Interior Designer Cost: What You’ll Actually Pay For
How much will an interior designer cost in Australia’s major cities? This straightforward guide with real numbers lets you plan your home renovation or decoration with confidence. Here is an overview of what this article covers, so that you can jump directly to the paragraph you are most interested in.
How Do Interior Designers Charge?
Interior Designer Cost Breakdown by Room
How Much Are the Fees for a Kitchen Design?
Bathroom Interior Designer Cost Explained
Living and Dining Room Design Fees
Interior Decorator Fees For Bedrooms and Guest Rooms
Design Fees for Built-in Cabinets
Interior Designer Cost for a Whole House
How much does Martina Hayes charge?
Why Choose Martina Hayes As Your Designer?
Frequently Asked Questions
While this article focuses on interior designer costs, you may also be curious about what to budget for the home renovation itself. We’ve collated a separate guide that breaks down those costs by room, containing all the expenses you should factor in for your home renovation in Sydney.
How Do Interior Designers Charge?
Interior designers may structure their fees in various ways, depending on the project’s size and nature.
Fixed Fee
This is a pre-agreed total cost for the full scope of work. In our experience, most clients prefer this model as it provides cost certainty and allows for easier budgeting.
Hourly Rate
In this model, the designer charges for time spent, billed by the hour. It’s often used for one-off consultations or smaller projects. Besides, it can be a good option when the scope is unclear at the start.
What’s the Hourly Rate for Hiring an Interior Designer?
In Sydney and other major Australian cities, hourly rates typically range from $150 to $450, while high-profile or celebrity designers may charge $500 or more.
Percentage-Based Fee
Some designers charge a percentage of the total construction or furnishing budget, typically between 10% and 20%. This model is often used for luxury projects or when working with large furnishing budgets, aligning the designer’s fee with the overall scale of the project.
Cost Plus Markup (Procurement Model)
In this model, the designer purchases furniture and materials at trade prices and adds a markup, generally ranging from 10% to 30%. It allows clients to access designer-only suppliers while the designer manages ordering and logistics. This approach often comes with a lower upfront design fee, as the designer earns part of their income through the procurement process.
Different Fee Structures, but Similar Investment
Regardless of the pricing model a designer uses, the total cost often works out to a similar amount, as shown in the table below.
Interior Designer Cost Breakdown by Room
| Space | Fee Range |
| Kitchen | $5K to $25K |
| Bathroom | $5K to $15K |
| Living & Dining | $10K to $25K |
| Bedroom | $5K to $20K |
| Built-In Cabinet (Joinery) | $2K to $20K |
| Whole House | $100K to $200K |
In the following paragraphs, we will outline exactly what’s included in the costs shown in the table above.
How Much Are the Fees for a Kitchen Design?
Interior designer charges for a complete kitchen design can vary significantly based on experience and project complexity:
- Entry-level or junior designer: from around $5,000 for a straightforward kitchen design
- Experienced Sydney designer: allow up to $25,000 for a complex, full-service kitchen design
What’s Included in the Kitchen Design Fees?
An interior designer looks beyond the kitchen itself. They ensure it flows with your home’s architecture and overall aesthetic. It’s not just about finishes, it’s about designing a space that functions beautifully and feels like it belongs. Here’s what the design fee typically includes:
- Comprehensive discussion to understand your lifestyle, how you use your kitchen, your family’s requirements and style preferences
- Detailed measure-up of the kitchen, including doors and windows
- Conceptual floor plans focused on spatial layout, functionality and workflow
- Showroom visits and recommendations for appliances, benchtops, cabinetry, handles, tapware, splashbacks, lighting and more
- Complete technical documentation with comprehensive joinery drawings and elevations — showing precise details like drawer heights, LED lighting positions, shelf quantities, clearances for appliances and edge profiles
- Electrical layout, including switch and light positions
- Collaboration with the joiner and builder before and during construction
- Final styling and finishing touches
Step number 5 — the technical documentation — is where much of the work and value lies. These are production-ready documents that go directly to the joiner for manufacturing, ensuring that the kitchen is built exactly as designed.
Streamlined Kitchen Design Process
Working directly with a qualified interior designer and their trusted cabinetmaker is usually the most economical way to achieve your new kitchen. That is because you eliminate the need for middlemen. Instead, your plans are sent directly to the cabinet maker or joiner, which reduces costs and improves accuracy. As a result, you’ll achieve exactly the kitchen you envisioned, in the most cost-effective way.
How to Save Money on Your Kitchen Design
One effective way to reduce your interior designer’s fee is to pre-select your kitchen appliances. If you choose your fridge, oven, cooktop, dishwasher, microwave and any other built-in appliances yourself, you can often save between $1,000 and $4,000 on your overall kitchen design cost.
