A bunch of my friends just hired some tasteful SAHM they found on Facebook. It's like hiring a professional photographer vs a mom who does it for a hobby. If you really truly don't know what to do that's better than nothing.

Anonymous wrote:“Crate and Barrel/Pottery Barn level furniture budget, not a Room and Board/Ethan Allen”

I don’t get it. These are all of the same. Maybe Room & Board is better. But Ethan Allen is almost exactly the same as PB and CB.

I’m sure the OP didn’t do an exhaustive price comparison. She’s just going off a quick impression.

“Crate and Barrel/Pottery Barn level furniture budget, not a Room and Board/Ethan Allen”

I don’t get it. These are all of the same. Maybe Room & Board is better. But Ethan Allen is almost exactly the same as PB and CB.

Anonymous wrote:People pay 75-100k just for design services? F’in hell you guys are crazy.

This thread says the total budget is 100k, but I’m sure people routinely pay that much just to the designer, and it’s because they’re very rich and the total budget for the project is >$1m. We’ll tell them you called.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking for some info on what it costs to have an interior designer help you furnish your house. I get that this varies wildly depending on the budget for furniture and decor, but assuming a Crate and Barrel/Pottery Barn level furniture budget, not a Room and Board/Ethan Allen one, can anyone give me a ballpark? For a smaller house -- say 2500ish sq feet, not a McMansion?

Or at least help me with some insight into how it works?

I'm not interested in the store design services. I don't want an entire room of Pottery Barn stuff, or whatever. I've also used Havenly, and it was ok, but not great and I'm looking for more.

I think this is short sighted. Developing a floor plan is one of the hardest parts and one of the most important. I would try a few free in store design services, even for the ones that are over budget. If one gives you a floorplan you love, that gets you 60% of the way there. You can take those dimensions and shop anywhere.

Thanks, this is helpful. I will reconsider. I'm a bit cautious here because a friend of mine who knows damn near zip about interior design does this for a living at a relatively upscale home store, and views it as her job to just upsell as much as possible. Apparently she mainly uses AI for her "design."

It is a sales job, but it’s free and that doesn’t mean they won’t have some good ideas. I do think it will be hit or miss by individual.

People pay 75-100k just for design services? F’in hell you guys are crazy.

I just redid my kitchen and first floor. I hired a designer and spent about $7500 in design fees. And probably about $150,000 in furniture and finishes for kitchen, dining room and living room. Where I thought a designer was really helpful were things like lighting and rugs and paint colors and wallpapers. Plus they can get you trade discounts at places like Restoration Hardware and Serena and Lily. But I will tell you - everything is expensive. Rugs are the biggest surprise. They cost a small fortune. And custom furniture can be pricey but you get exactly the upholstery and finish you want.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking for some info on what it costs to have an interior designer help you furnish your house. I get that this varies wildly depending on the budget for furniture and decor, but assuming a Crate and Barrel/Pottery Barn level furniture budget, not a Room and Board/Ethan Allen one, can anyone give me a ballpark? For a smaller house -- say 2500ish sq feet, not a McMansion?

Or at least help me with some insight into how it works?

I'm not interested in the store design services. I don't want an entire room of Pottery Barn stuff, or whatever. I've also used Havenly, and it was ok, but not great and I'm looking for more.

I think this is short sighted. Developing a floor plan is one of the hardest parts and one of the most important. I would try a few free in store design services, even for the ones that are over budget. If one gives you a floorplan you love, that gets you 60% of the way there. You can take those dimensions and shop anywhere.

Thanks, this is helpful. I will reconsider. I'm a bit cautious here because a friend of mine who knows damn near zip about interior design does this for a living at a relatively upscale home store, and views it as her job to just upsell as much as possible. Apparently she mainly uses AI for her "design."

I don’t think this is typical. But anyway, go to Ethan Allen and pick someone who looks sharp. If you don’t like her ideas, try a different one. I do think Rthsn Allen has good designers. Would have doubts about West Elm based on interactions there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean what do you want them to do? Are you going to order furniture and rugs and art through them? What about drapery? They will charge by the hour. I'd budget $250/hour. I would guess that any decent designer wouldn't even take a project that's less than 3 rooms and probably under $75,000 for the budget.

