Interior Design Cost in Lebanon: What You Actually Pay For

Search for what interior design costs in Lebanon and you will find two kinds of page: American directories pricing designers in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and Lebanese studios quoting a full-service luxury renovation. Neither answers the question most people actually have, which is smaller and more specific: I have one room, or one apartment, I am not rebuilding it, and I want to know what a designer would charge me to tell me what to do with it. That job exists, it has a price, and it is a fraction of what the studio pages imply. This guide is written for the person paying: the three very different things sold under the words "interior design", what each one contains, what moves the price, and how to hire without handing over your money first.

Three different jobs share one job title

Almost every pricing argument in this field comes from the buyer and the designer meaning different things by the same two words. There are three distinct products.

A concept. Someone measures or reads your space, then tells you what to do with it: layout, where things go, a mood board, a colour and material direction, and a small set of visuals. You receive a decision, not a construction project. You then buy the furniture and hire the tradespeople yourself. This is the cheapest and, for most apartments, the most underrated purchase in the whole field.

A full design. The concept plus everything needed to build it: drawings a contractor can work from, finish and fixture schedules, joinery details, sometimes renders. The designer's job ends at a complete, buildable package.

Design plus execution. All of the above plus supervising the site, chasing the contractor, checking what was delivered against what was specified, and being the person you call when the tiles arrive in the wrong colour. This is where the percentage fees you read about come from, and it is a months-long commitment for the designer, not a document.

Decide which of the three you are buying before you ask anyone for a price. Most people who feel they were overcharged asked for the first and were quoted the third.

What a concept package should contain

On Furrsati, a single-room interior concept is a defined deliverable, priced between $200 and $700. For that you should expect a considered layout, a mood board, a material and colour direction, and limited visuals, from a freelancer who has seen photographs and dimensions of the actual room. Written into the agreement before you pay, ask for:

• A measured layout of the room as it is, with your furniture and the new furniture positioned to scale.
• A material and finish direction: floor, walls, joinery, worktops, named by type and finish rather than "warm neutral".
• A mood board with real product references, not only atmosphere images you cannot buy.
• A lighting plan, even a simple one. This is the single cheapest thing that changes how a Lebanese apartment feels, and it is the thing most often left out.
• A shopping list you can act on, with the categories separated so you can buy in stages.
• The number of revision rounds, stated as a number.
• The editable files or the source board, so a second designer can pick the work up later.

The last point matters more than it sounds. A concept that exists only as a flattened PDF in someone's inbox is a concept you will pay for twice.

What the market publishes, and why it may not apply to you

Lebanese design studios do publish figures, and they are worth reading as long as you read what they cover. Studio blogs describe a premium full-apartment renovation in Beirut of roughly 100 to 200 square metres, with imported materials, custom millwork and smart-home integration, at a total project cost of around $500 to $1,500 per square metre, with a full-service design fee of roughly 8 to 15 percent and a timeline of four to eight months, of which the design phase is six to ten weeks.

Read that carefully. The per-square-metre number is the cost of the whole renovation, materials and labour included, not the designer's fee. The percentage is the designer's fee on top, and it buys the third product above: supervision through to handover. If you are furnishing a rented flat in Achrafieh or refreshing one bedroom, that structure describes a different transaction from yours, and quoting it back at you as "the market rate" is not useful. It is genuinely the right reference if you are gutting an apartment, and genuinely the wrong one if you are not.

What moves the price

1. Which of the three products you are buying. By far the biggest factor, and the one you control.
2. Floor area and number of rooms. One room and a whole apartment are different jobs, not the same job at a multiple.
3. Whether drawings are needed. A concept is advice; a set of drawings a contractor can build from is technical work with real hours in it. See our guide to CAD drafting and floor plans in Lebanon.
4. How many renders. Priced per view, and each one is a separate line item. Our 3D interior render cost guide covers what a render can and cannot prove.
5. Whether a measured survey exists. If nobody has ever measured the space properly, someone has to, and old Lebanese buildings are rarely square.
6. Wet areas and joinery. Kitchens and bathrooms carry plumbing, electrics and fabrication constraints, so they cost more per square metre of attention than a bedroom.
7. Revision rounds. Two rounds and unlimited rounds are different commitments. Fix the number.
8. Procurement. Sourcing and ordering on your behalf is a service, sometimes with a margin attached. Ask how the designer is paid for it, and ask in writing.

Design fees and execution money are two different budgets

This is where renovations in Lebanon go wrong financially, and it has nothing to do with design. Keep two budgets that never touch: what you pay the designer, and what you pay for materials and trades.

Never route contractor or supplier money through the designer unless you have agreed that arrangement explicitly, in writing, with an invoice trail for every payment. It is a common, entirely legitimate setup, and it is also the arrangement in which a dispute becomes impossible to untangle, because nobody can say afterwards whose money bought what. If your designer is buying on your behalf, ask for supplier invoices in your name and a running statement.