This is because you know best what suits your lifestyle. Whether your oven needs to be a steam oven, self-cleaning or extra-wide — or your dishwasher must accommodate oversized plates — these are highly personal preferences. With so many variables, appliance selection often leads to time-consuming rounds of back-and-forth during the design phase. On the other hand, finalising your appliances early helps your designer move quickly and accurately into the technical planning stage, saving you both time and money.
Bathroom Interior Designer Cost Explained
Broken down by square metre, bathrooms are the most expensive rooms to design because they require meticulous planning. In Sydney, professional bathroom design typically ranges from $5,000 to $15,000, depending on the designer’s experience and scope of the service. And when done correctly, it delivers both luxury and long-term value.
If you’re thinking about adding another bathroom to your home, you may be surprised at how little space it can require. You can read more about it in this article.
Here’s what’s included in that investment:
- Comprehensive discussion to understand your family’s requirements and style preferences
- Detailed measure-up of your bathroom, including doors and windows
- Conceptual bathroom layout focused on functionality and looks
- Showroom visits to select tiles and bathroom ware, such as the vanity, bathtub, tapware, mirror, wash basin, heat lamp, towel rack, lighting and more
- Procurement support for all items
- Full technical documentation, complete with detailed joinery drawings and elevations
- Electrical layout, including switch and light positions
- Collaboration with the builder before and during construction
- Final styling and finishing touches
How to Save Money on a Bathroom Design
If you’re renovating more than one bathroom, it’s cost-effective to design them all at once. Because it streamlines the design process, saving both time and money. It still allows the builder to complete the bathrooms in separate stages if this is your choice.
You can also save by selecting an off-the-shelf vanity rather than a custom design. This is because prefabricated vanities require less documentation, which keeps the design fee lower.
Living and Dining Room Design Fees
Design fees for furnishing and decorating an open-plan living and dining area typically range between $10,000 and $25,000 for the following full-service package.
- Comprehensive discussion to understand your aesthetics and lifestyle needs
- Detailed measure-up of the entire space, including doors and windows
- Conceptual layout focused on optimum functionality and looks
- Showroom visits and furniture recommendations for lounges, coffee tables, dining settings, sideboards and other items
- Soft furnishings: fabrics, rugs, cushions, blinds and curtains
- Lighting: from pendant lights to floor lamps, table lamps and wall sconces
- Artwork, accessories and decor: curated for balance and personality
- Specification and documentation of every single item
- Procurement and coordination: orders placed and deliveries managed
- Final styling: to bring it all together with warmth and coherence
How to Save Living and Dining Room Design Fees
Some designers offer flexibility in their scope of work, allowing clients to manage the procurement and delivery. If you have the time and confidence to do this, you may choose to engage your designer for the specification stage only. In this case, you will receive the furniture and decoration details while managing logistics independently.
Interior Decorator Fees For Bedrooms and Guest Rooms
A bedroom design may involve the decoration of the main suite, a teenager’s retreat, a children’s room or a guest bedroom. Depending on the scope, professional design fees typically range from $5,000 to $20,000 for the following services.
- Comprehensive discussion to understand who uses the bedroom and what individual needs and preferences they have
- Detailed measure-up of the bedroom, including doors and windows.
- Conceptual layout focused on optimum functionality and looks
- Showroom visits and furniture recommendations for beds, mattresses, headboards, bedside tables, dressers and other furniture
- Soft furnishings: fabrics for armchairs and ottomans, bed linen, cushions and window treatment
- Lighting: bedside lamps, pendant lights, wall sconces
- Artwork and accessories to reflect your style and enhance the space’s character
- Procurement and coordination: items ordered and deliveries managed on your behalf
- Final styling: everything arranged and finished for a cohesive, comfortable bedroom retreat
Design Fees for Built-in Cabinets
Costs vary significantly for the design of a custom-made, in-built cabinet, depending on the scope and complexity. A straightforward wardrobe design, for instance, can range from $2,000 to $5,000.
Interior Designer Cost for a Home Office or Study
In contrast, a fully customised home office — with floor-to-ceiling storage, file drawers, printer space, adjustable desk height, tailored shelving and provision for clever cable management — can see design fees climb to $10,000 to $20,000. But it can be well worth the investment as you can’t put a price on the productivity, comfort and satisfaction that comes from working in a thoughtfully designed study.
Built-in Cabinets Complete a Home Beautifully
Custom-made joinery can complete a room beautifully, fitting seamlessly into the space while offering exceptional practicality. Imagine one of the following built-in cabinets in your own home.
