There is good, there is great, and there is Kyoko Jackson of Yumi Interiors. Whether you are…read morelooking for a few decoration ideas, a complete remodel, or building a house from scratch you need to hire her. To understand what makes Kyoko so great you need to understand who she is and what she does. What - Kyoko is trained as an interior architect. So while she has all the skills of an absolute top-notch interior designer, she is also very capable of spatial work more commonly associated with architects. She is also a superb project manager, managing the selection, sourcing, ordering, tracking and eventual installation of hundreds of discreet pieces (everything from bed knobs and countertops to shower drains, soap holders, bolts and couches)with effortless efficiency. Who - Dedicated, organized and unflappable, Kyoko is a pleasure to work with. She is also unusual among design professionals in her versatility. In my project, she was asked to take elements from a previous house and extend them into a totally different, and much smaller, structure. It was not an easy task, but she knocked it out of the park. My Experience - Kyoko joined me about four months into the down-to-the-studs renovation of an old Berkeley home. Her first task was to effectively use a kitchen space, a task a previous designer had struggled with. In less than a day she had not only great drawings but a rendered animation so I could easily understand how the kitchen would work. After that I asked her to check our blueprints for anything that seemed off. She found a subtle but major error that, had it stood, would have made for a much less good house. And so went the rest of the project, with Kyoko, again and again, delivering excellence as a designer, as a planner, as a decorator, and as a project manager. Yes, she's that good. And you are welcome.

Kyoko is wonderful to work with and a lovely person. She helped us with our small/narrow family…read moreroom and two bedrooms. I had a very specific style in my mind and not only did she completely understand what I wanted (through my vague descriptions) but she executed in a way that I would not have thought of and that was exactly the look and feel that I had hoped for. We always get compliments on our home (even by teenagers, who I am surprised would even notice these things, ha). I will definitely work with her again next time I need design help.

We had an excellent experience with Shawn Sharaby of Create Interior Design, due to factors too…read morenumerous to explain. We had a complicated situation since we were gutting and redoing a condo in Walnut Creek, while we were living in LA part of that time. Shawn worked at record speed getting permits, ordering materials, and communicating with us on hundreds of details. He uses high quality vendors and when we were in town, we were able to visit the carpet supplier, the workshop of the custom cabinet maker and the warehouse of stone to pick out stones for kitchen and bathrooms. Shawn always offered a range of options from less to more expensive. Shawn has a wonderful flare for design and helped us pick out furniture, fixtures etc and stopped us when we were going in the wrong direction. Yet he respected our sensibility and vision. He worked feverishly to get us into our house. His crew was working in a community with many rules and we were told repeatedly by neighbors how polite and respectful his crew was. Shawn was accessible and responded quickly to calls, often answering himself. He gave us an estimated time of completion and met it. He turned somersaults trying to meet the deadline. We came in on the original estimate. any additional costs were due to upgrades at our request. The quality of the work was outstanding. We have been in the house 3 weeks and can appreciate the excellence. Finally, we truly love our house because of the beauty of the design, the stone and woodwork that feels timeless and the excellence of the work done. Thank you

We had discussed a major remodeling of our outdated original master bathroom for a few years but…read morefelt overwhelmed with a project of this size. We just did not know where to begin. A thorough search LED us to Shawn and Create Interior Design. He came and met with us several times to explain his process and guide us through the entire project step by step. He drafted several design concepts based on our input and refined them until we were happy. After the basics had been locked down, it was much easier for us to choose specific tiles, colors and fixtures. The lifelike 3D renderings provided a clear vision of what the finished bathroom would look like, and removed all the guesswork and stress from this project. Shawn provided us with an extremely detailed list of every item and exact cost for the project including scheduling, permits, demo, construction, inspections and every material and fixture. It was clear that we were in experienced and competent hands. We chose to have Shawn and his team handle the project and complete all of the work period his crew was incredible. Each craftsman who worked on different parts of the remodeling was clearly a skilled professional with attention to detail and pride in their workmanship. They accommodated small changes and dealt with unforeseen issues as they occurred. Despite the scale and duration of this total remodel, they kept the work area much cleaner and more organized than we had expected. The finshed result is truly amazing. We now have a totally new bathroom which is the highlight of the entire house. We would highly recommend Create Interior Design and Shawn's thorough approach to designing, documenting, organizing and implementing your home remodeling dream project.