Pay the design work in milestones tied to deliverables rather than to dates: concept approved, drawings delivered, renders delivered. Our guide on how to set milestones when hiring a freelancer sets out how to phrase them so approval is unambiguous.

Designing a Lebanese apartment from abroad

A large share of this work is commissioned by owners who are not in the country: someone who inherited a flat in Tripoli, or a family finishing an apartment they visit twice a year. It is entirely doable remotely, and there is one thing you must sort out first.

Someone has to be in the room. A designer working from a handful of phone photos will produce something beautiful that does not fit, because ceiling heights, window positions, the direction the light comes from and the exact location of the water supply are not in the photographs. Before design starts, pay for a measured survey, or have a relative do a carefully instructed one: dimensions of every wall, ceiling height, window and door positions and sizes, socket and drain locations, and a photograph from each corner of the room. It is a small cost that decides whether the design is buildable.

Then agree how decisions get made across a time difference. One decision-maker on your side, a fixed weekly call, and written approvals. If you are weighing a designer in Beirut against one abroad, our comparison of hiring local versus remote talent applies directly.

Judging portfolios and briefing properly

Portfolios in this field are designed to be persuasive, so look for the unglamorous evidence. Has this person shown a finished photograph of a real space, not only renders? Renders prove they can model; photographs prove someone built it. Is there a project at your scale, or only villas? Can they show a before and after of a small apartment, which is much harder than a large one?

Then brief them properly, because a vague brief is what you are actually paying for when a price comes back high. Send: photographs from every corner, dimensions, ceiling height, what is staying and what is going, who lives there and how they use the room, your total budget including furniture, your timeline, and five images you like with one sentence each on why. Also send the constraints, honestly: the wall you cannot touch, the landlord's rules, the generator's location, the sofa your mother is not letting you replace. Constraints make designs better and quotes more accurate. Our notes on how to evaluate freelancer proposals explain how to compare what comes back.

Hiring and paying safely

Get written quotes on identical scope from two or three designers, and make sure "identical" includes the number of renders and revision rounds, because that is where quotes silently diverge. Browse freelancers and read the proposals before committing, and treat anyone who quotes a firm price without asking about dimensions or budget as someone who has not understood the job. Our list of red flags when hiring a freelancer covers the rest.

This is where Furrsati removes the risk. You post your project, compare proposals from verified freelancers, fund a milestone, and release payment only once you've approved the work, with milestone funds held by Stripe until you release them. The service fee comes off the freelancer's side, so only standard card processing is added to your bill, and wallet-funded milestones carry none. Freelancers verify their identity before they can withdraw; as a client you need no verification. Payouts reach the freelancer inside Lebanon by OMT, Whish, bank transfer or USDT.

Your next step

Decide which of the three products you want before you ask for a price. Get the space measured. Keep the design budget and the building budget separate. Fix the revision rounds and the number of renders in writing. When you're ready, hire an interior designer on Furrsati and keep your payment protected until the concept is in your hands.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does interior design cost in Lebanon?

It depends entirely on which product you are buying. A single-room interior concept, meaning layout, mood board, material direction and limited visuals, is priced on Furrsati between $200 and $700. A full design package with buildable drawings costs considerably more, and design plus site supervision is usually charged as a percentage of the whole renovation, which Lebanese studios publish at roughly 8 to 15 percent.

Is the $500 to $1,500 per square metre figure the designer's fee?

No, and this is the most common misreading. Where Lebanese studios publish that range, it is the total cost of a premium renovation including materials and labour. The designer's fee sits on top of it, usually as a percentage. If you are not renovating, the figure does not describe your project at all.

Can I hire a designer for just one room?

Yes, and for most people it is the sensible purchase. A single-room concept gives you a layout, a material direction and a shopping list you can act on at your own pace, without committing to a renovation. Ask for the lighting plan to be included; it is the cheapest change with the largest effect.

Do I need renders or drawings?

Only if someone has to build something. If you are buying furniture and painting, a good layout and material direction are enough. If a carpenter is making joinery or a contractor is moving a wall, you need drawings. Renders are optional either way and are priced per view, so decide how many you need rather than leaving it open.

Should I let the designer buy the materials?

It can work well, but only with a paper trail. Ask for supplier invoices in your name, a running statement of what has been spent, and a written statement of how the designer is paid for procurement. Never let design fees and building money blur into one payment, because a dispute then becomes impossible to resolve.

Can I do this from abroad?

Yes, as long as somebody measures the room properly before design starts: every wall dimension, ceiling height, window and door positions, socket and drain locations, and a photograph from each corner. Then set one decision-maker on your side, a fixed weekly call, and written approvals at each milestone.