Interior design is a rewarding and highly creative process. Once you’ve established a name for your business, you may have more work than you can imagine. On the other hand, some areas are oversaturated with freelance designers or there is lower demand for them. Diversifying your services to related niches gives you additional options to keep income flowing, even during the lean times.

Why you should diversify as an interior designer

Adding other branches to your interior design business offers more than simply another income stream. Other benefits include:

• Avoiding burnout
• Making connections in other sectors
• Finding new clients
• Learning new skills that help you be a better designer

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average interior designer makes around $61,590 annually. Growth is around 3% per year—about average compared to other job types.

If you want to reach six figures, you need elite clientele or to offer additional services. Here are some ideas to branch out that still make sense for a professional interior designer.

1. Online professional design consultant

You’re already working as a designer, but adding an online component expands your reach beyond your driving radius. The BLS lists the number of jobs available as 94,900, with a mere 4% growth rate per year, so it makes sense for most designers to freelance. Pick up extra work by consulting with clients online. For example, you might offer a series of design concepts to a doctor’s office in Japan or a homeowner across the country.

Some people wish to avoid the expense of letting the designer do the legwork, and want only a plan for what furniture to purchase and where to place it. Forbes estimates a consultation runs between $450 to $1,500 per room, whereas a designer buying and placing furniture costs between $2,000 and $12,000. Adding two consults a week could increase your earnings by $12,000 yearly.

Get started by adding a tab to your existing website or social media page. Let followers know about which services you’ve added and how they can get more info. Additionally, ask them to share posts telling others about you and why they’ve enjoyed working with you. Word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful marketing tools available — people tend to trust peers’ feedback more than what a business owner they don’t know has to say.

2. Home stager

According to the National Association of Realtors, 81% of agents said viewing a well-staged home helped buyers picture themselves living there. Develop close relationships with real estate agents in your area and let them know about your services in getting homes showroom ready.

In the meantime, practice staging rooms and take photos for a portfolio to showcase your work. Learn to use items the person already owns and find unique pieces from unlikely places, such as swap meets and auctions. Find out who will lease furnishings for staging and take them away after the home sells unless the buyers desire to buy a piece. Alternatively, you could rent storage space and keep items for a future staging gig. A bonus of working as a home stager is referrals to new buyers who might want a redesign when they move into their house.

The amount you'll earn as a home stager varies. Factors impacting your salary will depend upon your area and the demand for services. For example, stagers in San Jose, California, saw a 97% wage increase, while those in Las Vegas, Nevada, saw zero growth. Salaries range from

$23,636 to $209,896 and may depend upon demand. Keep in mind working part-time as a stager may reduce the amount you’ll make, as your time is limited. You could hire additional employees to move the furniture on your behalf and free up your days for more clients.

3. Window Treatment Expert

Figuring out what treatments to put on a home’s windows, where to find the right size blinds and which curtains look best can overwhelm those who need design experience. Some people may lack the funds to hire a professional designer for an entire room but will pay you to help them with window treatment options.

Highlighting beautiful windows can sell a home by letting in more light and displaying the natural beauty. Start by cleaning windows, then drape curtains that showcase the architecture. You could also get certified to install window blinds and earn a commission on sales. Salary.com lists a blind installer's salary as between $69,260 and $87,369, depending on the compensation and how many hours you work.

The right designer can make a room look fantastic inside while providing privacy from outside prying eyes, such as using long, flowing curtains to create the illusion of high ceilings. Pull on your design skills to give any room personality through the subtle impact of window treatments.

4. Renovation Contractor

As an interior designer, you can showcase what the finished project will look like. By offering management services, you bring your ideas to life by pulling on the relationships you’ve formed. As a contractor, you serve as the project manager and help connect the homeowners with the right experts. You might need to work with excellent electricians, plumbers, framers, installers, painters and more.

Contractors base their fees on the cost of the project. Some manage the entire job from start to finish, handing the homeowners a turnkey product. Others seek out the best quotes and workers to finish, and charge a fee for their consultation. Talk to the homeowner about their budget, decide together how much of the checklist you’ll take on and determine your fee.

5. Professional Organiser

People often feel overwhelmed when they look at a home and try to figure out how to get organised. One example might be a family living in a home for decades—they’re ready to sell and downsize but have so much stuff they need help figuring out where to start.

Interior designers can utilise their layout skills to create innovative storage solutions for closets and rooms, and place everything so it looks like a model home. They can reduce clutter and encourage packrats to give up the things they no longer need. If an item’s been in the attic collecting dust for 40 years, perhaps it can go to charity or another family member.

The best place to start organising is with a storage plan. Encourage homeowners to make three piles of items — keep, throw away and donate. Lay out the closet like a puzzle, creating space for each type of item. Place all the “keep” things back in an orderly fashion. Label every space so the homeowner knows where to put things back for the long term. Such solutions help current residents and a future buyer organise from the first day.

As you gain more clients and confidence in organising, you’ll also attract more customers through referrals. Work through your list of former interior design customers, and ask if they need help organising or know someone who does. Tell your connections you’re offering organising as a side service so they can tell their new homebuyers and sellers about you. Angi's List estimates hiring a professional organiser costs around $250 to $833 per area. Of course, the size of the job and your experience can impact your rates. You can fill your schedule with organising tasks during slower interior design periods.

6. Landscape Artist

You’re already an expert at creating beauty inside homes, so go ahead and expand to the exterior as well. Designers can develop hardscapes or landscape works of art with plants, rocks, or other designs. Zippia estimates landscape artists make about $22 per hour, but your skills can impact how much you earn.

Work with real estate agents to stage the outside of homes. Both buyers and sellers want to have excellent curb appeal as the outside is the first impression upon pulling up to the house. You don’t have to do landscape work to come up with the design. You can also focus on adding colour with potted plants, designing the porch area, or adding outdoor furnishings to expand the living space and make the backyard more enjoyable.

Diversify into interesting areas

The above ideas should get you started on which services you might offer to diversify your interior design business and make it recession-proof. As you work with clients, listen to their needs. You may find the best side hustles spur from an unresolved problem to which you can figure out the solution.

The key to success is flexibility. When your salary falls short as an interior designer or you feel a little burnt out from all the creative designs, it’s time to look for a side hustle to break up the monotony and keep funds rolling in. The more streams of income you bring in, the less you’ll rely on a handful of clients. You’ll find success no matter what the market does or how saturated the interiors industry becomes.

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Evelyn Long is an interior design expert passionate about improving the businesses and services of professional interior designers. She is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Renovated Magazine, where she shares interior design tips for renters and homeowners. Subscribe to Renovated for more posts by Evelyn.