working with a designer on our new home build

We’ve been in our new house now for about 6 months and it still feels SO dang good to be home. For those of you who are new, we started building in 2019 and moved into our house April of 2021! I shared with you guys that our saving grace in the home building process was working with A Well Dressed Home to help make all of the construction selects. They also helped decorate the majority of the downstairs rooms in our house. Today I wanted to share what that process was like of working with a designer on a new build, because they were SUCH a lifesaver for us and I cannot recommend them enough – especially if you are building or remodeling your home right now.

A Well Dressed home does both interior design AND new home build projects (or remodeling) like ours. For the new home build…they were there from day 1 to help us make ALL of the decisions that go into building a house – from paint colors to countertops to light fixtures and more. I’ve known so many people who built houses that said they borderline had a mental breakdown during the process because of ALL the thousands of decisions you have to make. So, having a team to make those decisions FOR you, based off of your style and vision was insanely helpful.

Before we just handed off the reigns to AWDH on making all of these decisions…we had extensive conversations and meetings so they could really grasp my style + my vision for the house. I created multiple pinterest boards and explained to them the style I was going for, and then they made construction selects based off of that inspiration!

I remember our very first presentation meeting with them was SO exciting. I don’t think we’d even broken ground on the house yet but we showed up in their offices and they had every room detailed + layed out for us to see! From carpet samples to paint colors to wall paper and more. Every single detail was there for us to see and approve of in person. There were a few things here and there I didn’t love (ie a paint color or a tile sample) and I would ask to see other options…and then in the next few days they’d find something else, show me the sample, and then we would approve! but overall from day 1 I felt like they TOTALLY got my vision for the house and I honestly loved everything they selected! It also gave me SUCH peace of mind that it wasn’t ME making all of these teeny tiny decisions!

Once we approved AWDH’s selects, they communicated everything to the builder. This was the other part that was really helpful about working with AWDH – they were in constant communication with our builder throughout the entire process. So, they were aware of what our budget was, what type of selects they could make, they would tell our builder what to order, etc! Working with AWDH on our home build really streamlined the entire process and we loved how well they partnered with the builder and worked with him hand & hand!

Another helpful aspect about working with AWDH is they didn’t just make the selects and then sign off on the project. They were truly there start to finish, handling anything and everything that came their way in regards to selects. They also do ‘site walks’ with you where you can see the paint swatches on the wall in the house just to make sure it’s the right color. Or you can walk through the house and ask your designers questions or get their opinions on things which I really appreciated! (Katelyn and Tara were the two designers who we worked with and we absolutely loved them!)

Separate from the new home build project…we also hired AWDH to decorate my office, our living room, dining room, and entryway and I’m SO glad we did. This was truly like an HGTV experience lol. Similar to the new construction selects process…they knew my style, my inspiration, my pinterest boards, our budget….and then they picked everything out based off of that. Once they did the presentation with us, if there were certain things i didn’t love…I just told them “I don’t love the grey leather sofa” and then they would swap out whatever I didn’t love for something else. But overall, we truly loved everything they picked out for our home. Not only that but…having a designer do all of that work of finding a table that fits your dining room perfectly or the perfect size rug etc…just saves you SO so much time and energy.

On TOP of that…I’m so glad we used them because working with a designer means you are getting INSANELY good quality furniture that will last you a lifetime, at wholesale prices (because they allow you to use their trade discount). A lot sofas you can buy from retail stores 1) probably are not the greatest quality and 2) you’re paying retail price for that sofa. We have a few rooms in our house that we just decorated / bought stuff for ourselves and I can tell such a difference in the quality of the furniture that I bought from say, crate & barrel for example, vs the furniture that AWDH furnished our rooms with.

My favorite part though of having AWDH decorate these rooms was the install day. When all of this furniture arrived…AWDH stores it in their warehouse until EVERYTHING arrives and is ready to be installed. Then on install day, their team comes over and installs EVERYTHING. Drapes, rugs, sofas, pillows, accessories, lamps, hanging pictures etc! So Michael, Shiloh and I left the house for the day while the AWDH team got to work. Then when we came home the next day, we walked into a house that was FULLY furnished and decorated (at least, the rooms we hired them to do haha) and it felt like a DREAM!

When Michael and I lived in Boulder and I decorated our house…it probably took an entire year until I felt like “okay, I think I’m close to done” haha. It was very much ‘little by little by little’ which, there’s something to be said about that process as well. BUT, we loved just moving into our house and having those spaces just DONE and complete and perfect!

I think that pretty much covers (at least, a high level view) the process of working with a designer on our new home build + interior design! Let me know though if you guys have any questions about the process in the comments below. We LOVED working with AWDH and are so thankful for how they truly streamlined the building process and made our lives so much easier during those 2+ years!