AMY ABBOTT DESIGNS

She was supposed to give us an estimate on our guest bathroom project and she did not mention about any charge when I asked about her process (or procedure) of her service over the phone. After she got to my house and I showed her the project, she started to give her opinions about colors and other suggestions voluntarily. I felt strange, but did not say anything thinking that she might try to prove herself. A lot of ideas were so far off that we did not know how to respond to her without being rude. After we showed her the things that we planned to do, she stood at the entrance, kept chatting and talking and did not leave. After a long awkward period, she asked for $125. We know that she would not leave unless we give her the money she demanded. So I wrote her a check, she took it. When she got to the door, she suddenly asked me to take the money back. Can you imaging how uncomfortable and awkward that was? She was holding the check and expected me to take the check out of hand and her insincere attitude made everybody feel unpleasant. Finally she left with the check. We felt cheated and awful about the whole thing.

Amy was wonderful. I already had several ideas for the kitchen remodel. She helped confirm many of my decisions and steered me towards less expensive but comparable products. She practically paid for herself! I could send her a text when I was in the middle of a conversation with my contractor and (90%) of the time she would respond immediately. She never answered a text or phone call when she was with me so I understood when she could not answer. I would highly recommend Amy.

Amy was easy to work with, and we had a good experience with her. Ours was a large project that spanned several months. We were overwhelmed by the choices out there (granite, paint, appliances, etc.), and we did not have a lot of time to spend shopping for materials. We would discuss our tastes with Amy and she would send us a few choices to look at by email or internet links - narrowing the field for us so we could push things in the direction we liked without having to wander the aisles of home decorating stores. She never pushed her choices on us, but often got us back on track and did a good job explaining why one direction was better than another. In other words, not pushing her taste on us, but helping us to have better taste. Amy's pricing is very fair, and she always gave us a detailed breakdown of the time and materials on each invoice (and clearly did not bill us for all of the time she spent shopping for materials or looking at options online). We started out remodeling the house for ourselves, but decided to move out of town after the project was started so we switched our focus to resale. Amy was able to adjust with us, and tailor her recommendations to appeal to potential buyers. We ended up selling the house for more than our asking price, thanks in part to Amy's help in beautifully updating our master bath and kitchen, and with the other design elements of the house. We couldn't have done it without her!

I made the mistake of allowing her to charge me one bill at the end. I did not agree with the amount of hours spent shopping for me. I also made the mistake of using her suggested contractor that she has worked with and been happy with his work for 10 years. She told me that a custom tower for the bathroom would be built by Moses' carpenter but was built by Moses himself. A poor attempt at carpentry. He took over 3 months fitting me in between other jobs, charged me $10,000 and did not do a fair job. Amy still thinks he is an excellent contractor and argued on his behalf when I disagreed with his work. I should have used an Angies List appoved contractor rather than her suggestion. Our final meeting with Amy ended poorly with her raising her voice and disrespecting me.

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She did all we asked in a very professional manner. She was very flexible on meeting times. We are extremely pleased with all - she and my wife pushed for a more involved backsplash and I couldn't be more impressed by the finished product.

The first time she came out she said go shopping and that was all she said, nothing more.

The second visit was about color selections and trusting Amy to do her job flawlessly. Amy selected the colors for each room. It was a sizeable job considering I have 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, an office, a laundry room, kitchen, dining area and sitting room. Amy selected the Sherwin Williams neutral colors and did a bang up job! Amy also worked with the painter and made sure he followed her exact instructions without cutting any corners. Amy checked several times to make sure the job was performed correctly and followed up with me at no additional charge. My husband is very conservative and he absolutely loves the colors Amy selected for our home! The color scheme is very warm, natural, and inviting. I have received many compliments on the paint colors. I will also be forever grateful to Amy for suggesting and executing such a wonderful paint design in our downstairs powder room. Every person that visits our home and uses the powder room comments on how fantastic it looks! I truly feel that I got more than I asked for by selecting Amy for my color selections.

I liked her, I liked her fine. I took an hour and she gave me about an hour of advice of what to do. She was very personable and I really enjoyed her. It was supposed to be $125 for the first hour, but because I was a member of Angies List it was $100. I was trying to decide whether I should get a sectional and I was leaning towards a sectional and she more or less agreed with the things that I thought I wanted to do. I am getting ready to replace my carpet and she told me that I should get a different color, but I was just thinking of going with what the builders put in here. She said that it was not as flattering to what I want here in furnishing and wood paneling. She recommended a different type of carpet and a different color. The cabinets in the kitchen were actually a mistake when they were re-stained because they made them too dark. They made them darker than I wanted and she said that I should transition that dark color over into that next room to tie it together. She was good and if I needed any further advice I would call her. She offered to go to the stores, if I found something I thought I liked she would go and give her opinion. I thought that the price was pretty well standard of what they charge.

We love amy!!!! And will keep her coming to our house!!!

