Living room — furnishings
Sofa, rug, and lighting purchases with vendor invoices and client approvals attached.
Studio finance · Interior design
Per-project cost records for interior design studios
An interior design project runs on dozens of purchases — sofas, lighting, rugs, paint, the upholsterer's invoice, swatch orders, and delivery fees — some billed to the client, some absorbed by the studio. When they pile up unsorted, the client's final cost summary becomes a guessing game. Cash Workspace gives you one place to record each cost against its project, flag what's billable, and attach the vendor invoice and the client's purchase approval.
The problem
Why interior design costs get hard to reconcile
Purchases come from many vendors at different times, and the line between studio overhead and billable client cost is easy to lose.
- A custom sofa, the workroom's reupholstery invoice, and the delivery fee all arrive separately and never get tied to the same room.
- Sample and swatch orders pile up and you can't tell which project to charge them to.
- You can't quickly see what's billable to the client versus what the studio is eating.
- A client questions a furniture charge and you can't produce their original approval.
- Delivery and white-glove fees get forgotten until they erode the project's costs.
The workflow
Record costs against the project as they land
Log every furnishing, trade, sample, and delivery cost under the project, flag billable items, and attach the paperwork.
- 1
Open a record per project
Create a project record per room or per client engagement so all its costs gather in one place.
- 2
Record each purchase
When you buy furniture or decor, record the vendor, item, amount, and date, and attach the vendor invoice or receipt.
- 3
Log trade and sample costs
Record workroom, upholsterer, and painter invoices plus sample and swatch orders against the same project.
- 4
Flag billable vs studio
Tag each cost billable-to-client or studio-absorbed so the split is clear when you summarize.
- 5
Attach the client approval
Attach the client's signed purchase approval to each billable item so charges are backed by proof.
Record structure
What to record for each project cost
These fields keep furnishings, trades, and fees sortable and ready for a client summary.
- Project / room
- The project or room the cost belongs to, so every purchase lands in the right place.
- Cost type
- Furniture, decor, trade vendor, sample/swatch, or delivery fee.
- Vendor
- Who you bought from — retailer, workroom, upholsterer, or carrier.
- Item description
- What it is (e.g. 'custom 3-seat sofa, COM') so the line is recognizable later.
- Amount
- The cost and currency, including any white-glove or delivery charge.
- Billable flag
- Billable to client or studio-absorbed, so the split is explicit.
- Vendor invoice / receipt
- The supplier's invoice or receipt attached to the record.
- Client approval
- The signed purchase approval attached for each billable item.
Example setup
An example project cost setup
One way to structure a single client engagement inside your workspace.
Trade vendors
Upholsterer, painter, and workroom invoices recorded against the project.
Samples and swatches
Fabric and finish sample orders, flagged studio-absorbed or billable.
Delivery and install
Carrier and white-glove fees recorded with their receipts.
Common mistakes
Mistakes to avoid
- Recording furniture but forgetting the delivery and install fees that come with it.
- Leaving the billable flag blank, so the client summary mixes studio and client costs.
- Charging a client for an item without keeping their signed approval on file.
- Lumping sample orders into one bucket with no project tag.
- Filing vendor invoices separately from the cost record they belong to.
How it helps
How Cash Workspace helps
Costs grouped by project
Record every furnishing, trade, and fee under its project so the whole spend gathers in one place.
Billable flags
Tag each cost billable-to-client or studio-absorbed so the split is clear without recalculating.
Invoices and approvals attached
Attach the vendor invoice and the client's purchase approval to each cost so charges are always backed up.
Related
Related studio finance workflows
Design studio finance organizer
Organize a design studio's clients, projects, and expenses end to end.
Studio receipts by project
Keep every project's receipts filed under the right job.
Pass-through cost records
Track costs you buy on a client's behalf and bill straight through.
Business receipt organizer
A simple system for keeping receipts attached to the right records.
All finance workflows
Browse the full Cash Workspace workflow library.
FAQ
Interior design cost records FAQ
- How do I keep billable and studio costs separate?
- Flag each cost billable-to-client or studio-absorbed as you record it. The flag lets you filter a project's billable items when you prepare a client summary.
- Where should delivery and sample fees go?
- Record them against the same project as a delivery or sample cost type, so the full project spend — not just the headline furniture — is captured.
- Does Cash Workspace total the project cost for the client?
- It keeps each cost recorded with its amount and billable flag so you can review and summarize them yourself; it does not compute project totals, margin, or markup.
Organizing help — not tax, accounting, or legal guidance
Cash Workspace is a free workspace for organizing invoices, expenses, receipts, clients, and documents. This page is organizing guidance only — not tax, accounting, legal, or bookkeeping guidance. Cash Workspace does not connect to your bank, does not scan or read your receipts for you, and does not move or collect payments. Whether an expense is deductible depends on your situation, so confirm it with a qualified accountant or tax professional.
Keep every project's costs in one place
Start a free workspace and record each furnishing, trade, and delivery cost under its project with the invoice and approval attached, so client summaries are simple.