A realistic guide to the cost of furnishing a living room, including the easily forgotten details that make the difference between a room containing furniture and one that feels beautifully finished.

It's probably an odd thing for an interior designer to say, but I don't think everyone needs an interior designer.

If you love spending your evenings researching furniture, have a clear idea of what you want, enjoy working through floor plans and can confidently make decisions about colour, scale, lighting and everything else that goes into a room, you may be absolutely fine doing it yourself.

And if you're painting a bedroom, replacing a chair or making a few small changes to a room you already love, paying a designer may not make much sense at all.

But there comes a point with bigger home projects when the question starts to change.

You're no longer wondering whether you could do it yourself. You're wondering whether you actually want to spend the next six months doing it yourself, and whether you're confident enough to make some fairly expensive decisions without knowing for certain how everything is going to come together.

That's usually when we hear from people.

They have good taste. They've saved plenty of inspiration. They know the sort of homes they love. What they don't necessarily have is the time, experience or headspace to turn all those ideas into one finished room.

So, is hiring an interior designer worth it?

There are some purchases for your home that you can make fairly casually. A cushion that doesn't quite work can move to another room, a lamp can be returned and even a paint colour, annoying though it might be, can be painted over.

A sofa is rather different. It's usually one of the most expensive things you'll buy for your living room, it's physically enormous, and once it's sitting in your house it has an irritating habit of dictating almost everything else that happens around it.

Which is probably why so many of our clients arrive at The Living House with a sofa tab that's been open on their laptop for approximately six months. They've found one they love, then another, and another. They've ordered fabric samples, measured the wall, asked their partner's opinion, gone back to the first one and eventually become so confused that doing nothing starts to feel like the sensible option.

If you've ever stood in a freshly finished room and felt quietly deflated rather than quietly delighted, you're not alone. It's also, in our experience, one of the most common and least talked-about frustrations in interior design.

"How do I make sure it won't date?"

It might be the question we're asked more than any other.

Whether someone's investing in a bespoke kitchen, renovating a period property or designing what they hope will be their forever home, there's almost always a quiet anxiety underneath the excitement. What if I spend all this money - all this time - and hate it in five years? What if I look back at the photographs and cringe?

It's a very human fear. And when you're making decisions that involve real money and real commitment, it deserves a real answer.

So let's get into it properly.

If you're highly capable in almost every other area of life but feel completely stuck when it comes to decisions around your own home, I promise you're not alone. It's rarely about taste. It's about carrying too many decisions at once, and I see it every single day, including in my own home.

I know, because I feel it too, and that might surprise you. Interior design isn't just my job, it's my passion. Yet when it comes to my own home, I struggle with exactly the same things you do.

Right now, I desperately need new bi-fold doors in my kitchen. Thirteen years ago, when we had an extension done, money was tight, so the doors to the garden had to be the cheapest I could find, or we lived with a gaping hole. They were cheap. A composite, laminated "wood" that did the job until water got into them and they slowly reverted to soggy sawdust. Not a great look, and definitely not secure.

That unloved room has been on your list long enough. Catherine, co-founder of The Living House, on why The Complete Design is the expert online interior design service that finally gets it done - with two dedicated designers, a full room plan, and a curated shopping list from £2,400. author: Catherine, Co-Founder, The Living House category: Interior Design Advice tags: online interior design UK, interior design service, room transformation, living room design, The Complete Design, The Living House

You've finally decided something has to change. The living room has felt 'almost right' for three years. The extension is going ahead and you're staring at an architect's plan with absolutely no idea what happens next. Or maybe you've just moved in and the whole house feels like a blank, slightly overwhelming canvas.

You know you want help. But what kind?

This is one of the questions we get asked most at The Living House - and it's a good one. Because choosing the wrong type of support at the wrong moment can leave you spending money you didn't need to, or - worse - not getting nearly enough help when you really needed it.

"We had the architect's plans. We just didn't know how we were actually going to live in it."

Becky and her husband were in a position many families find themselves in mid-renovation: the architect's drawings were finalised, the builder was coming - and had just moved the timeline forward, and yet the biggest questions remained unanswered. How should the kitchen be positioned? Where does the dining table go without feeling crammed into the kitchen run? And how do you design a space that's genuinely wow, not just bigger?

"We couldn't quite put our finger on why it wasn't working - but something felt off."

Kat was at a pivotal point in their renovation. She’d had planning approved for a ground floor extension and their architect had produced a proposed layout. On paper, it ticked many of the boxes: a utility room, a new playroom, an extended kitchen. But every time they looked at the plans, something nagged at them.

"Our concerns were that it would create an overly complex, convoluted journey through the house - and make both the kitchen and playroom feel narrow."

She knew they needed an expert pair of eyes before the builders arrived. So they booked a Power Hour.

Let's be honest. You've had a tab open on that sofa for about six months. You've saved approximately 400 things to a Pinterest board that somehow manages to look both too much and not enough all at once. You've stood in the middle of your living room more times than you can count, hands on hips, staring at a space that just... isn't quite right.

Sound familiar?

You're not alone. Designing a room that actually works - one that feels like you, functions for your real life, and doesn't make you wince every time you walk into it - is genuinely hard. And it's not because you have bad taste. It's because knowing what you love and knowing how to make it happen are two very different things.

That's exactly why we created The Complete Design.

White paint is the timeless, classic choice for your home, but choosing the right shade can be tricky!

With so many shades to choose from, where do you start? And how do you make sure you don’t end up with a cold, characterless white box? It’s a question we often get asked - “What is the best white paint colour to use?” - and so we have put together our tried and tested favourites, along with some do’s and don’ts to help you get it right!

A north facing room has a pretty bad reputation - cold, gloomy and a bit dismal. No matter how large the windows are, the room will lack sunlight. Not the best start! However, all is not lost. Your cold dark room doesn’t have to stay that way. Understanding the light you do have can help you choose the right paint colours to cosy it up and make it an inviting space.

Planning an extension or a renovation project can bring up so many mixed emotions - it’s exciting and can lead to your dream home, but it can also feel overwhelming with so many decisions to make and such pressure to get it right!

We’ve all seen the beautiful pictures on Pinterest of a room centered around the fireplace. It provides character and symmetry - and of course is amazing at Christmas time. It’s the all important focal point that designers talk about, and the starting point for the design and layout of the whole room.

An L shaped room is a tricky space. It’s not easily designed with awkward angles, dark corners and narrow spaces. Not to mention various doors and access points to consider. It can be hard to find the balance between keeping it open but still feeling like it’s a cohesive space. Whether the space is big or small it can be a challenge - but we can help you work with what you’ve got and make the most of your L shaped room.

For most of us, the biggest challenge with curtains is how to hang them. We often see the same mistakes made over and over, and they are easy to avoid.

This is a really common problem with these shaped rooms, especially in new builds. We get asked for help with layouts often and for good reason. It’s tricky to get right!!

Many years ago, when I first moved into my home I was stumped as to what colour to paint my Victorian living room. It was all white, and although a light blank canvas it lacked something extra.

November already? How did it come round so quickly?! Time to pack away the autumnal decorations and enter Christmas mode. It feels like Christmas hits the shops and online earlier each year, giving you that buzz to get organised and start shopping for your friends and family.