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www.theconnectionsnj.com
CWI DESIGN
My passion for interior design has been a lifelong love affair. I love working with my clients and
pride myself on instinctively recognizing their individual style. I strive for a look that is enduring,
stylish, and most important comfortable. When I design a room I want it to be timeless, not trendy.
I have over 30 years of design experience. I am committed to always researching, traveling
and finding the most current and up to date resources for every design project, big or small.
The greatest compliment a client ever gave me was,...”You made my house a home.”
LOIS DARLING
S E N I O R I N T E R I O R D E S I G N E R
560 CENTRAL AVENUE
NEW PROVIDENCE NJ 07974
MONDAY THRU FRIDAY 10 AM - 5 PM
EVENINGS AND SATURDAYS
BY APPOINTMENT
NY | NJ | PA | CT
908-665-7997 Ext. 18
email: lois@cwi.design
www.loisdarling.com
@ldarlingdesign
instagram/LDARLINGDESIGN
I’m often asked why we charge
design fees when so many of our
competitors do designs for free.
I usually ask those customers if
their goal is to get competitive
prices for their renovation, to
which they usually reply yes.
My next question to them is why
would they want to invest so
much of their time with two or
three companies, establishing
that same plan? You see most
free design providers don’t allow
customers to walk out of the
showroom with any sort of plan
that has valuable information
they could share with the compe-
tition. And really why should
those companies share – they did
the work for free!
So we have to ask ourselves do
we seriously think someone who’s
doing design work for free really
has their heart in the design or are
they really hoping for the sale, the
profit?
Establishing a plan is the most
important aspect of your design.
It becomes the definitive outline
that you can then take, get com-
petitive prices and at the same
time have a document whereby
everyone is pricing from the same
guidelines; an apples to apples
price comparison.
Sure it’s fairly easy to price the
cabinets and counters but if you
are moving things around you
need to know those costs as well.
Demolition, plumbing, electric,
windows, doorways, lighting…
and much more, depending on
the complexity of your project.
You could argue there’s no reason
for a plan when you just want to
remove and replace items without
any changes to the existing foot-
print, but is your space really the
best it could be? Maybe not and
that is yet another reason why a
designer can help by developing a
plan, along with your input.
So let me leave you with this. If
you decided to move things along
on your renovation without a
plan, have a well-documented
written outline of what you do
want to do. Share that with the
parties that will be bidding on the
project. When reviewing the bids
make sure what you have asked
for is included. Be sure to ask
if anything you have excluded
needs to be included. Be sure
you understand what’s included
by our contractor…and what’s
excluded and if that’s not written
in an estimate, ask. Because often
times the things that are left out
will end up costing more as a
change order than it would have
as part of the estimate.
Feel free to contact Homefront
Design Studio for your design
project.
Happy Renovating.
PLAN TO PLAN…WHEN PAYING FOR SERVICES MAKES SENSE.
By: Ed Gronske, Homefront Design Studio
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