Interest in design services is high, but friction around cost and communication lingers.
By Julie A. Palm
High-income consumers who work with interior designers value their expertise, creative vision and guidance. That’s great news.
But those who say they won’t be repeat customers or who haven’t ever hired a designer think designers’ services are too expensive, believe they can DIY their own spaces and worry that designers will force their own vision onto their home, among other concerns.
That’s according to the latest exclusive research from Consumer Insights Now, which dives this week into how high earners (those with incomes above $150,000 annually) view the work of interior designers.
CIN research is conducted twice a year on behalf of Design News Now and its sister publications, Home News Now, Casual News Now, Bedding News Now and Lighting News Now. This spring’s round, sponsored by Bread Financial, focuses on high-income consumers, including their furniture shopping plans and preferences. (About one-quarter of American households have annual incomes above $150,000.)
According to the CIN research, three out of 10 high-income households have worked with an interior designer in the past and, of those, 55% say they’ll definitely work with a designer again in the future.
Overall, 13% of high earners say they definitely plan to use a designer in 2026 and 58% say they might hire a designer this year. (I’ll do the math for you: That’s 71% of high-income homeowners who could be viable clients.)
About nine out of 10 high earners who plan to hire a designer this year are focused on updating their existing primary home, and another 10% need help with a newly constructed primary home.
More good news: High earners feel positively about the idea of collaborating with an interior designer: 58% say they are excited, 55% feel confident and 38% feel empowered.
Perhaps that’s because this demographic highly values interior designers. They appreciate their expertise and knowledge, creativity and vision, guidance and support, project execution, and ability to understand and translate homeowners’ desires into a final design.
As one respondent noted, “I like the expertise. I really trust them.” Another respondent said, “The designer had the vision and talent to come up with an interior design that I love.” Yet another appreciated the time-saving benefits of hiring a designer: “She did a lot of the legwork for me when I was too busy to do it myself.”
But the idea of working with a designer also brings up some negative emotions. According to the CIN research, 16% feel anxious and 9% feel overwhelmed. A key marketing opportunity for some designers may be to emphasize their ability to alleviate such emotions, focusing on a process that makes clients feel well-informed, empowered and confident.
Some high earners who worked with designers in the past but don’t plan to do so again say communication problems — whether in terms of project completion or design direction — were a key reason why.
“She did not capture our vision,” noted one disappointed respondent. “Decisions took longer than expected” and “I’d prefer a more streamlined ordering and delivery process” said two others.
And then there’s the money.
Both high-income consumers who’ve used designers in the past but don’t plan to do so again and those who haven’t considered it before point to cost as a key reason why. Overall, more than eight in 10 high earners say interior designers are expensive and even 67% of those who plan to work with a designer agree with the statement “Designers are expensive.”
This may explain why six out of 10 high-income households that plan to use a designer this year are interested in a designer-specific financing option, such as a 0%/36-month line of credit for up to $100,000. The consumers most interested in financing have incomes from $100,000 to $249,999.
More than half of respondents interested in financing say that with such access, they would increase their design budget. Four out of 10 would design additional rooms/spaces and 35% would buy higher-end furniture.
There’s so much more regarding high earners’ attitudes about interior designers and plans to work with them in this week’s full CIN report. I encourage you to dive into it here.
About the research
This spring’s CIN research surveyed 825 U.S. consumers with annual household incomes of $150,000 a year who have purchased or plan to purchase home furnishings in 2026. The survey was fielded in February.
Veteran consumer researcher Dana French conducts the CIN surveys, and compiles and analyzes the results. This spring, detailed results are being released every Monday from March 23-April 20. The spring CIN research is sponsored by Bread Financial.
