Interior Design Services by Room: Fees From £300 to £8,000

Interior design services cover a wider range of jobs than most people expect, and the right one depends far more on the room than on the designer. A bedroom refresh can be done well by an online package for a few hundred pounds. A kitchen in a Victorian terrace needs technical drawings, coordination with trades and someone who understands building regulations, and the design fee alone can reach £8,000 in London. Buying the wrong level of service for the room is the most common and most expensive mistake we see.

This page is the map. It sets out what a designer actually does for each kind of room and project, the London fee band, how long it takes, and the approvals to plan for, with links to our detailed guide for each.

The four levels of service

Almost every studio and online service sells some version of these four. They are worth knowing by name, because quotes are hard to compare until you know which one you are being sold.

The fees are design fees only. Furniture, finishes and trades are paid on top, and that split explains most quote shocks. Our cost per room guide breaks each band down and shows the same room priced under hourly, fixed and percentage fees.

Living rooms

A living room is the easiest room to get good value on, because the layout rarely changes and the decisions are mainly about furniture, lighting and colour. The design work is a floor plan that works for how you use the room, a lighting scheme in layers rather than a single pendant, and a palette that suits the light the room gets.

• Service level that usually fits: e-design for a refresh; full service if you are adding joinery, moving a fireplace or opening up to a kitchen.
• London design fee: about £1,000 to £3,500 full service.
• What to read next: small living room layouts, living rooms with a fireplace and open-plan kitchen living rooms.

Kitchens

Kitchens are technical. The designer has to resolve the layout around plumbing, gas or electrics and ventilation, specify cabinets, worktops and appliances to the millimetre, and produce drawings a fitter can build from. Notifiable electrical work in a kitchen falls under Part P of the Building Regulations, so a registered electrician is on the job whoever designs it.

• Service level that usually fits: full service. An independent designer is worth comparing with a kitchen company’s free design service, which is tied to its own products.
• London design fee: about £2,000 to £8,000 or more.
• What to read next: kitchen interior design cost in London, kitchen extension ideas, galley kitchens and the kitchen island size calculator.

Bathrooms and cloakrooms

Bathrooms pack the most decisions into the fewest square metres: drainage falls, ventilation, waterproofing, lighting zones and where every fitting goes. A designer’s value here is mostly in the drawings and the specification, so the builder does not make the calls for you on site.

• Service level that usually fits: full service for a main bathroom or an en suite; a consultation can be enough for a downstairs loo.
• London design fee: about £1,500 to £5,000.
• What to read next: luxury bathroom design, small bathrooms, downstairs loos and the tile calculator.

Bedrooms

Bedrooms are mostly about storage, lighting and calm. The design question that matters most is usually wardrobes: fitted joinery against freestanding, and where it goes so the room still works around the bed.

• Service level that usually fits: e-design, unless fitted wardrobes are part of the job.
• London design fee: about £800 to £2,500 full service.
• What to read next: green bedroom ideas and bedroom furniture sets.

Hallways, stairs and landings

The hallway is the room clients forget to brief and later wish they had. It sets the first impression, carries most of the wear and is usually dark. Design work is lighting, durable flooring, storage for coats and shoes, and a colour that carries up the stairs.

• What to read next: hallway design ideas and hallway lighting.

Home offices and workspaces

A home office is a small room with exacting needs: desk depth, daylight from the side, task lighting and cable routes. Design work is mainly planning and lighting.

• What to read next: office design ideas, which sets out the space and light levels to aim for.

Whole-house projects, extensions and period refurbishments

This is where a designer earns the most, and where the approvals start to matter. A whole-house project in London typically runs nine to eighteen months from brief to handover when building work is involved, and much of that time is spent waiting for things the designer does not control.

Interior-only work does not need planning permission in England, conservation area or not. What catches London projects is the rest: building regulations, listed building consent for a listed home, a party wall notice before work on a shared wall, and a freeholder’s licence for alterations to a leasehold flat. A good designer flags each of these before the drawings are finished.

• Service level that usually fits: whole house with project management, or full service working alongside an architect.
• London design fee: £5,000 to £20,000 or more.
• What to read next: whole house interior design cost in London, planning permission and interior design and how long interior design takes.

How every project runs

Whatever the room, a designer working properly follows the same stages. Most British practices work to the RIBA Plan of Work, which the British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) has adopted as the spine of its contracts. In plain terms: a brief, a concept you approve, a developed design with drawings and a specification, procurement, installation and handover.

Three documents protect you along the way:

1. A written brief. Our interior design brief template sets out the nine sections to cover.
2. A contract with the scope, fee model, revision rounds and procurement terms in writing. See our contract checklist.
3. A signed-off concept before any money is spent on furniture. Our page on mood boards and 3D visuals explains what you are approving at each step.

The full stage-by-stage version is in our guide to the interior design process.

How to choose the right service for your project

• Is the layout changing? If no, start with e-design or a consultation. If yes, you need full service at least.
• Are trades involved? Plumbing, electrics, joinery or building work move you to full service, ideally with procurement and site visits included.
• More than two rooms, or any structural work? Look at whole-house service, and ask how the designer works with your architect or builder.
• Unsure? Book a paid first consultation before signing anything. Our guide to the first consultation covers what an hour should get you.

Interior design is not a regulated title in the UK, so anyone can call themselves a designer. The BIID’s directory of Registered Interior Designers is the free way to check credentials, and our page on hiring an interior designer in London walks through the rest. To put numbers on your own project, try the interior designer cost calculator.

Frequently asked questions

What interior design services can I get for one room? Three main options: a consultation charged by the hour, an online e-design package at about £300 to £800, or full service at about £800 to £3,500 for most rooms in London. Kitchens and bathrooms cost more because they need technical drawings.

Which rooms most need a professional designer? Kitchens and bathrooms, because mistakes are built in and expensive to undo. Bedrooms and living rooms with no layout change are the rooms where online packages or a single consultation usually do the job well.

Does an interior designer handle planning permission? Interior-only work does not need planning permission in England. A designer should still flag building regulations, listed building consent, party wall notices and freeholder consent where they apply, and coordinate with an architect if an extension is involved.

How long does an interior design project take? About two to three months for a single room with decoration and furniture, and nine to eighteen months for a whole London house with building work, mostly because of approvals, furniture lead times and builder availability.

Do interior design fees include furniture? No. The design fee pays for the design, drawings and specification. Furniture, finishes and trades are separate budgets, and some designers add a procurement markup on items they buy for you, so ask before you sign.

Is an online interior design service worth it? For a bedroom or living room where the layout stays the same, usually yes. It is the wrong choice for kitchens, bathrooms or anything structural, where measured drawings and site visits matter.