As a designer I receive a lot of inquiries from homeowners regarding my services, all are very enthusiastic about their home improvement plans and have gathered loads of designer inspiration rooms, eagerly hoping that with the help of an interior designer they can bring their vision to reality. Unfortunately, the reality for many of those who inquire is that the cost of hiring a designer on a full-service basis is just not feasible for them. Generally I find most people have misconceptions or just no real concept at all regarding design fees, and that’s totally understandable - and its also a topic for another post entirely because I have a lot to say about that!
I’m a passionate advocate for good design,,,in all aspects of life. I don’t believe it should only be accessible for the wealthy because I don’t believe that good design is about expensive things, how much something costs or has anything to do with how pretty something is. In fact, I believe that when it comes to investing money in our homes or our business, we can’t afford not to utilize the advice of design experts, especially with small precious budgets.
For those homeowners who can’t manage to hire a designer on a full-service scale I’ve always offered them the opportunity to work with me on a virtual consultation basis for a few hours of time, enough to provide them with some critical and valuable design direction and ensure they’re not going to make any costly mistakes. Thru the convenience of internet and digital photography all this information can be shared by email and is what’s key to making these consultation services affordable. The hours and hours of meeting time, travel time, and project management time is eliminated and I can focus entirely on the planning and design issues,,,,leaving the leg work for the homeowners to take on - with lots of guidelines and direction of course!
Do I need to see a home in person or meet an individual in person to visualize their space or understand their needs, or style, or to give them design advice? No! In fact for many years I’ve designed spaces entirely from paper information because the building didn’t even exist yet, or the building was located in a different city or province or country. As long as I have all the relevant information, dimensions, site photos etc., that’s all i need to start planning - architects and designers work this way all the time. Personal information regarding needs and style preferences can all be obtained by asking the proper questions, thru detailed surveys and questionnaires,,,,whether in person or online, the answers are the same.
I launched my first Interior Design website in 2004 and also created a complete concept for an on-line design website, but didn’t proceed with it at that time. I posted a notice on my website saying that ‘On-Line Design” was coming soon and I had even secured a separate domain name for it. Despite the fact I was already working with clients this way, I never did get around to launching that site,,,,,,,,,until this year. This past winter I thought the timing was better than ever to offer value based services and my new e-design website the design shop was created and then launched in June.
I’m proud to say that I think this is by far the most professional, comprehensive web-site devoted to e-design services I’ve come across on the web and I think the value is simply incomparable. There’s a complete menu of ‘prix fix’ services and if you don’t see a service that suits your needs just drop us a line and we’ll put one together for you - its literally a one stop shop for design advice.
Imagine your personal designer, a click away! I hope you check it out and let the possibilities inspire you...
www.thedesignshop.ca
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