“Designer At Home” Online Interior Design Service: A Review
Is it worth the price tag?
From time to time I design room makeovers for readers. Send me your photos, room measurements, tell me your design problems and I’ll create the interior design of your dreams. My Design Dilemmas are free in exchange for posting them.
I take pride in all my design work, so I spend a bit of time on them. That’s why I was interested so see what Designer At Home could design for my living room at the unbelievable price of $299 per room.I was contacted by Designer At Home’s press agent and asked to give their service a test drive. It’s always nice to get a fresh opinion, right? Maybe they could come up with an interesting idea for creating 2 groupings in my narrow and long living room, which served as the guinea pig. The test drive was free, so I had nothing to lose.
I measured both the room and the furniture, took photos, and filled out a detailed form. I selected red as my favorite color (you can only choose one). You also have five styles to choose from. I picked eclectic. Could DAH solve my design issue? Would they be able to fit red into the vibrant color scheme of my home?
The first design I received (above and below) was okay. I was really unimpressed for several reasons. First, it was sloppy work. The board specified a rug and 2 armchairs but nothing I received indicated where they came from. The explanation said the rug would work with my tile floor. My floors are hardwood. The style of curtain was forgotten.
Next, the design was, in my opinion, incomplete. An entire wall was devoid of anything. Only two pieces of my own furniture was used. Though I mentioned some rather high-end brands of existing furnishings and fabrics, all the resources were mid to low-end (Target). Finally, the press agent told me I was allowed to make three changes, but there was no contact information on letter. If I hadn’t been able to email the press agent I’d be lost.
Here’s a look at the first board.
I pointed out the problems and was given a second design. They added some art and gave me the resources for the chairs and rug. Still no contact information.
I have 2 problems
Because I’m a professional, this was a really difficult service to honestly review. I could pick apart their design all day long. The colors are very 2-dimensional, there isn’t much play with height, there isn’t enough lighting, they stuck a couple of mismatched art on a wall, etc… BUT…
It cost a mere $299 – that’s unbelievably inexpensive. What level of expertise should you expect for that price? I’m giving you the links to the furniture at the bottom of the post. Check them out. And check out the second board, below. If this were your room would you feel you got your money’s worth?
I polled some friends. Most of them said they’d be happy – especially because of the price. For $299 how can you complain? A design friend thought most people would be thrilled with the chaise. It’s from West Elm and costs $1,999. But you can go to many furniture showrooms and have a designer do the work for free. Yes, you buy their furniture, but you can also walk away with the design and buy what you like somewhere else.
Which leads me to problem number two…
Who exactly is doing the work? DAH claims that they have a team of “seasoned interior designers”, but I don’t see how they can make a profit paying real designers to do the work while charging only $299 per room. DAH may have can get office staff create the boards and draft the floor plan, but most “seasoned professionals” charge at least $100 per hour. Even I can’t design that fast.
My guess is DAH is using interns or students. As long as their clients are happy with the work, I have no problem with that. But they need to say so. I was told the owner was doing my design. Really? Hmm…
My other thought is that they’ve got this idea tightly packaged. Their five different styles have a tight list of pre-selected furnishings. Hence the all-affordable price points. It makes designing a room fast because you only have 3 sofas to choose from. The same thing with the fabrics. If they nail down eclectic to mean five or six different fabrics in their specified colorways, you can zip through a design in no time. That might explain the low price and the ho-hum quality of the design. Check out their “before and afters.”
My bottom line is you get what you pay for.
Does that matter to you?
Would it matter to you if you discovered that an intern or student designed your room instead of a pro? Would it bother you if your furnishings were from Target? Would you rather go to a furniture showroom?
What do you think of the design? Like it? Love it? Hate It? Finally, I’d love to hear from readers and/or designers who have used or run an online service. Is this the wave of the future?
Resources
- Loring sofa ($1,999) from RoomandBoard
- Concentric Coffee Table ($300) from ZGallerie I was told you can sit on this (?)
- Manhattan Console Table ($129) from Target
- Stow Red Storage Ottoman ($99) from Crate & Barrel
- Blake Sectional Left Arm Chaise ($1,999) from WestElm
- Momeni New Wave Rug (no size specified – so price ?) from RugsUSA
- Art: Warmth ($399) and Refract & Release ($63.99) from Art.com
- Rectangular Distressed Mirror ($189) from HomeDecorators.com
- Fabrics: Hampton Embroidery & Figaro Silk Stripe from Lee Jofa, Costner from Michael Jon Design, 180648H from Highland Ct.
