Interior Design Quote (floor plan, drape, paint, kitchen)

[MissingSunshine31]

I recently bought a home in Westchester County, NY and currently getting quotes from various interior designers for work I would like to get done on the home. The most recent quote I got from a designer that I really like is $7500 retainer that would be applied to commissions they will earn on purchases for the project. The commission is 35% on furniture, arts, etc while 25% on bath fixtures, kitchen fittings, flooring. etc. So in order to fully use that retainer I would have to spend around 22k on furniture, etc. This doesn' t yet account for the labor/work that need to be done to install the bath fixtures, flooring etc.

So basically they are telling me the money they are making is on the commissions. Does this sound normal to you? I feel like I may be missing something. Plus does this retainer sound too high? My home is only 1500 sqft and i need to redesign the whole house to make it fit my taste, but the house is very livable right now, just needs to be brought into the 21st century...ie take out the shabby carpet, remove ugly wallpaper and remove pukey paint color?

Do you think this proposal is reasonable? Time spent and travel expenses are included in the retainer.

[SXMGirl]

First, congratulations on your new home. Why can't you do the decorating yourself? Many furniture stores have decorators on staff who can help you with your selections; as long as you purchase your furniture from them, that service should be free. Same goes for kitchens and baths. Wherever you get your fixtures, the stores should have someone on staff.

Before starting any project, start making a list and even start cutting out pictures of things that you like. Surely you know someone who you feel has good taste and can help you get started.

If you truly feel the need for a decorator, pay them for the design and you take care of the rest. You can get some good deals on DealChicken, Angie's List, and many other sites.

I have only met with two decorators and I was not pleased with either. Make sure that if you do hire a decorator that the person is comfortable with your style. I found one that told me upfront that she was not comfortable with mine and she insisted on doing everything in beige, which I dislike. The other didn't follow through at all. So, no, I would not be paying a decorator unless I lived in a mansion and while those rates are probably reasonable for your area, I would try to find other options.

[MissingSunshine31]

thanks sxmgirl. I dont have the best decorating eye so this is why im thinking of this option.

I am not looking for a decorator, but a designer....to me there is a difference. A decorator would do exactly as you suggested above. A designer would pretty much take my floor plan, my tastes, likes and dislikes and design the furniture layout, bathroom, kitchen etc for my home and that would include measuring out everything in my home and finding the optimal way to use up all the space. I possibly could do this myself but I think I may be too lazy. I'm not sure if furniture stores or home improvement stores are willing to come out to my home and do consultations unless i am going to buy from them....plus besides designers are able to purchase furniture, fixtures at wholesale price (at least that is what i believe) and charge commission which i still think is less than the retail price we would pay in the stores..

but my understanding of this may be wrong so i open to other suggestions

[K'ledgeBldr]

I don't think the numbers are totally off-base, but you are in Westchester County.

There are several ways to look at it-
Like, what did you pay for the house versus the comp's? If the average is higher than what you paid the difference is a working number. Or you could divide out the cost over the square footage- would that be in-line with going rates for the area? What is the percentage of return?

And on, and on...

Obviously, furniture doesn't fit into these equations per-se, but you should figure a percentage when it's specialty pieces to fit certain spaces.

[chet everett]

Honestly unless you are talking about a "Dee-luxe apartment in the sky" you would have to be a more than a little nutty to NEED a designer for a 1500 sq ft home.

The OP is also mistaken if they believe there is some magical "wholesale" market for home furnishings of any kind. With the vast majority of furniture made over seas and sold through junky low end retailers there is little room for any sort of discount.

Find a design professional that will charge you for hours worked on your project and you will be money ahead...

[Sunbather]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Honestly unless you are talking about a "Dee-luxe apartment in the sky" you would have to be a more than a little nutty to NEED a designer for a 1500 sq ft home.

The OP is also mistaken if they believe there is some magical "wholesale" market for home furnishings of any kind. With the vast majority of furniture made over seas and sold through junky low end retailers there is little room for any sort of discount.

Find a design professional that will charge you for hours worked on your project and you will be money ahead...

If you're talking quality, made in the USA stuff, it is fairly common for designers to get 15-25% off of the retail price. Now, this doesn't mean the consumer can't typically wait for scheduled sales throughout the year and get a price that is as good or better, but several of my certified design friends do get discounts in the range of 15-25% off all the time from lots of different furniture and decor companies (both local as well as higher quality, made in the USA national retailers like Room & Board).

Depending on the job, sometimes the designers pass those savings on to you as an incentive to work with them and charge their hours. In other cases, I see designers charge the client retail and the designer makes the "commission" on the sale of the piece. Because of this, the ethical thing to do is to be up front with your intent if you ONLY plan to utilize their design services and will not buy anything through them. It is a little dishonest to not let them know this in case they plan on making commission. For example, if someone's rates are structured such that they are counting on some commission, and you just take their design and go buy the pieces on your own, you're cheating them out of some money.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with getting some consultation with NO intent to buy anything through a designer, but be up front with them and make sure they know this is the case.

[tipitop]

I do install interior trim and give advices for free. Decorator routes is high end stuff.

[hothulamaui]

the price sounds way high to me, especially for the small square footage. go to a few higher end furniture stores. most do have designers that will come to the house. yes some are decorators but others will have a design degree. look around for a store where you like the furniture. look around in magazines to find an overall look you like and color scheme. take it a step at a time. you can do it

[MissingSunshine31]

Thanks.....I've decided to spend the next week or so to see if I can design my home...go room by room picking color schemes etc. I will need to get a bunch of magazines and create my own design boards.

The price they quoted to me has nothing to do with the size of the house....that's their retainer regardless of the size of the home....and it would ultimately be applied against whatever commission they would earn on furniture, kitchen fixtures, draperies or bathroom fixtures they would purchase for me in the future....this is equivalent to 30k worth of these items. Would i spend 30k to furnish, refloor, paint and redesign by 2 bed 2.5 bath home...probably not, unless I wanted really high end items, however most of these items would come with me wherever I move to.

In any case, Ive o decided to try the design thing myself first.

[blazerj]

I know metro NY prices are very high. We just hired a designer, but after we bought the major pieces (couches, dining table, media console...). We wanted somebody to give us nice colorful accent pieces that tie everything together. Maybe if you do this, you can save money. Stores like Pottery Barn and Ethan Allen will give you free consultations (good starting points for sure).

Our designer charges $90/ hour (no commissions), which I like, since she isn't incentivized to pay more for the same thing.

She has don't the houses of 5-6 of my wife's colleagues who all love her work. We are just outside of Metro NYC (I do work in the area though).

Westchester is probably farther then out designer would go, but if you PM me, I'm happy to send you a link to her site.