I would pay it but for our Benjamin Moore store which does it as a service if you are buying all your paints and papers from them. Their in-house decorators spend an inordinate amount of time helping pick woods, rugs, tiles, carpets, window coverings, paints, papers for their customers and it pays off as they have a booming business and painters are lined up picking up paint and paper every morning at 8 a.m. for their projects. Of course, they sell more than just paint. Customer service!

We paid a decorator for paint advice on our current place and it was well worth it. Neither my husband nor I has a good eye for color - we know what we like but don't know how to get there - and like you, we had furniture, rugs and art to tie together with wall color. The decorator chose shades that we would not have used otherwise and we get tons of compliments on the color scheme, especially now that the place is on the market.

One thing you might want to do is get a general estimate from the decorator about how many billable hours will be needed.

I think it is worth it! Our daughter recently consulted to repaint her greatroom, which has a lot of wood in it because of the wall to wall entertainment built ins. While the color they had looked very good, just by changing the color to compliment the wood really made a fantastic difference.Just make sure you have all your questions ready as an hour goes by quickly.

Absolutely worth it! In my old neighborhood was a young stay at home mom/decorator who charged a flat fee of $250 and she would coordinate your whole house with paint and wallpaper based on your style and the furnishings you already had in your home. A great idea, since most people are stumped when it comes to picking paint and paper. She did it with such ease and it was a great way for her to "keep her feet wet" while also tending to her family! $150 is a small price to pay to pull together your home! I say go for it! Oh and please let us know the outcome!

I hired a decorator two year ago. I had off white carpet,off white walls, floral sofa ( white background w/rose green etc) plaid chair , stripe ottman in front of sofa....get the picture? I loved it but wanted to update. She did red walls ,gold chenelle sofa, large black chair w/ red (not really red) and light gold floral. Light gold silk draperies. Pulled up carpet and laid wood (which I love). Wish I had taken a picture last winter before I had painters come in and repaint and covered the furniture.
I know now I am light , airy and soft soft colors.
Just be sure its you not whats selling now.
She went with what she was doing in everyone elses homes.
Now my LR is Porter Paints Millet.
Dr & K PP Wheat Straw all of this with Blues ,whites and some green with one piece of black furniture.. Airy soft and me.
Sorry this was so detailed but I wanted to show who I really am and what decorators do.
Now some of you are going to say, "Then why did you do it dummy"? Because everyone else is reds and dark and right now "its all you can find". I also thought if everyone else is doing this then I am really outdated on pastels. Which I was compared to homes today.
A costly mistake on my part.

That is one of the big problems with trying to find fabrics and decorate a room these days.....When "Your" colors are quite different than what most people are currently using. It can be hard to find a decorator that listens, that is willing to see where you want to go and to help you get there. So many have their own ideas about what works and what looks dated. I've told my children that, even though I might have helped a few friends find paint colors, some furniture, and even some fabrics, to complete their remodels, I couldn't really be a decorator, because I am really only attacted to warm colors. Trying to work with a cool Nordic blonde would probably bring only frustration to me and a coronary to her.

But trying to work through the whole paint sample thing can be hard too. It's not cheap to keep buying quarts to try. Yes, it's less expensive than hiring someone, but we are not all endowed with a paint-sampling budget. Sometimes I think that a few hours spent wandering through models and writing down the pro's paint choices could be very worthwhile. At least you would know that their choices have widespread appeal.

Red

judith, I don't know what you decided and I can't be of help recommending a decorator. I just wanted to try and save you some money on the samples. Did you know you can get up to 4 each, 5x7 and some 8x10 sample color sheets from BM on line for free? If you're interested, I'll tell you how to get them. It's a lot cheaper than buying all those sample of paint.

Judith, I hope you're reading the other thread about this... "hate the interior designer's colors" ...

Here is a link that might be useful: thread

brutus - I'm interested! I remember someone mentioning that before and I looked around the BM website but couldn't find any info on it.

Laurie

Well, it's always the proverbial crapshoot hiring a decorator but here are some guidelines:

Refs (3 minimum) and a photo portfolio of clients and her/his OWN home. I like to see someone who can decorate in any style and doesn't have a "signature" look or one who pays much attention to trends. I would want to see that skill within a portfolio. Proof is in the pudding.

