DESIGN Q & A

Excellent. We loved his ideas. He treated us with respect and courtesy and did a real good job. He was also great to come on Saturday, which was good for our busy schedule. At this point, we are not likely to remodel and use his recommendations, and will opt instead to sell our house and buy a new one. But if we do stay, we will have him design a change in our main floor floorplan to create a large great room -- an idea he provided us with during our consultation. We would definitely recommend Paul again in the future.

Both my wife and I really liked working with Paul. Paul was able to find some creative solutions to our space issues and come up with a new design for our house that maximized functionality and space. Some of the challenges included a cost efficient approach to relocating our kitchen with a new dining space nearby; finding a functional solution for our front room - important space that previously was never used; fitting a master bath, closet and bedroom into the new space upstairs, and designing a roof profile that was both possible and appealing. We worked with Paul for several months and found him to be a real pleasure to work with. The construction process will begin soon.

Paul provided me with great design ideas;helping me figure out how to integrate my antique furniture from an 1890 Victorian into our newly purchased "open concept" home. Trying to make our antique baby grand piano work with a white kitchen seemed impossible to me. Paul provided design suggestions to make it work. He confirm several of my own design ideas and built on them. He suggested paint tones and redesign of an odd fireplace mantle . He was an excellent sounding board and design teacher. It was a pleasure to speak with him

I recall that many suggestions were made. He was responsive to all my questions. We did not use him for anything more than the consultation as a couple of months later we made a decision to move.

Extremely Disappointing! May 30th, 2014 I contacted Paul Livdahl ( paul@designqanda.com ) after reading his reviews on Angie's List and due to his proximity to my property. He offered to spend time on property, develop simple 2D drawings to rough out ideas, then offer 3D renderings of top choices then provide complete construction drawings capable of being used by contractors to perform the renovations. We exchanged e-mails and made an appointment for the evening of June 5th, 2014. He arrived and discussed our scope with my wife and me. Originally we were looking to 1.) renovate the kitchen floor plan & flooring - replace cabinets, raise the ceiling and change from fluorescent panels to light cans - possibly open up a wall to the dinning room - possibly relocate the laundry upstairs to get more room in the kitchen 2.) Renovate the Master Bath, shower & flooring: - Replace fiberglass shower with larger tile & glass shower - Replace in-floor whirlpool tube with larger soaker tube - Replace toilet/sinks & cabinets 3.) Possibly redesign Master Closet to become upstairs Laundry After discussions and 2 hours of taking photos and measurements Paul Livdahl ( paul@designqanda.com ) tells us that he estimates that it would be roughly $2400 for the complete package (as discussed) and that he'd need 50% down to start. We wrote a check for $1200 and he told us that he'd be back to us in about 3 weeks with the initial 2D sketches. We had no scope of work in writing, no estimate in writing and no receipt for the check. The check was cashed the next day. June 29th we had to contact Paul Livdahl ( paul@designqanda.com ) to find out where he was with our 2D sketches. July 11th we received an e-mail containing a 2D kitchen sketch with several options. July 12th we received another e-mail with a 2D sketch of the Master bath with six floor plan options. It looked odd, then we realized he had somehow used dimensions that were wrong and could have easily been verified with the images he had initially taken. Corrections and revisions for the 2D sketches took anther 4-6 weeks afterwards it became clear to us that we could not re-arrange the floor plan to the kitchen or the bath substantially. So we reduced the scope. Communications was getting long and difficult and by November we finally got the impression that he was far too busy with other contracts to take ours to the basic 3D level. I did find it interesting that in the time we were trying to get $1200 worth of design work out of him, numerous others had bought a 'Special' through Angie's List for far less and had completed their work. Lesson learned: Do not work with a designer (Paul Livdahl ( paul@designqanda.com )) without a scope of work, a contract, and a timetable. I'm out $1200 for a dozen 2D sketches and nothing tangible to work with. I will not recommend this designer to anyone.

We are at the beginning of a kitchen remodel, and wanted broad ideas about what options we had. Paul was very responsive to our likes and dislikes and budget, and gave us advice I believe we will be following. He also offered to review our plans once we get the details together and prior to our ordering. He was creative and professional.

Very professional and punctual. Setting up a time was very easy.

He did a great job guiding the conversation to understand my style and goals for the house design. We picked out some paint colors and laid out some pictures, it was just the advice I needed. I would definitely hire him again should I need design advice!

It went ok. I had been looking for more basic design about colors, paint, and wallpaper, and they were more of a decorator/construction company.

suggested alot more work then originslly intended for alot extra dollars, 3d drawings etc etc etc had already done trim work on one floor of home myself, suggested was done in the wrond finish. originally ordered 3d drawing of my completed project but time line was to long and cancelled with refund

It went fine. We really didn't use the services. He's very personable and friendly to work with.

