How to Compare Interior Design Portfolios and Past Projects
Choosing an interior designer often begins visually. You find a project you like, save an image or discover a studio whose work feels aligned with how you want your home to feel.
But a strong interior design portfolio should tell you more than whether you like the photographs.
When comparing interior designers, look beyond a recognisable aesthetic and consider how each designer responds to architecture, proportion, material, furniture and the individual requirements of different homes. A good portfolio should demonstrate consistency in the quality of the thinking without making every project look the same.
The aim is not necessarily to find a designer who has already created your exact interior.
It is to find one whose previous work gives you confidence in how they will approach yours.
Look Beyond the Overall Style
Style is usually the first thing people notice in an interior design portfolio, and it matters. If you consistently dislike the designer's previous work, they are unlikely to be the right fit.
However, aesthetic alignment does not mean finding a portfolio filled with rooms that look exactly like the one you want.
In fact, that can be limiting.
Look instead for recurring principles across the designer's work. Perhaps there is a consistent sensitivity to proportion, a particular restraint in the way rooms are furnished or an ability to combine materials without making the result feel overly coordinated.
These characteristics can tell you considerably more about the designer than whether they repeatedly use a particular colour, chair or material.
A strong design approach should be recognisable without becoming formulaic.
Do All of the Projects Look the Same?
Consistency is good. Repetition is different.
When comparing portfolios, look at whether the designer appears to respond to each home individually or whether essentially the same interior has been recreated in different locations.
A designer may naturally have preferences. Certain materials, periods of furniture or approaches to colour might appear regularly because they form part of the studio's design language.
That does not mean every project should become interchangeable.
The architecture should still matter. So should the client's requirements, existing furniture, natural light and the way the home is used.
If every project appears to have been designed toward exactly the same finished image, consider whether you want that aesthetic applied to your home or whether you are looking for something more personal.
Pay Attention to Proportion
Some of the most important decisions in a well-designed room are difficult to identify in a photograph.
Proportion is one of them.
Look at how furniture relates to the room rather than focusing solely on the furniture itself. Is the rug large enough to establish the seating area? Does the sofa feel appropriate for the wall behind it? Is there enough space around the dining table for the room to breathe?
Good proportion often makes an interior appear effortless because nothing immediately feels wrong.
This becomes particularly important when reviewing portfolios for apartment projects. Smaller rooms leave less tolerance for poorly scaled furniture, and a single oversized or undersized piece can affect the entire composition.
A designer who consistently handles proportion well is demonstrating something more valuable than access to beautiful furniture.
Look at How Furniture Is Combined
A portfolio can also tell you whether a designer is actually composing interiors or simply specifying products.
Look closely at the furniture.
Does everything appear to come from the same collection or retailer? Are there differences in age, material, shape and texture? Does the room contain pieces with enough individuality to remain interesting when viewed separately?
An interior does not need vintage or collectible furniture to be good, but some variation often creates greater depth.
A contemporary sofa might sit beside an older occasional chair. A simple dining table can be paired with more expressive seating. An inexpensive object may work perfectly beside something considerably more valuable.
These combinations reveal how a designer thinks about the room as a whole.
The strongest piece is not always the most expensive one.
Consider How the Designer Uses Material
Materials are easier to appreciate in person than through photography, but a portfolio can still reveal a great deal about how they are selected.
Look at the relationships between timber, stone, metal, upholstery and architectural finishes.
Do the materials all sit within one narrow tonal range, or is there enough contrast to give the room depth? Does timber introduce warmth against harder surfaces? Are reflective materials used deliberately or simply because they are fashionable?
Material selection is particularly important because interiors are experienced physically as well as visually.
A room may photograph beautifully while relying heavily on finishes that feel less convincing in person.
When reviewing a designer's work, look for material choices that appear appropriate to how the room will actually be used rather than those selected purely for visual impact.
Look at More Than the Hero Image
Every project has its photograph.
The perfectly composed living room. The dramatic kitchen. The angle that eventually becomes the project thumbnail, Instagram post and homepage image.
Look beyond it.
If the designer publishes complete projects, explore the quieter rooms and details as well. Bedrooms, hallways, dining areas and smaller moments can reveal whether the same level of consideration extends throughout the home.
A beautiful living room is relatively easy to understand in isolation.
Creating continuity across an entire apartment or house requires a different level of thinking.
The secondary photographs can often tell you more about that than the hero image.
Does the Portfolio Show Different Types of Homes?
Variety can be useful when assessing an interior designer.
A portfolio containing apartments, houses, older properties and contemporary spaces demonstrates how the designer responds to different architectural conditions.
This does not mean a designer needs experience with every possible type of property.
Relevant experience matters more.
If you are redesigning a small Sydney apartment, for example, seeing evidence that the designer understands apartment proportions, shared living spaces and furniture planning may be more useful than seeing a large portfolio of substantial freestanding homes.
The important question is whether the previous work gives you confidence that the designer understands the constraints of your project.
Consider What Has Been Retained
One of the less obvious things to look for in an interior design portfolio is what the designer has chosen not to change.
Not every successful project requires a completely new interior.
