Okay, so you’re an interior designer. Cool job! You make places look amazing, right? But sometimes, just doing client projects isn’t enough to pay all the bills, or maybe you just want some extra cash for fun stuff. Totally get it. Guess what? There are ways to make more money without losing your mind. Ten ways, in fact! Let’s jump right into it and see how you can boost your income as a design whiz.
10 Neat Ways Interior Designers Can Grab Extra Cash
This is for all you design pros, freelancers, students still figuring things out, creative types, and anyone who loves home stuff. Making money in design can be up and down, but it doesn’t have to be! Here are ten simple ideas to help you make some consistent extra cash. Ready? Let’s do this.
1. Do Designs Online (E-Design)
People are all over the web these days. You know what else is online? Design help! E-design is a thing, and it’s a big deal. Folks want design advice but don’t always need the whole shebang – you know, the full service with you running around doing everything. They just want ideas, plans, and shopping links.
What’s the deal? You work with clients totally online. They send you pics and sizes of their rooms, tell you what they want, and you give them a design plan. Simple as pie! You can use email, video calls – whatever works.
Why is it good? It’s easy to set up and do from anywhere. You can help people all over, not just near you. Costs are low, and you can set your own prices for different design packages. Plus, you can do it in your spare time.
Quick tip: Set up a page on your website or use platforms built for e-design. Show off some example plans and happy clients. Easy peasy extra income.
2. Stage Homes to Sell
Houses look way better when they are staged. It’s just a fact. When people see a house that’s styled right, they can picture themselves living there. And guess who knows how to style places? You do! Home staging is a super way for interior designers to make extra money.
How does it work? You work with people selling their homes, or with real estate folks. You make the house look its best for photos and showings. This could be using furniture they have, or bringing in some extra pieces. It’s all about making the place look open, neat, and inviting.
Why it’s smart: Real estate people always need stagers. Homes that are staged often sell faster and for more money. This means people are willing to pay for good staging. You get to use your design skills in a different way, and build relationships with real estate agents for even more work.
Get started: Talk to local real estate agents. Show them your design work. Put together a staging portfolio showing before-and-after pictures. Boom, extra cash flow!
3. Style for Photos and Events
Think about magazines, ads, online shops, parties, weddings… all these things need to look good. And who makes them look good? Stylists! As an interior designer, you have the eye and the skills to style spaces for photoshoots and events. This is a fun way to use your design skills for some extra cash.
What you’d be doing: You might style a room for a furniture brand’s photos, set up decorations for a party, or create neat backdrops for photoshoots. It’s all about making a space look amazing for a short time, for a specific purpose.
Why it’s a cool idea: It’s varied work. You get to work on different stuff, from small photo setups to big events. It can be pretty fast work too, compared to full design projects. Plus, it’s fun to see your work in magazines or online.
How to find this work: Contact photographers, event planners, local businesses that need product photos. Show them you can make stuff look great. Word of mouth can go far once you do a good job on a few gigs.
4. Teach What You Know: Workshops and Courses
You have design smarts. People want that smarts! Think about teaching workshops or courses. You could teach people about home decor, choosing colors, arranging furniture – all the stuff you know in your sleep. This can be online or face-to-face, and it’s a great way to share your knowledge and make some money doing it.
What you could teach: Think short workshops on a specific topic, or longer courses spread out over a few weeks. Topics could be “Decorating a Small Apartment,” “Choosing the Right Paint Colors,” or “Furniture Arrangement Secrets.”
Why teaching is neat: You get to be the expert. It can help build your name and get you more design clients too. You can run workshops in the evenings or weekends, around your other work. Online courses can make money for you even when you are not actively teaching.
How to get started teaching: Think about what you are really good at and what people ask you about a lot. Start with a simple workshop plan. You can promote workshops on social media, local community boards, or even partner with local stores. Online courses can be put on platforms made for teaching, like Skillshare or Udemy.
5. Become a Product Friend (Affiliate Marketing)
You know good stuff for homes, right? Furniture, decor bits, paint brands, all that jazz. Loads of companies have programs where you can become a friend – an affiliate – and recommend their stuff. When people buy using your special link, you get a bit of cash. Easy money for talking about things you already like!
How it works: You sign up for affiliate programs with brands you like. They give you links to their products. You share those links when you talk about those products – on your blog, social media, in emails. If someone clicks your link and buys, you get a percentage of the sale.