This is helpful. I could probably do 4 rooms and up to 100k at the very upper end of my budget. I'm not really sure what I want them to do, I guess. I've never used one before. I need help with layout, furniture choice, and design elements like color/texture/style/etc.

I really think you should consider the store services. If you figure $25k per room, let’s say the designer takes $5k as a design fee (20 hours at $250/hr). Is it going to be worth it? My guess is most designers would regard Ethan Allen as the “cheaper” alternative and steer you to for-the-trade or custom stuff. But maybe there are v cheaper designers out there. I would try online—but personally I have been well served by store designers even though my house is eclectic and i haven’t purchased extensively from one store.

I'm not saying this to be snarky, but rather helpful: very few, if any, designers will take you on for a Pottery Barn budget. Most designers only use custom furniture, that's how they make the bulk of their income. You might try on instagram and look for someone young and hungry for work.

Are you starting from complete scratch?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking for some info on what it costs to have an interior designer help you furnish your house. I get that this varies wildly depending on the budget for furniture and decor, but assuming a Crate and Barrel/Pottery Barn level furniture budget, not a Room and Board/Ethan Allen one, can anyone give me a ballpark? For a smaller house -- say 2500ish sq feet, not a McMansion?

Or at least help me with some insight into how it works?

I'm not interested in the store design services. I don't want an entire room of Pottery Barn stuff, or whatever. I've also used Havenly, and it was ok, but not great and I'm looking for more.

I think this is short sighted. Developing a floor plan is one of the hardest parts and one of the most important. I would try a few free in store design services, even for the ones that are over budget. If one gives you a floorplan you love, that gets you 60% of the way there. You can take those dimensions and shop anywhere.

Thanks, this is helpful. I will reconsider. I'm a bit cautious here because a friend of mine who knows damn near zip about interior design does this for a living at a relatively upscale home store, and views it as her job to just upsell as much as possible. Apparently she mainly uses AI for her "design."

Anonymous wrote:I mean what do you want them to do? Are you going to order furniture and rugs and art through them? What about drapery? They will charge by the hour. I'd budget $250/hour. I would guess that any decent designer wouldn't even take a project that's less than 3 rooms and probably under $75,000 for the budget.

This is helpful. I could probably do 4 rooms and up to 100k at the very upper end of my budget. I'm not really sure what I want them to do, I guess. I've never used one before. I need help with layout, furniture choice, and design elements like color/texture/style/etc.

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking for some info on what it costs to have an interior designer help you furnish your house. I get that this varies wildly depending on the budget for furniture and decor, but assuming a Crate and Barrel/Pottery Barn level furniture budget, not a Room and Board/Ethan Allen one, can anyone give me a ballpark? For a smaller house -- say 2500ish sq feet, not a McMansion?

Or at least help me with some insight into how it works?

I'm not interested in the store design services. I don't want an entire room of Pottery Barn stuff, or whatever. I've also used Havenly, and it was ok, but not great and I'm looking for more.

I think this is short sighted. Developing a floor plan is one of the hardest parts and one of the most important. I would try a few free in store design services, even for the ones that are over budget. If one gives you a floorplan you love, that gets you 60% of the way there. You can take those dimensions and shop anywhere.

I mean what do you want them to do? Are you going to order furniture and rugs and art through them? What about drapery? They will charge by the hour. I'd budget $250/hour. I would guess that any decent designer wouldn't even take a project that's less than 3 rooms and probably under $75,000 for the budget.

I'm looking for some info on what it costs to have an interior designer help you furnish your house. I get that this varies wildly depending on the budget for furniture and decor, but assuming a Crate and Barrel/Pottery Barn level furniture budget, not a Room and Board/Ethan Allen one, can anyone give me a ballpark? For a smaller house -- say 2500ish sq feet, not a McMansion?

Or at least help me with some insight into how it works?

I'm not interested in the store design services. I don't want an entire room of Pottery Barn stuff, or whatever. I've also used Havenly, and it was ok, but not great and I'm looking for more.