What is the difference between Interior Design and Interior Decorating? This is a question we hear quite a bit with students who are exploring their training options. There are varied explanations explaining the differences, but we find that the NCIDQ (National Council for Interior Design Qualification) website explains it best:

Many people use the terms “interior design” and “interior decorating” interchangeably, but these professions differ in critical ways. Interior design is the art and science of understanding people’s behaviour to create functional spaces within a building. The decoration is the furnishing or adorning of a space with fashionable or beautiful things*. In short, interior designers may decorate, but decorators do not design. Interior designers apply creative and technical solutions within a structure that are functional, attractive and beneficial to the occupants’ quality of life and culture. Designs respond to and coordinate with the building shell and acknowledge the physical location and social context of the project. Designs must adhere to code and regulatory requirements and encourage the principles of environmental sustainability. The interior design process follows a systematic and coordinated methodology—including research, analysis and integration of knowledge into the creative process—to satisfy the needs and resources of the client.

Excerpt from NCIDQ page “Differences Between Interior Design & Decorating“.

California-based Interior Designer Caitlin Campbell – the owner of Symmetry Designs – explained the difference this way:

…the biggest difference is that the interior designer typically has a number of other issues on his or her mind. For instance, when it comes to floor coverings, an interior decorator will probably be responsible for choosing the type, colour, texture, and pattern. The interior designer, on the other hand, will make the selection based on those criteria, with an additional eye towards the appropriateness of type, usage, sound transference, acoustic properties, flammability, off-gassing properties, static electricity requirements and flammability.

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At the College for Arts and Technology, we train students to become industry professionals upon completion of our Interior Design diploma program. For more information, please contact us and we will put you in touch with one of our program advisors.