KAREN CRONIN DESIGN

We are moving from a traditional large 100 year old home in the heart of West Chester Boro to a contemporary home in a wooded setting. The new home has a significant mountain house flair but we wanted to have a more sophisticated look. Our current furniture does not match the style of the home. We had a color specialist from Sherwin Williams get us started in the consideration of flooring and paint color choices. Karen was able in her initial 2 hour visit to create a great overall plan for the development of an interior presentation that brings sophistication and style that we were not able to pull together on our own. She spent time assessing the assets of the home itself and then build a plan for displaying the architectural design the home has to offer and accentuate that without being too trendy. Not Pottery Barn or Renovation Hardware. It was a very individual assessment of the home and what to do for paint, flooring, railings, furniture, lighting and accessories that would bring out the best in the home for what it is. And that was just in the 2 hour initial meeting. We were very impressed with Karen and look forward to working with her in the future. If you want an individualized approach to maximizing the assets of your home using a very sophisticated palate, Karen is the perfect choice.

Karen is a very professional and thoughtful designer. Due to our lack of readiness for a project, we decided not to hire Ms. Cronin.

Recently she designed a kitchen island for us, saving us thousands of dollars, by not needing to completely trash the one we have. The before and after pictures on our kitchen are below. She took me to the best vendors for the project, (quartz, cabinet, tile). She was responsive to emails and texts with follow-up questions, and most importantly, she designed the spec. for our island redesign that our handyman was easily able to build.

Amazing. Karen is a true professional. From consultantion to follow-up, Karen owns it. She makes the overwhelming, commonly disappointing process of home decorating fun, easy and rewarding.

extremely well. Karen is very organized, keeps track of deliveries and service repair and provides workmen and helps with decision making. She is great!!

Karen is a delight to work with. She designed a beautiful built-in bookcase and credenza that completely transformed our living and dining rooms. She guided us on numerous decisions regarding paint color, drapery fabric, light fixtures, floor coverings, and furniture placement. She is patient, thoughtful, and brimming with inspirational ideas.

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If I could give Karen an A+ I would. I'm refinishing my basement and was having troubles with picking out my final selections for cabinets, counter tops, lighting, fixtures and back splash for my bar, all bathroom finishes, and paint for all rooms. I gave her ideas of what I wanted and we met at a showroom and she helped me pick out everything. Even after we were done we still communicated through email to pick the last few things as she had ideas that she saw at different showrooms. She was also able to help find better pricing on certain items due to her network which was great. I will definitely be using her in the future and would highly recommend her for anyone looking for an interior designer.

Karen developed design ideas and design drawings; recommended tradesmen, color schemes, furniture, appliances, lighting configurations, etc.; for renovation of our first floor. The complete project from concept to completion took about one year. Although Karen's design strengths seem to lie in contemporary decor and popular configurations, she was able to provide solid assistance for our Early American tastes. We had several designers visit us for preliminary ideas with our renovation, the most spectacular change being to allow a kitchen and living room to "communicate" by eliminating a goodly part of the wall separating them. Her idea was the best - a 3 ft x 12 ft opening between the rooms with a flat, large sill which was both decorous and practical. She helped select new and larger windows for both living and dining rooms, and suggested a different wood stove placement in the family room to provide greater room utility. She designed four built-in shelf/cabinet combos for living, family, and powder rooms, and a wall-to-wall bench with under-seat storage for the breakfast room. She provided alternate ceiling finish configurations (bead board, etc) and assisted us with trim design. She assisted with paint color selection, tile selection and purchase, and lighting design and fixture purchases. She was able to obtain a designer's discount from suppliers at no cost. While Karen provided us with decor configurations that she felt were best, she was very sensitive to our tastes and style, and did not push particular ideas, but was able to modify as we wished. During the year in which she worked with us, Karen was at once professional, accommodating, and friendly - a true delight to deal with. She was tactful in her handling of clear differences in taste and style that existed between my wife and me, and was helpful in nudging us to a meeting of the minds. Karen was reasonably flexible on scheduling meetings and visits and was always punctual. My wife and I give her a strong recommendation.

Amazing. Karen is a true professional and a pleasure to work with. She made the entire process easy and fun. She made use of things we had and helped us choose and order new pieces. Great experience! A++++++++++++

Karen was instrumental as we remodeled 3 areas of our home. For the exterior of our house she gave wonderful advice regarding color selection and coordination. We love the colors she helped us choose for our front door, exterior walls! Apparently so do our neighbors because we frequently get compliments! She designed a fabulous wainscoting, chose a terrific grass cloth wallpaper and found carpet tiles that really makes our basement a wonderful space for our family! Choosing the right colors, upholstery, carpet and layout for a room can be a daunting task! Karen has the ability to be in a room, see the form and function and combine that with the look you are going for, all with great style and ease!

