RyanAlexander Interiors

The owner of this firm, Pam DiTomaso, does not readily take ownership of problems, and there were lots of problems with this job. It became clear early on that she was new to our area and had no prior experience with the subcontractors she was using. There were literally hundreds of problems from using flat paint on doors and woodwork (we requested gloss), to cleaning and resealing the marble floors BEFORE painting, then having to have them redone AFTER as the painter spilled and splattered with abandon, to a seemingly malicious effort to make life miserable for us by scratching off the bar codes from the paint cans (very low-end contractor grade paint btw) so we couldn't easily buy touch up paint after she was gone. She designed drapes for our bedroom. They are very heavy. We have drywall (it's a condo, most condos in FL have drywall walls). About a week after they were installed the rods started pulling away from the wall and eventually one side fell. She sent the original contractor who gerry-rigged the rod using long screws to attach the rod to the concrete ceiling. The screws are dark brown and show above the rods against the beige wall color. They weren't all even screwed in at at the same angle and are clearly visible above the rod! Bottom line, she ordered the wrong rod for the job and blamed us for having drywall walls. Her suggested solution was to hire a contractor to put in studs in the walls at our cost, to provide the necessary reinforcement to hold the rod and drapes she had chosen as the "professional." She said it wasn't her fault our walls weren't strong enough to hold the drapes! When we objected to the cost of this and said she should solve the problem she created, she emailed saying she didn't want to hear from us again. We had initially requested black out drapes for the bedroom, which she immediately told us she didn't like. That's fine, but it's our bedroom so we prevailed - sort of. When the drapes were installed they were room darkening, but not black out. We live on the ocean with an eastern view so the sun is very bright, very early in the mornings. Not only were they not black out they didn't close all the way - with a 1 1/2 inch gap allowing sunlight to stream in. She said they were custom made, so they couldn't be returned. Our problem. SHE DESIGNED THEM! I've since had them checked by a couple of other drapery manufacturer/installers and both said the installation was clearly a mistake, and they should overlap when closed. One installer was able to make a simple adjustment that has helped tremendously. She vented our dryer into the adjacent kitchen cabinet leading to moisture damage to the cabinets, dryer lint all over our dishes and mold and mildew in the walls (we have since had these replaced and the dryer properly vented into an adjacent chase designed for the purpose behind the dryer). She had tried to vent it into the a/c closet across the hall, but was blocked by duct work from achieving this, thankfully, as we would have had a major problem with our entire condo's cooling system. We were not in town when all of this was done. When we told her it wasn't an acceptable solution she literally shrugged. We pointed out the moisture damage happening to the walls. She said, oh, perhaps there's a leak from your neighbor above (the damage wasn't to the ceiling but to the freshly painted walls. I have pictures galore of the problems, but they don't begin to explain how difficult this 'designer" is to deal with. She sees herself as a professional and mentions this ad nauseam as though these magic words will make it true. She seems to see the customer as a problem, is sweet as can be while designing and then varies from passive aggressive to openly hostile once she has payment in hand. It appears she has since moved away from our area and, last I saw online, it seems her firm is now operating in Alexandria, Virginia. Want your bath towel rod installed 12" above the toilet (making it impossible to dry a bath towel) only to have it re-installed 6" from the ceiling once the initial impractical installation is called to your designer's attention? Want a designer who advises you that your bathtubs should be re-glazed, then tells you the bubbles and grainy texture of the paint job is normal and to be expected? Want to install your own shower rod when your designer says she doesn't feel comfortable drilling into the marble shower walls for fear they will break? (it's called a masonry bit - they sell them at any hardware store - it took 15 minutes for me to install). Want drips and streaks in the gloss paint (finally) used on some of the woodwork that looks like a DIY job? Want the ceiling area between the drapery rod and the sliding doors in your condo unpainted even after asking repeatedly for this to be taken care of? Etc., etc....This is the firm for you! Check out any licensing or other credentials she is claiming before hiring this, or any, designer. We discovered after the fact that the design organizations she claimed to be affiliated with had no record of her being registered at the time we hired her. We had no contract with her. Each part of the job was written on a sales agreement with an address in Sarasota, FL, her previous business address. I would strongly suggest having this agreement reviewed by an attorney before entering into it, as it is totally one-sided for the designer and leaves the buyer with very little room to obtain legal relief should things not go as planned. I spoke with a lawyer about this job after she walked and he said interior design is not well regulated in FL, so the only recourse we would have was civil court, but the sales agreement made that option even difficult to pursue. To anyone considering using this company please beware and don't sign anything without seeking counsel first. Caveat Emptor!