Find Top-Rated Rye Interior Designers

Interior Design reviews in Rye

• A

  FAUXWARD DECORATIVE PAINTING

  Andrea is a true artist and craftsman.  She is detail oriented, sees color really well and is expert in all aspects of decorative painting.
  She listens and communicates well.  She comes when she says she will and finishes in a timely manner. The work site was clean and neat every night and work was done with a minimum of disturbance. She is very nice to have around.
  I absolutely love the new color, and will be happy with this job for years to come.  I would not hire anyone else to to my
  decorative painting work.
  
  - Pamela K.
• F

  CasaLinda Designs

  Casa Linda was a complete disaster.  We were using some existing cabinetry for our kitchen renovation. Casa Linda is one of the few local vendors to carry the brand so we hired them for our project. Our kitchen renovation was only a small part of a major interior/exterior gut renovation of our home. Kim presented herself as the driving force of the company in initial meetings but soon became almost completely unavailable. She was never ?in? when I called and all messages I left were returned by her assistant, Joe.  Customer service was extremely lacking and our apparently minor renovation project (as our $20,000 project was clearly treated) seemed unworthy of Kim?s time.  
  Here is an excerpt from one of many unprofessional emails we received after expressing our frustration with Casa Linda?s performance. This was sent to my husband after Kim and Casa Linda stopped responding to my calls and emails. 
  ?We actually discussed amongst each other that as pleasant and attractive as S------- is, it was surprising that she would be upset on this occasion, when she was consistently so difficult to reach.?
  I have complete records of repeated calls I made to Casa Linda that went unanswered. When my emails were answered, replies were often defensive and rude. One morning, I tried calling Casa Linda from my home 4 times in one hour. After getting nothing but a recorded message I asked my husband to call from an unknown number at his office. Amazingly, Casa Linda answered on the first ring. 
  Although I have more complaints about Casa Linda than I have time to write, my biggest issue was that we ended up with 8 inches of extra cabinetry with no wall to attach it to. This was because Kim and her team only took one measurement in our home - before a wall in our kitchen was moved more than 4 feet out to create the new kitchen space. Kim simply went off the initial architect plans and ordered $20,000 of cabinetry based on the drawings. They never came back to measure after the wall was moved. And SOMEHOW, this was MY fault! I never claimed to have any experience or knowledge in renovating or architecture. She also unsuccessfully tried to blame my architect and contractor but clearly the blame was on Casa Linda. As my architect said, taking site measurements after construction is ?kitchen design 101.? 
  Following is a typical email exchange I had with Kim at Casa Linda.
  My initial email:
  Good morning,
  I spoke to my contractor and he said some of the moldings have been preserved but it is hard for him to measure how much. Do you think it makes sense to order an amount close to the actual measurements knowing we do have some extra?  I'll do whatever you think is best so we can get the order placed. 
  My cell service is very spotty here so if you need to talk I can be reached at 207-636-----
  Thanks, 
  A related email I sent after the installation began was the following: 
  Also another issue has come up as we continue the installation. As you can see on our plan, on the refrigerator wall there is a continuous stretch of crown/facia for 10'.  We only have 8' pieces of this material. This will create an unnecessary seam which I'm sure you will agree is not desirable. Therefore, we need to discuss ordering a 10' piece of crown and facia. And as a result, we will have 2 unusable 8' pieces of each (4 total.) 
  We would like to resolve these issues before our meeting on Friday so please call --- or me to discuss 
  Regards, 
  The reply I received was as follows:
  You  gave us permission to do what we think. We Ordered what we normally do. Especially in an instance where you continued to complain about rising costs, I did not think of inquiring about custom cuts and additional charges. You have the moldings to complete the job. If you would like additional longer lengths, you will be required to purchase them. I doubt your installer installs as many kitchens a year as we sell. EVERY installer has opinions and preferences for materials and methods for installation .All of our information was provided with plenty of time for changes. If I had to buy more material and replace cabinetry AFTER the order was delivered based on each person?s opinion, I would be out of business.
   
  I have attached just a few examples of cabinetry installed with 8? lengths in homes over 2.5 million. Installed properly, it?s seamless (unless of course if your installer brings it to your attention).
   
