Talented, Trustworthy and Resourceful Design Firm
When looking for a designer to help us remodel a 1996-era home to be our long-term retirement property, we’d interviewed several other design companies but weren’t finding someone with whom we felt a good fit. Then, we happened upon Katherine Mueller Designs. We contacted Katie and from the initial phone call, we felt like we were working with a trusted friend.
We appreciated her process and approach. We knew we wanted to be hands-on in the process, which some other designers were not as comfortable with. Katie and her team were wonderful to work with, wanting to first understand the outcome we wanted, then being very collaborative in taking our feedback and finding ways to incorporate them into a beautiful overall design to achieve that outcome. While being very open to our ideas, they were not afraid to educate us on why an idea might not be the best option based on our goals and desired outcome, guiding us in a better direction. Seeing some of her turnkey projects for hands-off clients, I’d highly recommend Katie whether you want to be involved with the project or whether you’d rather be completely hands off.
During the design phase, Katie and her team were available face-to-face, over the phone and via email/text, creating and evolving the design, offering resourceful and creative ideas, presenting fun and interesting materials and finishes, driving the process forward while providing updates at each step of the way. Once the design documentation was complete & materials selection documented, Katie and her team joined us meeting with potential contractors to translate the project scope and design vision for them (hugely beneficially in helping the contractors accurately bid the project).
As we reviewed contractor’s bids, the KMD team was incredibly helpful providing guidance for us making decisions on where to spend money to really make an impact, and where we could save money to maximize the bang for our remodeling buck.
Once we’d selected the contractors, the actual construction phase lasted 6 months and without the attention to detail and thoroughness of Katie’s planning, it likely would have lasted much longer. Having Katie and team on site at critical points working directly with the craftsmen was invaluable in ensuring that the design translated from paper to reality efficiently and effectively. As walls were opened and surprises uncovered, Katie found creative and workable solutions to solve for the inevitable unforeseen challenges that arose during construction. The detail of her design and documentation, however, really cut down a lot of potential issues before they arose, or worse created rework.
We love the outcome and enjoyed the process. We would be thrilled to work with Katie and her team on future projects and thank them so much for making what can be a big, disruptive remodeling process extremely manageable and dare we say, even fun!