What can I say about De Anza Interior? Two words: Total satisfaction!!!
De Anza Interior is a father/mother/daughter team: Stephen is responsible for the whole project and engineering, he supervises the remodeling. Teresa is in charge of the interior layout/design and Jennifer interior decoration. They also have Cindy, Jose and his crew.
Our remodeling project involved about 80% of our house and the flooring. Every project has its "good, bad and ugly". I will cover the "bad and ugly" first. The biggest mistakes we made were not moving the furniture to the storage and not staying at our friend's place when he offered to let us live with him during the remodeling. This not only prolonged the remodeling time but also caused minor damages to a few furniture pieces. No matter how carefully the crew tried to be, there was just too much moving around. There were some other glitches, nevertheless, Stephen would take care of them to our satisfaction.
Now, to the "good" part:
In the long planning phase (10+ months) of our remodeling, we had talked to friends and designers to gather ideas. Recommended by a friend, we then talked to Stephen about our plan. The next day Stephen presented their initial proposal which turned out to be better than our own plan. Initially we were going to hire them to do only the design, but at the end decided to let them do the entire project because not only their quote came in lower than the other 2 contractors, but also a trust had been developed between us. After going through building 2 new houses, remodeling 4 properties and dealing with numerous contractors in the past, one of our criteria in selecting a contractor was his candidness. Stephen proved to be candid and straightforward, later he also proved to be a man of his words by fulfilling all of his promises, and plus more.
Stephen's suggestion to replace the top panes of the front doors with designer glass panes not only brightened the once dark foyer but also saved us 4+ thousand bucks. We were debating whether to remove the wall between the dining room and the kitchen to make the area more "open", Stephen suggested widening the entrances to the dining room and using the wall space for two pantry cabinets. This turned out to be a much better idea, now the dinning room looks spacious and the kitchen has plenty of storage.
Teresa was a very talented interior designer. Our old 4 bd/2 ba, 2000 sqft, 60's house is now a 4 bd/3 ba home with 2 suites, a hallway that no longer looks like a tunnel, and a new kitchen everyone loves. The new bedroom suite was a re-partition of the living room and the adjacent bedroom. Part of the living room space was used for the new bathroom in the bedroom. The new living room is still adequate in size (13x13) which can later be converted into a study. Teresa's design of our new kitchen gives us plenty of counter space with room for the guests to "hang out".
Jennifer helped us with the selection of kitchen decoration (backsplash, countertops, light fixture, cabinet colors, etc.) and the wall colors. Her mosaic design for our kitchen was simple but eye catching! Jennifer's many other suggestions also helped make our house look contemporary and warm.
Cindy was the "material girl" who was very knowledgeable about the products (flooring, draping, cabinets, accessories, etc.) they carried, she patiently helped us with product selection. Cindy would sometimes join in the discussion and provided her invaluable opinion.
Jose has been with the company since they opened for business in late 90's (another criteria for us when selecting a contractor was the experience and loyalty of the crew). Jose was very knowledgeable as well as helpful. I learned some construction tricks and technique from him and his crew. Jose's advice also helped save us hundreds of dollars.
We also ordered cabinets, flooring, counter top, windows and a sliding door from Stephen. Their prices were competitive, Stephen promised to take full responsibility of our orders if something went wrong (e.g., wrong size, wrong material, etc.) At the end we think it was a right decision because if, for example, we ordered the wrong cabinet ourselves, we'd have to reorder them at our expense, and those cabinets ain't cheap! An error was made on one of the windows, Stephen replaced it without charging us a dime. Also the flooring and the countertop slabs that we selected were brand new products, of which the coutertop samples were not yet widely available. Cindy convinced the saleslady to lend us the only sample set she had for us to bring home for evaluation. The other tile store that we talked to was not able to do the same.
All in all, both my wife and I feel that "De Anza Interior" has done an excellent job for us. They are talented, patient, accommodating and fun to work with. They compliment each other well. We'd recommend them to anyone who is looking for a trusted and experienced contractor. read more