BAKER DESIGNS

Unfortunately we had a bad experience with Baker Design Group. The owner charged us $10,000 for a "design plan" that when delivered was very far from what we had communicated we wanted . In summary, we had a $300k budget focusing on very specific elements for increased resale value as we planned to move in 1-2 years. I also specified a very limited budget for additional furniture and most to be allocated to architectural elements, flooring, kitchen and baths, addtl master, etc. What I received was a "proposal" for around $550k ($250k over budget) that had colors wrong, style wrong, spaces drawn/planned differently than we discussed, etc. There was a huge portion of the budget that had in fact been allocated to "custom furniture". The whole "design plan" struck me as an attempt to sell a lot of custom furniture and decor, which apparently is how they make their money. That's fine if you want to buy a lot of furniture and decor, but I didn't nor did they do a good job understanding our preferences in terms of colors and style, missed some very important elements and planned others wrong. I expressed my deep disappointment to the owner and requested some sort of a partial return of the $10,000 we paid as we had no desire to go further with a company that so completely missed the mark regarding our wishes. After she returned from vacation, I finally received a response from the owner defending how much time her staff spent on the "design plan", she was sorry I was unhappy but felt they did a good job. No response to my request for a partial refund at all. No offer to make things right... they just moved on with my money. Ultimately, some months later, I finally asked the owner for 50% back and appealed to her to be fair to us but was again completely ignored. Apparently from the reviews others have had a good experience with Baker Design Group. However, they were not a good fit for me and I simply lost $10,000 and had to start all over. The owner is a persuasive salesperson but I'm disturbed at her unwillingness to return any portion of our money for services we were so dissatisfied with and ultimately a complete loss. Not even the courtesy of an email response from my last request..... I have worked with other designers and Baker Design Group strikes me more as "Decorators" not "Designers", and with their own agenda. Little effort, attention or talent was put into space planning and architectural element improvements and a lot of focus on selling custom furniture and decor, so I guess it depends on what you're looking for...

New kitchen table, kitchen rug under table, 4 chairs. A rocker for bedroom with a side table and lamp. Beautiful pieces nicely coordinated with other furnishings.