When we decided to renovate our kitchen and master-bath we knew we needed a designer as we had no idea how to plan for such a large undertaking. We checked Angie's List and hired designer Amy Abbott based on her excellent recommendations from AL members. She created three different designs for both the kitchen and master bath. After we selected the one we liked best, she tweaked it to make it exactly right for us. She took advantage of every inch of space and we are extremely pleased with the results. First our late 1970's kitchen was gutted. Goodbye ugly floral wallpaper! Amy worked closely with the contractor every step of the way to ensure things were going according to plan. And the plan called for a more open kitchen. An opening between the kitchen and living room was constructed to create a breakfast bar and connect the kitchen and living areas. This created a feeling of openness not only in the kitchen, but in the living room as well. The kitchen window was moved to center it with this new opening. More space was created by removing the tiny wine bar we never used and moving the wall between the kitchen and laundry room. The laundry room space is utilized more efficiently now with a stackable washer and dryer and more cabinets. After removal of some cabinets dividing the kitchen and breakfast area, the kitchen island was able to be turned 90 degrees and greatly enlarged to make a beautiful work area complete with stove and a prep sink. Amy paid great attention to detail adding elements to the island to make it more like a piece of beautiful furniture. She accompanied us to several granite and tile yards to help us choose just the right countertops and tile flooring based on our taste. Being in the business, she was able to get better deals than we ever could on granite. Amy designed beautiful lighting throughout the room. Three pendant lights accent the new opening between the kitchen and living room. A matching chandelier in the breakfast area ties the room together. In addition to recessed ceiling lighting, we have under cabinet lighting, as well as lighting in the top of the small glass-faced cabinets. We added colored vases and glasses per Amy's advice to these small cabinets. They create a beautiful accent to the room with the lights shining on them. The end result is a large, airy, beautiful kitchen that is a pleasure to use. The usual comment from our awestruck friends who knew what it looked like before, is and ldquo;I had no idea your kitchen was so big! This is gorgeous!and rdquo; Amy also designed a new master-bath and closet. She was able to design the space so that we have a very large walk-in shower complete with jets and rain shower (we had a tiny shower before). The granite countertops are beautiful, different from the kitchen, and fit the space beautifully. Amy noticed we had a bit of extra granite left over and suggested we use it in the smaller downstairs bathroom. We did and are happy with the new look! She really does

I hired Ms. Abbott on the recommendation of a contractor who highly recommended her. This contractor is one of the most highly rated on Angie's List so I trusted him. I am so glad he recommended her. She was always prompt, professional, and a pleasure to work with. She came up with several new ideas for the layout of my kitchen space and presented 5 or 6 different possibilities. In measuring my kitchen she realized one of the walls was a little thicker than the others and that this may indicate that it concealed a pipe that may not be able to be moved, therefore she presented different alternatives based on whether we could move the pipe or would have to work around it. In the end, we had to work around it and she designed the cutest little "cookbook nook" and pull-out spice rack that I love. My contractor relied heavily on her designs and I found that whenever we ran into a problem, she had already anticipated it and incorporated it into her design. For example, in my bathroom the vanity space was going to have two sinks. Most people would just have centered them, but she realized that the left sink which was next to a wall would have been too close to the wall and there wouldn't have been enough elbow room, so she designed it so they were slightly off-center to accommodate this. I would never have thought of this until it was too late! With the bathroom she put together several alternatives as well and did a great job. Because she had originally quoted me just for the kitchen she did the bathroom almost for nothing and I had to remind her to charge me for it. This was the first remodel I had ever done so I wasn't sure how the process went and I was pleased to have Amy guiding the way for me. She always kept in mind our family's needs and the way we operate and was quick to tell me whether she thought we needed or did not need something. She also was a great resource for knowing the new trends in kitchens and bathrooms, and she kept in mind our overall goals (we plan to sell in 4-5 years so we had to keep resale value in mind). She's also a neat person and fun to work with and always promptly responded to my questions or requests. I have already recommended her to people I know and would highly recommend her to anyone on Angie's List.

Things started out okay with good ideas on Ms. Abbott's part, however, punctuality and efficiency became a problem. During my experience, I had three appointments with Ms. Abbott; the first was rescheduled due to a neighbors house fire, the second was rescheduled due to a problem at another project, the third appointment was rescheduled due to a flat tire. These may all be "valid" excuses, but I'd had enough and terminated services without keeping the third appointment. It took over two weeks to get final built-in sketches back (after I had indicated some fine tuning changes) and by that point I had already given the rough ones to my cabinet maker and we hammered out the details ourselves. She took two weeks to find me any painters phone numbers and didn't have a contractor she was enthusiastic about using. I ended up finding my own remodeling people and painter. At that point I couldn't see continuing. I don't think she understood that every delay was a big deal to me.

I waited several weeks and made many telephone calls to Ms. Abbott, to find out what was taking so long. When she finally called, she told me the contractor she was working with had lost several men without notice and she had been too embarrassed to contact me. She insisted I stay with her and give her another opportunity to allow the contractor to perform the work. She apologized and said she would hand carry the estimate should I want to proceed. I told Ms. Abbott, she had cost me valuable time and that I would need to start my search over, attempt to locate a reputable contractor and design coordinator. I advised Ms. Abbott, her lack of professionalism and total disregard for me as a client had prevented my home from being completed prior to the holidays as I had wanted. Obviously I could not continue with her or her contractor, as I had lost trust in her ability to get the job done properly in a timely manner.

After looking all over at the last minute for an interior decorator who would not only decorate my townhome but who also could come up with a plan for the interior AND supply the materials, I was indeed fortunate to find Amy Abbott Designs. Ms. Abbott followed up immediately on my inquiry, set an appointment to look over the townhome, and delivered spectacular decorations that went far beyond her original concept. Her work was completely professional and installed on time to the minute. Ms. Abbott's price was exact to the penny plus all work was completed as agreed and to my absolute satisfaction. I highly recommend this company.