I initially asked Samantha Moss to help with one room. She was SO good that I'm incredibly grateful…read moreshe organically guided the paint colors for our entire house! The project is still in progress, but with three major rooms complete, we're convinced working with Samantha was one of the best decisions we've made during our home refresh. First, even though we've been home owners for a while and thought we knew what we were doing, Sam completely changed the way my wife and I think about paint. She asked thoughtful questions to understand how we wanted each room to feel, not just how we wanted it to look. The results have been remarkable. Our once-dark home office is now calm, bright, and inspiring to work in every day. She gently steered our preteen daughter away from indecision to a color that feels sophisticated, warm, and a perfect green that can flex with her changing moods. And our bathroom? She suggested colors that I never would have chosen myself, yet it's become a room visitors compliment all the time. Beyond paint, Samantha also gave us spot-on recommendations for our bedroom's curtains and lighting direction, helping us create a vision for the whole home instead of just choosing colors. She is thoughtful, collaborative, incredibly knowledgeable, and a genuine pleasure to work with. We can't wait to see the remaining rooms come together and recommend Samantha Moss without hesitation.

I am so happy to write this review about Samantha. I love when I experience great skill, talent,…read morecommunication, service, and rapport with people I work with. I appreciate Samantha so much for those reasons. She has been spot on in choosing colors for our home, both interior and exterior. She has also given us valuable interior design suggestions. The cherry on top is that she has been an absolute joy to work with. I am looking forward to having her back to consult on other rooms of our house. I rave about her (whether solicited or not!) to anyone I know who is having their house painted or is choosing paint colors. For any of you who are hesitant, my recommendation is to just say yes! :-)

Creative, strong communicator, organized and dependable…read more We hired Clara to help us with a whole home renovation project for a house built in 1913. We wanted to be respectful to the original design while making the home more contemporary. Clara took care to understand our preferences and she made amazing recommendations. She helped us with tile, paint, materials selection, lighting, furniture selection, renovation ideas various and sundry, and just generally was super competent, timely, reliable, professional and creative. Partway through the project, my general contractor flaked. This had nothing to do with Clara, but when I needed someone to reset the project, gather all of the sub-contractors together and drive the project forward -- Clara was there to fix everything and get the project done and over the line. My wife and I are delighted with the outcome. The house is beautiful, we absolutely love it. Clara is not only a wonderful interior designer, but she's also completely dependable.

We worked with Clara, Rachelle, and Tia and the rest of the BD team over the course of a year and a…read morehalf to furnish and decorate our new home. They did an outstanding job, and we have received many compliments on the design of our home. The process takes a little while, but now that it is complete, our home feels perfect for us. The designs are fun, whimsical, colorful, and natural - exactly what we were looking for. The process is highly structured, but I appreciate how it enabled us to see how everything would look together, and also kept all the many decisions organized in a way that makes them easier to process. We appreciated the level of creativity and thoughtfulness that went into each decision. Overall, we had a great experience working with this team.

Kathy came into my office, the specific chiropractic center, and look around and said your office…read moreis very monotone and you need help. After I checked my ego at the door I said let's do it. After about 45 minutes of going through colors we decided on a few. Needless to say my patients thinks my color choices are genius ;) Thanks Kathy for making me look good!!!!

Kathy Bate is a gifted designer. She was able to help us make the best decisions for our home…read morerenovation including the most important details for the kitchen and bath. She was able to work quickly and followed up with digital plans showing our options. The project is off to a great start with our budget in tact. Kathy Bate knows how to help you get the best quality working with the funds available. Already we have saved money on the project by having Kathy 's helpful guidance. She is a warm hearted person who knows when to take charge. My husband and I enjoyed working with Kathy Bate Designs.

I really enjoyed working with Dee! Following a divorce, I felt the need to make over our house into…read moremore of a home to support myself and my kids. With Dee's professional assistance, excellent design sense, and warm demeanor we are now living in a space which feels much more warm, welcoming, beautiful, and functional. This included repainting several rooms, picking out major new furnishings, selecting new window and floor coverings, as well as accessorizing. It made such a difference to have someone who could see it all in their head, put it together in a way which makes sense, and knew where to find the most appropriate items! I also learned a lot from Dee along the way which made the whole process really fun and educational. She's a great communicator and was very mindful of my budget. I had never worked with an interior designer before, but it was totally worth it-- I didn't realize what a difference it would make to me to feel so at home in my own house!

We cannot say enough good things about working with Dee and Lara. What is usually a stressful and…read moreoverwhelming process was, with them, genuinely fun, inspiring, and deeply enjoyable. From the very beginning, they took the time to truly get to know us and our kids - not just our aesthetic preferences, but how we live in our home day to day. That thoughtfulness showed up in every design and functionality decision they helped us make. They were incredibly collaborative and brought us along at every step, making the process feel like a true partnership. They never once pushed an idea or decision on us, but they were also amazing at helping us thoughtfully stretch beyond our comfort zone in ways that ultimately made the home better than we ever imagined. Dee and Lara were responsive, kind, warm, and completely transparent throughout the entire process. We always understood the "why" behind decisions and felt informed and confident every step of the way. They were also exceptionally respectful of our budget. We never felt pressured to overspend, and instead felt like they maximized every single dollar while still delivering a truly elevated result. Their broader team (both internal and external partners) was equally impressive, with a clear commitment to quality and a very high bar for execution. Most importantly, we absolutely love our home. We're grateful for the experience, thrilled with the outcome, and fully expect to work with Dee and Lara for years to come. We would recommend them without hesitation to anyone looking for designers who are best-in-class, thoughtful, and genuinely wonderful to work with.

