5 Reasons Why You Need a Design Scheme
Have you ever been told by an interior designer that you should have a ‘design scheme’ a ‘design concept’ or a few ‘mood boards’ for your Airbnb renovation or refresh, and then muttered (probably to yourself!) - ‘But why?!’
It’s ok for an expert to TELL you that you need one, but what they perhaps don’t explain are the reasons behind it. That’s what you’ll get here.
First up though, the other question which you may have mumbled under your breath is: ‘What the hell even IS a design scheme?’ So I’ll start with that…
An interior design ‘scheme’ is basically an over-arching plan. It’s an indication of the direction you want to go in, of the style, colours, textures, and FEEL of the space you are creating. By listing all those things in one quick sentence, I have summarised what can actually take months of planning - and usually does - as it is of vital importance, as I will come to explain below.
In property and building terms, the design scheme is the blueprint to your design success. And if success is what you’re after, then you’re gonna need one!
So here’s 5 reasons why!
It gives coherence
Defined as ‘ the quality of being logical… and forming a unified whole’, coherence within a design scheme enables every space in your property to feel like it belongs and is part of the whole experience, without every room being identical.
There is an important distinction here between ‘consistence’ and ‘coherence’. Consistence would have you apply identical ‘looks’ and possibly identical products to each and every space - something many Airbnb design newbies fall foul of (in my opinion!) - its the ‘cookie cutter’ approach to interior design which is supposed to save time and money, but in actual fact lessens the impact and lessens the value your ideal client puts on the property (but that’s for another blog post!).
Coherence, on the other hand, provides a logical link - a commonality which is felt but may not always be obvious. And that is the skill required when designing a scheme. Coherence is SO important to the end result and to how your guests FEEL as they walk into your property - can they feel the flow, or do the rooms feel disjointed? If you have a design scheme from the word go, then it should most definitely be the former.
2. It keeps you focused
We are all guilty of getting side-tracked, in many areas of our life, but when it comes to the sparkly world of interior design, we’re often like a magpie, attracted by something else which has caught our eye. If you approach your interior design without a design scheme, you will be that magpie! But if you have one, and you have spent time planning it and have confidence that it will work and give you the end result you desire, then you will have that in mind when the shiny new products catch your eye and you’re lured towards them.
When you have a design scheme you can ask yourself “Does this item I’m so desperately drawn to really ‘fit’ with the scheme? Do I need it? Will it add anything or will it make my design look confused?’ Without the design scheme, you will more than likely end up with a jumble sale of items and styles which you liked at the time, but when you put them all together you realise that they don’t quite work as you had expected. But by that point it’s too late!
The focus the design scheme enables you to have therefore, is invaluable to a successful interior design, and really restricts those disastrous ‘panic buys’!
With this example to hand, you would be sure to know exactly what fits in your scheme and what doesn’t!
3. It Up-Levels You in the eyes of your guests
When you see a well-designed holiday rental, you know its going to be good, right? You expect to pay a certain price, and you feel confident that they’ll be no hidden surprises. People are HAPPY to pay more for a better-designed place to stay, because its not ‘just’ a place to stay! If a host has spent time, creating a wonderful space which looks professionally designed and curated, then hell, that’s going to be the one that people choose first, and it will most certainly get chosen ahead of anyone who hasn’t done the same.
So WITH a design scheme, you will HAVE that professional look, which justifies (in the eyes of your potential guest but also in YOUR mind too), the higher nightly rate you will be able to charge. And the bookings will STILL come rolling in!
4. It saves you TIME
Oh boy, this is a major one! You’re busy. There’s soooo much to do. You ‘don’t have time to do a design scheme!’ - am I right? If that’s what you think, then you need to look at this a different way: You really don’t have time NOT to have a design scheme!
The time taken to create and plan a scheme for your interior design may be a task which keeps dropping down on your ‘to-do’ list, but it should be up there at the top, because it WILL SAVE YOU TIME in the long run.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
If you’ve done a renovation of refresh before, you’ll know HOW MANY design questions get asked of you when your nearing the end - and how many of those questions do you have answers to? Barely any I would guess. This results in PANIC which is the wrong state of mind to be in when making such critical decisions (and yes, interior design decisions ARE critical, because it is the LOOK of your place which makes the scrollers stop and click into your listing, so don’t be fooled into thinking its not important).
By having a design scheme already done, planned, decided and FOLLOWED, you will be able to make those decisions far quicker, with less stress and much more calmness…. Ahhhh that’s the dream, right?
There is also major time-saving when it comes to purchasing interior products - you will know WHAT FITS and maybe more importantly, WHAT DOESN’T so again, you won’t get side-tracked and can make decisions swiftly, knowing your scheme is in the bag!
5. It saves you MONEY
And I’ve left this to last for a reason - THIS IS HUGE! Without even considering the fact that ‘time = money’ (see point 4 above!), having a design scheme done, ready to be implemented and knocking the socks off anyone who sees it, will save you money because it means mistakes WON’T be made. You won’t change your mind about the wall colour 8 times, only to revert back to the original, you won’t send the dining table back when you realise it really doesn’t go with the stye of the other furniture you ordered, you won’t then have to order a more expensive one because it was the only one you could find at short notice, and you won’t have to keep all the trades on site while you ‘reconsider’ whether you should’ve bought that light particular light fitting (which you spontaneously got for a ‘bargain’ at the closing down store round the corner)!
All these decisions are made along with the design scheme. Like I said at the beginning, it is the BLUEPRINT for your interior design, and having that blueprint will save you money in the long run. Delayed gratification, guaranteed.
So now when someone asks you why the hell you’re spending time at the start of your project, planning the interior design scheme (which surely is ‘the last thing you do?’), you can come back strong and truly explain the importance of doing just that.
The end result of all this is an outstanding holiday rental - fully booked with a nightly rate which justifies the effort you have put into making it so much more than ‘just a place to stay’ for your guests. It cannot be under-estimated or over-stated how important it is.
Go forth with your design scheme and may your business be thriving as a result!