All of the work was done in a timely and professional manner with spectacular results. Note that these projects were vastly different in scope and end-product, yet Karen was able to adapt and provide guidance in both efforts. She has an innate ability to work with a client and determine what are the motivations and results desired after consultation and discussion, expanding the possibilities and adding her own experience to move the project forward. Perhaps the most daunting part of any design effort, large or small is choosing among the immense number of alternatives and selecting those which work together as a whole. Karen is capable of pulling all of the various elements of a project together and presenting them as a detailed whole, allowing the client to make the decisions from a much smaller number of alternatives. This is invaluable for those of us who do not have the time, or experience to ?pull it all together? While Karen has a keen eye and esthetic, we never felt that any of the areas were ?her design?; we always felt that the end product was the result of a true collaboration. Another service that Karen provides which is invaluable is dealing with contractors, vendors, and others on the project to coordinate delivery and installation of products. While this role is ostensibly the job of the general contractor, without the assistance of a third party, the burden of coordination falls on to the homeowner. Karen was a godsend, often anticipating problems or by being on site, correcting them before they became unchangeable. Finally, Karen is a true professional. She returns phone calls and e-mails promptly. She is considerate of your time and schedule. She does not push or force you into a decision, but will help guide you when you need to keep the project on schedule. She is a pleasure to work with, and we heartily recommend her design services.

Karen consulted with my mother and me to re-decorate my mother's living room. Karen's manner with my elderly mother was incomparably thoughtful and very patient. During visits to the apartment, Karen was able to provide fabric and paint samples and gently elicited my mother's true wishes regarding color and pattern. She met us at the Marketplace Design Center, where she guided us around the fabric showroom and we were able to pick out a lovely fabric. She then put us in contact with a very competent painter and upholsterer; both men were punctual, courteous, and fastidious in completion of their work. We are very very happy with the result. I am working with Karen now (Oct. 2014) on a backsplash for my kitchen and am excited about the anticipated finished design. Karen truly understands the creative process. She listens closely to you, the customer, assimilates your design desires and comes up with solutions. She is very interactive, wants to hear your feedback, which she will then incorporate into a new design option, if needed. Karen truly wants to help you create an environment that will enrich your daily life. I highly recommend Karen Cronin Design services; she's excellent!

Karen always responded very quickly by phone and by e-mail. She was very reliable. She bought the accessories herself and did not ask me to pay for them until I was sure I was happy with them. She went to the store, picked out the furniture and then asked us to go to the store at our convenience to try it out. The whole process was without stress. She was a pleasure to work with.

Karen came in to do an assessment of what we wanted to do. She returned with ideas and her proposal. She is extremely knowledgeable, collaborative, creative and professional. I am very busy and Karen made this extensive renovation possible. She was very intuitive and understood our likes and dislikes... She listened and would bring us a few samples or pictures and they were always on target. I would recommend her and will work with her again.

Overal 10 out of 10 as stated above . I would recommend Karen to anyone seeking an interior decorator.

I am extremely happy with the outcome. The object was to create a peaceful, relaxing, comfortable family room. I had been working on this for 6 years or more, purchased 2 couchs and 2 chairs under the guidance of 3 different designers, all of whom I had to let go because they just weren't understanding the look and style I was after. The couches and chairs did not look right or feel right. So I had ended up spending a lot of money on furniture that just wasn't right in any way. I hired Karen in Dec 2009, finding her highly recommended in Angie's list. We met and she carefully explained how she bills (either as a whole job, where she works up a design, chooses the furniture, purchases it , gets contract work done, etc or on an hourly basis for consultation services with the customer purchasing the needed furniture, accessories, paint, etc. I chose the second option, which included using electrical and paint contractors that she recommended, but with me paying them separately. I found her fee schedule to be quite reasonable. The result was that I now have a beautiful, peaceful, comfortable and relaxing family room. Friends who have seen the before and after have been wowed by how wonderful and different the room looks. I already had carpeting and an area rug, coffee table, end tables and tv table. Karen helped me choose the color of the wall paint and her paint contractor chose a stunning color for the woodwork that I would never have thought of. She also met me at the furniture store to help me choose 2 chairs and a couch and their fabric and color. They are gorgeous and fit everything in the room beautifully. I used her recommended electrical contractor who installed recessed lighting and a ceiling fan. The room has really been transformed. Both the paint contractor and the electrical contractor were excellent with reasonable charges. I also used her recommended window treatment outfit, and they did wonderful work. Also, all of the contractors Karen suggested were easy and fun to work with and very skilled and professional. Karen always came to the house on the day of the consultation with each contractor to advise on my choices and to make sure each contractor knew the exact details of the work to be done. She also came to the house on the start date of each contractor's work, just to be sure everything was being done as requested. Personally, Karen is very professional and skilled, has a pleasant and fun personality and carefully listens to and absorbs the client's needs. She was on time for every appointment and it was easy to schedule mutually agreeable times for each appointment. So, I give Karen an A+ and a huge thank you for finally helping us get the room we wanted and needed.

Working with Karen was very delightful. She pays close attention to your design needs and strives to make your ideas a reality. We worked together over the course of a couple of months and she was very flexible in making herself available, which was great because my schedule was very busy at the time. I found her willingness to consult with the contractor in order to make sure everything turned out right to be very helpful. Most importantly, I found her design to be top notch. I have gotten many comments on the work performed. I know I could not have achieved the same results on my own and I definitely recommend her for anybody looking to do some interior design.

Great experience. She listened to my design ideas, and helped me develop my vision. Excellent interaction. No surprises in timing, billing. Easy and fun project to be part of, results well worth waiting for.