Why it’s a good side gig: You are already recommending products to clients or friends anyway. Why not get paid for it? It can bring in money over time, from work you do once. You just need to be real and only promote stuff you actually think is good.
Tips to get going: Look for affiliate programs from brands you use and trust. Start easy. Maybe write a blog post with your favorite decor items and include affiliate links. Share on social media. See what clicks and what sells.
6. Make and Sell Digital Goodies
You create designs all the time. Why not turn some of that design know-how into digital products you can sell over and over? Think templates, checklists, guides, e-books… stuff people can download and use to help their own design projects.
Examples of digital products: Room layout templates, paint color guides, furniture shopping checklists, guides to different design styles, e-books on home decor basics.
Why sell digital stuff? You make it once, and you can sell it again and again. It’s almost “make money while you sleep” type income. Costs are low – mostly just your time to create the product. You can sell them on your own website or on places like Etsy.
How to make them: Think about what questions clients often ask, or what parts of design people find hard. Create helpful guides or templates to solve those problems. Keep them looking neat and easy to use.
7. Offer Extra Services (Organization, Closets, and More)
People hire interior designers for the big picture – making a whole room or house look great. But sometimes, they need help with smaller, extra things too. Think about offering add-on services like home organization or closet design. These are things that fit right in with interior design and can be a nice little extra earner.
Extra services to think about: Home organization services (decluttering, setting up systems), closet design and organization, help with packing and unpacking when moving, setting up home offices.
Why offer these extras? It’s using your design skills in a slightly different way, but still related. Clients may be happy to pay for these extras because they trust you and like your style. It can fill in gaps between bigger design projects.
How to add them on: Just start telling clients you offer these services. Put them on your website. You might find that some clients who hire you for a room design also want help organizing their closets. Easy upsell!
8. Blog or Vlog About Design
Love design? Love to talk? Start a blog or a video blog (vlog) about it! Share your design ideas, tips, show projects, talk about trends. Blogging or vlogging can take time to build up, but it can bring in money in a few ways and it’s a fun way to share your design love.
Ways to make money blogging/vlogging: Ads on your blog or videos, getting sponsored posts or videos from brands, affiliate marketing (like we talked about before), selling your own digital products, and it can also bring in clients for your design business!
Why it’s worth doing: It helps you become known as a design expert. It can be a creative outlet. And yes, it can make money! It takes time to build up an audience, so think of it as a longer-term game.
Get started easily: Pick a name and get a simple website or YouTube channel going. Start making content! Just share your design ideas and stuff you know. Be real and be you.
9. Partner Up for Referrals
Who else works with homeowners all the time? Think contractors, real estate agents, furniture stores, even painters. Partnering with these folks can be smart. You can refer clients to them, and they can refer clients to you. It’s all about connections!
How partnerships work: You could make a deal with a contractor – you send clients their way for renovations, and they send people needing interior design to you. Same with real estate agents – they often know people moving into new homes who need design help.
Why partnerships are good: It’s like free advertising! Referrals are often warm leads – people are already interested because they were sent by someone they trust. It can bring in consistent work without you always hunting for new clients.
How to partner up: Think about who you already know in related fields. Reach out and suggest a partnership. Make it clear what’s in it for them. Maybe offer a small finder’s fee for referrals that turn into projects.
10. Sell Home Decor Stuff Online
You have great taste in home decor. Other people want that taste! Think about selling curated home decor items online. You could sell things you make, or things you buy and resell. It could be a small online shop or even just selling on places like Etsy or social media.
What you could sell: Think small decor bits – pillows, throws, vases, art prints, candles, small furniture pieces, unique finds from markets, or even your own creations if you make things.
Why selling stuff is fun: It’s another way to use your design eye. It can be fun to find cool items and put together a collection. It’s pretty easy to set up a simple online shop these days. And you can tap into the love people have for home decor.
Easy ways to sell: Set up a shop on Etsy, Shopify, or even use Instagram Shopping. Start small, with a few neat items. Take good pictures and tell people what you are selling. See what people like and grow from there.
Wrapping it Up
So, there you have it – ten ways to make some extra cash as an interior designer! From online designs to selling decor, teaching, and partnering up, there’s a bunch of stuff you can do to boost your income. The best part? You are already got the skills. It’s just about using them in slightly new ways. Pick one or two ideas that sound good to you, give them a try, and see what happens. You might just find a new way to love what you do – and make some extra money doing it. Go get ‘em, design star!
