Did you use a decorator? If so, please share hourly rates.

[jamsmu]

Leaving this anonymous, but if you care to share specifics, feel free. Thanks!

[jamsmu]

Leaving this anonymous, but if you care to share specifics, feel free. Thanks!

[madelinesmom]

I used a decorator to do specific things. Help with drapes, (we have wierd windows in a couple of rooms), help with upolstry, help with a mural in DD#1's Bedroom. We pay by the job... Example: DD mural $1200... DD#2 I hired the muralist directly for half...

ETA: I don't like paying anyone by the hour... I don't like surprises... this allows some flexability in the budget but that has to be approved before... I also usually pay half before and half at the end of the job...
Jane
Madeline and Emily's Mom
1/20/03 11/29/05

[madelinesmom]

I used a decorator to do specific things. Help with drapes, (we have wierd windows in a couple of rooms), help with upolstry, help with a mural in DD#1's Bedroom. We pay by the job... Example: DD mural $1200... DD#2 I hired the muralist directly for half...

ETA: I don't like paying anyone by the hour... I don't like surprises... this allows some flexability in the budget but that has to be approved before... I also usually pay half before and half at the end of the job...
Jane
Madeline and Emily's Mom
1/20/03 11/29/05

[MonicaH]

Certain stores have salespeople/designers who will come to your house for free in the hopes that you will buy the stuff they suggest. We had someone come from Ethan Allen when we first moved into our first house. We had a random collection of college-era furniture at the time (futon, foldable chairs, etc). She came to our house and made us a design for our living room which included a sofa, media cabinet, 2 end tables, coffee table, and chair and ottoman. We ended up getting the 2 end tables and chair and ottoman because that was all we could afford at the time. Three years later we went back and got a sofa, not the one she originally recommended, but she did help us with that purchase again. I think it's okay to do this and buy only some of what they recommend, because you just might become a repeat customer later.

Monica

[erosenst]

We're in the process of building a house. The builder introduced me to a woman who used to work with him, but stopped a while ago. She still takes on decorating projects. Her usual rate is $90 an hour, but for this builder's clients, she "only" charges $40. She has amazing taste, and was perfect for what I needed - another set of eyes to make sure I wasn't making any big mistakes, and to offer an opinion on a couple of specific problem areas.

[table4three]

I looked into this because we are currently looking at buying everything for our family room and decorating. We ended up at a furniture store (along the same lines as Ethan Allen) that provides free design consultation. The designer came to our house, measured everything, got our input, then put together all sorts of options and floor plans, fabric/windows/rugs/etc. We are putting the order in today. It worked out great.

http://b2.lilypie.com/mkn7m5.png

[kristenk]

So, would the consultation have cost something if you hadn't ended up purchasing from the store? I would love to have a designer come in and help us redo a specific area, but I'm just not sure how everything works!

[table4three]

I don't think so. Nothing was ever discussed about it. I'll be talking to our designer tonight when I confirm the order and I may ask her - now that we have actually bought something - just out of curiosity. I'll let you know.

http://b2.lilypie.com/mkn7m5.png

[lizajane]

my decorator is free. she is me. no WONDER my house looks so weird! ;)

[hillview]

Ok this is for staging a house for sale. It was a whole project rate -- 5k. That was redecorating the entire house and providing a lot of other designer elements (pillows, nick nacks, etc). It was well worth the $ -- it took them a day.

Not what you asked but one data point.
/hillary

[Drag0nflygirl]

Many La-Z-Boy Galleries (where I work) offer the design service as well, it's just too bad no one realizes that not all of our stuff reclines! We don't charge for the service at all, and it is a real, degreed designer. We don't tend to agree to visit someone's home unless they have a sofa style or two picked out that they would buy, and we're clear about that. That way there's never a question of what to do if the person does not order. The designer makes recomendations for everything, even things we don't sell like paint and window treatments. Also, we certainly don't think people will buy everything we show them, picking and choosing is just fine. Most salespeople will keep a record of what the designer suggests. That way if you want something a year later we'll know what it was.
Nancy

[hez]

My girlfriend who's an interior designer charges something like $100 or $125 per hour (interior designers have a specific degree, btw). However, if you make a purchase through her the hourly fee is waived. I believe her fee is set by her firm-- she'd probably charge a bit less if she were freelancing.

Since she's our friend, we get the time free regardless of purchases, which totally rocks :)

Edited for excessive commas :)

[bostonsmama]

We worked with a designer through the Home Depot when we were completely renovating our kitchen. I'm sure the hope is that you'll buy paint, door knobs, flooring, drywall, lighting, wall paper, window treatments, etc through them, which we did at least in part, but they'd never have known. The woman came to our home, took measurements, pictures, discussed what we wanted out of the services and what our vision was for the room. She also had good idea/inspiration books for us to browse. At the meeting at my house, I showed her a portfolio of all the things I wanted for the kitchen (with pictures, prices, and a budget for certain areas), and I really just wanted to run it by her for her professional concensus. We looked at wallpaper border and discussed paint color options, but I never really got to take advantage of all her expertise b/c I had pretty much picked out everything I wanted already. But, it was free, and nice to know I wasn't a complete idiot when it comes to design.

