Instagram Post Prompts for Interior Designers + Architects (+ FREE DOWNLOAD)
“I have no idea what to post on Instagram!”
I hear this regularly from designers in my community and I’m often surprised by the statement as being a designer gives you so much material that you can use and share on Instagram and other social media platforms.
Interior design content is some of the most popular content there is and if you can share your own journey and your own perspective and ideas then you have the chance to build a wonderful community around what you’re doing.
But despite the fact it seems obvious to me how much material there is for interior designers and architects to share on Instagram, it doesn’t appear to be as obvious to all the designers I work with.
So today I’m sharing a list of post prompts you can use to come up with a constant stream of ideas for your Instagram posts and other social media content.
Want the ideas from this post in a free PDF document instead? Then you can download it in this handy resource:
How to use the prompts
Pick out prompts from the list below and start applying these to the posts you create on Instagram (or you can use them for other social media platforms as well).
To do this find new images or videos to share with your audience (e.g. your own project images or images you have curated from elsewhere) and then find a prompt in the list that would help you to craft a helpful caption for that post.
A few tips to remember:
bite sized tips are best - don't share too much in one post
give your audience quick wins
share your best tips and advice and don’t hold back (they won't steal it!)
write like you speak - sound like an approachable human rather than someone trying to impress people
use as much video content as you can - the Instagram algorithm prefers this
Also note:
Within the list below you will find lots of prompts where I ask you to share your top tips or an example of “…”.
What I mean by the “…” is that you literally have hundreds of options and the best thing to do is to apply that prompt to something that has recently happened or you have recently been working on.
For each of these “…” prompts I give you a few examples to get your creative ideas going, so pick one of these or choose other topics to apply the prompt to.
This list is literally an endless supply of ideas so I hope you find it useful. Make sure to bookmark this page and come back to it whenever you need some inspiration.
Post Prompts for Interior Designers + Architects
General Posts
Share your top 5 tips for ...
Renovating a bathroom
Designing a kitchen/laundry/kids bedroom
Creating a family friendly home
Bringing in more natural light
Choosing a shower head
Designing the perfect walk in wardrobe
Working with architects
Removing wallpaper
Choosing paint colours
Creating a high end finish on a budget
Reading architecture plans
Working out how much storage you need
Choosing the right carpet
Preparing your house for sale/inspection
Landscaping a garden
Share 5 things to avoid when ...
Working with suppliers
Renovating your bathroom
Designing a new home
Choosing appliances
Renovating on a budget
In the middle of construction
The best advice you’ve ever received about ...
Renovating
Building
Designing joinery
Styling a home
Buying/selling a home
Three things you love about ...
Your job
Working with clients
Starting a new project
Working with suppliers
Your local area (where you live or work)
Share your top 3 favourite Instagram accounts for design inspiration
Share a story about something crazy that happened during one of your projects or with a client
Share something impactful that has happened in the past year in your business
Share a myth that people have about … and why they are wrong
for example...renovating design, styling, choosing tiles, working with designers)
Share an image of a space you have visited with great design and point out what you love about it and what works well in the design (i.e. tips that people can apply to their own designs)
for example; a local café, shop, garden, friend’s house
Share something that you find frustrating about ... [your niche]
Host a giveaway (e.g. with a product a supplier might give you for this)
Share a funny or inspiring quote
Create an educational carousel post
Promote your services/products
Share images of your completed projects and share tips about ...
what works well
how you designed the space
how you brought in more light
how you chose the finishes
the suppliers you used
the paint colours you used
the finishes you used
the fixtures you used
how you tied the design together with other parts of the house
Share something that people think is easy about your niche but is actually hard to get right (i.e. give them a tip about something you know and help them understand why they need you to be their expert!!)
Curate your top 10 favourite ... [use a carousel post for this]
Bedrooms, Bathrooms, Kitchens (any type of room)
Media rooms
Black houses
Grey sofas
Kitchen islands
Resort style bathrooms
Joinery finishes
Reading nooks/bench seats
White paints
Joinery handles
Kitchen mixers
Carpets
Share an image of yourself in one of your finished projects – what did you love most about the project?
Share 3 ... and ask your audience to choose which one they like – 1,2 or 3?
Kitchens
Bathrooms
Types of bed linen
Bedrooms
Pools
Tiles
Home exteriors
Kitchen mixers
Fridges
Which do you prefer? ... Or ...
Kitchen islands with or without sinks?
Black kitchens or white kitchens?
Free standing or built in baths?
Choosing tiles or choosing furniture?
Confession time!! When was the last time you ... (make this something that people rarely do but often feel they should)
Cleaned your curtains?
Cleaned out your air conditioning filter?
