Today we're taking a deep dive into MONEY TALK. Everyone knows that taking on a home project costs moola, but just how much of the green gold will it take to accomplish the project of your dreams?
There are lots of layers to this conversation, but today I want to focus on FURNITURE costs and the associated design fees, because that is perhaps a little more straight forward than the construction side of design.
We'll take a look at some past LFID Full-Service Design projects and talk through what you can expect to pay for similar rooms, and we've created a breakdown, low-to-high, of a typical living room budget to give you a sense of the range of costs.
VIP Full Service Design: Summary of Phases
Before we hop into specific room budgets, I'll think it'll be helpful to give you a brief overview of the VIP Fully-Managed Design Process and the phases/fees involved.
Phase 1: Discovery Meeting
This up to two-hour meeting ($497) includes our style discovery conversation, big picture visioning, and outlining of a detailed scope of work. This is an opportunity for us to meet with a potential client, talk vision, outline the scope, and make sure we're all jiving with one another—super important in the client/designer relationship!
We then present a detailed services proposal based on the scope we created in this meeting. This proposal outlines our process and what it will cost for us to design the space. Clients can then either take the ideas we discussed in our meeting and run with them, or they can move forward with us running the project.
Phase 2: Research, Design, Presentation
This is where the bulk of our creative work happens and is typically the largest fee portion as well. Phase 2 starts at $4,997, which is our average fee to design a living room space.
In this phase, we space plan, source items, select fabrics, finishes, colors, and materials, and have every last item and service required for your project priced or quoted out. This phase requires seven weeks at minimum and culminates in a presentation of your entire design project.
Phase 3: Project Management
After the presentation, it's time to execute your project! Our team places orders, receives all items, checks furniture and decor for damages, and stores everything in our warehouse until installation day when we deliver, stage, style, and reveal your completed space!
Our project management fees vary depending on the overall furniture budget (however, we do have a set minimum PM fee). For budgets under $100K, our project management fee is 20% of the total furnishings/decor budget (excluding tax, shipping, delivery, and outside services).
Because we split our discounts with our VIP clients, it is common for the savings on furniture to underwrite a portion of our project management fee.
Budget Breakdown: Living & Great Rooms
Now that you have an understanding of the investment for design services, let's talk about setting your furniture and decor budgets. Today we'll look at living and great rooms since these, as they are often the largest, tend to be your highest investment spaces when it comes to furniture.
More space = more pieces required = higher budget.
Based on our past projects, I've created a table below outlining the typical pieces you'd find in a living room, usual quantities, and the cost of those items from the good, better, to best quality.
The "good" prices are set at their average low for our trade vendors, but I've capped the higher costs at what tends to be our usual higher cost pieces.
NOTE: You can always go higher—think classic Eames Chairs, ringing in at 8K+ a pop for a single chair
But, I didn't want to over-inflate the higher budget range, and the case is usually that there is a blend of moderate and higher cost items in any given project. I've also not included accessories in this table since that can vary drastically from project to project.
What I love about a formula like this is that you can get a super quick but fairly accurate idea of what you should budget for your space, and it's easy to swap out prices and quantities based on your ideal floor plan.
For example, not all spaces will need two sofas, or two accent chairs, a rug, etc., so you can enter the quantities that make sense for you.
As you can see, the budget range for a living room is SUPER drastic.
It's important to decide at the onset what elements are the highest value to you and plan to put your big bucks there. For example, I always prefer to go higher quality on my upholstery—specifically sofas—and if needed, go lower cost on items like side tables and accent pieces.
Sofas get the most use of all your pieces, so it's important that they are made of durable, high-quality materials. However, not everyone will feel the same, so the client needs to decide what's important to them and go into a project knowing where they want to invest the most.
Now let's look at a couple of specific examples from our portfolio...
I) Spring Lake Classic
In this particular room (above), the client had a few existing items (the two side tables and the area rug), so for the sake of getting an accurate budget, we'll say they were starting from scratch and I'll include a cost for those items had they purchased them new.
