Choosing an Interior Designer? Look Past the Portfolio.
Most people begin the search for an interior designer the same way: with a portfolio. They scroll, collect favorites, and stop on the rooms that make them think — yes, that.
It's a natural place to start. But if style is the primary lens you're using to evaluate a designer, you are almost certainly looking at the wrong thing.
Style Is the Output. Process Is What You're Buying.
A portfolio shows you what a designer has made. It doesn't show you how they made it, what they learned from the client first, what problems they solved along the way, or whether the people who live there love it now.
What you are actually hiring is a process: a way of asking questions, a method of translating what you know about yourself into decisions you may not have the vocabulary to make alone, and a system for managing hundreds of interdependent choices under the real constraints of budget, timeline, and construction.
In One Sentence
Recently, a few voices from the design community were asked to describe the job in a single sentence. A few of the answers were so honest they're worth sharing:
“Be a badass wearing a million hats, making a million decisions quickly, leading and doing it all with grace, grit & style!”
— Sallie Lord, Grey Hunt Interiors
“Our job is to extinguish a million fires before a client even sees what could've gone wrong.”
— Laurin White, Cambridge Row
“Your job as an interior designer is to help your clients design how they experience their life.”
— Leslie Carothers, Savour Partnership
That last one says it best. And the first two describe the reality behind it — the part no portfolio photograph will ever show you.
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The Needs That Matter Most Are Rarely Named First
What I've learned over decades of working with clients in Oregon, throughout the Pacific Northwest, and beyond is that the needs that shape a project most deeply are almost never the ones people name first.
They name style. What they mean is something more specific: I want to feel calm when I come home. I want our family to actually use this room together. I want a space that still works for us in ten years.
These aren't aesthetic preferences. They're life preferences. And the listening doesn't stop when the conversation turns away from design. How a family moves through the kitchen on a busy morning, where the backpacks land, the story behind a grandmother's dining table — all of it tells us how this family actually wants to live.
“The most important needs are often the ones no one says out loud. A great designer observes the whole family, listens through every conversation, and hears what isn't being said as clearly as what is.”
What to Look For Beyond the Portfolio
Do they listen before they propose? A designer who arrives at a first meeting with a visual direction already formed may have a strong point of view — but they may be designing for themselves rather than for you. The best designers spend far more time in early meetings asking than presenting.
How do they handle what didn't go as planned? Ask about a difficult project — a budget that didn't match the vision, a mid-project change of direction, a construction surprise. Much of this job is putting out fires before a client ever sees the smoke. How a designer talks about those moments tells you more than any portfolio image.
Do they understand the full scope? At the level of a custom home or major renovation, interior design means coordinating trades, reading drawings, managing procurement and lead times, and keeping a complex project aligned for months. It's also a team effort: the best outcomes come when the designer, architect, and builder come together early and work as one team toward the client's vision — something we explored in our series on assembling your dedicated home build team. At J. Myers + Associates, based in Lake Oswego, this side of the practice matters as much as the design itself.
Chemistry Matters — But It Comes Second
You'll spend significant time with your designer making decisions that feel personal and sometimes stressful, so chemistry genuinely matters. But chemistry built on shared taste alone is fragile. Chemistry built on trust, honest communication, and confidence in each other's competence is what carries a long project.
Choose the designer who asks the better questions. The beautiful portfolio will follow from there.
And if a new build or major renovation is on the horizon, the earlier that conversation happens, the more a designer can do for you.
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We are always glad to have an early conversation — before any commitment is made — to see whether our process and your project are a good fit. Let's connect.
Related reading: When to Hire an Interior Designer for Your Custom Home Build and Fast, Cheap, or Good: Why You Can't Have All Three.
Jennifer Myers is the founder and principal designer of J. Myers + Associates, based in Lake Oswego, Oregon — specializing in custom home design, renovation, and full service interior design throughout the Pacific Northwest. If you're beginning to think about a new home, a renovation, or a furnishings refresh before the holidays, we'd love to start the conversation.