S Interior Design

Suzanne is a great designer, unfortunately, I had a bad experience with her and ended up having to end our relationship before the remodel project was complete. I was so hopeful about hiring a designer to turn our home into something beautiful for our family but now, I'm left with a project that I'm not sure how or when I'll be able to complete. Suzanne worked with us early on and had us fill out the questionnaire, met with us at the house and walked through what we wanted to change. This was my husband's home before we got married and while it's a beautiful home, it wasn't my style or taste, nor did it have a warm, family feel. During the initial meeting, we determined we'd repaint the interior, repaint & lighten the kitchen cabinets, install tile backsplash in the kitchen, install tile around the fireplace (we knew this needed done but hadn't made a decision on it previously), sell the pool table that was in the dining room (he finally agreed to it!), buy new living room furniture, add a gallery wall on the staircase, add canvas pictures in the family room, replace several light fixtures, repaint the nursery, redo the main floor bathroom, add a runner on our tile stairs, have built in cabinets added upstairs for storage and have a fireplace built in custom made. We committed to spend quite a bit of money and moved quickly to get things done. We had a huge list of things to do. Within 30 days, the project was moving and mid-way through. There were some bumps along the way - but that's expected. The custom cabinet installer mis-measured the fireplace width so the TV cabinet and mantle were 12" too short (he fixed it), the tile guy mis-estimated the amount of tile he'd need for the fireplace (a mistake that cost me over $500 to fix and complete the job!). I was amazed that I didn't hear anything from Suzanne as these issues were happening. I'd used her recommended contractors and she was on the emails about the problems and issues but she never reached out to see if things were OK, which bothered me a lot. I work in an ad agency and when there are issues for my clients, I am on the phone with them, making sure things are OK and making sure they know I'm there for them. There was none of this from her during the situation. She called to follow up about it weeks after the fact. She fixated on one part of the project, that I couldn't get done at the moment and wouldn't let up about it. I ended up feeling like she was treating me like an idiot, someone who didn't understand the importance of ensuring my family was safe.... yet, this was something I'd told her about initially and explained why it was important to be corrected. I'd send her a status update for the project (I thought she'd handle this part but I guess not) and she'd zero in on this one piece of it and actually responded to the email to basically say, none of what I was doing was important - I shouldn't focus on any of that until X project was done. I spoke with her on the phone shortly after and ended up even more frustrated, she actually told me that she'd send flowers when someone got hurt and ended up in the hospital because of this issue. How in the world is that an appropriate comment to make to a homeowner? That's when I lost it and told her I never wanted to hear another word about that particular part of the project. She'd made comments about the baby and I getting hurt, someone ending up in the hospital, she was relentless about this particular piece and my hands were tied. I knew it was important but my husband was against the recommended change. I didn't need to be berated repeatedly about something that I told her was an issue in the first place. She said it came from the heart, wanting to help, but it caused me so much extra stress. It was horrible. I'm so disappointed by my overall experience with her. I went from being so excited and hopeful that I'd finally found someone who could help me turn my house into a home for my family (since my husband loves this place and doesn't want to sell) but in the end, here I sit with a project that's half finished and no clue where I'm going to come up with the time to complete it. I ended up ending the relationship and asking for the last bit of my retainer back when I'd tried unsuccessfully to re-engage her in the project for two months and ended up nowhere (but had somehow used two hours from my retainer). I believe she's a talented designer with a good eye but she treated me like I was a child or stupid on numerous occasions. She made really unprofessional, hurtful comments that were uncalled for and in the end, wasn't reliable to the point I gave up and ended it. I work full time and have a 10 month old, this is not the situation I wanted to be in. Ever.