You CAN Afford an Interior Designer. Here’s how.

There’s a good chance you can describe your style. You know whether you prefer a feminine decor style or a rustic one, if you love color and despise black, or if you only feel relaxed in spaces that are neutral. Yet translating those preferences into a beautiful, cohesively designed home can be a whole different story.

There is a lot more that goes into home décor than simply choosing furniture — everything from wall color and flooring material to the scale and function of the space must be considered in order to achieve a truly harmonious, well-balanced result. (If you’ve ever come home with a new rug, mirror, or even sofa only to find that it totally doesn’t work in your room the way you’d imagined, then you know this all too well).

Until recently, creating a chic, comfortable, and functional space that truly captured your style has typically meant either having a natural knack for decorating or shelling out thousands of dollars to hire a professional interior designer, a luxury out of reach for most. But luckily for design enthusiasts everywhere, a new trend toward digital interior design has resulted in access to professional decorators for far less than ever before.

There are a number of options when it comes to getting professional interior design online. For one, many interior designers now offer what they call “digital design,” which is essentially the same service as they might typically provide, but without any face-to-face interaction.

This means that things like taking measurements and installing the design are left up to you, the client, in exchange for a lower price from the designer. While these services are typically less expensive than traditional interior design, you can still expect to pay upwards of a few thousand dollars.

For an option that’s even more cost-effective, there are also a whole new crop of online interior design service providers, like San Francisco-based firm Decorist, which make beautiful, professionally decorated spaces attainable for just a few hundred dollars.

A complete, custom room design with Decorist, which includes everything from paint color and drapery to furniture and accents starts at just $199. The site also offers the chance to work with more experienced designers (for $399 per room), and even celebrity designers like Celerie Kembel, Rachel Ashwell, and Massucco Warner Miller for as little as $799 per space.

The process:

So, how do online interior design services work? In the case of Decorist, you have to take their style quiz so that they can match you up with a designer based on your personal aesthetic choices. From there, you’ll be asked to provide photos and dimensions for the room (or rooms) you’d like to have made over, as well as inspiration images, descriptions of what you’re looking for, and any general style likes and dislikes.\

Your designer will then draft up two different design concepts. You choose the one you like best (you can also pick and choose aspects that you like for both!).  Lastly, your designer will then send you a final design concept, complete with specific products and paint colors used in the design, a complete shopping list, and where and how to purchase everything.

It’s then up to you to decide how to implement it—all at once, or as you can afford it over time. If you choose, they can even order all of the items in your room makeover for you, so you can simply sit back and wait for your new space to arrive at your front door.

The results:

Curious about how an online room makeover comes together in real life? Below is an example of a bedroom designed with the help of designers from Decorist. The client, a young woman, wanted help transforming her bedroom from a bland, dated space, into something more contemporary that showcased her personality.

Below is the shot of the space before the makeover. The client wanted to get rid of all of her existing furnishings.

After discussing the goals for the new bedroom, the designer settled on a space that was colorful, a bit whimsical and youthful, but still sophisticated. The client was then presented with her new bedroom look via a design board.

The new space featured a pale wall color with just a hint of color, neutral furniture, a Moroccan-inspired headboard, and colorful textiles, which captured the youthfulness the client was after.

With help from her designer, the client ordered just about everything on the room makeover board. The finished product was a beautiful, updated, energetic space that both the client and the designer were thrilled with.

The bottom line? If you’re sick of living in a bland or boring space, consider an online interior design option – it’s easy, effective, and most important, affordable.