Help I want to become a int. des. but where to start???????

Hi there. I am a 30 yr stay at home mum to 4 feral.... I mean beautiful kids.
I have only got a yr 10 pass..silly silly silly child.....
DH and I have renovated 2 homes and loved the design side of it.
We are currently waiting to commence construction of our dream home and find myself obsessing over interior design ideas. So much so that I have got 2 scrap books filled with insperation and
I have bookshelves filled with home mags.
Since my youngest devil child... oh I mean angel child is about to turn 3,
I am wanting to start looking in Interior design.
BUT WHERE TO START??????????
Do I do an online course? An apprentiship or what?????
How did you start out michelle?
Any heads up would help so much.
I live in Melbourne.

Just to clarify it is design you are looking at, if you are not aware, basically interior designer decides where walls, window doors go, whereas interior styling you work with the room and decide how to embellish it and fill the space from flooring, to what is on the walls, furniture, etc

There are many courses out there and the level you want to obtain will help direct which is suitable - do you want to know more for personal use or did you want to offer your services as a professional?

How much time do you have? I am in the middle of my course and with 2 children means that I can only do for part of a day once a week and there is also homework on top of that - a follow on course will take it to nearly 2yrs. The courses are very detailed as I wanted something that was at a professional level and will require both - I may even go back for a further course a few more years down the track

Well I was heading more towards interior styling. As my youngest is nearly 3, I'd love to start studying now so when he starts school, I can start looking at work. Who are you doing your course throu? On line or do you have to go to classes? I can home study during the day and night school it. I have a very supportive hubby. He is actually the one kicking my *** to get in interiour decorating.lol
Does anyone know a good course to do that would be accredited at the end of it????

I'm currently doing a course through the Interior Design Institute www.interiordesigninstitute.com and i'm loving it. I'm not sure if it will enable me to start my own business (ultimate goal) but will definately help with our current extension. Let me know if you want more info...course was $999 and you have 12 months to complete, its completely self paced.

Great! Will go and have a lookie into that now. Thanks

Ok, so done some research. And this is what I have decided on.
http://www.seeklearning.com.au/interior ... l-arts.asp
Just have to equire on it and see of much $$$$$ but it sound great and am pretty excited.
Thanks Liz and MBBN for the heads up.

no worries, glad you found something!!

Ok, looked into the diploma of commercial art interior decorating and design at CATC.
looked promising but..........$12,000!
And thats only for the base course.
will have to look elsewhere for diploma of

An interior designer and an interior decorator are not the same profession, although people often used the two terms interchangeably.

Interior design, which evolved from interior decoration plays both a technical and creative role in design. While an interior decorator is primarily concerned with surface decoration -- paint, fabric, furnishings, lighting and other materials, interior designers go one step further. They have studied how to analyse human behaviour to identify the most suitable interior for a particular person or purpose and, they are qualified to work alongside architects in order to achieve both a creative interior with an additional eye towards the environment and suitability factors.

Let's use an example to give you a better idea of how the two professions, interior decorating & interior designing, differ.

Let's say a new home requires decorating. An interior decorator would choose the furniture, carpet colour, wall paint colour, lighting and so forth, to make your home look as stylish and attractive as possible. An interior designer would aim to do exactly the same thing however, they would have an additional eye towards the appropriateness of type (of floor coverings for instance), usage, sound transference, acoustic properties, flammability, off-gassing properties, static electricity requirements and flammability. In other words, the interior designer will have studied how to incorporate environmental factors and human behaviour into the design, to make the design not only attractive, but suitable and appropriate for its use for the purpose its being designed.

Hi there all....just found this post.

Wow, where to start. First, read the link below when you get a free minute.

http://www.build.com.au/whats-differenc ... decorators

You basically are looking to be an Interior Decorator. We spend less time on projects than interior designers.
We are in and out, designer can spend, depending on the project, close to a year getting it sorted.
Me...I would get bored if I had to spend that much time on a project.
Decorators put the finishing touches to spaces as well as the colour schemes.
I personally have branched out further and can do what most designers do... except draw.

I haven't read the other comments, so I hope I'm not stepping on toes.

Heads up on the term STYLIST this in the world of professionals means you may not be "qualified."
So use your words carefully

Find the course that is right for you, and as I have said many time before....its up to how much more you choose to learn after your course is completed. This type of work there is always new things to learn and study.
I am now studying Dementia design and colour for homes and hospitals, followed by autism.
It can be endless with studies.

I hope this has helped, if you have any other questions please ask.

Make sure you read the link.

Thanks, Michelle for the link and explanations. Usually, when I'm about to take some course, I do have doubts about whether its quality'll be enough. Could you give some examples of how to learn things after one's already finished his or her course in interior decoration?
Should it be something like interns or what. Where to look for such opportunities?

If you are in Melbourne then several TAFE's have interior design. Holmesglen, Swinburne and RMIT are just some with well recognised Diplomas.
Monash, Swinburne and RMIT have Bachelor's in Interior Architecture/ Design.

Financially you will be better off at TAFE or similar as you can get a government subsidised place (this means the government pays about half of your fees) and you can also get VET fee help (which allows you to have the government pay the balance of your fees and you pay it back when you start working). Therefore, your up front cost can be $0. They are also a standard that employers can recognise.

Private colleges may be fine but not all will have good industry recognition and many are not subsidised, so you will be paying full fees, up front generally. Some may have VET fee help, so you will be able to defer payment, but you will still be paying a lot more than for a course which is govt subsidised.

Consider $12,000 for your base course at CATC. Now consider you can get an entire undergraduate degree in Architecture at University of Melbourne or RMIT for $24,000