CALL refs...don't just get a list! Ask how long it took, how she/he worked, did they LISTEN, etc. Results????

One problem I can see is that a decorator isn't going to have the opportunity to see your home during the different stages of the day with light constantly changing.....or during the different seasons. This is one reason I usually wait until mid-summer to choose paints. Our homes are darkest with the sun at it's highest point so it will only get lighter and brighter as we move closer to fall and winter. If you paint now( with darker shades) you might be looking at a cave come spring.

I also like to live in a house a bit before choosing paints...especially more dramatic tones.

Paints not only should be seen during daylight, but under incandescent lighting at night before being chosen...especially greens, beiges and golds. Many of those can pick up some nasty "greeney" tones with that lighting. So when choosing paints? Drag in some lamps and try and duplicate the lighting that you will have. Put them on boxes or whateva if you don't have furniture in the house yet.

Lastly? I think that billing rate seems a bit high but certainly ask the decorator how the process goes, how long it normally takes "etc". Also... if the decorator doesn't bring her OWN fandecks but leaves you with a list of paint numbers? Don't go there. That's a MINIMAL investment than anyone worth their salt makes.

What shades are you considering btw? It sounds as if with antiques and Persians that warmer colors would be a good direction.

Interested in knowing what colors appeal to you and what type of look you're after!

Oh...a few more things. Also ask how many years exp they have and if they have any formal education. It's possible that someone without education can be very talented but I'd want to see more years exp and a strong portfolio. Anyone who's proud of their work will be anxious to show it off. Don't go with the "I'm told I have good taste"...lol.

He/she should also get to see all your furnishings and colors and NOT go off general descriptions from you....are you in the house yet?

Lastly....I am a designer (retired momentarily as we're remodeling our own home) and normally have done a free 30 min or more consultation in the beginning to get to know the client and get an idea of their general desires and needs. Not every decorator is a match with every client...sometimes it's just not a good matchup. AND sometimes there's the client that I didn't wish to take on lol. It's a nice, relaxed way for the client to be introduced to us too without the clock ticking up those billing hours! I keep it friendly, light, tour the house and do some fact finding. I don't think a pro should mind at ALL giving a potential client 30 mins to an hour to get to know them and their capabilities.

Consider a color consultant instead of a decorator, since it seems you are most interested in making sure you are comfortable with the paint color. I agonized over my color choices and came to this board a lot, and now that my colors are going up I love them (well, the MBR could be slightly less-green gray, LOL!) But hiring a color consultant probably would have saved me a lot of angst. On the other hand, I'm wondering now, since my colors are so soft and "out of style", if s/he would have picked things for me that wouldn't have fit me.

Hard call, and I'm getting wordy here - I just wanted to mention that a color consultant might be an option instead of a full-fledged decorator.

You can also post photos here with some ideas, I bet you would get tons of opinions!

VERY worth it if you do your homework on this person as the above posters suggested (you're probably done by now though?). For us, dh is colour blind, and thinks 'off white' is a colour. Me, I had an idea of what colour families I wanted, but the girl we hired was good in honing in on the specific shades, tones etc, and matching the tile and extras. Where we would be second guessing and becoming overwhelmed looking at oodles of samples, she could easily pick out 3 for us, explain why she choose them and what colours they enhanced or brought out, and then we could pick from there.

I have a thought about color inside a house and you can see if you like it. I like to use the colors I look good wearing, as I want to look good inside my own house. So one thing that might work for you, goofy as it sounds, is go to your own closet. Pull out some of your favorite colors to wear that you think might do as interior house colors. Then tape them to the wall, or drape them over your furniture, lay them on your rugs, and get a feel for if any of them are right. It's free to do, unlike buying quart after quart of paint, and if you find what you like, you can get it matched at the paint store.

Another way to go is to find your favorite rug, or painting, or china, or decorative pillow, or fabric, and take your colors from there. Designers of these items generally have a very good feel for what colors look good together, and they're already colors you like because you chose them. So often on HGTV you hear them talk of an "inspiration piece" for the room.