If you think interior designers and decorators are merely playing house-house and indulging an over-sized passion for setting up a home, think again. They do a lot more than flit about galleries and mansions talking about ‘line’ and ‘depth’ and picking out fabric for cushions.

Their work encompasses a wide range of specialised knowledge, including structural engineering and basic architectural principles. Interior design requires an eye for spatial relations, colour, texture and fashion, as well as the intuition to know what a client will like. They must also be good listeners and visionaries, with the know-how to execute their clients' sometimes unreasonable demands.

Interior designers engineer spaces for homes, hotels, offices, art galleries, and fashion shows. The main difference between interior designers and interior decorators is that designers are responsible for the internal operations of the spaces they design, including electrical wiring, stress levels and installation procedures.

They have to think like architects, as they are often called in to begin working on sketches and models before a space is built, with only a blueprint to guide them. And designers aren't just concerned with whether the structures will hold up: all of their designs must be in accordance with building and construction laws, including fire safety norms.

Interior designers also use computer-aided deign tools for their craft.

Interior designers describe their work as highly creative and very competitive. Most designers who make good money are people who have oodles of talent, good people skills to make good contacts and procure rich clients and, of course, some amount of streetsmartness to scotch the competition.

Some clients can be an absolute pain. They want the interiors of a five star but don’t want to pay for it, or they want five beds in a room the size of a matchbox. But that is just the point. One of the first things you will have to learn on the job is that it is not about what you like, though you do have to water down the clients’ fantasies sometimes with your professional knowledge of what’s possible.

It can also be difficult to work with other designers, specially if they are senior and would rather have a florescent colour scheme in the bedroom when you prefer beige. Some, though, are a joy to work with, teaching you and inspiring you to creative heights.

You might even find some clients who will give you the carte blanche to do their own bedroom, but, as you can imagine, these are rare. And be prepared for assignments that may be more than just designing bedrooms-you might be asked to design the inside of a spaceship or a cartoon landscape for a shop window.

The hours in interior design are never nine to five, especially for freshers who have to learn on the job about detailing and space planning material. Most designers dress formal when they are meeting clients, but very casual when they are working on the site. Be prepared to have paint drip on you and be covered in sawdust. Sometimes, when you are working on an expensive project, you might get fantastic perks, be driven around in fancy cars and stay at swanky hotels.

You had better be very clear whether you want to do interior design or interior decoration. For a designer you absolutely must have formal training and study the planning of space, developing it, executing the plan and designing the furniture and you will usually be working on larger projects, like offices and hotels or very large houses. You will also, in some cases, work alongside the architect.

Decorators need not have had any formal training, though it’s great and impressive if you do have diplomas or even degrees when it comes to landing assignments. A decorator usually, as opposed to designing it himself, picks up readymade furniture and other accessories from the market and takes care of the ensemble.

Be prepared to deal with labourers, explaining things a million times, expect things not to look exactly the way you had dreamed them, and learn not to hit the roof when you find the carpenter or the labourer did not follow your instructions.

It can be a very high stress job with deadlines to meet and the scope for things to go wrong at any juncture, and after all that the client may not like what he sees even if it is exactly what he had said he wanted. So take on only as much work as you can handle and make sure you are satisfied with your job and the pay, because sometimes that will be all you’ll have.

If you are freelancing, your time can be your own and if you are lucky to have made it big with your first assignment, you will not have to go through the two-bit jobs that most trainees at larger firms have to go through before they are assigned major projects. Most clients are flexible about the timing, so if you are freelancing, you do not have to report to any office at any time. However, certain people prefer work done during the night, mostly when you’re doing the interiors of an office, so that the work isn’t stalled. In which case, you might have to work all night.

Don’t forget, if you are starry-eyed about celebrities, this is your chance to get right inside their homes.

Almost all interior designers have a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Applied Arts degree, along with formal training in interior design.

A decorator may or may not have the academic qualifications. But remember, few clients, especially commercial clients, are willing to entrust responsibility for designing living and working space, not to mention huge budgets, to a designer with no formal credentials.

Formal training for interior design includes study of art and art history, principles of design, designing and sketching, as well as specialised studies for individual design disciplines such as textiles, mechanical and architectural drawing, computerised design, sculpture, architecture, and basic engineering.

A liberal arts education, with courses in merchandising, business administration, marketing and psychology, along with training in art is also a good background for interior design. And those with training or experience in architecture have an advantage in interior design.

Inexperienced designers usually receive on-the-job training and normally need two to three years of training before they advance to higher level positions. Experienced designers in large firms may advance to chief designer, design department head, or other supervisory positions, while some experienced designers seek out the big money by opening their own businesses.

Designers say, style and creativity are a must in this profession. More important than professional qualifications, one needs to be innately creative. Creativity includes being able to express oneself through one's ideas-rendering, sketching, etc. It also means having a sense of style and utilising spaces and colours intelligently.

The best bet for you after college, unless you are very sure and have a lot of money to splurge on an impressive office, is working with a really talented and well-known designer. And the more you learn here, the better your chances for setting up your own business or landing a job at a big firm.

Don’t be disheartened if all you seem to be doing in the first few months is draughting. Remember patience is a virtue and you will soon get to design, make estimates and work on sites.

The money too, when working for a design firm or another designer may not exactly warm the cockles of your heart. Be prepared to be offered as low as Rs 3000. Some firms may pay more or if the designer likes your work he may want to keep you on longer and so offer you more, but luck would have to come into it in large measure. However, once you have set up a business for yourself, you could be making about Rs 10,000 a month. Earnings, of course, go up as you handle more and more projects and gain more experience.

There aren’t very many big private firms for interior design in India, as most people prefer to work alone. Some architects do have interior designers on their teams and if you are not interested or enterprising enough to set out on your own, you could get attached to an architect’s outfit.

If you are a freelancer, you could do part of the work for a project, depending on your abilities and the time you want to spend on it. Or you could handle an entire project from start to finish and maybe get other people to work under you.

Word of advice - don’t forget, it pays to have good contacts, particularly in high places.

There are many training institutes in Delhi and elsewhere for training. The Women’s Polytechnic in south Delhi and the design institute run by Jenson & Nicholson provides courses. There is also scope for specialisation, like accessory design, furniture design, etc. Jenson & Nicolson, in fact, even procures assignments for you if you train with them.

SNDT University for Women in Mumbai offers a three-year diploma course in interior design that includes a six-month internship. Academically, a diploma in Interior Design is all that is required.  You need to have got at least 75% in your class X boards. You will also have to take an entrance test.

For people interested in part-time courses, one is available at Rachana Sansad, again in Mumbai. It is a three-year diploma, with classes being held only thrice a week. An entrace test and interview has to be cleared here too. There is also a one-year basic course available.

Apart from these, Sophia Polytechnic at Breach Candy, Mumbai, Nirmala Niketan at Churchgate, Mumbai, and Raheja Institute in Bandra, Mumbai, also have similar diploma courses.

The National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, has a diploma in Furniture Design. There are a number of computer packages available for Interior Designing, but the commonest is AutoCad. It is used for plans, measurements, elevations, and is a 2D tool that is quicker than manual draughting. Another package is 3D Home that has readymade furniture that one can simply place on the computer, but 3D Max has a lot more effects and a gallery. Of course, you can always work on Photoshop. So, a course in computers would go a long way in adding that extra bit to your designs.