professional decorator?

[motherto2]

Wow, lots of great information. I won't really be doing anything other than some small things until I retire and move. Right now I deal with recliners I don't like because they are very functional with two adult kids .  One my folks gave me for free, and the other, while I like it, is ready to fall apart if someone with any girth sits in it.  THAT one was one of the name brand pieces we bought a few years back.  The couch is already gone and replaced a little over a year ago.  The other piece we bought is a small loveseat that has a twin bed in it.  It's out in the family room where no one really sits anymore, so it's like brand new.  That one is in my shades of green, so will probably make it in the moving truck!  I know a lady that hired a woman to come and rearrange her stuff that she already owned, and she did a great job.  There used to be a lady on HGTV that would redo rooms for like $500 and at the tail end of her show she would have these kinds of folks go to a real person's house and do this.  I loved it! 

Interesting to know that some of the stores have designers that will come to your house.  I am way too frugal to buy custom made anything, so that won't be something I would want to have as an option.  My folk's next door neighbor makes custom drapes and such, and she gave my mom an estimate for one of those half moon type windows, and I just about lost my lunch with the price she quoted!  Needless to say, mom didn't buy them. 

[Sunnyday]

Well, if anyone is interested. I would like to share my experience with my decorator.

So far, it hasn't been great. A lot of miscommunication, and schedule conflicts. Some of it her fault, some of it ours.

With that aside, In order to be able communicate to her what I wanted. I started doing some major research and figured out what I wanted from my new bathroom. After the initial consultation, she was to come back and meet with us to explain her plan.

That didn't happen. So I went back to researching and picking out a color scheme. I did an initial plan for the custom vanity, nixed it, thought about it some more, and created a better one. I waded through a whole lot of stuff, and picked out everything myself. And I am someone who can't te the difference between black and navy blue. And all the off-white looks the dang same to me.

I ended up doing all the work myself, because who knows better what I like than myself.

If I had to do it all over again, I would do the same work myself, and then ask the advice of one of the FREE in-store designers for their opinion about how everything goes together.

Or better yet, ask all you good folk. I would have to learn how to post pictures though.

And I still haven't received te plan yet from the decorator. (been a month)
She is an acquaintance. When she eventually coughs up her plan, we are just going to accept it, but not really bother with it because we have decided to proceed without her input. We will pay her, because she'd an acquaintance and it was cheap.

I think that if we go the professional route again, we will get references and stuff instead of just a friend (this is her real job btw).

[bookkeeper]

Years ago I stumbled across a designer who recommended an idea box. Basically, she encouraged you to keep a shoe box with scraps of fabric that you like, paint chips, magazine photos of rooms that appeal to you, even colored paper that trips your trigger.

After you have accumulated scraps in your shoe box for about a year, you will begin to see a pattern of what you like and don't like. You can take that shoe box with you (a notebook would be more handy) as you shop for house wares or take it to a designer to give them insight into your likes/dislikes.

I always thought that was good advice, especially for people who don't know what they want, but they know they want a change.