Confused by the choice available when wanting help with your home? The dictionary definition of interior decoration is ‘the decoration and furnishing of the interiors of rooms’. Interior design (according to the same dictionary) is the noun for interior decoration. So, by the book, they are the same; however if you book onto an interior design course it is likely to be quite different to one on interior decoration – so beware buyers!

Interior design is in many ways the ‘real McCoy’. Starting from a totally blank canvas, everything is considered from the size, scale and positioning of items within a building right through to the texture of the wall covering. Ergonomics (a science concerned with the relationship between human beings, machines and equipment and the working environment, and improving its efficiency) is often a big factor in a professional interior design course and there are books containing specific measurements for minimum distances between for example, a loo seat and the door. Builders might try to cut corners, but if an interior designer has been on board, you’re unlikely to be rubbing your knees against the wall in the little boys’ room. Interior designers will ponder for hours on the scrape back distance from pulling a chair out from a dining table and the reach-ability of a cup on a coffee table. Interior decoration, by contrast, is really more about making a space look good once the ‘design’ has been done. It is the pretty bit. Colour, texture, pattern, all the principles to adhere to when working to make a room look and feel great.

The reason why courses on interior decoration aren’t always called decoration is because people think it is about getting paint and paint brushes out and hanging wallpaper. So instead most interior decoration courses are called interior design courses. It is important, therefore, to ensure that when you enrol on a course to do with interiors… that you know what you’re likely to be learning, otherwise it could end in tears!

Google first (there are about 45,000 listings for both) then delve deeper. It shouldn’t take long :)

Article by: Sally McIlroy of Sallyforth and House Tutor from www.housetutor.co.uk