Interior Design: where to start?

Categories: Interior Design - Tags: consultations, design dilemma, interior designer, investment, research, team dreamhouse

Now that the structure is up, we’re beginning to switch our focus to planning out the interior spaces. With having such a wide open floor plan, we figured we’d need some help defining the various spaces so that they best serve our functional needs.

On the main floor for example, we knew we wanted to have one really open concept living, dining, lounging, tv watching, all-encompassing space – but what does that really mean in terms of furniture layout and how does that translate into lighting placement & overall space planning?? We have NO IDEA!

We took to Houzz to post our design dilemma on whether or not engaging an interior designer is necessary for a project like ours. After a lot of great advice and a little pissing contest healthy discussion we decided it would probably be worth a bit of an investment to really get the outcome we want for our dream house.

So we set out to research a few local interior designers and set up some meetings to see if we could find one that would be the right fit, what kind of an investment we’d be looking at & ultimately if any of this would even be feasible within our budget.

The Short List
Soulier Design Studio
Soulier Design Studio – specializing in Sustainability and Eco Friendly Design and products.	According to her Houzz profile: “You can expect to receive a design which ensures that your home is comfortable, liveable, economical to use and maintain, and one which does not impact significantly on our fragile environment.”

We’ve been thinking a lot about making a “green commitment” where budget permits, and after meeting with Deborah, it was clear she would be a perfect choice to fit in line with that.

 

Lisa Lev Design
Lisa Lev Design – offering full service interior design, home staging, and project management.	According to her Houzz profile: “LLD delivers creative and beautiful environments to clients who want their lives, both at home and at the workplace to be enhanced by design and function.”

I don’t know that we could have summed up our design needs better than that, ourselves. We met with Lisa and right off the bat she had a lot of ideas for how to make our space function for us. We could tell we shared a lot of creative parallels and a love for modern design principals.

 

Urban Ideas Inc
Urban Ideas Inc. – an award winning firm specialized in interior design, decoration and construction.	According to their website: “We understand your home must reflect your own personality and lifestyle. Whether you like to entertain, work from home, have young children or would simply like to carve out a quiet spot for reading a good book, you have unique needs that we incorporate it into our designs. Whether you have a large or small project we can work within your budget.”

Laura & Darby were awesome to meet with!  We really liked their design sense and their focus on being able to get the most out of any size budget definitely spoke to us.

All in all, after sitting down with all 4 incredibly talented ladies, we quickly realized that we had a VERY difficult decision to make.  Ultimately any of them would be a good fit for us and with similar pricing structures we couldn’t even use cost as a major equalizer.  I guess in times like this, you’ve just got to go with your gut!

Stay tuned as next week we’ll reveal our choice, and introduce the newest member of Team Dreamhouse!