Interior designer vs decorator

Interior designer vs decorator is a question of scope. A designer plans the space: the layout, ceilings, lighting, joinery and the drawings a contractor builds from. A decorator works with the space as it stands, choosing and placing colour, furniture, curtains, art and accessories. In Dubai the split carries one more twist. The authority's register uses the word decoration for contractors, the firms that build ceilings and joinery, not for the person who picks the cushions.

The two roles side by side

Plenty of Dubai studios offer both jobs, so a proposal should say which of the two it is pricing, and whether styling is inside a design fee or a separate line.

What does a decorator do that a designer does not?

A decorator's work comes at the end of a project, or replaces one: choosing and buying furniture, curtains, rugs, freestanding lamps, art and accessories, then placing them. It suits an apartment handed over empty, a rental being dressed for tenants, or a room that works but looks unfinished. Because nothing is built, the paperwork is light. Emaar lists furniture installation and internal painting among works needing no NOC, leaving only the entry permit for whoever carries the furniture in, and in Dubai Development Authority zones Circular 318 of 2019 puts adding or replacing furniture on its no-permit list too.

Who may change walls, ceilings and lighting?

Neither title, on its own. In Dubai, painting, floors, suspended ceilings and electrical maintenance must be carried out by a contractor accredited with Dubai Municipality even where no permit is needed, and a wall or an opening brings in a registered consultant and a building contractor. The designer's job is to draw those changes so an accredited contractor can build them. A decorator should not be the one arranging them.

Abu Dhabi splits the same work by permit. Décor that leaves the rooms alone runs on a maintenance permit that the contractor files; once a partition moves, the job needs a building permit, which only a licensed design consultant may file. A decorator appears on neither application.

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What does each one charge in Dubai?

Designers publish their fees; decorators mostly do not. Design is priced at 10 to 20 percent of the project (AI Designs, Euphoria Interiors), at rates from AED 120 a square metre on large villas (Couture), or as flat fees of AED 20,000 to 150,000 and up (AI Designs). None of the firms on our fee page publishes a decorating or styling band. The nearest published figures are for advice: Algedra's one-off consultation at AED 2,000 to 6,000, AI Designs' half-day at AED 2,500, and hourly rates from AED 150 for a junior designer at Dehleez Studio.

For a furnished result without building work there are packages as well: AI Designs lists small turnkey packages for one-bedroom apartments at AED 10,000 to 15,000. Ask a decorator for a fixed fee for the plan and a separate figure for any furniture bought through them, so you can compare it with buying the pieces yourself.

The licence behind each title

Dubai Municipality's 2024 classification lists Interior Decoration (454009) as a contracting activity, secondary to a main one, which makes a decoration firm in Dubai a builder of finishes, ceilings and joinery. A single activity, Decoration Design and Implementation (100051), covers both drawing the décor and executing it. A stylist who only buys and places furniture does no building work, so the contractor register is not where to check them; ask instead who will fix anything to a wall.

When to hire which

• A decorator for a finished apartment that needs furniture, colour and art, or a rental being dressed for tenants.
• A designer for a new layout, a ceiling, built-in joinery, a lighting plan or anything the developer has to approve.
• Both, in sequence, on a full renovation: the drawings first, the styling last, often from one studio.

The designer deliverables and fee methods have a page of their own. We brief studios that do either job, or both, and compare studios on one written scope.