The Budget Question: How much does a Room Cost?

Photo by Christina Wedge

Recently I have been receiving many phone calls from prospective clients looking to work with my company, but they don't know how much to invest in a room because they don't know how much it should cost.

I have decided to share with you what it costs to furnish an unfinished room, paint and all.
We are talking an empty room that will get all new furnishings*, paint, window treatments, and updating.
*If you have favorite pieces that you want to incorporate into a room, you will save some money, but it may not work in the new space. It will need to be decided if this will work with the new design or be used elsewhere in your home.

If you have never used an interior designer, you may have different expectations on what an item should cost but you should do your homework when working with an interior designer.
I am sure  you do your homework when shopping for a car?
Would you walk into a Tesla showroom with a Leaf budget? 

The reason you wouldn't walk into a Tesla showroom with 30K is because you have probably done some homework on what a Tesla will cost. You have the knowledge on what the differences are between the 2 cars, what the "bells and whistles" will cost, and what the emotional response is to owning a high performance Tesla. 

Many of you will look at our design portfolios on Houzz and maybe you didn't notice it before, but Houzz actually lets us put the project price range on our portfolio so that you can see what the client spent on the project. 
A good way to see if a designer is a good fit for you and vica versa, is to see what the rooms or design project costs to work with a particular designer.
Caution: Some designers prefer not to share project pricing for whatever reason, but you need to look at each room carefully to understand if a designer is high end and in your price range. If they have designed homes outside of the city they reside in, they are high end and sought after for the quality of work they do.

I prefer to share my design project price range so that you can see the costs for doing quality work for my clients.This project price range is a good indicator on what to expect when working with my design company.
​We do custom seating with the correct fabric choices for our client and their lifestyle. 
​We also expect our furniture to be built to last 5-10 years so we select excellent quality pieces for our rooms. That doesn't mean it's high end, it's just higher quality.
We purchase directly from manufacturers and rarely shop retail. Our clients prefer to have an uniquely  designed room rather than taking a picture and duplicating it from a national furniture store. (You can easily do that yourself without the help of an interior designer.)
Special consideration is taken into account for pets, entertaining, and children.
We prefer our clients to have an investment set aside for each room before we meet but we also help our clients to establish a budget for their project based on their wants, needs, and items that will be customized.
​I will share with you design projects we have done and the client's investment for the project which was shared on Houzz.

Starting points for Rooms

After 15 years of interior design experience, our clients are comfortable with our starting point for an empty room which begins around $20,000.00 ( including design fee) and goes up by the size of the room, the needs of the client, and how much customization will be done for our clients.
Pottery Barn, West Elm, Ballard Design, and Restoration Hardware are a bit lower around $13-15K (no design fees but you deal with the delivery, the tracking, and the inspection of all furniture pieces once they are delivered to your home. In a word, it's your headache, not mine.)
My clients want uniquely designed spaces that tell their story and want me to manage the project from concept to installation day.
They are a great starting point if you do not have the budget to use our interior design company but we offer so many resources to deliver better quality and handle all the headaches that go with scheduling, contractors, installers, and delivering you a home you envisioned.

Photo by Marc Maudlin

​Coastal Colors for an East Cobb Family
Young family with 2 smalls boys and a large black lab relocated from Florida to Atlanta and wanted coastal colors throughout their home.
The Kravet fabrics were water and soil resistant. Perfect for children and pets who think they are children.
Project Year: 2016
Project Cost: $10,001 - $25,000
Country: United States

Photo by Christina Wedge

​Daisy's Happy Home
Project Year: 2017
Project Cost: $50,001 - $75,000
Country: United States
Zip Code: 30327
​This price covered the living room, kitchen, dining room, and powder room.

Unfinished or Renovating Basements

Depending on what you need, which will be discussed during our initial phone conversation, we start at $75,000.00 for a simple renovation, but add bathrooms, bedrooms, wine cellars, gym, media entertaining areas, the price goes up.
We have found we cannot do quality work with licensed professionals under $75K, because our clients expect quality work when they work with us.

Photo by Christina Wedge

Terrace Level Entertaining
Empty nesters relocate to Atlanta and do not downsize but increase the square footage of their new home. This is a "Gathering Place" for large family gatherings and friends from out of state. The basement was designed to be a large entertainment area with the pool table, modern glass wine cellar, and family room anchoring one end of the basement. A Home Theater, bedroom, gym with a steam shower bathroom with access to the pool anchors the other side.
Project Year: 2014
Project Cost: $200,001 - $500,000
Country: United States

Kitchens and Master bathrooms

One of the hardest budgets to define is what are you willing to invest in the two rooms with the largest return on investment when selling your home and my answer is to start at $65,000.00 for master bathrooms and kitchens.
Yes, you can spend less, but our company starts at $65K for kitchen and bathroom renovations because our clients want semi custom or custom designed kitchens and bathrooms.
​Add high end appliances to your kitchen then expect your kitchen to start at $100K.

Large master bathroom with double vanities separated by a linen tower. Italian wall sconces fitted onto large custom mirrors. Travertine flooring and countertops.  
Project Year: 2012
Project Cost: $75,001 - $100,000
Country: United States

Botox Renovations™ for Kitchen and Bathrooms in TownHomes
When looking to update your kitchen and bathroom, sometimes it may only need a minor Botox Renovations™ updating the lighting, new countertops, new appliances, and either refinishing the existing cabinets or adding new cabinets. The plumbing and the footprint of the original kitchen or bathroom does not change. Always ask your town if permits are required. Many towns want permits pulled because you need to bring the room up to the new codes. We pulled permits because we had to update the electrical and added a wine cabinet in one project. This is a cost effective way to create a new look!
Project Year: 2011
Project Cost: $50,001 - $75,000
Country: United States
Zip Code: 07920

Do the prices seem in par with what you think a room should cost or were you expecting the rooms to be lower?
Yes you can decorate your home on a lower budget shopping at Target, Home Goods, Ashley Furniture, Ikea, and online furniture stores like Wayfair. You are working pro bono, so you can do all the researching you need to do  get your home decorated in an economical way.
You can do your bathrooms and kitchens at Home Depot or Lowes, but the quality, the selections, and the contractors are not going to be the same as if you work with us. Yikes, it's like playing spin the bottle with the contractors who don't have licenses and don't carry the proper insurance.
Word of caution: If they say they don't need a permit to renovate an unfinished basement, the liability falls on you, the homeowner. 
We charge a flat fee for the design and specify, but do not charge an hourly fee for the purchases. We also do not go shopping for items, if we have to leave our office to shop at retail stores, we charge an hourly fee.
It is actually more expensive to hire a designer to do a room at a lower cost because we charge an hourly rate of $150.00 just to search for the lower cost items. That means a $99.00 lamp at Home Goods is going to cost you $249.00 or more if we don't find the perfect lamp at Home Goods and have to run over to Target to see what they have.
We hate charging clients an hourly fee to shop retail and have found clients who appreciate our professionalism and experience. They want us select a better quality furnishing from our sources rather than shop at retail stores who have already marked up an item 2-3 times to make a profit.
We want our new clients to be comfortable with our fees, the expectations of what good quality will cost, and know in the end, know we have designed a home that was created for the way they live and tell their story.

We would love to hear from you if you have a project that you feel would be the perfect fit with our design company .
Remember, all designers are not equal. Some are higher than my design company and have higher budget qualifications. Some designers are lower and don't have the experience, the education, been published, done designer showhouses, or have the television exposure we have had. 
You need to do your homework and understand the differences in designers, their portfolios (or not) and if they will fit your expectations in your design project.

​It's just like buying a car.......