Design Inside at 910 West Van Buren Street, Chicago, Illinois.

I'm disappointed that I need to leave this review. For the most part we enjoyed working with Design Inside. Kathryn and her team gave us helpful advice on art and picked out nice accent pieces for our condo. The one star is for two main reasons:

1. Poor project management: In 2015 we starting working with Kathryn to design and implement a custom cabinetry project. After blowing past multiple extended deadlines, the project is still not totally finished. We asked to see a breakdown of designer hours to better understand how the price had far surpassed the original estimate. We even discussed getting money back if we learned that we had fact been over billed for designer or vendor error. The company never sent this breakdown.

2. Unresolved damage: We also worked with Design Inside to place some shelves in our master bathroom. One of the shelves was drilled into the wrong tiles because the designer incorrectly marked where it was supposed to go. We get that mistakes happen and we were optimistic that we could find a solution we could live with. We had a conversation with Kathryn about trying an alternate solution but were clear that if this alternative didn't meet our expectations, we would want to explore monetary compensation. When we followed up with the company to implement the alternate solution, we felt pressured into accepting the alternative solution as the final solution. Attempts to have a phone call to clarify the plan were rebuffed by the company and there is still unresolved damage in the bathroom to this day.

In both these situations we had good conversations with Kathryn that made us feel confident we could find a solution that made both parties happy. Unfortunately after those conversations we were told that Kathryn was out of the office, they didn't know when she would be back, and her associate would handle our concerns. In the course of communicating with her associate Brittany the trust we had the company was destroyed. She never sent the breakdown of hours like we requested and refused to have a phone conversation to clarify the plan for the bathroom. After multiple requests for a phone conversation and trying to call the office, the only phone call we received was from their lawyer.

Katy is the perfect mix of practical and design savvy. In our first meeting, Katy helped me to prioritize which projects would achieve the biggest impact in my home. In addition to directing me on where to invest dollars and where we could save.

We worked on several areas of my home in tandem...living room, hallway, master bedroom and guest room. Not to mention storage ideas and thoughts on future bathroom projects. The process was seamless and easy. We put a plan together in a few hours and we were off to the races.

One of the most enjoyable experiences in working with Katy was the ability for me to add my own personal touches along the way. She really adapts to her clients in terms of how involved they would like to be. For me, I had lots of ideas that Katy helped me bring to life, streamline and balance. And she also encouraged me to take chances with paint colors, fabric upholstery choices and more.

My gallery wall is one of my favorites! I could never have measured and hung with such precision. And my reupholstered hallway bench is one of my favorite stand-out pieces. Thanks Katy!

I love Katy’s design eye, easy-to-work with attitude and desire to put her client’s style into every choice. My condo is finally a home! Love it!

I highly recommend working with Design Inside and I plan on doing so for my next projects!