Existing flooring may remain. Furniture can be incorporated into a new scheme. Original architectural elements may be restored rather than replaced. Artwork or objects belonging to the client can become part of the design direction.
These decisions can reveal a designer's ability to edit rather than simply add.
If a project description explains what existed beforehand, compare that information with the finished photographs. You may find that some of the strongest outcomes came from changing relatively little.
Restraint is also a design decision.
Read the Project Descriptions
Photography attracts attention, but the written project description can help you understand what you are actually looking at.
A useful description should give some context around the project: the existing conditions, what the client needed, the scope of work and the thinking behind the finished interior.
Without that context, it can be difficult to know whether the designer was responsible for the architecture, renovation, furniture selection, styling or only part of what appears in the photographs.
This distinction matters when comparing designers.
A portfolio should help you understand not only what the finished project looked like, but what role the designer played in creating it.
Don't Judge a Designer by Whether They Have Used Your Exact Style
If you describe your taste as minimalist, modernist, mid-century, traditional or contemporary, it is natural to search for a designer whose portfolio uses the same terminology.
It can be useful, but it should not become the only criterion.
Design styles are broad labels.
Two minimalist interiors can feel completely different depending on their materials, furniture, artwork, architecture and level of restraint. Likewise, someone interested in mid-century furniture may not want their entire home to feel like a recreation of another period.
Rather than asking whether the designer has completed a project in your exact style, look at whether they demonstrate an understanding of the qualities you are drawn to.
That might be warmth, simplicity, contrast, natural materials, sculptural furniture or a sense that the interior has developed gradually rather than being purchased all at once.
Those characteristics are usually more useful than a label.
Look for Evidence of Editing
Good interior design is partly about selection.
It is also about knowing when to stop.
When reviewing portfolios, notice whether every corner has been furnished, styled and decorated or whether some areas have deliberately been left quieter.
Negative space allows stronger elements to carry more visual weight. Artwork becomes more significant when it is not surrounded by competing objects. A sculptural chair has greater presence when it is given enough room.
This does not mean sparse interiors are inherently better.
A richly layered room can be just as considered.
What matters is whether the amount of furniture and decoration feels deliberate rather than automatic.
Can You Tell Who Lives There?
This is one of the more interesting tests of a portfolio.
Do the projects feel like different people's homes?
Or do they primarily feel like the designer's home repeated?
A strong interior designer should bring expertise and a point of view to a project. You are engaging them precisely because you want their judgement.
But the finished interior should still have some relationship with the people living there.
Artwork, books, furniture, objects, colour and even imperfections can contribute to that sense of identity.
The goal is not to eliminate the designer's aesthetic.
It is to find a balance between their perspective and yours.
Compare the Design Approach, Not Just the Photography
Professional photography is important for communicating interior design, but it can also make comparison difficult.
Lighting, styling, editing and composition can dramatically influence how a room appears online.
Try to separate the quality of the photography from the quality of the interior.
Ask yourself what remains if you mentally remove the flowers, books and carefully positioned accessories.
Is the furniture arrangement still strong?
Do the materials still relate?
Are the proportions good?
Would the room still feel complete on an ordinary Tuesday morning?
That is the interior you are ultimately engaging the designer to create.
How Many Projects Should You Review Before Choosing an Interior Designer?
There is no particular number you need to see.
A newer studio may have a smaller portfolio but a very clear design perspective, while an established practice may have decades of projects available.
Quantity alone does not indicate whether the designer is right for you.
Spend enough time with the portfolio to understand the patterns within it. If you repeatedly find yourself responding to the same qualities across different projects, that is more meaningful than liking one photograph.
From there, the next step is usually understanding the designer's services, process and whether they are suited to the scope of your project.
The portfolio gets your attention.
The conversation determines whether the relationship works.
What Should You Look for in an Interior Designer's Portfolio?
When comparing interior design portfolios, look for:
A clear design point of view without every project looking identical.
Strong proportion and furniture scale, particularly in spaces similar to yours.
Thoughtful material relationships rather than finishes selected in isolation.
Furniture that feels composed, not simply purchased as a matching set.
Evidence of restraint and an understanding of when a room has enough.
Projects relevant to your home and scope, whether that is an apartment, single room or complete residence.
A considered relationship with existing architecture and furniture.
Enough individuality between projects to suggest the designer responds to the client rather than imposing one formula.
Clear project descriptions that explain what the designer was actually responsible for.
Interiors you can imagine living in, rather than photographs you simply enjoy looking at.
Finding a Designer Whose Work Feels Right
A portfolio should give you confidence, but it does not need to show you an exact preview of your future home.
At Carlo Paul Interiors, we approach each project through its particular architecture, proportions, materials and the people who live there. Existing pieces can remain, new and vintage furniture can coexist, and not every available surface needs to be resolved through another object.
That means our projects may not all look identical.
Nor should they.
What connects them is the thinking behind the decisions: clarity in the layout, attention to proportion, material relationships, restraint and a preference for interiors that feel collected rather than overly prescribed.
When comparing interior designers, that underlying approach is worth looking for.
You are not simply choosing the portfolio you like most today.
You are choosing the person you trust to make decisions about a home that should still feel like yours when the project is finished.
Written By Carlo Paul
