I used their service with my kitchen remodel. It was an okay design but they didnÂt have any great ideas to show me. They just did a basic layout and left it up to me to ask for all the details. They also didn't want to do my layout idea so I ended up not using them. They did NOT want to refund but eventually did. For the design cost and the prices at HD Expo I had expected something more out of the ordinary. That was about 6 years ago.

I have played around a bit with some of the free online pattern makers (check out knittingfiend's). I can figure out how to use the pattern generator, but I'm not sure that what I end up with is necessarily more useful to me than what I could figure out on my own. I don't know if the types you pay for would give you something more helpful or not. I'd be more likely to find a pattern with a collar that you like and a pattern with the rest of the sweater you like and ask some knitters for advice on splicing them together. I need written instructions (I can't do charts, I can't wing it, I need it spelled out for me) so if I have to meddle with a pattern, I tend to rewrite it before I actually do any knitting. I found a site that sells a pattern for a raglan style cardigan with a shawl collar. But they use a superchunky yarn, so you may need to do adjustment for the gauge of the Cashsoft. I'm linking to the pattern just in case you wanted to check it out. Here is a link that might be useful: cardigan

Dear Desert, i was in the trade for years, and underneath your uncertainty, I hear a very understandable and natural fear of spending a pile of money and being given less than you wanted, or something you don't love, or getting stuck in a contractual relationship that feels more like a bad marriage! Letting a stranger inside your tenderest dreams of home is a leap of faith - but it doesn't have to be blind faith. I am rarely in favor of using in-store design services for general concept and/or whole house projects. Good in-store designers can help tremendously in matching what they offer to your well-defined scheme, but the fact is that their job, established by the people who sign their checks, is to keep you in the store for everything they offer. Nothing in the world wrong with that model, so long as you understand its benefits and its limitations. So here are Mother Bronwynsmom's steps toward a happy life with your designer, which I believe to be equally important, no matter what the size of your project is: 1. Make your book. The first thing that does is to educate YOU in the nuances of what you love and want, and also what you don't like or want. (This should be easy for you, because you already know a lot about your own tastes and desires - you just need to refine your way of communicating it.) Pack it with samples and photos and drawings that can serve as visual clues to color, texture, style, sense of space and light, and specific objects. Write all over it. Stick in some things you hate and write helpful things like "Yow!" and "Yuck!" and "NO NO NO." 2. Figure out your scope of work. What exactly do you want a designer to do for you, and what are the limitations of the scope? This is critical both to you and to him/her. Make notes as though you were going to write a Request for Proposal, which outlines what you are asking your prospective designers to do. This can be informal, but it should be as specific as you can make it, so that any designers who don't like to work that way will eliminate themselves. 3. Establish a budget. This can be a range, with an upside limit. Without a knowledge of your budget, a good designer can't help you work out how to spend it to get the most bang for the buck. Be brutally honest about what you can spend. So many people are afraid to do that, because their worry is, "If I tell him how much, he will spend it all, and how will I know if I'm getting my money's worth?" (We'll get to the references in a minute...) 4. Make a list of designers to interview, and make appointments. If the job is small, offer to come to their studio, which is a nice gesture toward someone whose essential living usually comes from the use of time. It also gives you a sense of how they function in their own space. If you go to them, take lots of photos of the places you want transformed. And make sure you understand whether or not there's a charge for an initial interview. If there isn't, don't ask a lot of specific questions about what he/she recommends - we've all been burned by clients who interview ten designers, get all their ideas, pay nothing, and then take all the ideas and do it all themselves, and it makes us wary... 5. Here's the key at this point...Pay Attention to Your Instincts. Look for warmth, respectfulness, gentleness with what you're unsure about, and first-class listening skills. If you don't have a strong positive feeling about this person, then don't choose him or her. Does she seem tired or bored? Does he sneak looks at his watch? Does he rush to tell you what you should do? Does she make you feel that you should know more than you do? 6. For everyone you are considering, get, and meticulously check, references. Three is best. And ask not only about the work, but about whether or not the designer stayed responsive through to installation, whether your questions were taken seriously and answered clearly, how well schedules were maintained, whether the trades subcontracted to do things were reliable and respectful of your house, and how well the designer spent your money. It's like dating. Weed out the unpromising ones. You want your designer to want to work with you, and to do the things you want done. Don't go home with him if you don't want to see him over the breakfast table! If you do all these things, you will know at some point in the process who is right for you, and then you are ready to start on a lovely, rewarding experience. Once you have made a choice, and it's time to talk turkey, be confident. It always amazes me that competent, mature people are sometimes intimidated by design, as though it were somehow a mark of human value to be able to do it. It isn't... :>) Ask everything you want to ask, don't agree to things you really don't like. DO be prepared to accept things when your designer explains why her idea about something is right. And don't hesitate to be honest about things you don't know.

I have a Mac computer that doesn't have powerpoint as they use their own system. I suppose I could download it. Do you know if either of these options have various selections that certain programs use in trying different looks? This is my problem. I want to brick the fireplace to the ceiling, eliminating the curves, update the trim around the fireplace, add a mantel and raise the tv up so that it is mounted on the outside. I have installed travertine floors, and cannot decide on the stacked stones vs. a thicker stone(full dimensional). I also need to close in this shelves to the sides of the fireplace. They are too narrow to covert to seating. I thought about cabinetry, but they are so low and narrow that I do not see much of a purpose for them, unless others have suggestions. I've been struggling with this for over a year. Thank you