ClickUp for interior designers: how Eralyn Interiors centralized their operations in a system the team actually uses

This look at ClickUp for interior designers covers the ClickUp build Get Your Ops Together (GYOT) did for Eralyn Interiors, a full-service interior design firm led by Principal Designer and founder Erica Davis. Most design firm owners we work with are frustrated by the same things: follow-ups that live in someone's notebook, a workspace that takes too many clicks to find one project, and a team that has to ask the principal what's next. The short answer to what we did: after mapping the firm's real workflows with the team, including procurement and pricing and technical design, we centralized Eralyn's operations in ClickUp, the project management tool where a team's tasks and deadlines live. That included moving client onboarding out of manual steps and into ClickUp, plus a new shared drive structure. The build was designed to fit alongside the firm's work with Design Assisted (Dalia Soles), who supports their SOPs and documentation.

Eralyn Interiors at a glance

What was Eralyn Interiors trying to solve?

Eralyn already had strong foundations: a clear five-phase design process, defined roles and a firm commitment to documenting meetings. Pricing ran smoothly in a purpose-built spreadsheet, and Design Files, the firm's platform for mood boards, selections and client approvals, was the right home for selections. What the firm needed was one central place where the day-to-day work lived.

The existing ClickUp workspace had grown into folders inside folders, with a Space (the top-level area of a workspace) per project and a list for every room, so seeing one project took a lot of clicking. Reminders and "what needs attention next" lived in Slack threads, notebooks and personal to-do lists, and onboarding a new client relied on manual steps. When follow-ups depend on one person remembering them, things stall whenever that person is out.

What are the six core systems, and where does ClickUp fit?

From working with creative agencies and design firms, our belief is that almost all of the work in a firm falls into one of six areas, so we treat six core systems as the foundation: lead inquiry, client onboarding, delivery, offboarding, team management and data tracking. The first four follow the client journey, every step a client goes through with your firm from inquiry to the end of the project, and the last two sit behind the scenes. Read the six core systems every creative agency needs for the full picture.

How did we map the workflows before building?

The build started with mapping how work really happens. We reviewed the Sprint Intake Form Erica completed, audited the existing ClickUp workspace, and held workflow calls with the team on technical design, design and sourcing, and procurement and pricing, plus a call with Dalia so the ClickUp build lined up with the firm's documentation.

Those calls surfaced two important things. First, technical design leads: the space has to be planned before anything gets selected, so it became the first step of the design phase. Second, two control points needed a clear home in the workflow: a formal internal review before client presentations, and a consistent check before purchasing. The team already verified items against the vendor pro forma (the vendor's preliminary invoice) before buying, so the build formalized that habit.

What is the best ClickUp structure for an interior design firm?

Most ClickUp guides for interior designers suggest a folder or list for every phase, and often one for every room. For a six-person team, that recreates the click-heavy workspace Eralyn wanted to leave. The build settled on four Spaces:

What does "build once, work from views" mean in practice?

It means every piece of work exists as one task in one place, and ClickUp's saved views, which are filtered ways of looking at those tasks, show the same work differently depending on who's looking. My Desk shows each person every task assigned to them across all projects, grouped by due date. The Portfolio Timeline shows all active projects on one Gantt chart (a timeline bar chart) by phase and milestone, so Erica can see where everything stands without asking. Waiting On and Gate boards show what's held up, and each project has a Client Dashboard with its current phase and next milestone.

How did client onboarding move into ClickUp?

Onboarding is everything that makes a new client feel welcome and confident they chose the right firm, and at Eralyn it had relied on manual steps. In the new build, every website inquiry arrives as a single card in Leads & Pipeline, with the exploratory steps as a checklist inside it. A project is only created once the contract is signed and the retainer (the upfront payment that secures the project) has cleared, and then the project template sets up the client's List with every phase and task ready to assign. For more, read what a client onboarding system actually includes.

How do you run every interior design project the same way, start to finish?

Once a project exists, it runs through the same five phases from Eralyn's process: Exploratory, Design, Procurement, Project Management, and Install and Wrap-Up.

Quality gates are checkpoints a project has to pass before it moves on, and they're built into the template so they happen every time. The Principal signs off at least three days before each client presentation. Nothing moves to procurement until every item has final sign-off, approved pricing and full specs that match the vendor pro forma. Closeout waits until final payment is received. To apply this in your own firm, read how to map client delivery.

What should live in ClickUp versus Design Files, Drive and other tools?

Centralizing operations means each kind of information has one home, and ClickUp links to it instead of copying it:

The new shared drive structure supports this, so POs, confirmations, contracts and drawing sets sit in a predictable place for every project. Read where your agency's data tracking should live.

How do you get a design team to keep using ClickUp after setup?

A workspace only helps if the team opens it, so the rollout treats adoption as the main risk. The structure is proven on one active project first, and every meeting's action items go into ClickUp so opening it becomes a daily habit. Automations are added once the manual steps are stable.

What changed for Eralyn Interiors?

We only share what's in place, not results we haven't measured. Eralyn's operations now have one central home in ClickUp, with a flat structure built around views. Client onboarding runs from a single lead card and project template instead of manual steps. Every project follows the same phases and quality gates, and files have a clear home in the new shared drive. For more examples, browse our client stories.

Which kind of support was this, and what would fit your firm?

If you're not sure where to start, take the free Baggage Check, a self-assessment that shows where your firm still depends on you and what to hand off first.

This work was an Ops Concierge build, our done-for-you system build around how your firm already works. For an operations partner embedded month to month, look at the Residents' Lounge. You can see how other agencies built their systems here. RESORT Mode is our group program for creatives who want to scale to $30k+ months without the burnout. You get all the systems your business needs, grow as a founder, and get real-time coaching as you scale. To start documenting on your own, the free Interior Design Studio SOP Starter Kit in our Template Shop includes policies, an SOP template, an industry SOP vault and an AI SOP builder.

Frequently asked questions

Want a system your team will actually open every morning?

Take the free Baggage Check to see what to hand off first. If you're ready to have your systems built around how your firm works, look at Ops Concierge or book a consultation.