Interior Designer vs Interior Decorator: A Clear, Calm Guide for Cambridge & Beyond
As a bespoke interior designer working across Cambridge, Cambridgeshire villages, Hitchin and London, I often meet clients who feel unsure about the difference between an interior designer and an interior decorator. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably, and in many ways the two disciplines touch the same elements — colour, texture, furniture, atmosphere.
But the distinction is not about hierarchy.
It is about depth, responsibility, and the layers of a home, each discipline is expected to work within.
Homes are shaped in layers
Every home is shaped twice:
First by its structure, then by its atmosphere.
Interior designers and interior decorators both contribute to how a home feels — but they work within different layers of transformation.
What interior designers do
Interior designers work across both the structural and the decorative layers of a home. Their role extends into the parts you don’t see but absolutely feel.
Designers consider:
Space planning and flow — how rooms connect, how people move, how the home supports daily life.
Lighting and electrical logic — placing the right light in the right place, creating layered lighting schemes, and producing electrical plans.
Technical coordination — working with builders, joiners, trades and specialists to ensure every detail is integrated.
Building regulations and compliance — understanding the UK requirements that govern safety, ventilation, fire performance and structural integrity.
Structural changes — moving walls, creating new openings, and collaborating with structural engineers when needed.
Material performance — choosing materials not only for beauty but for durability, acoustics, sustainability and long‑term behaviour.
Architectural detailing and bespoke joinery — shaping the built‑in elements that become part of the home’s fabric.
These responsibilities are not about superiority — they are about scope, risk, and the duty of care expected from a full‑service interior designer.
If you’d like to explore this in more depth, you can read more about my approach here:
Bespoke Interior Design.
What interior decorators do
Interior decorators work within the visible, expressive layer of a home — the layer that brings warmth, personality and atmosphere.
Decorators focus on:
Colour palettes and finishes
Furniture sourcing and placement
Textiles, soft furnishings and window treatments
Styling, art and accessories
Seasonal or aesthetic refreshes
Decoration is a craft of intuition and detail. It is the final, human layer that completes a space.
Where the two overlap
There is a beautiful overlap between design and decoration.
Both disciplines:
shape how a home feels
use colour, light and texture to create a mood
care deeply about comfort and wellbeing
help clients express themselves through their environment
Interior designers often carry the decorative layer as part of their wider scope.
Interior decorators specialise within that layer alone.
This is not a hierarchy — it is simply an understanding of which layers each discipline is expected to work within.
Why the distinction matters (gently, without directing anyone)
Understanding the difference is not about choosing one over the other.
It is about recognising the breadth of an interior designer’s role and the focus of an interior decorator’s craft.
An interior designer can absolutely do everything a decorator does — colour, furniture, styling, atmosphere — but their work does not stop there.
They also shape the structure, the flow, the technical logic and the long‑term performance of a home.
A decorator shapes the expressive layer with artistry and care, without carrying the technical responsibility that sits behind the walls, beneath the floors or within the architectural fabric.
Both roles are valuable.
Both contribute to the feeling of a home.
They simply operate at different depths.
As a modern interior designer in Cambridge, a Scandinavian‑influenced interior designer in Cambridgeshire, and a high‑end interior designer working across London, Hitchin and surrounding areas, I often support clients through both layers — the structural and the decorative — because homes rarely need just one.
If you’d like to explore how this looks in practice, you can browse my recent work here: Case Studies.
And if you’re based in any of the areas I serve — Cambridge, Cambridgeshire villages, St Neots, Sandy, Biggleswade, Wyboston, Caldecote, Comberton, Gamlingay, Royston, Hitchin, Welwyn Garden City or London — you can learn more about my approach here:
Bespoke Interior Design.
Closing — two ways of caring for a home
Interior design and interior decoration are not competing disciplines.
There are two ways of caring for a home:
one shapes the space,
The other shapes the atmosphere.
Together, they create the feeling.
If you’d like to explore how these layers could support your home, you can begin here: Design Enquiry.