- Paints: Benjamin Moore’s “My Valentine” and “Deserted Island”
16 Responses to ““Designer At Home” Online Interior Design Service: A Review”
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Posted by Jennifer on May 8th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Spot on, as usual, Rachel. The colors are limited to 2. One is actually beige, which goes with everything. So that’s one color.
I think by “seasoned designer” they mean they threw some salt on them. Maybe a dash of pepper.
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Posted by misterarthur on May 8th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
I guess I’m biased, since I see what you do for your clients, but a couple of issues come to mind. First – color is incredibly subjective – what’s red to me may be a wholly different red to you. (They’ll look different on different monitors, too, so comparing notes online will be tough. Second, the only the way the people behind this can make money is to have as little communication with you besides your original input. So, they’re going to have to get it “right” the first time, or they’ll start losing money. Third, I don’t mind that one of the pieces is from Target, per se, but you looked up that particular piece on Target’s site, and it had been bashed multiple times for arriving scratched and chipped, so the company appears to have selected it purely by “looking” at it, and didn’t do any real research into its quality.
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Posted by Jennifer on May 8th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Yes, another reason why I think students and/or other newbies are doing the work is because all the resources (save the fabrics, which they must be buying in bulk to get a big discount) are low-end to mid-range sites. These are the places all my fellow students used in school.
About the fabrics, there’s nothing wrong with buying bolts of fabric. You get a better price and, therefore, make more money. That’s what why we all work, after all. To make money. But if they’re doing that it takes out the personal touch. Their red and beige fabrics won’t blend properly with the other fabrics and colors in my home.
I recently worked on a job for a client who moved to North Carolina. She sent me photos and fabric samples of her existing things to work with. Stay tuned to see what I did for her and compare the difference.
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Posted by Fiona Davies on May 12th, 2010 at 7:00 am
Honestly, this kind of thing makes me lose the will to live (ok, that might be a bit strong, but I’m quite annoyed about it).
Jennifer, like you, I was recently able to advise someone on a possible design for their room, after they sent me an email with photos of the existing decor and a form of brief. Although she just wanted advice (i.e. no samples etc. were involved) I chose to phone her rather than email back. Why? Because creating a bespoke design for someone, even if it’s just at the ideas stage, is personal to them. That means a very full on, descriptive piece of communication. That email would have been the size of a short essay, so we spoke on the phone.
Not only was this contact/client pleased with the bespoke advice (yes bespoke, not churned out of a “design machine”), but she said “I can’t believe the answer is so obvious, it makes perfect sense,” to which I replied, “Yes, well it took me three long hard years at university (college) to provide you with that easy answer.” She laughed and replied “Yes, I suppose if if it really were that easy we’d all be interior designers wouldn’t we?”
I think that illustrates how I feel about such services as “Designer At Home” they might be cheap, but in life you get what you pay for. It might be “at home”, but it’s barely “design “and as for bespoke, well …
If you want a non-designed, machine churned “design”, pay $299, if you want something that is completely you, that you love and will continue to love, that expresses who you are and makes your house feel like a home, then please please don’t go to “Designer At Home”, hire Jennifer! (or if you’re in the UK, hire me!)
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Posted by How to Use Inspiration Pictures and Color Visualizers on June 22nd, 2010 at 1:43 am
[...] Beautiful Colors Bookazine Great Paint Colors (dot) com Design Hole – Designer-at-Home Review Bossy Color – Barney Purple [...]
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Posted by Tuesday Morning Review: RoomJuice, An Online Interior Design Service | Design Hole Online on August 31st, 2010 at 7:32 am
[...] Designer At Home, offered to create a design for my living room. OMG, totally ridiculous FAIL (read my review here). I asked the girls to take on the same room, so we could see an apples to apples comparison. The [...]
