I imagine that there are people who are delighted with the design and products they received from SKD Studios. But I am not one of them.
I asked SKD to come to the house so I could interview them to see if they could help on my long term project. I wanted a complete design "blueprint" for my house with some things to be done immediately and other things over a period of the next few years. I wanted an overall color scheme to tie things together through all the rooms and renovation of the kitchens, baths, furniture, etc.
Anissa Swanzy came to my house all enthusiastic and took measurements. She said that there were two other designers in the business and each had their own area f expertise with her being residences (I never met the other designers). I gave her a tour of the house and went over some of the things I was thinking about including telling her the colors I liked.
At the end of the meeting, she told me that I was being charged for her visit. She gave me several options - pay the bill for her visit and we go our separate ways, have them do the design for free and I buy everything through SKD (with them making their money on the markup), pay a per hour fee for design, etc, (I think it was $125/hour), or pay a flat $2,000 for 20 hours of design consultation with a reduced fee over the 20 hour limit.
I like to compare prices, reuse materials, go to auctions, plus I planned to purchase things over a period of years so buying everything through SKD was not an option. Also I planned to need more than 20 hours consultation over the years so I went with the flat $2,000 fee.
Anissa came up with plan "A" for the kitchen and it was a major redesign. It included electrical and plumbing changes plus moving a doorway and eliminating my walk in pantry. She picked khaki and medium dark green as the interior colors. I asked her why she decided those colors and she said she picked it up from the furniture in the house - pieces I had told her that I planned to reupholster. She presented gray flooring that she said was hardwood floors. Anissa also proposed a general layout for the family room (that she kept calling my living room). Her design for that entertaining area would seat 4 people and did not include an area for a TV or address the outdated fireplace. She also wanted me to keep some of the furniture I said was uncomfortable.
I had 3 contractors come to the house and all said that the design could not be done because of structural elements that could not be eliminated. One stated that the entry to the pantry might be a load-bearing wall. Two of the contractors did not even submit initial bids.
I told Anissa that there needed to be a new design. I met with her again and the remaining contactor and she presented........ Plan "A". I got the name of the cabinets and flooring she recommended so I could do my own research. I found out that the flooring was not hardwood at all but an "engineered" wood. I also found out that the cabinets were sold at Costco - where they were on sale (and kitchen designing was free).
Needless to say, things went downhill. She would not work on the rest of the design of the house or give me the sizes of cabinets that I would need so I could shop around on my own (If it turned out that I could get the best deal from SKD, I would have gladly purchased through them ). She stopped communicating with me directly instead relying on an employee to act as intermediary.
After months of frustration, we arranged another meeting (via the employee). I asked if I would be presented a new design and was told yes. When I went to the meeting, I was presented with...... Plan "A" once again. Other than the initial visit, Anissa never came out to my house again, even after getting the report from the contractors that her design could not work.
I finally gave up. I asked for copies of the plans, etc for the work done so far (work that I had paid $2,000 for). I finally got the names of the two paint colors but I was told that they would not guarantee that they would look good and SKD refused to give me any more information about the materials, etc saying that it was proprietary. Uh, I was paying for design consultation wasn't I?
In retrospect, I think that Anissa would not make a suggestion for anything unless she thought she could make additional profit. In fairness, I bought paint in the khaki color and painted one room - and hated it. Although I'm glad it's not "painter white" anymore, it is not a room where I want to spend a lot of time in.
SKD Studios has since moved to Solomons. The website and ads in the newspapers no longer names any other designers besides Anissa. I am still working on my house and by thinking of one design change of shortening some windows that Anissa never thought of doing, I believe I now have a working design that give me the kitchen I want plus designs for bathrooms and renovation of the family room - all on my own. read more