I believe Home Depot, Expo and Lowes offer these services for all sorts of rooms in the house. It might be worth looking into. They can't sell you a couch to put in your room, but they can offer so many options for building your room from the foundation-up. HTH!

L

[JMS]

Heather brought up a really good point. There is a big difference between a "decorator" and an "interior designer" in terms of education, and often experience also. Generally speaking, an ID charges more.

Most ID's have numerous wholesale accts. They receieve somewhere around 50% off retail and should pass a portion of that savings on to you.

GL!

[jamsmu]

Hillary, when your house was staged, did you buy a lot of furniture, curtains, etc? Asking because essentially, we're doing that. Basically, we want to start working on bettering our home now and make it livable so that we can put it on the market in 1-2 years. We do need furniture, too, though.

[jamsmu]

Jacquelyn, any chance your an ID o a decorator? You seem to be in the know... or do you have one to rec?

[JMS]

Hi Julie,
I just re-read my post and I really hope I didn't cast "decorators" in a bad light. It's all about having an eye for this stuff, and sometimes no amount of formal training will make that big of a difference, IYKWIM. In other words, an ID isn't necessarily better than a decorator, probably just always more expensive.
Also, they both can have wholesale accounts: there's no educational requirement for that :) Unfortunately I don't know any PA ID/decorators that I can personally recommend.

Also unfortunately I'm neither. I am (was) a lawyer who really wished she was a decorator. You'll get a kick out of this since you're local. Before I had Honor, I considered going back to school to become a designer. Harcum (a 2 year college in Bryn Mawr) has a ID program (the only one on the Mainline) so I went to meet with the Dean. Despite receiving very good grades from Boston College, they would not let my undergrad credits transfer and basically required me to start college all over. Well, obviously that didn't happen. I actually walked out laughing at the thought of taking all the liberal arts classes again (science, history, english, etc). However, decor is my passion and I have been surrounded by it my entire life so I don't think it's a big deal that I didn't go to Harcum after all!

I used to have many wholesale accts (w/ my mother) but I haven't met the minimums in years (she was somewhat of a decorator and purchased a great deal of fine furniture and textiles directly from the manufactures). My taste isn't ordinary. It's very antique/federal. However, I enjoy some of the looks of the Pottery Barn catalog and incorporate it here and there. I really love old wood, primarily mahogany, and art.

I have no idea what your taste is, but have you been to the design marketplace in Phila? It's near the train station (30th Street). Years ago you had to be a designer to walk in, but now I'm pretty sure anyone can go. It's pretty high end, but it's a great place to look and get ideas.

We sold out Townhouse in Wayne a couple of years ago and I basically "staged" it myself. LESS IS MORE!!! I would focus first on getting rid of your junk and lesser kicknacks! Then build up. If you're going to buy substantial pieces, you probably want to think of futures homes as well.. I really think that if you surround yourself with things you love, it all goes together and matches well. That's my motto that I tell everyone. Try to keep you house pretty neutral and have a good flow from room to room. Most importantly get rid of the clutter. I just overhauled a bit and it feels so great. People just want to walk through a house that looks nice and spacey; they will take more note of things that are permanent. Therefore you might consider putting your money in things like trim/woodwork and other similiar upgrades. It kinda depends on whether a particular house warrants a certain level of custom attention. Do you have nice solid doors throughout your house? Are all the light fixtures nice? How about considering nice, neutral wood blinds in all the bedrooms? Molding is a big deal and I often things is really overlooked. Crown-molding, baseboards, door/window trim???? That's another one of my obsessions. But again, you want it to fit the house to some degree.
I really could go on and on. I'll try to post a picture of my living room later so you can get an idea of my "look".

J

[lovin2shop]

Ohh Jacquelyn,
Please post picks, I wanna see too! I'm a CPA, wanna be decorator as well. I did the same, looked into a program to become a ID and found the same obstacle as you. My business degree didn't offer much in the way of transfers credits and there is no way that I can justify for paying for college again! Especially since there is no guarantee that I could even earn anything comparable to now. But, we can dream, right?

[Drag0nflygirl]

Julie, you live in Philly? The La-Z-Boy Gallery I work for is in Springfield off Baltimore pike. If there's anything I can help with, even just to answer any questions, give a call.
Nancy

[spanannie]

I'd be careful with "designers" that work at furniture stores. Furniture stores are WAY overpriced, and you may end up paying marked up prices for things you could buy elsewhere.

I have an interior designer and she's $100/hr whether I buy from her or not. I haven't used her to buy much furniture, except specialty pieces. Many things she has shown me to give me ideas, and I have purchased elsewhere (North Carolina, where the prices are cheap). I have purchased all of my window coverings from her, she picked out the paint, tile, wood, everything for my house, drew the cabinet sketches, layouts, etc.). I think it is well worth the $, especially when building a new home as we did. I think she saved us a lot of expensive mistakes.

We started out with her when her rates were $75/hr. We hired her to help us make our old home (my husband's bachelor pad ;-) ) look like something people would want to buy. It helped tremendously...our home showed very well, sold quickly, and for way more than it was worth, in my opinion ;-)