of it. I knew I didn’t want to go to University full time and needed something online and flexible. Below is a list of courses I found and researched –
The main 6 Interior Design Course providers that I researched
KLC prides itself in being one of the leaders in delivering Interior design courses. You can study anything from the full BA Interior Design full time or online to Short Courses like CAD Software Skills and Drawing and rendering. I was extremely tempted to go with KLC but what put me off was that it was heavily structured, not very flexible and very expensive.
Inchbald Interior Design School
Another interior design institution, Inchbald has been teaching students since 1960. The courses are taught either in a classroom or online, but as with KLC, they tend to be structured, not very flexible and University level expensive.
I had a quick look at this one but I found the website quite vague and I wasn’t sure what they were offering. It says an Interior Design Course but doesn’t give you a break down of all the different courses they provide. You can download the prospectus and although it looks professional and glossy, I still didn’t really know what I would get out of this course. With so many courses on offer online, I immediately dismissed this one.
I really liked the look of this course. You have the option to study a Diploma or top up degree, the website was extremely informative and at £1,590 one of the cheapest I came across. It did appear that you only have 9 – 12 months to complete the diploma, so even though it was online and flexible, there are time restraints. It also looked like the course didn’t go into much depth.
British College of Interior Design
You can only study The Professional Interior Design Course with the British College which takes 12 – 24 weeks. There were lots of testimonials and the website was laid out informatively but there was no information on the cost. You had to enter your email to get any information on the course content and pricing which was a huge turn off for me. Also, I wanted an accredited qualification.
BAID – British Academy of Interior Design
I was immediately drawn to BAID, its website is extremely eye-catching and informative and they have a really good selection of courses available. These included certificates and diplomas which can lead you onto a 3rd year of an Interior Design Degree. They also have the option to work in a classroom or from home with potential work placements available around the country. The courses are extremely flexible and also very reasonable, starting from £395.
There are many short courses available if you do not want to commit to a lengthy qualification such as How to Design a Room in 10 Easy Steps with Udemy if you only want to be able to decorate a room in your house to a classroom taught Colour Rendering with KLC. But, as with all courses, make sure they are by an accredited course provider which you can check on the Governments Ofqual Register. You can also find a wealth of information about becoming an Interior Designer at www.biid.org.uk
What?
In the end I settled with a HND with the British Academy of Interior Design. The main reasons were, I could study online in my own time (up to 48 months to complete the course), the cost, the potential for a month’s work placement and the possibility to continue my diploma to degree level.
How?
I’ve signed on the dotted line, have my own profile and student area (I can even apply for a student card!) and I’ve bought the materials ready to go. Now, this is the hard part! As it’s an online course, I have to be really disciplined into doing the assignments and after 6 months since I first enrolled, I am only just about to finish my first assignment, so becoming an interior designer feels like a long way off.
I mainly study from home and with all the distractions around me, I’m starting to look at heading to a café or the library for a couple of hours to get away from the chocolate biscuits and the temptation to create more posts for Instagram.
I will be writing all about my course on my blog as I always get lots of questions about it and hoping to start interviewing professional Interior Designers who do it for real in the new year.
If you have any questions about Interior Design courses or how I’ve found it so far, let me know in the comments!
hi Mel, great post ! how is the course going? I am considering the same course…
Hi Michele
I’ve only managed to complete one assignment so far! I think because the course is online and you can do at your own pace, there’s no time constraints and I find myself too busy to do it. But, I am enjoying the course and need to start putting one day aside when I concentrate on just the course!
Mel x
Hi Mel,
I am on the PGD course at BAID. It took me 18momths to get to my 4th Assignment. I have 11 to go lol. There has been a lot of distractions, because I currently work at an Interior design firm. Happy to know that I am not the only one lagging. I have beaten my self up so many times. We will see it through, good luck in yours…
Hi Funmi
Thanks for your message! Where do you work? I would love to work for an interior design firm eventually. I really struggle to find the time, I write my blog once a week but have decided to cut it down to twice monthly so it frees up a lot more time. I love writing my blog but I really want to get on with becoming an interior designer so finishing this course will hopefully give me the confidence I need!
Mel 🙂
Hi Mel,
Amazing post! I am currently researching a Interior Design course, and ended up at BAID as well. The website looks really professional and accurate, and the fact that the offer a HND online definitely caught my eye! Unfortunately I saw a few bad reviews online, and that is where i began my research online of people who actually studied there or currently are studying. How are you finding the interactions between the Tutors? They reviews mostly focus on how “bad” and hard are the tutors on assignments and how hard are they marking these.
Thanks for this post and hope to hear from you as I can’t wait to enrol this course!
Hello
I’ve been pretty bad at keeping up with my studies to be honest and so far have only done one assignment. The response was good and constructive and yes, the tutor was a little harsh but then it is a diploma level course!
The reason I did BAID is because of the price and the fact it is all online learning but I have found the communication to be very poor. I didn’t submit my first assignment until 8 months after I had signed up and I had absolutely no communication from BAID. I know the onus is on you to do the course, but after paying a hefty sum, I would have liked someone to just send an email and see how I was getting on or some inspiration.
I feel I can’t really comment on my experience so far as I haven’t really got stuck in yet, I guess its all down to how motivated you are and how much you need a college/learning facility to push you!
Mel 🙂
Hi Mel,
An interesting read, thank you.
How are you getting on with the course? Or are you still finding it difficult to fit in?
Do you know they now do a BA (Hons) accredited by Chester Uni. It seems very cheap compared to the others!
India
Hi India
I’ve been very bad at keeping up with my studies to be honest! I’ve only completed one assignment but hoping to pick up where I left off soon. I have a lot of work on so do find it difficult to fit in. I really need to just set aside one day and crack on with it. It seems like a really good course, but the support is non existent!
Mel 🙂
The most thought-provoking kinda post that I have read on becoming an interior designer. Thanks for writing and sharing this post with us.
Thank you for reading it 🙂
Hi, Mel
I appreciate you finding the time and effort to put this short article on BECOMING AN INTERIOR DESIGNER. I once again find myself spending way too much time both reading and commenting.
But so what, it was still worthwhile!
Hi Mel
I just wondered how you were getting on with your course?
Author
Hi Penny, I gave up on it in the end. I just didn’t have time for it and I realised I didn’t really want to be an Interior designer. I have, however, enrolled with the Interior Design Diploma with KLC as I wanted to get a bit of technical knowledge and so far, I like what I see! I think KLC are so much better, it’s not just about the course. They have a job board, lots of competitions to enter and generally feel like a better community of interior designers. Mel 🙂
Hi there,
It’s been a year since the last post. So I thought I revive it a bit by asking how is everyone getting on. I’m a bit torn between KLC or BAID? Same problem here, I can only afford to do my studies on Fridays or Saturdays.
Author
Hi Jess
I’ll be honest with you. I gave up on BAID in the end and enrolled with KLC! I got a good deal on their Diploma certificate and so far, I like what I see! Mel 🙂
Hello! I have also been doing research into interior design online courses and was about to sign up for the BAID HND course and came across your page. Would you recommend it or is the KLC better? Thanks a million!
Author
Hi Isabel. I actually stopped doing the BAID course after around 18 months. I found communication non-existent and I wasn’t fully motivated to do the course so I pretty much gave up. You have to be extremely motivated to do the BAID course as the community and support just aren’t there.
I enrolled in the KLC certificate at the beginning of last year and have found it so much better. There is a lot of communication, a real community and a lot more opportunities being part of KLC. If you really want to be an interior designer, it is definitely worth going with KLC as it gives you more than just a course.