- Living room cabinet with TV integration ($3K to $10K design fees)
- Laundry cabinets that use every inch of this hard-working space ($5K to $15K design fees)
- Impressive wine display ($5K to $15K design fees)
- Luxurious walk-in-robe that could come straight out of the ‘Sex and the City’ TV show ($10K to $20K design fees)
What the Interior Designer Cost for Joinery Incorporates
- Comprehensive discussion to understand what the cabinet will be used for and what items you wish to store in it, as well as colour and material preferences.
- Detailed measure-up of the entire space, including doors and windows
- Conceptual layout focused on optimum storage and practicality
- Design detailing: specification of cabinet dimensions, internal configurations, practical features and door opening mechanisms
- Material and finish selection: including timber, veneer, polyurethane, handles and benchtop options
- Lighting integration: LED strip lighting, task lighting or display lighting where appropriate
- Technical documentation: full set of elevations and construction drawings ready for joinery manufacture
- Coordination and review: liaising with the cabinet maker or joiner to ensure accurate execution of the design and overseeing installation on site.
Interior Designer Cost for a Whole House
The cost of designing an entire home depends on both the scope and the level of detail. It’s not simply a matter of adding up the fees for each room, as there are efficiencies when designing the whole home together. As a guide, allow $100,000 to $200,000, with costs at the higher end if the project includes extensive built-in joinery, furniture and flooring selection, decoration and outdoor spaces with features such as a covered alfresco area, outdoor kitchen and a pool.
How Much Does Martina Hayes Charge?
Our fees sit in the mid-range for Sydney interior design, reflecting a decade of experience and full professional qualifications. We’re not the most expensive firm, but we’re also not the most economical.
With our Bronze, Silver and Gold design packages, we offer clients the flexibility to choose the level of service that best suits their needs and, if they prefer, to handle certain aspects of the project themselves. Regardless of the package you choose, our focus remains on delivering exceptional value through expertise, efficiency and personalised service.
Why Choose Martina Hayes As Your Designer?
There are many reasons clients choose Martina Hayes for both interior design and building design. Here are just a few that set us apart.
Quality
As a small team of fully qualified designers, we have the expertise to transform your property into a home that is both beautiful and functional.
One-stop Service for Home Renovators
We are both interior designers and building designers, offering a one-stop service for your renovation. We’ll handle everything, from layout and structure to finishes and styling, ensuring a cohesive and streamlined process.
Creativity meets Experience
We combine fresh, creative thinking with years of experience to deliver inspired design solutions, helping you see possibilities beyond the obvious, avoid costly mistakes and end up with a stunning property.
Value for Money
By keeping our overheads low, we offer competitive pricing without compromising on quality or service. Our Bronze, Silver, and Gold design packages give you control over both the scope of work and the design fees, allowing you to choose the level of involvement that suits you best.
Flexibility
We understand busy schedules and adapt our process to work around your availability.
Happy Clients
Our work speaks through the words of our clients. Explore their testimonials here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do interior designers charge for the first meeting?
Designers typically offer a complimentary discovery call, but an initial visit at home is usually a paid service.
What is included in interior designer fees?
Design fees typically cover measuring, layout planning, material and fixture selection, technical drawings, lighting plans, procurement and styling. Furthermore, you’ll find a detailed list of interior design inclusions above, outlined separately for each room.
Is hiring an interior designer worth it?
Yes. A good designer can help you avoid costly mistakes, save time and achieve a cohesive, high-quality result that reflects your lifestyle and adds long-term value to your home. If you want to learn more about it, have a read through our article Why you should hire an interior designer.
Can I save money by managing furniture orders myself?
Yes, if the designer is prepared to work that way and you’re comfortable managing the logistics. Some clients choose to place orders themselves based on the designer’s recommendations, which can help reduce fees.
What’s the difference between an interior designer and an interior decorator?
An interior designer is qualified to handle both layout and finishes, and can work on renovations involving structural changes. A decorator typically focuses on furniture, fabrics and styling within an existing layout.
Can I hire an interior designer for just one room?
Yes, if the designer is prepared to work on a single room. However, designers like Martina Hayes typically achieve the best results when ensuring the entire home has a cohesive flow, even if the work is staged over time.
How do I know what design package is right for me?
That depends on how involved you’d like to be. For this reason, we created tiered packages — Bronze, Silver and Gold — to let you choose based on how much guidance and procurement support you need. For this purpose, we prepare a detailed design service proposal outlining exactly what’s included in each package, along with the associated fees. As a result, you can make a fully informed decision about which option is right for you.
If you are considering renovating your home, email martina@martinahayes.com.au or call Martina on 0434 498 450 for an initial conversation about your project. Alternatively, use our contact form. We like to hear from you.
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