Interior designer, Renee Ayers Stephens has been working steadily in the design industry since 1997. After spending several years working for other companies, she decided to venture off on her own and in 2001 established Modus Operandi Designs, Inc. Since then, she has improved the decor and design of some of the most beautiful homes in Orange County, as well as numerous "fixer-uppers", which were transformed from "worn" to "wonderful".
If you have never hired an interior designer before and have some questions as to how the process works, maybe we can help:
Q. Why should I hire an interior designer?
A. If you are at all concerned with making sure that the choices you are making for your home improvement project will be the best ones for the money, you need a designer. I can help you in selecting everything from flooring to granite, from window treatments to accessories, from space planning to whole house color schemes.
In the long run, my services are less expensive than it would be to "re-do" something that was done wrong.
Q. What's the first step in hiring a designer?
A. Setting up a consultation and estimating your budget is the first thing you need to do. My initial consultations are free, during which time I will listen to what it is you'd like to accomplish as well as get a strong sense for the style of home you're hoping to achieve.
Q. Will you work with my general contractor?
A. I have often worked very closely with G.C.'s and am happy to communicate directly with that person at any given stage of the job.
Q. I don't have a general contractor yet. Can you recommend anyone?
A. I have several resources to recommend and they are people I've worked closely with many times in the past.
Q. How expensive is it to hire a designer?
A. I do my best to work within your budget at all times. Typically, I work on an hourly basis and can roughly estimate the number of hours the client's project will require so that the client has an idea of what my services will cost.
Because I work hourly, my clients get my cost on most of the merchandise I purchase, which is often anywhere from 10-50% off retail, depending on the establishment's discount for designers. This saves my clients a lot of money in the long run and allows me to maximize my talents on the project.