Design Concepts

Sylvia is very professional and has a great eye for aesthetics. She worked within our budget and managed the project with our substantial input from beginning to end.

Hiring a professional decorator saved me both time and money. I hired Sylvia Elliman of Design Concepts twice to help me with projects around my home. The first time was for outdoor furniture and i was so happy with the result that i hired her to help me with my living room. Her insight, attention to detail and responsiveness are the qualities i most appreciated when we worked together. She was always on time and her knowledge of resources was invaluable. Sylvia's sense of color and style are really extraordinary. She seemed to know exactly what was right for me and I am absolutely thrilled with the result. Sylvia can make even a simple project look special when she is done.

Sylvia provided detailed design plans for our entire project. She took detailed measurements of all the areas we were remodeling and coordinated all the details with the custom cabinets she helped us select. When the cabinets arrived, everything fit together perfectly and we could not be happier with our new kitchen area. The contractor that Sylvia suggested was excellent. He completed all the required work on time and on budget. Sylvia was also very efficient in using her consulting time and the value she provides was astounding. She managed all the details of our remodeling project and ensured all our wishes and desires were included down to the smallest of details. We now have a home that we love to share with our guests and we could not have done it without Sylvia's creative input and project management skills.

I hired the provider because of her reviews on this site. The provider makes a great first impression, but I'm appalled by how she operates. ??I needed help fixing up my apartment, which was damaged by another designer. I paid for 10 hours of time upfront, and she blew through more than half her retainer picking out tiles; replacing tiles in the foyer and kitchen shouldn't have been focused on until a comprehensive plan was drawn up and other design services were first provided. The provider bills herself as a "designer," but never once did she take a measurement or show me a plan. As for the tiles: I saw some samples in the trunk of her car, but I was never provided with details as to where they were ?from or what they cost. I benefited absolutely nothing from that work.? The tiles weren't even all that nice. I was just going to let this go, as I've never written a bad review about anyone before. But a friend's wife with a natural design talent came over recently and within the space of four hours came up with a design plan, reconfigured an entire room, and made my place look and feel like a home. ?The woman also came up with a compelling reason not to replace the tiles as well. In four hours, this person provided considerably more value than the provider. The provider claims to have some 30 years of experience, yet my attorney could find no record of her having any certification. ?Unfortunately, licensing as a designer in California is entirely voluntary, and I've learned the hard way that anyone can simply hang out a shingle and call themselves a "designer." ? I notice the provider always seems to want to have the last word (a warning sign in itself) , so here's mine: If you hire the provider and are unhappy with the work, don't say I didn't warn you. If she worked as hard at design as she does at making excuses, I'd probably not be writing this review. Suffice to say, I'm now deeply suspicious of Angie's List. The positive reviews for the provider are incredibly inconsistent with my experiences. A designer that never takes even one measurement isn't a designer to be taking seriously. Learn from my mistakes: If you hire a designer, ask to see actual design plans they have drawn up before choosing one. And be weary of reviews, even on Angie's List.

Syliva was a great asset and motivator for the gr5and cahnges made to our home. We call her the "house whisperer" her taste in design and color selection was spor on! She is timely, polite, and incouraging for the whole process which took us longer than we thought but are so pleased, with everything.

We met in our home and at some local stores and the SF design center. We hired an electrical contractor to replace and add in-ceiling lights. We hired a painter to paint. But most importantly we replaced most of the furniture and the window treatments. It all looks so "put together" now without looking like it should never be used. I'm certain we would never have found the fabrics that we ended up using and loving, nor would we have picked the color scheme by ourselves. She listened to us, brought in some ideas, had us make some choices from what she felt would work. It's really nice now. We will use her again when we embark on another project.

We contracted Sylvia Elliman of Design Concepts to do the Interior Design for our condo in San Mateo. We are delighted at the final result of the fantastic project Sylvia was able to create. She has the ability to combine concepts, styles and colors with harmony and elegance, influenced by her classic evolving style. Working with Sylvia, I thoroughly enjoyed each stage of this project. The result is a very special condo that expresses who we are in ways we could not have imagined. With her exquisite sense of style and color and keen diplomatic skills, Ms Elliman was able to guide us toward the right choices in everything. She figured out how best to lay out our space and which colors and details from tile to trim, would make our condo seem spacious and contemporary, yet - also comfortable. Sylvia's counsel on what furniture to keep and what to buy was perfect and indeed, opened my eyes to a new, more modern look that still accommodated some antiques we already had. I highly recommend Sylvia Elliman of Design Concepts to anyone looking to design a space that people will notice as having been given considerable thought and with a prevailing subtle elegance, whether contemporary or classic in design.