The prices below reflect pricing after our discount was applied:
(2) Sofas - $3,600/e
(2) Accent Chairs - $800/e
(2) Side Tables - $800/e
(1) Coffee Table - $2,350
(2) Table Lamps - $300/e
(1) Oversized Wool Area Rug - $8,000 (it would likely be more for a new rug in this large size, however, this one is vintage)
(1) Oversized Rug Pad - $700
(10) Custom Pillows - $85/e
Additional Accessories/Decor, including plants - $1,500
The subtotal for this room pre-tax and shipping rings in at $24,400.
While each of our vendors' designer pricing is different, the most typical discount we extend to our VIP clients comes in around 25% off retail pricing. In this case, our clients would receive a discount of $8,133 off retail pricing.
As outlined in the Phases Summary earlier in this post, for budgets under $100K, our project management fee is 20% of the total furnishings and decor budget (not including shipping, tax, or delivery).
In this case, our management fee would come in at $4,880. That means—project management fee included—our client still receives a $3,363 savings off the retail pricing of the furniture, and we completely carry out and install the project.
Perks of the VIP service, baby!
II) Traverse City Dream House
For another example, let's look at the room above from our Traverse City Dream House project (prices reflect the designer discount applied):
Sofa - $5,200
Leather Ottoman - $1,900
Coffee Table - $4,000
(2) Accent Chairs - $2,300
(2) Side Tables - $300/e
(2) Floor Lamps - $400/e
Planter & Fiddle Fig - $325
Custom Benches - cost unknown; client built these themselves!
Area Rug & Pad - $2,000
(8) Custom Pillows - $85/e
The subtotal for this room comes to $20,105 pre-tax and shipping.
With an average of 25% off retail, our clients receive a discount of $6,701 off retail.
At 20%, our project management fee would be $4,021. Project management fee included, our client still receives a $2,680 savings off the retail cost of the furniture when we carry out the project.
Why Invest in Full-Service Interior Design?
It is true that you will spend more in total on your project when you work with a designer—however, there are significant savings, not all of which have a price tag.
You'll save yourself major decision fatigue and numerous hours of planning, researching, sourcing, pricing, assembling, and installing.
In the long run, you'll save financially on replacing furniture because our high-quality pieces will last.
Additionally, the lifestyle value in having a stunning, functional space to live in and create memories with your friends and family is priceless!
Sometimes I'm hesitant to dive deep into the VIP process here on the blog because I know that it's a major investment. The majority of our audience is not likely to work with an interior designer on a fully-managed project—and that's completely okay! In fact, the majority of our clients work with us via Designed in a Day sessions.
You can 100% have a beautifully designed space you love without dropping loads of cash (my own home is a perfect example of that!).
The trade-off is that you'll have to spend a lot of time and energy seeking out deals, searching for budget finds, putting your design together, and finding just the right items. Some people LOVE this process (*raises hand!*) and some people would rather stick their hand in a garbage disposal.
The Wrap Up
So yes, fully-managed design is an investment—which is one of the reasons we created our Designed in a Day and Virtual Design Services—but, it's an investment in the space where your life happens; where memories are made; where friends and family gather and nourish relationships.
So, if you are a busy individual who longs to hand over the daunting task of creating a home just for you and your people, shoot us a message here and let's start the conversation!
I hope to create similar informational posts in the future breaking down other types of rooms...kitchens, baths, bedrooms, dining areas...would that be helpful to you? Let me know in the comments, and note which kinds of rooms you'd be interested in learning about!
Hope you find this helpful, friends!
Cheers,
Lauren
Work with Lauren Figueroa Interior Design
LFID is a full-service interior design firm serving West and Southeast Michigan known especially for our Designed in a Day service.
We work with clients from Detroit to Novi to Clarkston, and Grand Rapids to Holland to Traverse City—and anywhere in between! We pride ourselves on creating bespoke, people-centered spaces—because after all, people are what this life is all about!
If you have a project on the horizon, get started by telling us about your vision here, and you can view past projects here. Thanks for stopping by!
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