STAGING By Gina

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It’s a big house, and since it’s old and historical, we needed to furnish it in a way to fit the style witch was very difficult for us. Gina’s knowledge on remodeling and interior design is phenomenal. She would pay attention to every detail and the result was perfect. She also totally put our budget into her consideration, and thus would not recommend super expensive pieces to us. Her own rate is also very reasonable as an excellent interior designer. Actually, we also quoted another interior designer, who asked for an initial payment of $15,000 plus 20% of furniture purchase in the future, so we signed up with Gina without hesitation. Her quote was so much better, and her service was top-notch indeed. Since the project had lasted for very long time (we had paid her for 3 months using monthly rate and by hour afterwards on and off), Gina became a friend to me. I just read another review and the other reviewer said she’s not honest since she didn’t issue an invoice although the service was good. Well, how could she not be honest if she simply missed one invoice? She couldn’t skip taxes if you paid her with checks. However, I have to say that Gina is really not good at paperwork. For the last phrase, since we only needed her on and off, we decided to pay her by hour. When we asked her to give us a bill for the total so that we could pay her, she said OK but never given one. After half year without paying her off the balance, I called her for some more help and pushed her for the bill and thus we didn’t feel guilty of owing her anymore. Some creative people just cannot keep up with paperwork. It’s like she’d rather not to collect her money than have to prepare a bill (which sure is fine to me:)). It just has nothing to do with honesty. She’s a very honest designer with excellent professional knowledge and good attitude, and I will sure recommend her to anyone.

We called Gina to help us stage our home to make it ready for sale/open house. Though my overall experience with her was horrible I have to be honest and say she did a good job with the staging. Once the contract was signed and she received $1800 up front she started working the next day. The entire project was done in a day and she was promptly paid the balance of $400 at the completion of the job. I had asked her for an invoice for the work completed and she asked if it was ok if she emailed it to me the next day. I thought nothing of it initially and said ok. Two months later I still have not received the invoice. She says she's too busy and keeps promising to send one shortly but that never happens. I dont understand what is so hard with providing a receipt for the money she received. I suspect it has to do with her income reporting practices. The bottom line is that she is dishonest. I regret having used her services and would NOT recommend her to anyone. She was very expensive, dishonest and created more of a headache for me than anything else.

We are very satisfied at her overall service. She can charge by a project, or by hours. We chose by hours now for the flexibility. When we formally start our remodeling, we sure will need more of her professional help.

Gina and I hit it off right away. She listened very well to my needs and desires (single male looking to remodel a 3/2 house for both fun and profit). I feel like she knows my tastes better than anyone I've ever known (including myself sometimes). For example, I am very picky about sofas, she found one that fit me like a glove, but still I resisted buying it - spent weeks looking everywhere, and eventually have concluded that her choice was best. Gina provided a book describing the remodeling theme and plans for each room including color photos of furniture ideas. She also completed a computerized 3D layout of the house that I provided her (Home Designer Suite); completely filling out all the rooms with furniture, accessories, and colors choices. (she's also very patient, I think we've re-done the kitchen design at least 5 times - as my needs keep changing.) I am kind of a cheap skate, so I really didn't want to spend too much on interior design, but I'm 100% happy that I did. I'm sure that she has paid for herself twice over by steering me away from well over $2k in bad choices and improving my return on investment at least 10% (the refinancing appraiser [I know, I know] put the remodel at >60k profit and I've spent less than $30k so far into the remodel). I wholeheartedly recommend her (if you can get her time, she's understandably busy these days!).