Working with Dawn was amazing! I reached out for help selecting a paint color for a tricky room in…read moreour house (the kitchen). During our 2-hour consultation, Dawn not only found a color that perfectly matched our style, counters, and backsplash but also spotted opportunities to refresh the colors in the dining room and entry to bring the whole design together. Her color savvy is fantastic, and she asked great questions and listened carefully to incorporate our preferences and ideas. She left us with paint swatches for all three rooms, and the new colors look incredible. Dawn's color consultation more than exceeded our expectations, but she didn't stop there! She also suggested ways to update the kitchen and dining room lighting to be more functional and coordinated. Her after-visit email summary included links to all of the ideas she had offered, including multiple options for fixtures that were very affordable and perfect for our spaces. We love the new lighting. To top it all off, when we told Dawn about our longer-term goal of renovating our kitchen, she offered fantastic ideas for reconfiguring the space to make it more functional and appealing. She followed up with detailed recommendations in her after-visit email summary and included rough drawings to help us visualize thew space. The 2-hour consultation with Dawn was an incredible value, and we definitely want to work with her on the kitchen renovation project!

"I had an absolutely amazing experience working with Dawn Bach on my apartment layout and design. I…read morereached out to her before moving from Colorado to Illinois, and she took the time to schedule a call and clearly explain her role as an interior decorator and how she could help based on my space and preferences. Dawn provided detailed layout plans along with furniture, bedding, electronics, and artwork recommendations--all of which perfectly matched my style and lifestyle. Her guidance not only made the process easy, but it also saved me over $900. I truly got everything I asked for and more. Thank you, Dawn! I will absolutely recommend you to anyone looking for an interior decorator."

We are at it again with Janessa. She has merged her business and is now MILIEU. We just hired her…read moreagain for our upcoming huge home renovation. Can't wait to update with pictures!!!! She is awesome!

Our experience with Janessa was absolutely fantastic. I'll admit that I was a little skeptical of…read morethe value of an interior designer before we started working with her, since my wife and I had a decent vision for what we wanted to do with our home. But that's what made Janessa so great: she used her expertise to get the most out of our desired style rather than just imposing whatever was trendy on us. Plus, she was really resourceful in helping us get the most out of our budget and finding us excellent quality products at reasonable prices. For me, the most pleasant surprise was Janessa's ability to create a home that's both timelessly stylish and comfortable to live in. Whenever we have guests over, they often stop in their tracks in awe at what she's done with our space. At the same time, our home is so cozy for both hanging out and working. I really didn't expect both of those goals to be achievable in a single design, but Janessa nailed it. I've already recommended Janessa to multiple friends and family members based on our great experience. Our home is the best testimonial for her work, since people can't stop asking about it!

My wife and I worked with Michelle Polay from the beginning stages of having our house built up…read moreuntil the furnishing and decorating process. She understood our vision and enhanced it with her own great ideas along the way. When we first set out to hire a decorator I was afraid they would try inserting their own taste or push a style we didn't like, but with Michelle that never happened. Of course, there were times where I wanted a particular look, and she gently made it clear that "it doesn't work." Moreover, she gave very thoughtful logical reasoning on why it doesn't work, which I would then understand and agree with her. So thankful that she stopped us in those instances! Overall, our ideas and vision were supported and enhanced. She definitely knows what she is doing. Little tricks here and there that make a world of difference. Although Michelle can get very busy, she would always try and squeeze us in somewhere. Due to building process I was forced to make some quick decisions and I could always count on her to get her opinion in time. She gave us as much autonomy as we wanted and guided us when we were clueless. Not only did she have great ideas, she had contractors that she works with and trusts to do the work. Aside from her design skills, Michelle is super nice, friendly and fun! Best of all we felt that, for her time and expertise, she was quite a bargain!

My painter recommended Polay's Home Decor to me when I was redoing my kitchen. As soon as I met…read moreMichelle, we hit it off. She is very talented, easy to work with and has great ideas. Not only did she help me with the draperies in several rooms, she helped me with my painting, accessories and furniture. I have gone back to use her services on several occasions and continually recommend her to friends and colleagues. Polay's has a new location and it is amazing. If you are looking for a great designer, I would call Michelle!