It was great! Invaluable. I had just moved into my new house so my place was a mess, and I did not have just one question. I had a million. Where should I put the TV? What about repainting colors? How can i make the space look larger? Should i take out this wall? If i get a counter depth fridge would it look better in this space than the current one? How about blinds instead of the curtains now in the place? What kind and color of blinds? Paul emailed me ahead of time to ask questions about my style. I picked out some pics of what I liked from Houzz. So he came knowing some of my preferences, and gave me excellent general advice that I am taking today, and pointed out some key things that I should be thinking about as i do make more permanent design choices, and start buying things. I plan to be back in touch with him when I redo the bathroom.

He did a great job listening and understanding our ideas, and was then able to suggest new directions that we weren't even considering before - but were clearly superior to anything we had in mind before.

I ended up deciding to postpone my remodeling design, so I didn't have any work done. Both the service provider and Angie's List were great to work with.

Paul spent two hours consulting with me about a general plan for updating my large, open kitchen, living room, sunroom and open loft area. He listened to my thoughts and ideas, and brought in some things I had not thought of. I was especially appreciative of his wall color suggestions, and some possible creative fixes for dealing with the honey-oak woodwork that i do not care for, but thought I was stuck with, including a large open stairway and balcony rail. I was trying to determine a cohesive plan for floors, fireplace update, paint and trim colors, woodwork, kitchen cabinets, lighting and window treatments that I can execute in stages over the period of several years. He was very observant of pointing out ideas that would keep costs down. We also discussed some ideas for a bathroom remodel that I will do in the future. I will search out materials that we discussed and get samples. He will come back anytime to help me make final decisions, etc. for his regular fee of $100 per hour. He also offers more inclusive design services, such as 3D design models, collecting materials, etc, but I am a semi do-it-myselfer on a tight budget and prefer to do the materials research myself. This did not affect his willingness to work with me on these minimal terms. I am very happy with his service so far, and have every intention of working again with him when I go forward with my remodel stages.

Paul listened to what my needs were. Didn't just go full steam into super expensive ideas/plans to update my home!

Paul was very generous with his time and very thoughtful. We gained a lot just from the couple hour visit. He seemed to understand that we live pretty simply and offered some budget friendly tips.

He noticed little details like the color of the faceplates and that the crown molding had not been caulked. We were able to make these changes without spending a lot of money and it really made a difference! He also helped me figure out a paint color for our entire main floor. I'm happy with how everything turned out.

This is money well spent. Paul helped us visualize a design and style for our main living and dining area. He has a great knowledge of design and structure. We now have a good sense of the direction we want to go and how to proceed.

Paul provided design ideas, paint color suggestions and effective ideas to improve the theme, color, mood and value of our home. We have planned for some of his suggestions, but he is patient, thoughtful and is very knowledgeable. Would definitely recommend.

Paul came out on time to our house as always(We have used him for much bigger renovation in the past and he was always responsive and punctual). Since it is rather small project we didn't want to spend a lot of money on the design but at the same time I couldn't quite decide on what to do with the details-wall color, molding, trim, door, light fixture, flooring and such. We hired Paul for 2.5 hours to use his knowledge. I had collected a lot of ideas but didn't know what would really fit our style. Paul was very clear in terms of what to do, what not to do, what we should/could do later. I felt like I had all the pieces of the puzzle mixed up in my head and Paul put it all together. It was so worth it. He also answered so many questions even after he visited. While he was in our house, I also took advantage of having him and walked around the house and asked him questions that I had in my head, "what if.. ?" It took much longer to fininsh this project because this time, we are actually hiring indivisual workers instead of using a contractor. What I really like about Paul is that he is capable of doing any big OR small job and also doesn't make you feel like you are less important because your job is small.

The initial design went very well and Paul had some great ideas that helped me a lot. However, he then started getting busy and had system problems and was not able to fulfill requirements in a timely manner. He did give me a discount off of the original purchase price to make up for it and what I really needed was help with the layout so it all worked out.

He was very helpful and gave design ideas for how we could improve our house. Even some surprising suggestions! Helped realize the dimensions of two rooms on different floors were not the same, even though we imagined they were. Helped plan for holidays. Suggested items to buy, color schemes, ways to save space and what not to change. Also ideas for lighting.

Very professional, good communicator. Designs were innovative and helpful. We decided to use the design that we could do ourselves.

From the first meeting, I could tell Paul had some great ideas that I would have never thought of on my own. I started with him via a Big Deal, then hired him for a number of other visits, and eventually hired him to draw a ktichen plan when i decdied to remodel the kitchen. Prior to that, he gave me a number of other ideas of what to do on a smaller scale with the kitchen if I decided not to do the remodel. I had the whole home repainted on the inside - and the colors he helped picked are great. He is very responsive and easygoing. I have recommended him to others, and would absolutely hire him again.