Hi gemma_truman, you may use either or both, but it will depend on the interior designer's qualifications and experience, whether they will be able to undertake the whole project. An architect would be my recommendation (i am an architect - trying not to be too biassed!), as they are the only professionals who have extensive training in all aspects of building design, including advice on efficient structural systems, co-ordination of electrical and hydraulic services, as well as the design of all the visible elements, finishes and aesthetic considerations. They will look at your house as a whole, including the outdoor landscape, and consider how spaces relate to one another, the best orientation and energy efficiency considerations, use over time, durability and maintenance of materials, amongst many other things. It sounds like you are planning major structural work, which will require building approval drawings to be submitted to a certifier, which an interior designer may not be qualified to provide. Good luck with your project! Wendy

Hello, Lots of people struggle with visualizing the finished product. At cipriano we offer free 3D virtual reality imaging to assist in ensuring that you are happy with your layout, finishes and colours, and furniture, before you buy. We can also work to your budget and recommend some amazing bathroom renovators/builders. Where are you located? We are in Byron Bay, if you are able to come in that would be amazing. But if not I would be willing to assist as much as I can via emails. Good luck !

Sounds like this house may be a money pit and you are just making new of existing problems and not in the end getting a better result. If the house was in good order and you only needed to knock out say a wall or two to open up the space. Or also possibly replacing the kitchen and bathroom and finally giving the house a fresh coat of paint (inside and out). It may be work considering and speaking to a builder and bathroom/kitchen designer to get prices. But if the house needs much more than this it may be better to look at demolition, (see a builder about this) then rebuilding a prefab or kit home to suit your current and future needs. From my experience any old home that needs major maintenance work completed and also room reconfiguring is a much more expensive project to take on then building something new from scratch. If you do decide to go down the building road, then I suggest working with a good builder who has great communication skills and pick a knowledgeable interior designer that does more than pick paint and tile colours. You need a designer who has a rough idea, (based on past experience and similar projects in your area) of what things cost. Set them a reasonable budget and get them to pull together ideals and concept drawings so your builder can give you a pretty good ball park cost. You can alway pass then next stage onto a draftsman if its not to complicated and work with both the designer and builder to find the correct balance to meet you personal style and a budget.

No, architect's don't just do "big budget"....but custom design just can't compete with the cost efficiencies that volume housing companies can achieve. $400K is super tight for a custom designed home no matter how small it is. I could give you a pretty accurate trade breakdown on a new house scenario (without designing anything) and dealing with say a minimised scale/size) and when you stack up the costs starting with preliminaries and then considering if you are an acreage situation considering services trenching in, site establishment flag falls, larger scale external aspects, even done conservatively you'll be more realistically/likely talking $700K ballpark minimum as a start and will go up from there depending upon certain decisions & detail........You need to be thinking $3500/m2 as a minimum for a custom scenario so unless the house is super small/apartment/unit sized ( which doesn't make sense on an acreage scenario) you'll have your budget challenged.........I crunch these numbers on a daily basis and I'm not exaggerating or being loose - but hope this helps give you a gauge for your decision making moving forward......Whilst I am a passionate advocate for architecture & quality design, I'm also super conscious of the realistic of what it practically costs to achieve the built results and you need a certain amount to achieve a certain scale of building when they are "one-offs" with minimal inherent economies of scale........... Possibly in your case you may be best to pursue a new home at an under $400K budget with a smaller design & construct packaged builder who kind of does a certain thing regularly so you can possibly achieve some system cost efficiencies but also get some customisation/flexibility....steer clear of the bigger companies because they as you say will be inflexible........ best of luck! Cheers PD