Home & Real Estate: Design on a dollar

In order to save costs Howard suggests talking to designers about working on a frame work for the room, and then using the designer to consult with rather than paying them to put together a final project.

Howard says this way he is able to take on a larger number of smaller projects while allowing his clients to save money but still have a decorator.

“A lot of times in the past I would find the couch, mark it up for them and deliver it for them and take care of everything for them, and because of the economy and all of the design shows people want to do a lot of things,” Howard says. “Like we might agree on a couch and I’ll give them the stock number and they can search for the best price themselves.”

The economy is also shifting the trend to cleaner lines, with fewer big pieces rather than a lot of smaller ones.

“People are finding that less is more,” Howard says. “I know if I come home I don’t want to have a lot of stuff everywhere. I want a few pieces of art… People are choosing that instead of a lot of little tchotchkes, they want the one or two ‘wow’ pieces.”

 

Top photo: Courtesy image