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Worth it to pay someone for interior design?

I

Isocene

Senior member
Summary
- Buying first house
- Plan on renting it out after 3 years
- Want to make best bang for your buck improvements
- Should I hire a designer?
- Pictures of house

So. I'm buying my first house. I intend to turn it into a rental property in 3 years so I don't want to dump a ton of money into it. I do want to put in a decent amount to make it look nicer so it's a good place for me to live for a while and will draw in renters quickly.

I sent the following mail to about 8 ads on craigslist listed for interior design. I got replies from almost all of them already(sent 2am Saturday). They are giving a large range of prices, from $35 to $85 an hour, and I'm not sure how to pick one or if it's even worth the money.

Since this is my first time I thought I would see if yall with more experience can let me know what may be the best path.

"Hi, I found your Interior Design ad on craigslist. I'm looking to get some advice on ideas of how to improve the feel of a house I'm closing on at the start of April. Let me go into a bit more detail. I'm a 27 year old guy who is buying his first house. I'm buying this house with the intent to move out in 2 or 3 years and turn into a rental property. I want to make changes to the house that will ideally last for years and require very little effort/money to maintain.

Here is a link to a billion pictures of the house:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ma.../House?feat=directlink

The house was built in 1993 and as you can see is pretty simple. The house is located in Round Rock in the Somerset neighborhood. There is about 1500 square feet. The price of the house was low, $110k.

Before I move in(I have until April 30th), I intend to have tile put down in the living room, kitchen and bathrooms. The stairs and bedrooms will be re-carpeted. I'm also interested in replacing the counter top. I choose tile because I've heard it's very low maintenance and is hard to mess up. If a tile gets cracked, the process of dropping in another tile is very appealing to me. The last thing I want to do is repaint the inside of the house. My Realtor suggests that I get the whole house done with a single color because it's cheaper to get it done that way.

What I need:

- Suggestion on tile, carpet and counter top colors and types
- General low-cost improvements that can be done to the kitchen/house to make it look better

I've never sought out design services before. If you could let me know if this is something you could do, how you would provide your suggestions(pictures and such) and what your fee would be, I would appreciate it.

Email is usually the best way to contact me.

Thanks!"
 
Well a couple things to consider...one is all your design money is then going to be over a 2-3 year use...could be a bit expensive for a place you are looking to unload.

Also it's a bit hard to project whether or not this place will even make a decent rental in 2-3 years. It's best to figure that out at the time you are moving. Keep in mind if it's not paid off the mortgage on it will work against your next house purchase and most banks are getting tighter with 'rentals'

 
unless you're planning on spending tens of thousands of dollars, i doubt it. there are a lot of costs you need to factor in, like the designers labor, furniture, construction, painting, window treatments and labor... it adds up.
 
I've done the research of seeing how much rental houses go for in the area(actually getting rented) and at the price I got the house for, I'll have at least a $200 buffer if I were to rent it out today. I just want to make some changes to make it look a bit nicer.

And yeah, the counter tops are crazy.
 
I'm not a fan of having other people dictate what I want to see. I'd buy some housing magazines and get some ideas from them. Even at the lowest price of $35 per hour, that money will go a long way towards buying supplies.
 
I wouldn't pay anyone.

Get bids on the flooring, and ask the contractor to bring you back recommendations on materials. The countertop definitely needs to go, but the installer can give you advice and options on colors and materials.

As far as tile, I'd definitely recommend it for the kitchen bath and entry, but not for the living room. And contrary to what you believe, it isn't HARD to replace a broken piece, but making it not readily apparent that you replaced an area is hard.
 
Tile countertops=bad. Sure the tile is easy to clean, but the grout isn't. Just stick with formica. Just spray it with some cleaner and wipe it down.

One thing i've finally learned over 15 years of having rentals. You're going to repaint, don't fight it. Here are some things that have helped me. Paints don't match for touch up. If you buy cerulean blue right now and go back a year later and buy the same color to touch up, it's not going to be a perfect match. The paint store can try to get it closer, but i've found it easier to leave a quart or gallon of the original paint at the rental. Put it in a closet and label the color and where you used it in sharpie. Tell the tenants under penalty of death to not touch that paint. If you run out of paint or the area is too big to cover with the original paint, then buy some new paint and paint 1 entire wall. the lighting will be different on each wall, so no one can tell that they aren't a perfect match.

Some paint stores will have designers or people that can help you pick colors. If not, the guys there can tell you the most popular builder colors. Same with tile companies. They usually have someone that can help pick. I'd suggest a porcelain tile. Tough to work with, but I haven't had a single tile damaged by a renter.

 
Thanks for all the advice.

I do plan on using porcelain tile. My Realtor told me to go with the biggest tile that is affordable. I went to a 90 minute tile class at home depot yesterday and learned a bit more about the process. I'm definitely going to pay someone to do it although I may leave one bathroom undone so I can give it a try.

For the paint, my Realtor suggested an almond white.

I think I will not use an interior designer and just do more reading and HGTV watching to get ideas.

I want to replace the counter top with the stone lookalike laminate. I guess I should replace the knobs in the kitchen as well.
 
I would skip the designer. Paint the kitchen and replace the counters. There are already alot of nice looking colours in the house I think. Just repaint anything that looks overly tacky. If I did anything to that house it would involve the kitchen and that siding in the first few pics.
 
Interior designers are always a waste of money. Why pay someone to do things you can do and have fun doing? Are you some sort of jet-setter nad have no spare time on your hands?
 
No I just think I have horrible taste when it comes to making things look prettier. What I was hoping for was to pay someone $50 to suggest a color scheme for the paint, tile and counter top and mention a few things that I could change on the cheap to make a decent difference. Someone who spent a year watching HGTV and would enjoy seeing their well-thought input implemented would have been cool. I guess an interior designer is a bit more than that!
 
Originally posted by: Isocene
No I just think I have horrible taste when it comes to making things look prettier. What I was hoping for was to pay someone $50 to suggest a color scheme for the paint, tile and counter top and mention a few things that I could change on the cheap to make a decent difference. Someone who spent a year watching HGTV and would enjoy seeing their well-thought input implemented would have been cool. I guess an interior designer is a bit more than that!
Click to expand...

You can get that for free from a good paint/tile store. ie. not HD or Lowes.
 
Yup I sure at! And I qualified for $100 move in. So I get paid $6000(minus some closing fees) to buy the house
 
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