Cleaned out your kitchen cupboards?
Tidied up your Tupperware drawer?
Wiped down your skirting boards?
Create a seasonal post – e.g. around the theme of Christmas, Autumn, Summer
Ask your audience what they need help with and answer their questions
I’m obsessed with ... who else is the same?
Who else hates it when ...?
Who is dreaming of their next ...?
Who else loves it when ...?
Talk about a pain point you know your audience has and how you can help them with this
Share an ‘on this day in XXXX’ – throwback to something interesting/inspiring that happened on this day in a different era – bonus points if it relates to your niche in some way!
Repurpose other content you have created – e.g. your blog, podcast, live FB videos. Clip quotes or sections of the video and share as a post (this is a great option if you’ve got a back catalogue of blog posts you’ve written – you can create hundreds of posts out of these)
Answer questions that you get asked all the time by people in your community – e.g. could be about specific products you’ve used in a project or about things related to how you work. Make some questions up if you haven’t been asked any yet!
Share an image that has done well in the past and create a new caption to go with it – be helpful in the caption!
Share an image of yourself and introduce yourself to your audience (good to do every few months as your account grows)
Share something new you have learned recently – e.g. from a book/blog post you’ve read, podcast you’ve listened to
3 ways to save time or money when ...
Renovating
Working with a designer
Choosing new furniture
Renovating your bathroom
Behind the Scenes
Share a mood board of an upcoming project. Make this helpful – walk them through the process of how you put it together:
Do you use any software?
Do you do it with physical samples?
Where do you get your inspiration from?
How do you bring it all together?
How long does it take you?
Share a materials/finishes palette of an upcoming project - make sure you only do this if it will be helpful. For example:
share product suggestions
talk about how you put together a palette for a project
talk about how to lay out a palette for presentation - do you use a tray?
talk about how you would transport your materials and then lay them out for a client during a presentation
Give people a tour of a project you are about to start working on: For example, this could be video tour talking about what you are going to change, images of the project where you discuss what is going to do etc.
Share a SketchUp/CAD or other design drawing you are working on
Site visit photo/video
Supplier visit photo/video
Tour of your workspace/photo of your desk
10 things people may not know about you
5 things people probably don’t know about being an ... [interior designer/architect/decorator]
A day in the life of working as an ... [interior designer/architect]
Share something that happened in your week that people would find interesting to learn about
Tell people about something that you are going to be doing soon and why you are excited about it
Share why you started your business
Share a fun fact about you or your business
Share the story of your first ever project
Your favourite books/podcasts/YouTube channels about ...
Design content
Running a business
Renovating
Design inspiration
Your niche
Share the steps involved in…….[different parts of the design process]
If you have team members – share an image of them and 3 fun facts
Share a hand drawn sketch
How you plan your day
Before and after photos
Create a time lapse video of you creating or doing something
Design drawings
Styling a room
SketchUp/CAD work
Having a meeting (e.g. with a client or on site)
Shout out another business in your industry and what you like about them
Share how you prepare for the week ahead
Share what you like to do for fun (when you’re not working!)
Share an award, media feature you have received
Offer a sneak peek of what you’re currently working on
Share a local place you love (this is a great one for those who work in specific local areas with local clients – e.g. your favourite café, place to shop, park, walk)
Share your products or services and ask people to DM you for more information
Encourage people to follow your other social profiles – e.g. Pinterest/Facebook
Insight into your office, home office, workspace set up
What tech do you use and why
Do you still do something "old school" - why?
Industry Specific Content
Share tips about the local building codes. For example; ceiling heights, floor finishes, space sizes, typical measurements
Share “how to” tips in your niche
Choose curtains, choose tiles, style a bed, style your dining table, choose a dining chair
Share measurements/dimensions of different elements of spaces you work on. For example; dining table standard sizes,
Feature an expert in the industry – DM them and ask for their top tip in a particular area and share their advice. Tag them to give them a shout out
Share upcoming industry specific events (e.g. sales, fairs) that your ideal clients might be interested in
Share trends you are noticing in the industry
3 things you don’t like about the industry and how they can be avoided
3 things you love about this industry
Share something you wish you had known when you first started in the industry
Share something (e.g. a trend, paint colour, piece of furniture) that everyone else in your niche really likes but you don’t
Share something that lots of other ...[designers/architects] really hate to do but you love doing
Advice you would give to someone just starting out in your industry
One thing you couldn’t live without (as it relates to your niche and would be of interest to your potential clients)
Floor plan layouts for different spaces
Share behind the scenes of an industry specific event – e.g. a design fair – give them access to something they wouldn’t be able to experience without being an industry insider
Cross promote with others in your industry – give shout outs and support others in the industry (e.g. suppliers, other designers, trades you work with)
Share an image from a well known person in your industry and a quote from them in the captions
The best 3 places to go in ... [your city/location] for ... (this one is great for those of you with service based business working in particular locations)
Tiles
Soft furnishings
Coffee
Design inspiration
Things from your niche that people might be searching for
Share a piece of content that positions you as an industry expert
Share what makes you different/better than your competitors
Questions to ask your community
Ask your community questions in your posts to boost engagement and get them commenting!
