Interior design packages: 4 levels, and what you really get
Two packages can share a name and have almost nothing else in common. Here’s what each level usually includes, what it costs, and the questions that tell them apart.
Rachel Hannah
Interior design packages in the UK come in so many shapes that comparing them can feel impossible. One studio’s “full design” is another’s mood board. The BIID, the British Institute of Interior Design, says there is no single fee structure, and it’s right: designers charge by the hour, by the room, by the project or as a percentage of the budget.
What does help is knowing the four levels most packages fall into, and what each one should include. The prices below come from Whito’s UK guide, updated in October 2026, unless I say otherwise.
1. A consultation
An hour or a day of a designer’s time, in your home or by video, to talk through ideas and get advice. Hourly rates run from about £25 to £150, and up to £450 for senior designers in London. A full day is about £500 to £1,200.
You get advice, not a design. It suits you if you mainly want a professional eye on your own plans. I’ve written more in Interior design consultation: the fee and 5 questions to ask.
2. Online design, or eDesign
A design made from your photos and measurements, without site visits, for you to bring to life yourself. Whito puts an online room at about £195 to £695.
This is where packages vary most. At one end, a well-known UK magazine’s online service charges £299 a room for a 45-minute video call, a mood board, a shopping list and styling notes, with no floor plan. At the other, you get a layout drawn to scale, a lighting plan and visuals of the finished room. So always read the list of what’s included, not just the price. There’s more in What is eDesign? How online interior design really works.
3. Full design
A detailed design for one or more rooms, including the drawings a builder or joiner needs, but without the designer managing the project. Expect measured plans, lighting and electrical layouts, joinery drawings and a full specification. It suits a renovation where you or a builder will run the work.
4. Full service
Everything, from the first visit to the last cushion: design, ordering, site visits, managing trades and the final styling. Whito puts a full-service room at about £2,500 to £5,000, and over £10,000 at the top end. Many full-service designers charge a percentage of the project instead, most often about 6 to 10%, and some 10 to 20%.
The BIID notes that furniture, fixtures and equipment can come to 30 to 60% of the build cost, so ask how purchases are handled. Some designers charge a clear fee for ordering, others keep a trade discount, and Whito puts typical mark-ups at 10 to 15%. Either can be fair, as long as you know which it is.
7 questions to ask about any package
1. Is the layout drawn to scale?
A floor plan drawn from your measurements is what stops the sofa arriving too big.
2. Is there a lighting plan?
Lighting changes a room more than almost anything, and it’s often left out of cheaper packages.
3. Will I see the finished room?
Ask whether you get a mood board, or a visual of your own room, finished.
4. How many rounds of changes?
There’s no standard number, so ask, and get it in writing.
5. Is the shopping list real and within my budget?
Every piece should be something you can actually buy, with the total kept to the figure you set.
6. Who does the design?
The person whose work you fell in love with, or someone else in the team?
7. What happens afterwards?
Can you ask questions once the design is delivered, and for how long?
What’s in the Sunday Ambience packages
Every one is an online design, at one fixed price agreed before anything starts, with a layout drawn to scale, colour, finishes, lighting, interior plant styling and a clickable shopping list.
Room Ambience, £495
One room, designed in 2D, with one photorealistic visual of your finished room, three rounds of changes and thirty days of questions afterwards. All in writing, with no calls to fit in, ready in two to three weeks. See Room Ambience.
Sunday Signature, £1,495
One room in real depth, with photorealistic visuals, Classical Feng Shui guidance, a pre-recorded walk-through of your design with me, a full sourcing list, four rounds of changes and sixty days of questions. Ready in three to four weeks. My first five Sunday Signature clients can book it at £995 as a founding client. See Sunday Signature.
Home Ambience, from £6,950
Four or more rooms designed together, with photorealistic visuals of every room, Feng Shui throughout, four rounds of changes per room and ninety days of questions. See Home Ambience.
If you’re not sure which suits your home, send me a few photographs and tell me what isn’t quite working, and I’ll suggest one. I design everything online, from your photos and measurements, I read every message myself, and there’s no obligation of any kind.