Natalia came out to meet with me for a consultation at my home which was very informative and I was…read moreable to see a lot of the work that her and her team have done. She was able to look at my space and give a lot of helpful advice about Reno/design/layout ideas. She explained that they do high-end, modern clean, looking designs, but they also do all other designs as well ( like my traditional looking home). They do big and small projects and continue to work with the homeowner even after the project is done. I would highly recommend!

I've been working with Natalia on designing our new rental. Yes, you heard that right, a rental!…read moreWe'll be here for about three years, but I still wanted our place to feel like home. Natalia has been incredibly helpful in guiding us through big, impactful design decisions that are practical and thoughtful, while also keeping costs reasonable since we don't want to invest too much in a rental property. I also didn't want an interior designer to fully design every detail of the place. I wanted to be involved in choosing pieces myself, but have someone I could trust to advise me on whether things would actually work in our space, and Natalia has been perfect for that. I'll text her with questions about furniture purchases, design ideas, or even quick installation decisions when our maintenance guy is here, and she always responds right away. My husband is also very picky, but he has been genuinely impressed with her advice and with how our place has come together. I know Natalia takes on much larger and more expensive projects than ours, but I have never once felt like we were wasting her time. She has always been responsive, kind, and very professional. I highly recommend Natalia to anyone looking for practical, thoughtful design guidance that respects your time and budget. We'll definitely be working with her again on our next home project whenever we move.

We are extremely happy with the customer cornices Custom Drapery Workroom made and installed for…read moreus. We ordered 5 cornices for our home and all turned out beautiful! Nina the designer was awesome to work with. I was able to choose the fabrics and styles right at home. The fabrics were beautiful and Nina is so knowledgeable it was great to have her expertise. The entire job was reasonably priced and done with quality and care.

I did an online search for custom draperies. I was so impressed with the quick response from Nina…read more She came out to our home the following week. I showed her around my home and she zeroed in on my taste and style. Nina quickly pulled fabrics and then sketched her ideas for a large window and 2 small windows. When I asked questions about certain aspects of the design such as to the floor or mid length for curtains she was able to explain why she felt this was the way to go. It was the easiest choice to make. Today was my installation day. Wow - I am even more impressed. I feel my room looks totally pulled together with pillow shams and chair cushion; and compliments the look in my master bathroom. The color is perfect and they definitely have the wow factor. I also chose motorized blinds and they programmed them for me. I highly recommend Nina, Alex and Dennis. They are very professional and produce a quality product. We are already working on another window and other ideas.

Ian chose everything as I asked him to, because I cannot rely on myself to decorate. I put my…read morefaith completely in him and it turned out to be the right decision. Everything looks absolutely beautiful. Colors work amazingly well together. He completely transformed my whole first floor space to look like a picture from a magazine. Can't wait to get to the upstairs. He's also prompt, replies the same day, and explains what's going on every step of the way.

Claudia and her team have a fantastic eye for quality design. Their boutique is a curated…read morewonderland of fabulous finds that are both great as gifts and perfect accessories for any home, not to mention the broad selection of fabrics and furniture pieces. If you're in the Geneva area, be sure to stop by!

Joanna was excellent! She designed three of our main floor rooms including the family room, formal…read moredining room, and front sitting room. It was my first time using an interior designer and I couldn't be happier with the experience. She was very professional, easy to work with, flexible, and patient when we weren't ready to make a decision. She adapted our style beautifully and we love the result. I will definitely use her again in future when we're ready to redo other spaces in the house.

I was a bit nervous about working with an interior designer for the first time, but Joanna has made…read moreme a convert! When I enlisted her to redecorate my dining room, she came over to hear my ideas. She collaborated with me and was also direct when she thought I was going astray- which was just what I needed! Within days, she had a Pinterest board with recommendations and partnered with me to narrow down the purchase list. I love the results!

We worked with Design Inside over the course of a year on projects that continued to expand because…read morewe were so thrilled with the process, working relationship and outcomes. We used Kathryn's design expertise to remodel our kitchen, first-floor full bathroom, and front porch. Working with Design Inside was money well-spent because Kathryn is talented in both technical and creative design. She measured and prepared for every contingency when creating a plan to transform our galley-style kitchen into an expanded and multi-purpose open-concept design that included kitchen, mudroom, and workspace. She was efficient in helping us make design choices to update our bathroom, and concise with material recommendations and measurements needed to replace our front porch. Kathryn and her team were respectful of our time, budget, and input. Every selection for purchase was presented as a choice, and we knew we were always guided to the best price point. Kathryn recommended when to pay for quality materials, and helped us find savings in other parts of the design to off-set the cost. We are most happy with the selections we would not have made without her involvement. We could not have completed our home remodel without Design Inside, and would happily recommend them to anyone looking for guidance on small or large projects!

