Total expensive disaster. Huge regret. The first thing you'll notice about Debbie's website and contract is "satisfaction guaranteed" is nowhere to be found. After having engaged her services I can see why.
My wife hired her to redecorate our living room. It's the "Pop art house" on her Houzz page. It ended up being our biggest regret to date and we're still trying to fix what she's done and make the room livable. My wife paid out over $9,000 and after returning most of the furniture we're now out of pocket around $7,800 for essentially a dirty shag carpet, two light fixtures, coffee table, and plants. Basically fewer than $2,500 worth of items are left in the house and we have paid $7,800, that's $5,300 paid directly to her for a redesign we were unhappy with.
Her final product was nothing like what my wife asked for and nowhere near our expressed aesthetic or needs. While the room may work for another family - it was a Maude, extremely retro, very colorful room when we asked for a neutral, clean, mid-century modern. All the inspiration photos provided to Debbie were similar - neutral, mid-century, bright, cozy. All that was ignored and we received a teal sectional couch, red lounge chair, yellow lamp and an off white shag carpet.
This redesign had been my wife's dream but has turned into a nightmare. If she had been happy with the result I wouldn't be writing this review. My wife still believes Debbie is talented and if you look at the room you may say it's a nice looking room and photographs well but the point is - it is not the room she asked for and does not display the preferences she expressed at all. It is essentially unlivable for us. What happens when a designer doesn't listen to the customer and provides them a room that is nothing like what they asked for? In this model Debbie makes more money from you and makes no attempt to remedy the situation. My wife looked at all her reviews before she chose Debbie and we both find it remarkable that we are the only ones with this experience. You may wonder why my wife is not writing this review - and the simple answer is that she is too upset. She feels like she got "taken for a ride" and is so bothered by the experience that she can't even talk about it without getting upset. She has been talking about this redesign for over a year and finally got the courage to do it - we are not people that have ever worked with a designer before - and it was essentially the worst possible outcome. I'll admit I didn't want the redesign and I didn't think it was necessary and I certainly didn't think a designer was needed but my wife wanted it and I wanted her to be happy. I am most angered by what this has done to her. She tried to like it - even as she sat in shock she says Debbie asked her to film a quick review of how much she loved it. Put on the spot she did. She feels guilty for making such a mistake in the choice of designers, losing so much money on a bad contract with an unaccountable designer and leaving us with the stress of an unlivable living space. Its not something we can ignore - we have to deal with a reminder of this every day when we come home and it has been such a source of stress for the whole family since. We are not posting this to hurt Debbie or her business but to truly make others aware of what they are getting into. If cost doesn't matter to you, you want someone to make all the decisions, and functionality is irrelevant than Debbie is the right designer for you. read more