Planning guide
What should an interior designer include on a portfolio website?
Many interior design clients find you through someone else: a friend's living room, a saved image, an architect's referral. By the time they visit your website they are checking fit, not discovering you. These notes cover the pages that help them decide, what to show and how, the inquiry that starts the relationship, and how new clients find the studio.
Show whole spaces, not only vignettes
A styled shelf is lovely, but clients hire you for rooms that work. Show each project from the doorway as well as up close, so visitors can see how light, layout, color, and furniture relate. Organize projects by type, such as condos, family homes, or offices, and add a few lines on what the client wanted. If a project was a partial refresh, say so, since it reassures clients with smaller budgets.
Explain how a project actually runs
Design clients worry about two things: losing control of their home and losing control of the budget. A process page answers both. Walk through discovery, concept, selections, ordering, and installation, and say what the client decides at each step. Describe how you bill in general terms and how furniture and materials are purchased, so the first conversation can focus on the home.
Lead times are part of the story too. Custom upholstery and imported pieces can take months, and clients take delays better when they were told early. A sentence about that on the process page saves an awkward call later. If you work with particular workrooms, showrooms, or makers, mention them there as well, because clients like knowing who builds their pieces.
Ask how they live, not just what they like
The inquiry form sets the tone of the relationship. Ask which rooms need help, who uses them and how, whether there are pets or children, which pieces must stay, the timing, and the style of engagement they have in mind. Let them upload photos of the space and a few inspiration images. Add a phone number and an email for clients who would rather talk first.
Get found beyond your referrals
Referrals will always matter, but searches like interior designer Miami, condo interior design, or designer for a beach house come from people you have not met yet. Project pages labeled by area and type, plus a service page for each way of working, give search engines specific topics. Keep your details consistent on your Google Business Profile and ask clients whose homes you finished to review the studio. Rankings are never promised, but good structure gives a talented studio a fair chance to be found.
