When to Start Designing a House Interior

(and why waiting until after construction is too late)

Interior design doesn’t start with furniture

Interior design is not the final step. It’s part of the house design as a whole.

A common assumption is: build the house, finish it… and then deal with the interior. In reality, it works the other way around.

The interior needs to be considered at the same time as the house design — ideally before construction even begins. Not because of decoration, but because of things that can’t be changed later without demolition: layout, spatial relationships, and technical solutions.

By the time the foundation slab is poured, drainage and plumbing routes are already fixed. Which means a large part of the layout is fixed as well.

A house designed by an architect ≠ a finished interior

A typical situation: the client already has a house designed by an architect and expects the interior to naturally follow.

It often doesn’t.

Not because the house design is wrong, but because interior design is a separate discipline handled by an interior architect — more detailed, more technical, and much more focused on how the house actually works in everyday life.

The result often looks great from the outside, but inside it lacks coherence. The layout feels off, lighting is basic, and many important decisions are left to the client.

We usually don’t interfere with the architectural concept — we respect the work that’s already been done. But we often step in when it’s time to complete the house from the inside — meaning a full interior design.

What needs to be solved during construction

When designing the interior of a new build, many key decisions have to be made during the construction phase. A lot of these may seem like “interior design,” but they are actually structural decisions.

• Layout and bathrooms - Bathrooms are critical - not because of design, but because of plumbing, drainage, and overall logic. Once the foundation is done, changes become very limited.
• Lighting - It’s not just about a single light in the middle of the room. We’re talking about layers of light, indirect lighting, lights in the walls or ceilings, and, most importantly, the logic of the controls. A typical detail: turning off the light from the bed.
• Floors and surfaces - Every material has different thickness and reacts differently to underfloor heating. Combining wood, tiles, or microcement needs to be planned in advance — otherwise you get level differences or technical issues.
• Doors - Flush doors or custom solutions require adjustments to structural openings. If not planned early, they can’t be done cleanly.
• Glass partitions and showers - Glass may look light, but structurally it isn’t. If you want clean, minimal detailing, proper ceiling anchoring must be prepared during construction. Drywall alone won’t hold it.
• Details not addressed in the house plans - Heated mirrors, underfloor heating in showers, switch positioning and control logic. Minor on paper, critical in real life.

When is the best time to contact us?

Not when you’re choosing a sofa. The ideal time is during the house design phase, when both the house design and the interior design are being worked out with the architect simultaneously. That is precisely when the interior can be integrated with the architecture so that the house functions as a whole. Not as a building that is first designed from the outside and only later has its livability addressed.

The sooner the interior is addressed, the greater the chance that unnecessary compromises will be avoided and that important details won’t have to be rushed later.

Why isn’t the house design enough?

 

The interior is not the final layer of a house. It is part of the design from the very beginning. The later you start addressing it, the more compromises, improvisations, and unnecessary costs arise. On the other hand, when the interior design is planned early on, the house functions more naturally, harmoniously, and without the need for additional interventions. You can find examples of what a well-executed interior looks like in practice in our projects on the page INTERIORS

from Radka - 21. 4. 2026