I have a problem in that I know what I'd like my home to look like. But I'm actually not very good at turning my vision (or rather the magazine cut outs) into reality.

We are certainly not in the life style level of giving a decorator/designer credit card and having him/her have his way. But I was wonder if "real" people use them, not just celebrities? How does it work? How do you find one? Etc. etc.

And I'm talking about someone dealing with decor, not someone drafting plans for new kitchens, etc. Although that could be in the cards at a later date.

Comments, thoughts, etc please.

I'm sure some of the boffins here will be able to help you a bit more than I.. but just as FYI.. my bro-in-law works as a kitchen designer in Oxford and he's able to whip up on his wee little apple pretty fair representations of what a new kitchen/living room/dining room will look like in no time ( and quite cheaply )

I'm sure their are designers in Swiss ( sic ) who could do the same quite easily altho perhaps not AS cheaply

or people here who might be able to direct you do to it yourself programs.

Go to a more boutique style furniture shop. They don't charge you extra for the service (so far I've heard), but their furniture would be a bit more expensive that the same stuff in Pfister, for example.
like these guys:

http://www.ambiente.ch/

They will suggest something to you and do the drawings etc. and tell you that you are not obligated to buy...

One friend went there and recommended it to another friend who recommended it to me. But I have very good 3D vision in my head...

Minimia, regular ol' folks use decorators. A good, reliable, honest decorator will ask toute de suite what kind of budget you are looking at and then work backwards from there.

The problem arises when someone's budget is, say, only 3,000 Fr for a salon. Yes, there are things a decorator can do with only 3,000 fr, but it's likely not even enough money to cover their time to do it.

That's why people have such lofty ideas about decorators only catering to the wealthy--because it's hard to find a decorator who will work within a small budget and give it the same kind of time and attention that they would if the budget was 100,000 fr.

Can you find a friend who is interested in design and just wants to help you because they love doing it? Or a design student? Or a decorator who is just starting out?

I would do it for you just because it's my passion, but I am busy doing my new chalet! If you're still in dire straights 6 months from now, send me a message.

YOU my friend are in luck! We are only moving in the house in April. And of course it will take some time to settle in, and then it will be perfect timing for you. :P Haha... Just joking, sort of....

But seriously, do you think it would be better to wait until we want the kitchen & bathroom done as well? Would it be more worth their while to do that too. But I thought these were two different types of people.

I heard they usually get paid a % of what is spent. But do they not get paid per hour as well?

Honey, I would love to help you with that! I am full of ideas. I can't be there physically but I can help you with ideas from pictures!

Let me know if you want.

Aw. You are sweet! I will take you up on that. The first issue is color problem. I jumped the gun a bit on this. Will have to revisit it closer to April.

But I found this site & I'm in love!
www.maisonsdumonde.com

Where are you located miniMia? I know someone just finishing her studies and starting out but she works in the Lausanne area.

I love maison du monde

We will be moving to the Lausanne area. Between Savigny & Grandvaux -ish.

Any decorator worth his/her salt can help you with simple decor like paint/rugs/furniture etc. up to and including installing a new bathroom or a new kitchen. (Really, kitchens in Europe are a breeze because they are like "one-stop-shopping".)

Your decorator gets paid how YOU want them to get paid. Usually 15-20% of the total expenditure. They don't normally get paid by the hour unless you WANT to pay them by the hour. (Which I wouldn't recommend. What if she takes you on a road trip to the Paris flea market? Do you really want to pay her for 30 hours or whatever?) Remember, they work for you and you set the terms before they even start working.

While you are interviewing decorators, make sure to ask about what they intend to "sub" out and what they intend to do themselves with their own crew. Do they do their own lighting/electric? Painting? Sewing? Tiling? Everything they sub out will cost you double or triple.

Thanks for your answers.

Well sure would love to hit the Paris flea market! But, no. Probably don't want to pay for the entirety of her trip. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to.

I was really thinking more of if the job isn't big enough for someone to bother doing the whole thing (which I get. Shopping takes lots of time & effort) I could maybe pay some one x hours or x amount to help me whip up a plan/guideline/scheme, etc. And then I could go on my way to try to put it together myself. Then sort of pay for "check ins", or something. Does that make sense? Just thinking out loud really at this point.

My biggest issue I think are the colors & style. There's lots of wood & yellow/ochre already in the house. I need a complimentary color scheme. And I need not to pick the wrong style for the house. IYKWIM. Industrial chic, romantic chateaux, bali style & retro repro don't really fit the core of the house. So what's left? Vintage Ikea?? :P lol (I'm joking. I've already got vintage Ikea going on )

A lovely selection at first glance. My French is not so hot: do you know if they deliver to Switzerland or do you have to pick up in France?

They deliver to Switzerland. At the top right you can pick your country. But the prices stay in Euro for some reason. Actually mine defaults to CH when I open it.

