Dear Dakota,  

I am contemplating obtaining a 2-year interior design degree from a community college and would love your thoughts on whether the extra schooling would be worth my time. Although I am strong in many skills and have a Bachelor’s degree in another field, I do think I could benefit from the extra practice and knowledge that would be gained from school. How can I decide whether going back to school would be right for me?

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This summer, I worked less on purpose. My team and I intentionally scaled back—no new clients, fewer projects, and a plan to keep things running smoothly while I tapped out for a bit.

I’ve done this before (read about my summer slowdown of 2022 and how to implement a slowdown in your own business), and each time brings its own set of lessons. Some I expected, and others caught me off guard. 

Now that I’m back into the swing of things and have had time to reflect, I want to share what I learned. If you're balancing family, business, personal goals, and trying to stay healthy, I think these takeaways will resonate with you.

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As an operations consultant who offers business consulting AND software implementation to interior designers, I can tell you, I’ve heard (and seen) a lot. 

Now, of course, my insight is a bit biased because the interior designers who come to me for help are those whose pricing, processes, software, and behind-the-scenes are simply not working for them. 

But, even before they come to me, I know there is a mindset shift that has to happen. There are SO many (let’s be honest) lies we tell ourselves as business owners and women and I’m here to shed some light (and truth) on what it really means to have effective business systems in place. 

So, if you’re out there doing your designs and feeling like your business is slowly taking the life out of you, it could be because you’ve fallen prey to one of these twenty common beliefs (that are wrong). 

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The choices of finishes and materials used in a space directly impact the transmission of sound. Sound—vibrations traveling through air that the human ear can perceive—can be manipulated for both optimizing auditory experiences and for mitigating distracting noise. Interior designers need to have a good understanding of sound transmission, the physics of sound, and noise interventions. Even rooms with the most stunning aesthetic can become unpleasant with excessive noise transmission from outside or from adjacent children’s playrooms or laundry room appliances. 

There are many considerations for sound transmission inside our homes—whether it’s for distraction-free home offices or bedrooms, reducing disruptions from outdoor noise such as traffic or urban activity, or creating a peak experience for music enjoyment or a home theater.

Join The DTS Files for my advice and insights.

Residential building codes can be a daunting topic for interior designers. They are complex, lengthy, and written in legalese. But interior designers shouldn’t feel apprehensive about having a thorough understanding of the codes pertaining to single-family residences. 

Our first Design Brief will cover basic information about code formatting and application, as well as share the most significant changes that have been made in the last several years.

For a thorough documentation of residential code requirements for specific building features (stairways, fireplaces, electrical outlets, lighting), be sure to check out our Residential Building Codes Handbook.

Building codes are intended to ensure greater safety within the built environment, not to add needless requirements or costs to building construction. In the United States, single-family homes and duplexes are mostly regulated by the International Residential Code(IRC), which is free to access online here. The IRC is in use or adopted in 49 of the 50 states, plus Washington DC, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. Wisconsin uses their own hybrid Residential Code, but it is closely based on the IRC. In Canada, codes for housing are covered in Part 9 of the National Building Code of Canada. 

Any building larger than a single-family or duplex residence is regulated by the more expansive International Building Code and other code publications that regulate mechanical, plumbing, and electrical applications. The IRC is largely comprehensive in that it includes mechanical, electrical, and other considerations for single-family homes and duplexes. However, other code documents and standards are referenced within the text.

Most building codes—including the IRC—are updated every three years to encompass emerging building construction strategies. The current version of the IRC was published in the Spring of 2024, with upcoming versions scheduled for 2027, 2030, 2033, and so on. However, each individual municipality (city or township) can choose which version they adopt and when, provided they are utilizing codes published within the previous ten years. Check with the municipality’s building department website (where the project home is located) to verify which version is being enforced. 

Several notable changes have been made to the IRC in the last few years, which are summarized in this article. 

In The Weekly Install®, I recently shared I had decided to do a time audit. Over the summer, I had worked fewer hours, but still got everything done. As I returned to my regular full-time schedule, I wondered what exactly it was that fills my time during the rest of the year. Why do I typically work SO many hours, when over the summer months I could work less and still avoid things falling through the cracks?

I mentioned my time audit (which I’m wrapping up now) but didn’t explain what a time audit is, SO thank you to all the designers who asked for more info!

What Is A Time Audit for Business Owners?

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Job burnout among interior designers is a real thing. Burnout exists when you no longer feel engaged and interested in participating in your professional responsibilities, tasks, and obligations. Burnout can result in emotional exhaustion, cynicism about your work, and a reduced sense of personal fulfillment from that work. At the most extreme, it can cause a sense of hopelessness and despondency. That is pretty grim and should not be ignored. It can easily affect one’s mental health, but it can also affect the health and prosperity of a designer’s business. So it is a topic well worth exploring and understanding. 

We asked interior designers who subscribe to The Weekly Install® to weigh in on their own experiences of professional burnout. Taken together with what is already known about burnout among design professionals, the responses were very enlightening.

What Did Our Survey Uncover About Burnout Among Interior Designers?

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