What is online interior design? How it works, costs and what to expect
By Catherine Seagrave, Design Director and Co-Founder of The Living House
Online interior design is professional help with your home, delivered remotely through photographs, measurements and conversations with your designer. Depending on the service you choose, you might receive advice on a particular problem or a complete room design with a furniture layout, colour scheme, visuals and a shopping list to follow.
A design visualisation of a welcoming family living room, with a generous corner sofa, alcove storage and a window seat that makes the most of the sea view.
It can be particularly useful when you know the sort of home you would love, but working out how to create it has become another job on an already rather long list. Perhaps the living room still feels unfinished two years after moving in, or you have found several sofas you like without knowing which one will actually work in the room.
At The Living House, we help busy families make those decisions together. Catherine and Becky work as a team on our Complete Design projects, bringing the layout, furniture, colours and practical details into one considered plan for your home.
How much does online interior design cost?
Prices vary because the amount of work included varies. A consultation to help with a few decisions is a different service from designing a whole room and sourcing everything for it, so it helps to compare the scope as well as the fee.
These are the three ways you can work with us:
The Complete Design
For when you want a whole room brought together and would like us to work through the design decisions for you. We create your layout, overall scheme and product selections, with a clear shopping list to help you put everything into place.
£120 per square metre including VAT, with a minimum of £750 per room.
The Power Hour
A focused 60-minute video call with two designers to help you work through your layout, renovation plans or the design decisions that are holding you up. You receive a recording and a personalised written action plan to refer back to afterwards.
£475 including VAT.
The Layout Fix
For when the furniture arrangement is the main problem in a room with a single purpose, such as a living room or bedroom. We create a layout with suitable furniture dimensions, so you know what will fit and where it should go. Everything is delivered by email.
£180 including VAT.
For example, the Complete Design fee for a room measuring 4m by 5m would be £2,400 including VAT. That is the design fee; furniture, decorating, fitting and any building work are separate costs. We discuss what you want to spend on the room so the recommendations can be considered within that overall plan.
The Layout Fix does not include a video call or specific product recommendations, and it does not cover open plan rooms or renovation projects. If you are unsure how much help you need, our guide to full room design versus an interior design consultation explains the difference in more detail.
How does online interior design work?
Each studio works a little differently. With our Complete Design, the process begins with understanding your home and ends with a practical design you can put into place at your own pace.
1. You tell us about your home
We ask you to complete a questionnaire and send photographs, measurements or a floor plan, and any inspiration you have collected. You can tell us which furniture needs to stay, what is frustrating you and how you would like the room to feel.
A hand-drawn plan with accurate measurements is usually fine. We will explain what information we need, and you do not have to identify your style or put together a polished presentation before speaking to us.
2. We talk about everyday life
Your project begins with a 45-minute video call with your designers. We discuss how you use the space, what you want to spend and the details that photographs cannot explain, such as where homework happens or why everyone avoids a particular chair.
This is also the time to tell us about different preferences within the family. A comfortable place to watch television and a room that feels lovely when friends come round can both belong in the same brief.
3. We work out the layout and design direction
We consider furniture sizes, storage, lighting and the path of travel through the room, alongside the colours and materials you are drawn to. There is little point choosing a beautiful dining table if pulling out a chair makes it difficult to get past. Your feedback on the initial layout and inspiration helps shape the design before we bring the final scheme together. The individual pieces are chosen in relation to one another, so you can see how your existing belongings and new purchases will work as a whole.
4. You receive your design and time to review it
Your completed Design Dossier is typically delivered around four weeks after your video call, with a personal talk-through video explaining the decisions. You then have two weeks of post-design support, including one round of refinements, to review the scheme and raise any questions.
What do you actually receive?
With the Complete Design, your dossier brings together:
A scaled layout showing the furniture arrangement.
A floorplan from The Complete Design Dossier, showing how we consider furniture sizes, seating and the path of travel together to make the room work comfortably for family life.
A moodboard, 2D visualisation and render to help you picture the proposed room.
A moodboard from The Complete Design, bringing furniture, colours, fabrics and lighting together so you can picture the whole scheme before you start buying.
Recommendations for colours, finishes, furniture, lighting, window treatments and accessories within your agreed scope.
A shopping list with direct links to the selected products.
The first and last pages of The Complete Design shopping list, bringing together the furniture and finishing touches chosen for your room, with product details, retailers and prices to make shopping straightforward.
A video explaining the design and why the choices work together.
The useful part is how these connect. You can see which sofa we recommend, where it belongs and how it sits alongside the rug, lighting and furniture you are keeping, without having to solve each decision separately.
A real example: making a small dining room work for family life
In this dining room project for a family in Northumberland, the room was less than four metres wide and only 2.6 metres long, but the family wanted to seat up to eight people.
We considered the table and chair dimensions, including how the table legs affected the chairs that could tuck underneath. The layout also helped us establish that the bookcase needed to be only 30cm deep. We then brought the furniture, lighting and colours together so the room would connect with the living room we had already designed for them.
Our customer’s finished dining room after putting our design advice into practice, with warm wood, soft neutrals and inviting lighting that connects beautifully with the living room beyond.
Those small decisions make a difference to how comfortably a family can use a room. They also show why planning the space before buying the furniture is such a valuable part of the process.
Can a designer understand my home without visiting?
We build our understanding from several sources: your measurements, photographs from different angles, the questionnaire, inspiration images and our conversation. Together, these help us understand both the physical room and what you need from it.
There are also things to check in the room itself. We recommend trying paint and fabric samples in your own light, because photographs and screens cannot reproduce colour precisely. Accurate measurements matter too, particularly around doors, windows, radiators and furniture you want to keep.
You can read more about how we design a room we have never visited, including the information that helps us build that picture.
How is this different from a shop's design service?
A retailer's design service can be useful if you want to furnish a room largely from its range. An independent designer may suit you when you want to combine several retailers, keep existing pieces and develop a scheme around the whole room.
The Living House is independent. We do not hold trade accounts or earn commission on the products we recommend, and you buy directly from the retailers. That gives us the freedom to bring together high street finds, independent makers and second-hand pieces where they suit your home.
When comparing services, look at who will design your room, what you will receive, where products can be sourced and what support is included. Those details will tell you more than the starting price alone.
Is online interior design worth it for my home?
If you enjoy researching furniture, feel confident with your layout and have time to bring everything together, you may be happy doing it yourself. Equally, one unresolved question does not necessarily call for a complete room design.
Professional help becomes more useful when several decisions depend on one another and you are struggling to move forward. Perhaps you cannot order curtains because you have not chosen the wall colour, which depends on the sofa, which you have not bought because the layout still feels wrong.
For our Complete Design clients, the value is in having experienced designers work through those connections and present a considered scheme. It can save research time, help reduce avoidable purchasing mistakes and give you a clearer basis for deciding where to spend.
If the fee is the part you are weighing up, our article on whether hiring an interior designer is worth it explores what you are paying for.
You will still need to provide information, give feedback and arrange purchases and any work in your home. If you want someone to visit regularly, manage trades, receive deliveries and install the finished room, look for a designer who offers that level of on-site support.
A few practical questions
Can we keep furniture and artwork we already own?
Yes. Tell us what you would like to keep, along with its measurements and photographs. An inherited cabinet or much-loved painting can help give a room its character, and including existing pieces can make the changes feel more personal.
What if my partner and I cannot agree?
We want to understand both sets of preferences, along with what you each need from the room. Sometimes a shared preference for warmth, natural materials or a relaxed atmosphere provides a useful starting point, even when your saved pictures look quite different.
If the disagreement is about paying for design help, we suggest starting with the decisions you need to make and the time you realistically have to spend on them. Understanding what the fee includes can help you decide together whether that support would be useful.
What happens if something in the design does not feel right?
Tell us what is troubling you and why. With the Complete Design, the two weeks of support and included round of refinements give you a chance to review the proposed scheme and discuss adjustments. Clear feedback helps us understand whether the issue is a colour, a particular piece or something practical about how you would use it.
Do we have to buy everything at once?
No. You can implement the design in stages, using the overall plan to keep your purchases connected. Bear in mind that product prices and availability can change, particularly if you leave a long gap before ordering.
When should we speak to a designer?
Ideally, before committing to the larger purchases or booking work that depends on the layout and finishes. If you have already started, we can discuss what is fixed and where there is still room to make changes.
Would a clear plan help you move forward?
If you are ready to make a room work better for your family, we would be happy to talk it through. A free Discovery Call gives us a chance to hear about your project, answer your questions about working with us and suggest the most useful level of support.
If you would prefer to see more of our work first, browse our recent projects for examples of the homes and practical challenges we help with.