How much do you normally pay for ...? [e.g. bed linen, appliances, tiles, new cushions]
How much time to you normally spend ...? [e.g. shopping for tiles, choosing new cushions]
How often do you ...?
How often do you wash your curtains?
How often do you clean your shutters?
How often do you change out your throw cushions?
How often do you clean out your wardrobe?
What is one thing you want to accomplish before the end of the year?
What is one project around the house you want to accomplish before the end of the year?
What is one DIY project you want to accomplish before the end of the year?
What is one thing you want to avoid/never want to do again?
What is the one thing from your renovation project that you never want to do again?
What is the one household chore you avoid and never want to do again?
If money wasn’t an issue, what would you do ...?
If money wasn’t an issue, what would be your biggest splurge in your renovation project?
If money wasn’t an issue, what would you go out and buy today?
What is your top tip for ...? [e.g. renovating, styling a bedroom, staying organised, getting kids out of the house in the morning]
What is your favourite app for ...? [e.g. being more productive, keeping kids occupied, budgeting, renovating]
What do you wish you had more time to do?
What are your top 3 favourite IG accounts to follow for design inspiration?
Working with Suppliers and Trades
Share an image from a supplier’s account and say what you like about their product
Share an image or video from a showroom visit and why you use them – what you love about them
Share an image of your key contact and what is great about them – let people get to know them.
Share an image of their products in the showroom, warehouse [i.e. behind the scenes of the supplier]
What to avoid when working with suppliers ...
What is great about working with suppliers ...
Get your suppliers to give you the answers to the top 3 questions they get asked and share these as different posts on your account
Get your tradies to give you their top 3 trade tips (as relevant to your potential clients) and share these with an image of them or some of their work
Give a shout out to tradies that you work with regularly – share something fun about them
Take a photo of a tradie on a site visit (or something you have discussed/worked on with them on site) and give your audience a tip about what you talked about and how you solved it
Working with Clients
Share a client testimonial as an image
Share a story about one of your clients
One of my clients was confused about ... Here’s the advice I gave them ...
Tell the story of a client who has inspired you
Tell the story of a time you impacted a client’s life with the work you did with them
Get a video testimonial from your client and share this
Create a short video tour of a completed project (under 1 min) and share to your page
Share a client transformation story – what life was like before working with you vs how they are living now
Share the steps involved in working with you
Share the behind the scenes of what’s involved in an initial design consultation with you
Share what to expect when a client works with you
Share how you prepare to first start working with a client
Share the specific steps involved in a particular project you have just finished – what went well?
Share before and after images of client projects
Get someone to take an image of you and your client chatting on site about their project (get your client’s permission of course!)
Site Visits
Share a tip from another trade on site (bonus points for being brave and capturing this on video – most will be happy if you’re brave enough to ask and it makes great content!)
Get a picture of you standing on site talking with client
Take close up images of details that are coming together
Take an image of something that was discussed and talk about the problem and how it was resolved (e.g. how to choose where to position power points in an island bench, what to do when things are different on site than what was expected)
Do a quick live video after a site visit (e.g. from your car or before you leave) and tell your audience what you did and the problems/solutions you resolved
Even more ideas!
Want more? Here’s even more ideas that may get you thinking about things you can share. Remember – nobody sees things the way that you see them. Share what you know and provide value freely to your audience. Here's some ideas:
Mark ups on design drawings
Stories
Videos
Audio
Plans
Drawings
Research
Journal entries
Notebook entries
Diagrams
Things that inspire you
Sketches
Photos
Demonstrations
Scrapbooks
Work in progress
Your day-to-day process
Collections
Trade/insider secrets
Processes
Techniques
Tools/materials that you use
This final list above has been adapted from ‘Show your work’ by Austin Kleon, which is great book on the topic of sharing your creative process with the world. I would highly recommend you read it!
Remember you can also grab this full list in my handy PDF resource (it’s completely free!)
No more excuses for not posting every day (or even multiple times a day!) to Instagram. There is literally so much content you can create and share with your community that will document your journey, show your expertise and help your community.
I hope this list of ideas is helpful!
Enjoy the rest of your day!
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy
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