Taobao, Lazada and Qoo10 DIY-ers: The New Threats to Interior Designers. Or Are They?

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The mushrooming of online shopping or e-commerce websites has been significantly affecting how home renovation works in recent years. There is a growing tendency where homeowners are turning to Taobao, Lazada or Qoo10 to source for materials, furniture or even decors.

The recent 11.11 shopping festival has further made this phenomenon a commonplace because online shopping websites were coming out with various offers and deals to attract customers. In result, many homeowners have taken advantage for this golden opportunity to spend (or splurge) and buy everything they need at once in order to achieve their dream home.

Most of them choose to DIY their own home renovation instead of hiring interior designers and renovation contractors to do the job.

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Evidently, this has made the DIY vs ID dilemma more prevailing. Many believe that the DIY trend is threatening the interest of interior designers and renovation contractors, but is it really? Well, let’s look into this in a rational manner.

There are a number of things to be put into consideration when it comes to home renovation. Most important of which is none other than the budget. Homeowners might not have enough budget to hire an interior designer. They prefer to be more hands-on to create their dream home from scratch.

However, as much as it seems like a waste, who knows an interior designer might be worth a shot or end up helping to avoid a costly mistake? Hence, making an informed decision is a vital part of this process so homeowners can weigh out the pros and cons of these two options respectively.

Understanding the Budget

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Every home renovation project comes with some element of cost no matter homeowners decide to DIY or hire an interior designer. Therefore, it goes without saying that budget remains the highest priority in this case.

Homeowners might feel capable to carry out the remodel themselves with all the things they bought from online shopping websites. They may even look up guides on home renovation to help them. As they work through the specifics, it is not unusual to find them unknowingly wasting budget on things that might end up being irrelevant and unnecessary from the beginning.

On the other hand, veteran pros like interior designers know the budget limits and how to source everything within the design in reasonable budget constraints. They have in-depth knowledge of color palettes, contemporary materials, the latest trends and spatial layouts, ensuring your ease of mind without compromising your preferred aesthetic.

As a matter of fact, correcting mistakes from ill-considered renovating decisions could be more costly than hiring a professional. However, if homeowners are confident enough about themselves, going DIY might be a better option especially when they really do not have a budget for hiring an interior designer. This route might also work for them if a full-fledged home renovation is not in their immediate plans.

Understanding Vision vs. Execution

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Before starting any renovation projects, homeowners most likely have a vision of their dream home. They probably have purchased their favourite furniture from online shopping websites and have a resolution to recreate a certain desired theme for their new space.

However, vision is different from execution. A perfect vision, sometimes, does not equate to a perfect execution due to various uncertainties. Therefore, interior designers will probably be their greatest asset since they will be able to present you with a multitude of options and help guide through the decision making process. Their practiced instincts will definitely get that desired concept across and lead to a better execution.

On the other hand, there are also circumstances where interior designers may not entirely comprehend what homeowners have envisioned for their home. In this case, homeowners may be better off managing the space on their own so they can execute their vision exactly how they want it. At the end of the day, this is an open-ended question depending on whether homeowners have more confidence and trust in themselves, or the interior designers.

Conclusion

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So, to answer the topic question, are Taobao, Lazada and Qoo10 DIY-ers the new threats to interior designers? We would say it depends. Both professionally designed homes and DIY projects look great in the end, but homeowners always have the final say because only they know which path is right for them.

While a professional may require a large investment of money, going DIY takes an equally big investment of time as well. Nevertheless, homeowners by now should know the aspects that work best and worst for them if they are to hire an interior designer or develop the space on their own.

We all know that home renovation is never easy to start with. Nowadays it is perfectly normal to hear of renovation costs that run in six digits for a HDB flat! Hence, before splurging hard-earned cash on Taobao, Lazada and Qoo10 and shop for materials, furniture and decors, homeowners should have an informed plan in mind on how to install and arrange them for maximum effectiveness so they would not end up in the dumps.

At the end of the day, we cannot deny the fact that home renovation is in essence an investment of time and money to something one will continue falling in love with for many years to come.