Here is the delivery page: You have to scroll down for delivery to Switzerland prices.
http://www.maisonsdumonde.com/CH/fr/.../livraison.htm

I really struggled with colours with our house. With a lime green kitchen and stair rails and light wood floors. After lots of Googling I saw that white is what you use in a green kitchen Plug the colours into Google and search for colour schemes in images. For orchre, earthy browns with dusky pink accents and perhaps a little grey might work.

For style - I would go with the style of your house or just modern with clean lines, leather and wood. I found this great site:. http://www.nicolaholdendesigns.co.uk...tegory/colour/ She uses a dark blue to contrast with orchra.

Make a mood board and post it up for us all to see :-)

I do a reasonable amount of "design work" in my business. So I am a bit opinionated about it. A lot of it always gets back to a few simple factors. I probably (if i could!!) do a flow chart on it to simplify it but I will try and explain (Imho) a way forward to you. It comes down to 3 interrelated things - Budget, Taste/Style and Planning in that order.

Budget - normally comes last, "oh!! I love this look - how much is it?" - wrong, budget is such a personal thing so you need this as a starting point. What can I afford? / What can I live with on a daily basis and would be comfortable with? (ie granny dies and leaves a 100k to you, so you finally get that 20k lounge you have always dreamt of, would you be comfortable if someone made a mark on it or it cost 20k but it is made to be used?)

Taste - Bust out the magazines/internet/camera or whatever, work out what you like and more importantly what you would like to live with. Then really break it down into the parts that impress you and you can use, ie you see a great room but could not "fit" it into your house and lifestyle, what is it that really catches your eye?
The colours/shapes/tables/whatever - there is always a few things be discriminating and take note. This forms the base building blocks from which to build on.

Planning - Ok so now we have a budget and a wish list of possible things you would like to incorporate. This is the point you engage a designer to make it happen (from a financially efficeint point of view) but you are doing so well now - why stop? Well a few reasons, time and cost mostly, the more you have of both the easier it is but if you are like the rest of us, then then it is worth speaking to a few (qualified) people with conacts to try and realise your vision. Often there are artists and small manufacturers out there that are not so easy to find but are not so expensive as a lot of shops. Broki and Ricardo are also good.

On a side note it is better to replace the kitchen / bathroom first and match your things to that or at least have a pretty firm idea of what you will replace them with.

To be honest, I'd love to paint most of the wood white. But I know that when it comes to sell, the Swiss potential buyers will not be happy with painted wood.

Thanks for the link. I will study it in the next few days. I peeked and it's gorgeous. In fact, I was thinking of a dark teal blue! Hey! Maybe I just need confidence, encouragement. (But, I'm afraid to go too bold and/or it will be too dark).

I will do the mood board. That's a good idea. At least it will channel my decoration angst and keep me busy while my life is up in the air. It's hard to settle when you're living out of suit cases in temp housing for 3 months. At least this place is nicely decorated. Actually, it might be why I'm worried about what my house will look like.

Thanks for the feedback. Budget I can do.... The rest. Not so much. I'm really not sure about the style I like matching with the style of the house. Sadly I couldn't afford the petit chateau. :P

Maybe you are right about doing the kitchen first. The bathroom is upstairs and separate where as the kitchen/living/dining are all open. So maybe the bath can wait.

Hmmm, I'll think about doing the whole downstairs at once because you're probably very right on that count.




Thanks everyone for the replies & encouragement.

i'm useless at this sort of thing. if left to my own devices, anything i designed would look like a hospital or surgery theatre.

that's why i normally get people i know who are good at this stuff to look at it for me. maybe you know someone? my mum was scarily good at this even though she had no related skills and training - she did the whole design for her bathroom and kitchen and they were much better than the 'professionals' came up with.

so maybe ask around - perhaps friends or family who have a house in a style you like - maybe they designed it or can put you onto the person who did.

i also have quite a few interior designer friends, but i am loathe to ask them to look at it as it is making more 'work' for them and i wouldn't be paying their standard (somewhat extortionate!) rates!

We are using one at the moment and we have done (I think) a good deal for financing it.

The house we are moving to is a renovation with very high ceilings and a strange internal layout which means that windows are not large and light is an issue. So we engaged a designer to help us optimise the layout and advice us on lighting solutions particularly. She runs a shop and her primary income is from the shop, so we agreed that she would work on the design and layouts "free" and in exchange we would commit to buy something from her shop in exchange.

So the way it will work out is that she has done the layouts, engaged with the architects etc and we will buy the house lights through her.....so we are quits. The lights are pretty unusual and I don't think can be purchased "retail" so its hard to say how much extra we are paying, but all in all, we're happy. I think its important for a new build to try to get advice about layouts as it can make a positive impact on any resale value

Here's another website that might give you some ideas. They deliver to Switzerland too. www.car-moebel.de