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Posted by kris schirmer on October 12th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
hi everyone here,
sorry, but i cannot take this serious!
this kind of presentation, selection and combination of colors, furniture, etc. is what you would find in a beginners high school interior design class created from some 17 year old. lol
we would have found a presentation like this, in our faces, thrown by the professor himself. haha
on the other hand one should ask oneself what people really expect to get for $300.
people must be very naive.if someone does NOT like to spend more than $300 FOR AN INTERIOR DESIGNER creating SOMETHING SPECIAL, she is better off to do some sketches herself. at least she gets her imagined colors and stile.;)
have a sunny day, you all!
kris schirmer from mr uxn designp.s. btw \red is not red!\ ;)lol
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Posted by Jennifer on October 13th, 2010 at 10:59 am
You are so right! I couldn’t have said it better myself. Oh, I think I did! :-) So glad when someone agrees with me.
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Posted by Doreen on April 24th, 2011 at 10:25 pm
i think this idea can be great considering the many different service industries that are offered online these days. not only that, but i consider myself to be a “new generation” designer. one that uses emails, that doesn’t fax in purchase orders anymore and cringes at the “seasoned” designers who have a chip on their shoulders regarding the computer. this business may not have done it right, but i do think cutting edge and never been done business ideas are what move us forward, and designers tend to be lacking in technology. having have graduated from an accredited interior design school, with a masters in business, have run my own design firm and some would consider me ” young” in the field, i think with the right business plan, this could work for the future of design and the one who makes it happen will reap the MANY benefits that most online companies do…
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Posted by Jennifer on April 25th, 2011 at 2:56 pm
While I agree that the Internet is the wave of the future, you said that these designers failed to “get it right”. And that was my point. Whether designers use email or fax machines to deliver purchase orders is irrelevant. When it comes to online design, the problem that needs a solution is how to create good design when you aren’t able to actually be in the room(s) your working on. The play of light in the room, the sense of scale, and the integration of the design with the rest of the home are vital elements when it comes to good design. I’ve reviewed several companies who are trying to solve this problem. To date, I haven’t found one that’s hit the mark. Having said that, I fully believe that it may be possible. Perhaps you will be the designer who can create a business plan that works online. I’ll be happy to review your product on a non-biased basis (as I do with all my reviews). I will applaud you for finding a great solution that reaps the rewards of online design services. There are many designers who are attempting to do this, so if this is your desire, get started now. I wish you well.
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Posted by Doreen on April 26th, 2011 at 8:27 pm
I wasn’t trying to criticize designers who fax po’s and etc. I am currently in an environment that services the trade via online. It’s amazing how many designers don’t use email and even computers to communicate and are scared to. My point is that with such a high percentage of technically challenged designers in our field, I think it’s hard for designers to see themselves designing without being in a space. I do it all the time, and I agree in that it depends on the services needed. I currently do not have my business online, but very seriously considering it. I do hope I can come up with the business plan that will take design to the next level in this ever evolving world. Thanks for the article and chatting, would love to hear more…
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Posted by Jennifer on April 27th, 2011 at 8:44 am
I agree that faxing things is the real pain. I use an online fax service. But I still have to scan things, which is a total bore. You say you design things all the time without being in the space. Fore info! I’d love to know more about what you do. I’ll bet that, like me, you no longer create design boards with foam core and a glue stick. I make mine on Photoshop in a large format and have it printed at Kinko’s. Then I take fabric samples, etc, along with me. I can create a few iterations for clients and leave them behind. I’ve also started creating slide shows using an iPad. My clients love that. I can print out the pages and leave the presentation for them to peruse when I’m gone. Over the past few years I’ve been doing this, not one client has complained. In fact, just the opposite.
I’ll perform an experiment and see if I can design someone’s room I’ve never seen in real life. Aside from accessories, I’m thinking this will be hard. It certainly has been for the companies I’ve reviewed. But I might just surprise myself. How do you create presentations?
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Posted by david s on May 18th, 2011 at 12:14 pm
I found the staff at designerathome.com to be very professional and am excited about their designs.
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Posted by Jennifer on May 19th, 2011 at 8:30 am
Thanks! I’ll check them out and perhaps write a review about their services. Have you used them yourself?
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Posted by david s on May 19th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
I’m considering an online designer and have talked with some and visited web sites. What is confusing is the range in pricing.
hm, the lack of transparency with this company concerns me, too. but i think you hit the nail on the head- if the packages are essentially pre-designed, there isn’t much work the company must do.
i have to agree with you, very unimpressive. my thought, since i deal exclusively with color, is the lack of balance and contrast in the palette.
If i were to go with an online designer, I’d stick with individuals whose work i know.