Modernize Methods LLC offers an alternative to expense remodeling construction. They provide a…read morewonderful service, which is fast and an easy-to-follow visual remodel plan they make just for you. They will review your space with you during a two-hour consultation. They can do this remotely if you wish. They go over the room usage, your style preferences, what you are wanting to accomplish, favorite colors, lighting, and other things, and they put together a room upgrade layout and renovating recommendation plan just for you. All of this for a flat rate. I loved it. You will love it too.

When we first started shopping around for a small kitchen project, we weren't sure who to work…read morewith. It was our first home renovation project, and we did not know how to go about the process. We first went to a big chain hardware store to get some guidance, but found them to be unclear and Not personable. But then we luckily found Habitar Design and Strategem Construction, and the difference was like night and day! From the very beginning, Mitch and the Habitar's team really took the time to listen to us, and made us feel heard and understood. We actually began our project way back in January, but when the pandemic began, our plans were understandably put on hold. However, Habitar was just stellar at communication overall - especially during the early months of the pandemic, when everything was so confusing for all of us. We never felt out of the loop with Habitar. The design process was thorough, and they explained everything in as much detail as we cared to hear. We fully understood the cost of all of our options, and so we didn't have any nasty surprises at the end. It was really nice to not worry about potential cost overruns through the job. We explained to them that we wanted to try and stick to our estimated cost as closely as possible in order to stick to our budget. However, like with any project, things happen, and sometimes the estimate is exactly that....an estimate! After expressing our concerns, and knowing that we were on a budget, Mitch and his team intervened to make sure that we all arrived to an agreeable situation. The Strategem construction team was professional, courteous, and respectful in every interaction we had. And while they were working in our home, we didn't even feel inconvenienced - they made as minimal an intrusion as possible. Any problems that came up were quickly resolved, and the whole team worked to find solutions. The whole process felt extremely personal - the owner, Mitch, even came out to see the job, and left us a small gift as a thank-you for our business! We would whole-heartedly recommend Habitar and Strategem to anyone who needs renovation work. If or when we ever have more renovation projects, we look forward to working with them in the future!

I had such a wonderful experience with Habitar when they updated my kitchen that, after recently…read moremoving, I decided to use them again to add an electric fireplace and shelving to a blank wall in my new living room. Their work did not disappoint! The designer was so helpful in transplanting my vision into a beautiful design plan within my budget. The workmanship is excellent and the workmen that did the instillation and painting were professional, diligent, and friendly. Everyone at Habitar from the owner, Mitch, to each person that works for him is helpful, thoughtful, and committed to doing good work. Having worked with them twice, I can confidently say that they are a delightful company to work with their work delivers beautiful results.

Easily recommendable ... Amanda has almost 20 years of experience and it shows. She knows her…read moreproduct, was punctual and follows up quickly. Eric was very courteous and the same could be said about him. Both were very professional.

Best experience ever for a second time - we recently moved and worked with Tammy again on a custom…read moremaster bedroom closet. We previously worked with her on the same project at our previous home and were so happy with the outcome that we hired her again! See pics for the gorgeous final product in an attic master with angled ceilings!

I had a great experience working with Jake to design and remodel our old condo…read moreDuring the design process we work closely with Jake to come out with a plan that would fit our lifestyle ant to use our space more efficiently He did a great job listening to us and then he came up with suggestions , options and great ideas within our budget as well The finished product is impeccable Would highly recommend

Stay far away from Jake Wittrock, JWCreative and Big Design Energy…read more While Jake does come up with decent design ideas, he has serious time and money management issues. He will lie about when items are ordered even though he has already taken your money well in advance. He provides no oversight over his vendors and they will more often than not screw up measurements and the installation of items. Jake claims he is too busy to even inspect his contractors' work even though the work is shoddy and you send him pictures to prove it. When confronted with these serious issues, Jake becomes defensive and outright lies so that he feels blameless. Jake also refuses to refund money that was never spent on items and services. I was fortunate to have paid Jake with my American Express card. When Jake refused to return approximately $35,000 advanced to him, I initiated a fraud claim with American Express. Jake protested the fraud claim by making material misstatements to American Express. After reviewing the fraud claim, American Express saw right through Jake's lies and returned the entire amount back to me. I am one of Jake's more fortunate victims and could not be more grateful to American Express for seeing through the fraud. Hire Jake Wittrock at your own peril. I regret ever meeting him and welcoming him into my home.

My real estate agent's firm highly recommended Phoenix Rising Home Staging for luxury condo units…read more So, I requested this company and another to come out and sell me their ideas/terms/prices. Both companies work with ultra-high end real estate, and have designers on hand to attractively style the home with furnishings. I was particularly partial to Phoenix because of Hannah. While the prices of both companies were comparable, the contractual terms were less favorable with Phoenix; however, I really liked Hannah. She has an art background, and does design for a living. She was impressed by the art in my unit, and knew a good deal about quite a number of them (impressive!). I had to commit to 5months of rent for Phoenix's furniture, at about $2200/month, even knowing my unit would sell in a month or so. 2 of the 3 bedrooms were staged, along with the public rooms. The alternative high-end staging company had a one month commitment of $5K, with each subsequent month being prorated by day (@ $2K/month). This alternative company didn't have Hannah, though, and her design eye. I took the bite and committed to Phoenix knowing my gorgeous unit would sell in a month (it did!), and I am glad I did. Thank you Phoenix Rising, and Hannah!

One of your employees / partners who says his cousin works at your warehouse, Wilbert Rodriquez,…read morelied and scammed me of $2,700 of rental income, leaving my luxury condo unit damaged and a mess and not paying his February rent on purpose while I actually was on an international trip! He is a liar and thief who uses your company to scam and convince people to let him live there rent free and bring your furniture to their properties! To gain their trust! He had occupied my condo with your furniture, then left my condo damaged! I actually allowed him to buy a "house for his family" without credit as a favor and he used my kindness to financially abuse me and my own new business income! Instead of kindly telling me he couldn't pay before I traveled so I could have my rental ad up for my OWN marketing! We are now at a risk of losing $5500 because he cannot MAKE honest decisions! Based on this type of lying and behavior for your employees, I give you a ONE STAR for quality of talent and how they use their "employment" to secure rental properties then deplete the owner's finances! I will ONLY remove this post once he has paid me the FULL amount of missing income he stole from me! If this is the kind of business you operate, a family of thieves shame on you!

Greg and Serena are a husband/wife team that have been in business for 20+ years. We had wonderful…read moreservice from them in their former location in NW Chicago. Their pricing was good -- I did online comparisons to be sure. Their showroom was very helpful because we could go there and see various options in person and view how the automation alternatives actually worked. Their in-home visit enabled us to choose materials and colors right in the environment where the blinds would be installed. We choose automated blinds that change position relative to the sunrise and sunset so that we have the perfect combination of light and privacy in our family room with window walls on three sides. We can also control our blinds with Amazon's Alexa or Apple's Siri. This shows the kind of experience that we appreciate. We are so glad to hear that they have relocated to Wilmette, closer to us. This is the kind of service and expertise that this area deserves!

Shades are fashionable but fall Apart easily. Had trouble…read morewith one shade and jammed back in over time to get it to work. Just brought in the same to have them jam it in so I did not ruin it. I was told that they don't do repairs. This really wasn't a repair just needed a quick fix so I didn't wreck it Told to go on line and fine a repair shop. No effort was made . Not what I expect from a quality blind store. Will steer clear of Ambiance from now on.

Great prices on living rm & bedrm furniture! Friendly owners. Very helpful, accommodating.read more

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.