anyone ever use an INTERIOR designer?

[vash]

going into our apartment, i made multiple donation runs and sold pretty much everything.
we dont even have an entire bedroom set. no couch.

so. i have this empty house now.

we have been looking at furniture. we go in with this attitude that this will be our grown up home. so, no THE SMITHS poster in the bedroom. just kidding.

it is pretty clear that my wife and i have zero clue to what we are doing. the problem is compounded by the fact that we will have a separate living room AND a den. wtf? two couches!!

growing up chinese my family just threw furniture into a room, no rhyme or reason. apparently, so did my wife's.

some of the store come with a design service. some are free, some not free at all. but i imagine i'd be married to the store for the distance.

i might sketch out my living room and take a swing at it. but i couldnt lay out my front lawn at my old house and hired a designer and it looked great and maybe saved me some money that i didnt waste.

ideas?

[Jrboulder]

Just get an ikea catalog and flip though it until you know what you're doing.

My townhouse has the 2 living room/den waste of space so we made one a TV area with a sofa and one a chatting room with chairs.

[Noah930]

Are you just trying to pick out décor/furniture? Or are you trying to do things like floors, countertops, etc? Sounds like the former.

I'd be inclined to start by flipping through catalogs and magazines and figure out what look you like. What's your style? Go to the local bookstore and flip through all their home decorating magazines (Sunset, Southern Living, Coastal Living, Dwell, Architectural Digest, etc). Or go online and order up catalogs from furniture stores that have a brick and mortar presence: Ikea, Room and Board, Crate and Barrel, West Elm, Restoration Hardware, etc.

[vash]

Originally Posted by Jrboulder

Just get an ikea catalog and flip though it until you know what you're doing.

My townhouse has the 2 living room/den waste of space so we made one a TV area with a sofa and one a chatting room with chairs.

i think i might still have a fistful of those allen keys..and the the DEMFKE SPORKEN couch does look fabulous.

[Evans, Marv]

Some people benefit from advice from someone like a designer, some don't. Now is the time for you both to sit down and decide what type of feel and style you generally want. Have you thought of wall colors? When we painted the inside of our house, we wanted colors - not the white expanses you see in most places. Starting out with room and flooring colors can establish trends that make you feel comfortable in your place from now on. We kept a few pieces of furniture that fit into our scheme and bought the rest. So now we are happy with the feel of the place. The idea of looking at some catalogues & maybe some books about decorating is good. Designers usually have ideas of their own they steer people toward. I'd rather create something I'm attracted to & comfortable with.

[vash]

i did photograph how the lady laid things out.



she is this meticulous and "precise" woman. might be a good jumping off point, semi-copying her as far as lay-out.

What opened my eyes was when I had my house staged. It was simple, clean, and tasteful. I learned I don't need a lot of furniture. Just the right pieces.

[tabs]

Well Dahling...I simply had this marvy interior designer who decorated my place. His name was Maurice....simply fabulous. Maybe I can get him to come on here to u know help.

[bivenator]

We had a clean slate to remodel our home recently. It was overwhelming trying to make decisions as we had to choose everything from baseboards to doorknobs to cabinet hinges and make sure that all went together. My wife benefitted greatly from having a friend (she is a professional designer on the side) help her when getting bogged down. The areas of the home that we went with the designers advice are much nicer than the others.

If it is not cost prohibitive then I would say to enlist the help if for no other reason than to be the tie breaker in tough decisions.

[derek murray]

We use interior designers regularly (work and home). A good one is well worth the expense, IMO. If you have a design school close by, I bet an advert posted in their student's lounge will get you lots of responses (for not much $$).

[speeder]

Originally Posted by derek murray

We use interior designers regularly (work and home). A good one is well worth the expense, IMO. If you have a design school close by, I bet an advert posted in their student's lounge will get you lots of responses (for not much $$).

This is great advice.

[Jim Richards]

My one experience when we still lived back East was pretty negative. I'd suggest following the advice of Noah930, Marv Evans, and others above.

[JD159]

Know of someone who hired a designer and had amazing results.

Like someone mentioned earlier, if not cost prohibitive, check one out. Just do some screening before hand and see if you can find some reviews if your worried about getting a lemon.

[look 171]

I have worked with many of them over theyears, some are great, some are really rigid and will not budge on their design and they seem to know best as to what your needs are . Depending on your style, just be careful with their suggested items becauses you still have to clean them and are not daily life friendly. The good ones will listen to you and your wife. I have come across so many of them that are interested in stamping their names on your home and use it as showcase for their next job. Fine a good one. maybe ask around and see if someone will come out and help you with space layout and you can go pick out your style of furniture to fill in those spaces.

Good luck, wish I can help ya.

[Ayles]

My wife and I tried to do the color/design of our new bathroom. Ended up overwhelmed by the insane amount of options. After several weekends at the tile store we brought in an interior designer to help with process and it was super helpful to have someone there with expertise to help pick colors, counter tops etc... Going forward with any other projects I'll be hiring someone from the start. Just be sure to interview a few of them. Some designers were "my way or the highway" and it was clear just from meeting them that it wouldn't work with our personalities.

[Reddy Kilowatt]

Go to houzz.com. Use the search functions to narrow down on rooms and styles you like. Look at a few hundred photos. See if you can find examples of styles that both of you like. If you can't get at least this far, any time you spend with a designer (freelance or store) will be wasted.

Don't get fixated on the individual pieces, just focus on what you like the look of and what would feel like home.

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by Reddy Kilowatt

Go to houzz.com. Use the search functions to narrow down on rooms and styles you like. Look at a few hundred photos. See if you can find examples of styles that both of you like. If you can't get at least this far, any time you spend with a designer (freelance or store) will be wasted.

Don't get fixated on the individual pieces, just focus on what you like the look of and what would feel like home.

+1. The wife and I also enjoy looking at new construction model homes on the weekends. Lots of great ideas there as well. No way in heck would I pay for an interior designer.

[look 171]

Vash, you might ask the person that staged your home for a day's fee with some advice and see if they are willing to help you with some ideas. They make mose of their money by staging, providing their furniture and paintings. I wouldn't call them interior designers( no offense to them).

[Noah930]

I may not be totally up to date regarding your real estate adventures, Vash, but we're talking about an apartment rental, correct? Or is this a house you've purchased?

[vash]

Originally Posted by Noah930

I may not be totally up to date regarding your real estate adventures, Vash, but we're talking about an apartment rental, correct? Or is this a house you've purchased?

i sold a house

rented a temp apart

i bought a house

[rwest]

I'm in the process of remodeling the kitchen and am seriously thinking of hiring someone to work up 2 or 3 "finishes" schemes.

Wall color, flooring, countertop and backsplash. I think I would do fine on my own, but a designer has mental access to so many more choices than I do- they shop and browse stock constantly.