  If you want the pieces ordered , we would be happy to do so.
  Sincerely,
   
  Kim Amann-Ransom
  Clearly, my home being valued at less than the mentioned $2.5 million was not worthy of proper installation. This concept was clearly reminded to me throughout the duration of the construction. 
  I have numerous email exchanges that similarly reflect Kim?s unprofessionalism and worse, incompetence, in the area of kitchen renovation. I would not use or recommend her services in any capacity whatsoever.
  - SUZANNE C.
• F

  Georgio

  We purchased a home from the Georgios. The quality of the house is high however both Mr Georgio has a lot to learn about customer service. Making statements such as "I am building seven houses in Rye and you are the only wife that works" show he is completely out of touch with normal working people who need to pay mortgages. He was not concerned with the fact I worked when we signed the contract however after that point he would complain that tradespeople could not be managed to my schedule (I made myself available to be home every Friday). Furthermore he would tell me that contractors would be arriving and not provide their contact details - on multiple instances they did not show up which is very frustrating when you are taking off time from work to be home. When I finally spoke to the contractors, they would tell me Mr Georgio would call them on the day they needed to be at the house, with no reference to the other commitments they had (they often had other clients already booked in) - he would then tell me they were coming when they had never committed to be there. Mr Georgio doesn't understand how to manage resources and was really abusive to contractors and often in front of myself and my husband. 
  He was unable to give us an accurate completion date which caused us a lot of issues with obtaining financing - we had to submit financials to the Bank several times. He spends a great deal of time on holidays being unavailable at critical points during the build process.
  After he received final payment any semblance of customer service disappeared. He would not respond to emails asking about warranty items & I had to ask over and over about items. He was extremely unsympathetic or understanding about open items for example a BBQ which his contractors installed was missing parts - when I asked about this (multiple times) he told me missing a burner plate wasn't a problem and didn't impact me - I ended up having to follow up on this myself as he would not assist. He left building items in the garden and also cracked basins in the garage - he was really uncooperative when asked to remove these - we ended up footing the bill to remove a lot of this. We have had a HVAC which leaked 5 times through the floor in the attic - at this point the relationship with Mr Georgio was at a point where he told us any issues needed to be raised to his solicitor (we were still well within the 1 year warranty). The paint in the room below was damaged to a point where it needs to completely repainted - Georgio would not take any responsibility for this (other builders have told me this is something they would remedy if they had built the house).
  We also had issues with drainage in our back yard - instead of telling us that the soil had a heavy clay content, they proceeded to fill it back in and we paid a lot of money to have sod laid on this. After the first few months the sod all died and we had to spend a lot of money to have drains installed - when the work was underway, they found a lot of items had been dumped and buried (which we then had to pay to dispose of).
  We were asked by the Georgios if they could photograph the home - when I said no, by that point I was very unhappy with the lack of service and we still had open items which had not been remedied. They were very unpleasant after I said no - they seemed to think it was their right to photograph the house, not something that was at the owners discretion.
  We paid a lot of money for their services and at the end of the process, the Georgios were really unpleasant and ungracious. I would never use their services again - working with them made a stressful process almost unbearable. They did not recognize they are paid to perform services and seemed to think they were doing the homeowner a favor. Extremely arrogant and unprofessional. They don't provide the level of service I would expect based on the money we paid.
  - Johanna C.
• F

  Shannon Murray Interiors

  She did not have a background in designing. She was dishonest. I hired her on a salary. She was supposed to buy the furnishings at cost, but she charged us more than the cost. She refused to give us the bills when I asked her to provide them. We ended up in a law suit that cost me $20,000 to prove that I was right. Stay away from her. She has no decorating skills.
  - Edward P.
• A

  SINGER DESIGN GROUP

  Very well. She was punctual, always courteous, and professional. I liked her taste. She listened well and was able to incorporate my needs and preferences well. When cabinet installation didn't go well at first, she took the time to stay and supervise the workers when they came to correct mistakes. At the tile store, she was able to quickly steer me, and the showroom salesperson as well, to the tile that was right for me. She saved me hours of indecision and deliberation!
  - MARGARET G.