Elizabeth did an amazing job transforming the interior of our mid century modern home back to its…read moreoriginal splendor! Years back (and might I say without the aid of a skilled interior designer), we cleverly ignored the modern bones of our 1950's abode and went full traditional rustic - massive stone fireplace, chunky crown molding, antiques galore. Fast forward 15 years and a newfound appreciation for modern design, help! We were absolutely thrilled to find Elizabeth! Right from the start, we knew we were going to be in great hands. She was exactly what we were hoping for - someone who could stand back, take in the whole picture and come up with an amazingly gorgeous modern design without spending tons of $$. She was a pleasure to work with, extremely knowledgable, reliable and most importantly she has such a keen eye for interior esthetics and how to integrate the decor of all the various rooms. I can tell you I like a particular chair, a certain color combination, a certain light fixture, couch, door style, counter top, etc. but putting it all together so that it flows and soothes, that's a skill at a whole different level. We are just in awe of how gorgeous our interior turned out! Thank you Elizabeth! You can see photos of Elizabeth's redesign of interior on her website - Portfolio - Mid Mod Organic.

Elizabeth is amazing. She will 'get you' during the first meeting. She relieved the decision…read morefatigue I was experiencing after a 10 month major remodel. I highly recommend her.

Rachelle is absolutely fabulous! She has an eye for picking vibrant…read morecolors that are warm and inviting. Her talent is something that can't be learned or taught. Spare yourself the frustration of accidentally creating an overpriced DIY mess. Rachelle will create a space for you that is fluid, beautiful, and makes your life better in every way. She isn't some designer who reads a few magazines and thinks she knows all about color and design. She is a trained, educated, and experienced professional full of creative talents. She looks at your space and design choices from a global perspective and selects colors that seamlessly tie your areas together, to balance your cabinets or floors or tile or throw pillows or drawer hardware, etc. She truly takes all of your interior elements into consideration so that the design becomes a flawless backdrop for your life. It's funny, you don't notice the actual elements when it's done, you just see how lovely the "space" is, because her colors and layout choices will enhance and accent your interiors or exteriors so fluidly. Rachelle has an endless cache of design ideas and offers consulting as well. Just being around her will have you racing for a pen to capture the creative ideas that spill out of her so fast. So be ready and have a writing instrument and paper at all times! If you are looking for consultation for any type of project, from the exterior of your house, to interior rooms, to furnishings, fixtures, etc., working with Rachelle is the best investment you can make.

We connected with Rachelle through a referral from our architect, as we were embarking on a fast…read morepaced renovation and expansion of our home. I honestly do not know how we would have made it through without her help. There are 1000 decisions to make from tile to cabinets and paint, along with all of the finishes. Rachelle had excellent recommendations for high quality options that stayed within our budget. She helped us meet our contractor's deadlines, so we stayed on track to finish the project within 4 months. Everything came out so beautiful! She really listened and paid attention to what each of us liked to help us find our shared style. We are so grateful for her expertise and vast rolodex of resources and hidden gems.

We used Casa Di Vita for staging in our home in Alameda. Deepti is a gem to work with. She…read morecoordinated with our realtor and was flexible, but let her style shine through. Our realtor wanted us to use a stager that was 15K! We had already found Casa Di Vita and her staging was on par with the stagers charging twice as much. I would highly recommend Casa Di Vita for someone looking for quality staging.

Casa Di Vita was really great to partner with and we were really happy with the outcome of their…read morestaging for our home we put on the market in Albany. Their creativity and attention to detail and organized approach made the whole process smooth and stress‑free. We also had to take a pause at one point in our selling after we put our deposit in and they were very understanding with our situation. I highly recommend their home staging services to anyone looking for professional home staging in the Bay area.

Working with Emily was a great experience during our year-long remodel and addition. Emily's…read morebiggest value was in helping navigate the execution side of the remodel process -- coordinating timelines, advising on ordering, connecting us with trusted vendors, and helping facilitate communication throughout the project. She was also an excellent sounding board when I needed to validate decisions or talk through options. Having someone experienced to pulse-check ideas, help with all the little details (like selecting grout colors) and support in managing all the moving parts made the process feel much smoother and less stressful.Highly recommend!

I recently worked with Emily and her team, and I cannot recommend EJ Design enough! She has an…read moreincredible eye for detail and a natural talent for transforming a space. She took my vision and elevated it in ways I never could have imagined. The textures, lighting, and layout have completely changed the energy of my home. Her team was highly organized and thorough. My space finally feels curated and sophisticated. Exactly what I was looking for. 5 stars!