HOW WE WORK
What to expect, from the first walkthrough to the day the last lamp goes in.
01 | First Conversation
We start with a call. You don't need to come with a plan or a Pinterest board, that’s what we’re here for! We’re mostly talking about how you actually live in the house or how you’d hope to live in the house and what you want the finished thing to feel like. We’ll dive deeper into the hopes and dreams and discuss scope. Most of the time that's enough for us to put together a proposal that outlines scope, timeline, and a flat design fee. For more complex projects we'll walk the space first so the estimate is built on what's actually there rather than a guess.
02 | Schematic Design
This is the groundwork. We assemble the right team (architect, contractor, and any specialists the project calls for) and settle the things everything else depends on: how the space is laid out, how it will function, and what the budget can actually carry. From there we present a design direction, or the overall feeling of the house, the palette and materials we're building from, and how the rooms relate to one another.
This phase can feel slow. But it's where the expensive mistakes get avoided, and everything after it moves faster because of the work done here.
03 | Design Development
This is the one you've been waiting for. Everything we agreed on in concept turns into actual things you can hold: tile, stone, fabric, hardware, paint, lighting, furniture (scope dependent, of course). Samples arrive, get laid out together, and get narrowed down until every selection is made.
You'll see the house before it exists; finishes and furnishings are presented room by room, so you're approving a whole space rather than a hundred separate decisions. By the end of this phase, every material and every piece is specified.
04 | Construction Documentation
Every selection gets translated into drawings your builder can work from: plans, elevations, and details that show exactly where each thing goes and how it's meant to be built. This is the least glamorous phase and the one that saves you the most money. Decisions made on paper cost nothing to change; the same decision made on site costs a change order and two weeks.
These documents go to your GC and subs, and they become the reference point for the entire build.
05 | Procurement & Installation
Once everything is specified, we handle the ordering: placing it, tracking it, and staying on top of lead times so nothing derails the schedule. Pieces are received, inspected, and stored until the house is ready for them. When something arrives damaged or backordered, we deal with it — usually before you even know it happened.
Purchasing runs through us start to finish. It's how we protect your pricing and lead times, and it's what lets us fix a problem instead of handing you a customer service number.
Then comes install day. Furniture, art, lighting, styling, the last lamp. You leave in the morning and come home to a finished house.
*Please note this process is for a full service project, not hourly consulting.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How do you charge?
Each proposal is written specifically for your project, so you’ll always know what you’re getting into before signing a contract.
Phase 1: The Design Fee. This will be a flat fee based on either the hours estimated to complete the design or a SF pricing method for full-home projects. The design fee is a flat fee and will not change unless the scope is added to.
Phase 2: Procurement. This is all of the ordering and tracking for your project. Do not under estimate this phase. The design world is not Amazon! This phase comes at no additional cost to you. It is simply covered by product markup. Designers receive a trade price and our clients will not pay more than retail price. If a trade discount is not given by a vendor, we will add a 10% markup (like vintage items).
Where do you source from?
This might be our favorite question to answer.
We take so much pride in hunting down the best of the best; not the easiest, not the closest, the best. The sky is genuinely the limit. Why would we let every lighting fixture come from the same local showroom when there are incredible vendors all over the world?
We source both locally and globally for everything. Furniture, lighting, textiles, finishes, fixtures, all of it.
And here’s the thing people assume: sourcing wide does not automatically mean sourcing expensive. It just means we’ve put in the time, creativity, and vetting efforts on the front end so you don’t have to.
That’s the secret sauce.
Do I need a full renovation or build project to work with you?
Not at all! Our services start with as little as a 2 hour consulting session, so your project is never too small! Hire me for a color consultation, furnish a single room, renovate just a kitchen, just a bathroom, the main level… hire me to style your space, source just the sofa… the possibilities are endless and each proposal is written specifically for each project!
Can I hope around or source alternative options myself?
It depends on how we’re working together.
Hourly Consulting, go for it. The designs are yours, shop away!
Full Service, kindly and with love: no…
Every single element you see from us has been through through, sourced, cross checked, drawn in CAD, lead times checked, budgets secured, etc… for hours before it ever hits your inbox. It’s not just “pretty things we found” — it’s a whole system where the rug talks to the lighting, the lighting talks to the paint color, and one swap can knock the entire thing sideways.
Swap one piece out for a “close alternative” and I promise it will show.
So please, let us do the thing you hired us to do. You brought us on for this, let us carry it all the way through.
