Seattle and Eastside interior designer Hector Pelayo breaks down the real difference between an interior designer and a decorator — and why it matters for your next project.

Before I became a designer, I was too nervous to ask what one cost. Here's the honest breakdown: what a design fee actually covers, why furniture prices swing so wildly by tier, who pays the contractor, and why I charge a flat fee instead of billing by the hour. No guessing games — just the real numbers.