Every state offers a recognized education program for interior design. The Council for Interior Design Accreditation provides a list of these recognized programs on its web site. Smaller states have only one recognized program.
While states like New York, California, Illinois (Chicago) have more than one recognized program in interior design. New York has seven programs, while California and Illinois have fourteen and seven programs respectively.
Whether formal schooling is necessary for interior design, is controversial. As per the reports of American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), half of the interior designers practicing in United States have completed two or more years of college or professional training in interior design and about 40 percent have completed a four-year college program. Among those who completed the four-year college program, 40 percent had a degree in interior design.
Other professionals have their bachelors degrees in architecture, fine arts, liberal arts, education and business administration, industrial design and other subjects as well. There are two types of design - contract design and residential design. However, there are different requirements for contract and residential design.
In the residential design, you do not require a proper schooling or a particular background. While a contract design requires a bachelor's degree in design, and is restrictive comparatively.
Many successful residential interior decorators do not possess any recognized schooling in design. However, they are successful in this field because of their exceptional characters and qualities. They might have qualities like strong work ethics, dedication, exceptional taste and good sense of beauty. They also might have good people skills, excellent presentation skills and art of sales.