We used Design Inside for our recent condo renovation, and we were pleased with our designer,…read moreAbigail. We had looked into three or four design firms and went with Design Inside because we got along well with Abigail from the initial consultation. She's friendly and had suggestions from our first meetings. Our remodeling scope was pretty basic (resurface hardwood floors, install new tiling, new lighting, new kitchen countertops/backsplash/hardware, painting, etc.) We weren't planning on taking down any walls or putting up new walls - hence "pretty basic" in our eyes! The initial few weeks involved back and forth with designs and occasional meetings with Abigail so she could get a handle on what we wanted done. Abigail was accommodating with meeting/phone times, and would often meet with us late afternoons or early evening. She created designs we had never thought of doing (enclosing in structural poles, wainscoting, etc). Abigail also was able to easily "read" my husband and I in terms of color schemes and we ended up choosing one of the first few samples of tiling and backsplash that she dropped off with us. Kudos for that! Abigail also provided us bimonthly hours summary / detail so we knew how much we were being charged for her services. She would break down the time she spent working for us by the minute and it was helpful to see where our dollars were being spent. From a "grand overall design", Abigail did a good job, but when we started getting into the details in the later phases, we did run into a few minor issues. I recommend ordering all materials / furniture / art yourself and not going thru Design Inside. With a little work on the intranet, you can find it cheaper, not to mention a lower delivery charge. We had a few material mix-ups with Design Inside - i.e. we received the wrong hardware; not enough tile or grout was ordered. Abigail's measurements for the den were incorrect so she didn't order enough tile / grout - her measurements for the wallpaper were also off, but this time we almost ordered too much. The invoice system used by Design Inside is a little confusing and you should pay very close attention and track your own expenses. It's hard to describe but trying to track all the bills and refunds with the invoices provided was difficult. Overall - I would recommend Design Inside and Abigail for your remodeling needs. I would just offer a bit of advice to double check measurements and order your own materials, but would still recommend the company. Abigail provided different designs and options that demonstrated her design skills as well as her ability to connect with us in terms of what our goal of the remodel was. In our eyes, that was key.

I loved working with Agnes to redesign my house. She was professional, proactive, responsive and…read moreabove all had a beautiful vision and execution for my space. She truly listened to my needs for the space and her recommendations and expertise on vendors was very well suited to my budget. We were perfectly matched from a designer/client perspective. This has been a very positive experience and I've already recommended Mindfulness Design Group to a number of friends.

From the owner: Interior designread more

Kenneth is a true gem. I came by on small business Saturday because I knew the store would be…read moregorgeous and I wanted to see if they had a baby's first Christmas ornament. Reader, he remembered us from a month ago--the only other time I've been in this store. I know he wasn't just saying that because he cooed over my baby and specifically remarked about the fact that she was awake this time instead of sleeping through the shopping trip (which was true). This is what makes shopping at local businesses so much fun; you get to established a rapport with someone who lives what they do, lives their neighbors, and wants to make sure that you enjoy shopping with them. Again as I came through I thought about how I wish I could hire an interior designer with Kenneth Ludwig on the shortlist. They didn't disappoint with their Christmas decor. They have lots of ornaments, all beautiful, and other holiday items. I REALLY love the stocking holders they have. They look like those old ceramic Christmas trees that lots of our grandmothers had, and it even lights up. I am almost certainly going to be returning before Christmas to pick up a couple. If you're in the neighborhood, I highly encourage a drop by.

I was searching for a small couch for my new house. I was dealing with a small, kind of awkward…read morespace and am a picky furniture shopper. I stopped by Kenneth Ludwig Chicago because I learned he sells CR Laine furniture and that is the brand I had my eye on. Upon arriving, Kenneth was welcoming and listened to what I wanted. He's so knowledgeable about furniture and design, not pushy at all, and patient. I've been in his store a few times and each experience was great. I did end up purchasing a settee from Kenneth and that was about 1.5 years ago. The buying process was simple. The small couch is still in great shape, easy to clean, and looks great in my house. It was on the pricier side of furniture, but I not a shocking price. I will consider going back to Kennth Ludwig Chicago when purchasing my next nice piece of furniture.