Interior Designers?

Aesthetics or plain functionality?

A door, if all it matters to you is -so long the door opens and closes without a glitch-, then you are better off getting a contractor, save yourself some money. Chances are, your decent looking door with a nice handle will work and that's all you need. And if you know what you want, the style, the theme, the colors, a contractor will do.

On the other hand, you are concerned if Pentalite Mistral shade of blue wall matches your white door frame and your dark gray door, matt or glossy paint on the door matters, door knob or door lever handle bothers you, gun polished bronze, shiny chrome or matt silver makes a difference. Then you should engage an ID (with taste) to discuss the possibilities.

Please do not be mistaken that I'm advocating the use of IDs here, they will be expensive, and yet not all them can create your "Home & Decor" worthy house.

What I am more concerned here is getting your money worth.

There's a good difference between a contractor firm and an interior design firm. Seriously, there should be some regulation on how such companies name themselves. All of them unabashedly call themselves interior design firms, charge similarly high prices and yet all they do is coordinate the renovation and they know nuts about interior design, color matching and style.

Grill your shortlisted IDs (& self proclaimed IDs) with your concerns, move on to the others if you get less than satisfactory generic answers. Ordinary answers is gonna get you recycled ideas and run of the mill end results, you really don't want to spend an amount that's worth an entire year's salary on that.

Ps. Well, I did unfortunately, I learn it the hard way, and I'm here to share.