Sylvia was very responsive. She was on time. We showed her around the house indicating that in particular we were looking for color suggestions and how to rearrange a particularly difficult room. Unfortunately, she didn't have her portfolio with her because it was with her web designer who was redoing her website at the time. Although she told us many times that she was a whiz with color, she was only able to show us pictures on her phone which isn't the best way to showcase that. She was very hesitant to give any sort of suggestions during the consultation and while I understand that she does not want to give away her services for free, we needed to have some way to see if she was the right fit for us with respect to design, especially since she didn't have her portfolio with her. She did eventually give us one or two ideas and based on those, we decided she wasn't the right fit for us personally based on our own style. She was prompt in sending us references to follow up with, but we never contacted them since we had already made a decision to go with someone else by then. The pricing structure she gave us seemed fair.

Sylvia is enjoyable to work with & has a lot of experience. She is easy to contact & always prompt. She listened to all our ideas & incorporated them into the design project. If any problems came up, she always helped to get them resolved.

Her name is Sylvia. We haven't talked dollars or cents yet. She was fabulous at responding. Her punctuality was spot on. She was very professional. She is in our top two.

I was satisfied with the remodel planning, however the design fee is pretty high for my situation @ $250.00/hour. The project described above has required 8 hours so far. But the entire project is quite a bit more expensive that I anticipated, not just the design fee. It seems to be a universal experience. My advice: Select a designer that listens carefully and understands what you want to achieve. Be candid about your budget, be clear on your priorities, and pick someone you are comfortable working with.

Sylvia is the first interior designer we spoke to regarding our future remodel and we couldn't be happier with the outcome. She came to our house right on time (without a reminder - we had scheduled months in advance, so I was worried she might forget). She was very professional, offered practical insights, and helped come up with creative suggestions to overcome differences in my husband and my styles.We plan to interview a lot of different people before making our decision, but glad Sylvia was our first stop, as she gave us a lot of confidence as we approach our first remodel project.

Sylvia visited my home in Los Gatos several times, taking pictures, coordinating various fabric samples with new furniture choices. There were e-mails and phone calls keeping me informed on status of orders. I loved her choices.

The remodel went pretty well with some minor delays due to tile ordering problems. Sylvia was professional and helpful during the project.

While designing timeless, beautifully classic, or contemporary evironments, Sylvia's keen sense and element of surprise keep her projects intriguing. As a designer myself, I have learned from working with Sylvia over the years as I watched her develop exquisite pallets for her clients, combining various materials and finishes for the projects. I always look forward to working with Sylvia on each of her new client projects. Sylvia's natural talent and years of experience have made her a very fantastic designer. I highly recommend Sylvia to anyone that is looking for a Professional Interior Design Service Provider.

My project required some creative thinking, which Sylvia provided, and the outcome is wonderful. Her attention to details was exactly what I needed, in addition to her knowledge of what would work, and what would not work. I highly recommend Sylvia to anyone who is planning a remodel project.

Sylvia was very professional to work with. She was responsive, punctual and enthusiastic about her work. It just happened that I didn't have a need for her role of a decorator - I was looking for more of a general contractor and contacted her because her profile came up on angies list as highly recommended.

The project took seven months but went smoothly enough.

I can recommend Sylvia without reservations. She is very professional and very experienced.

She was easy to work with, she had a very good eye for color and very good taste. She quickly understood what we liked and dislliked and showed us things to our taste.

She came out and looked at my kitchen and bathroom to advise on colors. she arrived late, but that is no surprise some people have trouble finding the house. She billed for 1 hour, even though we only took 30minutes and said I could email her if I had questions. When I emailed she never replied. She gave me priceless advice to not use the tile we were going to use in our bathroom. Although the slate tile she recommended wouldn't have worked for us, luckily we had some travertine handy to look at and my husband and I ended up going with that. Big Win The color she chose for the kitchen cabinets was right on. However, she recommended to paint the wayne's coating in the kitchen as well which made our smaller, country style kitchen look more closed in and too edgy so I ended up painting it back to the original color. For those reasons, I rated my quality experience as a C = Fair. Overall I was glad to have her advice even if I had to fill in some of the blanks myself.

We found them through Angie?s List and we tried some other companies before we chose Design Concepts. We thought they were the best at the time but we wouldn?t use them again. We were being told one thing in terms of the prices we were being quoted and we learned that wasn?t the case. We like the design but we don?t like the fact that the prices that we were being quoted included kickbacks to the designer. It was in the designer?s best interest to pick the most expensive items. The basic price was fair for the services offered.

Services are highly knowledgeable and professional. Excellent vendor contacts. Pleasant to work with. Completely satisfied with results.

It went very smoothly. Slyvia managed all of the inevitable glitches.

As with any project of this size, there are unforeseen snags and hiccups; Sylvia's professionalism was instrumental in keeping the project moving forward. Without her, we would have been able only been able to achieve results half as good with twice the effort. In the end, we have ended up with a home that is coordinated throughout and uniquely us. Syvia kept us involved in every step and worked hard to ensure the final result fulfilled our vision of the home we wanted. We would highly recommend using Design Concepts.