Are you the sort of person who becomes facinated by the arrangement or layout of a room or building, by the use of colors, fabrics and lighting? Do you love to decorate a room and make it a place to live and work in comfort and style?

If you are, then consider a career in Interior Design. Interior Design is the development of indoor living and working spaces, usually involving both practical and aesthetic decisions. Professional interior design can be divided into two distinct specialties: residential and nonresidential, or contract design. Residential design is concerned with the interiors of apartments, houses and any other dwellings where people live. Nonresidential or contract design has more to do with public spaces such as office buildings, banks, lobbies, theaters, restaurants, hotels, and religious buildings. As an interior designer, you will have the opportunity to work with many different kinds of people from architects and contractors to plumbers, electricians and other service providers. To be successful, you will have to master the art of communicating clearly and effectively as well as being a thoughtful listener.

In a school for Interior Design you will learn all the combined skills of a trade in the planning and furnishings of an architectural interior. You will need to develop your creative abilities into an organized and disciplined approach so that your creative potential can be fulfilled. With a degree in Interior Design you will learn to balance your aesthetic vision with a practical knowledge of how a space or room should work to meet the needs of those who work and live there. There will be a wide range of spaces to work with, both commercial and residential, but it is highly recommended by most designers that you choose one or the other. These fields include the health care industries, hospitality and more specialized areas such as designing restaurants or kitchens and baths. There are highly specialized fields such as furniture for schools, historic conservation and restoration, etc.

As a student in an Interior Design program, you will take courses in theory, design fundamentals, interior elements, business practice, color, computer-aided-design, drafting, lightning, texture and much more. You will learn how to plan a space and how to render that plan visually so that it can be conveyed to the client. In addition to learning about the materials and products used to create and furnish a space, you will also have to understand how the structural requirements of the building, its codes and related health and safety issues, will determine your design decisions. With a degree in Interior Design you will inevitably be involved with that branch of architecture that deals with the selection and organization of furnishings for an architectural interior.

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Below are more details about some select schools offering interior design degrees: