Paola was recommended to us by our realtor. At first we were skeptical that we needed a stager (it…read moreseemed frivolous) but we were wrong. Paola met with us for about 2 hours at our house, two months before we were going to sell. She gave us a run down of what she thought should be done. This included changing a carpet, painting a small room a neutral color, chopping down a small bush, getting rid of various pieces of furniture, moving some art work. We decided to go with it as we liked Paola's style. She is very direct and businesslike and we felt that she knew what she was doing. We did what she said and then about 5 days before the first open house she came back and she dressed each room with vases, throws, paintings, decorations. She moved furniture from one room to another, making me wonder why I hadn't thought of doing that while we lived there! In the end, our 36 year old house looked like a new house. We were delighted. I am pleased to say that our house looked so good that it sold the day after the open house for the asking price. It was a nice house anyway, but Paola made it really shine.

Paola was recommended by our realtor to stage our home in Acton which we sold in June 2018. She was…read moreextremely thorough going from room to room and our realtor was kind enough to type up all the notes so we could remember it all! We appreciated that Paola tried to use as much of our own furnishings and decor as possible - moving items from one room to another or simply "decluttering" them. She ended up providing some small decor, pillows, and wall hangings and along with all the changes she suggested, our house showed really well. Our house went under agreement the first Open House weekend. Paola was easy to communicate with even answering last minute decor questions. She was mindful of all the costs of selling the house and accepted her payment when we finally closed. We really appreciated her help!

I needed help for a modest kitchen renovation: new flooring and countertops, with a limited budget…read morefor design help. Rosita provided exactly what I needed. We met at a flooring store where she helped me select a small number of options that she thought would work with the existing cabinets and walls, then headed to a countertop store to find options that would work with the floor samples. I then took the samples home to see them in place, which clarified what looked best in the space. Rosita did exactly what I needed: provided the guidance to get me past the paralysis of being overwhelmed by too many choices, plus pointing me to some good floor and countertop retailers. She was great about working within my small budget, but stands ready to provide more help if needed.

Heidi provided excellent service. She was pleasant and helpful every step of the way. She made…read moremany recommendations that we implemented. I would recommend her service whole heartedly.

I highly regret my decision to work with Decoraid and would urge friends or strangers against…read moreworking with them, and I feel personally taken advantage of. The final outcome took over 9 months and left 40% of the proposal unfilled with no payment back to me for missing services. My main feedback is that the process the firm runs is *incredibly* inefficient and leaves almost no opportunity for collaboration. The other is that the designers are basically just internet shoppers, with no connection to the things they're actually buying. With two in person meetings followed by a single proposal, there's basically no chance to actually get a good outcome. No one knows exactly what they want in the first meeting, and if they did they wouldn't need Decoraid. It takes working through options and figuring out what works well together. Neither designer I worked with (I was given a new designer after 4+ months of nothing happening with the first) used a pinterest board (something that seems super weird for an interior designer) that we could have collaborated through. Instead, they sent over single rug options without any context on other pieces that would fit with it. The reason I would pay someone $2,000 to help design a studio apartment would be for their creative spirit and perspective, and neither were proactive at all - basically just taking the things I wanted and googling them to find options. If you see a couch without pillows or a blanket, shouldn't she be calling out that I need that? Shouldn't she be architecting what to do with a blank 2 floor wall that's 20 feet wide? This seems to be a foundational expectation hearing about friends' experiences with other designers. The other missing aspect is that the designers used entirely cookie cutter options - only limited to West Elm, Crate and Barrel, and All Modern. Interior Designers are supposed to know more than you and do things you can't do in your own free time. They're supposed to have a good eye and be tuned in to off the beaten track options, visiting markets and fairs and hunting for good options. To be honest, they weren't even been good at the cookie cutter options - suggesting terribly uncomfortable itchy thin rugs, and couldn't find a Brass Mirror that was available to order which I found for myself within 10 minutes of looking. Of the first three items to arrive, I returned two of them because they didn't fit. With the amount of effort this took on my side and the time it's taken and the bad results it's yielded, along with no recourse for missing items from the initial proposal, I feel taken advantage of.

Money well invested! Decor Aid is literally my dream come true as it comes to home design. I've…read morealways wanted a well decorated home but I don't have the talent needed (so I wasted a lot of money throughout my life buying furniture that ultimately didn't go well with other items I already had) nor the money to pay tens of thousands for traditional interior designers to come decorate my home. Decor Aid allowed me to get the help I wanted for a very affordable price. My living room pieces are now arriving and I love the result. Because I live out in the suburbs in Boston, they did not have a person that could come to my home. However, they still helped me my putting me in contact with their NYC office (Meredith Cook was my designer, she's amazing) and we did all the work through skype/phone/email. It was very convenient. Meredith was very professional, responsive and patient (with the couple of times I changed my mind) and really tried to work with me in understanding my style before proposing a plan. I plan on using them again for the other rooms in my house.

We had finally decided to renovate our condo and had no idea what we wanted. In comes Brad and…read moreKendra to the rescue! They were very thorough and had a lot of reference material we could look at to help us narrow in on our vision. Both Brad and Kendra asked us a lot of questions of what we were looking to achieve and through our input were able to come up with a final look we were absolutely thrilled with! They were very responsive and quick to follow up and came up with multiple alternate ideas when we were unsure about something. Overall we were most happy with the design and color choices that perfectly matched what we had pictured in the back of our minds. They are very flexible whether you're a person who love every minutia of choice or want to throw caution to the wind and let them use their imagination to come up with a design! We would strongly recommend them if you want a unique design or vision that has yet to be discovered!

I was overwhelmed at the prospect of staring at paint chips and second guessing my selections…read more Brad came in and did a walk through on short notice. He accounted for the flooring, direction of light and our existing furniture and transformed our dated home with his paint selections. His picks were spot on. He followed up and communicated with us impeccably. Save yourself the headache and let his eye do the work!

OK, I see one review for Mandarina Studio here, and it's pretty stellar. Let me second that, and…read moreadd a few more things. I retained their service when my partner and I bought a house in Brookline about a year ago. We decided that we basically get rid of all the stuff we had at that point and do the whole house based on a new concept, which we weren't sure about at that point. Plus, we are super busy people, professionally, so we couldn't spare lots of time on this project and so needed someone who was cool and dependable. And here (after we interviewed a few potential candidates) comes Amanda Reid, the principal of this design firm. She was something! First of all, she has such cool, sophisticated taste on everything we need advice on: furniture, wall color, redoing the whole kitchen and bathroom etc. We were originally into the super modern, kind of cold look, but she persuaded us to introduce some eclectic elements like antique pieces into the whole mix, and the resulting space is just unique, tasteful, and functional. Whenever we throw a home party, people who visit our house for the first time usually gasp entering the door. And we tell them we did everything by ourselves (just joking: we give the studio full credit gracefully and gratefully always). There are so many other things I can say, but this is already getting too long. Just a few more things. Amanda is super organized and a crystal clear communicator. Over the course of three-four months, she probably made hundreds, possibly thousands of decisions, small and big. She always presented in her inimitable perfectly clear way what our options were and executed everything in her effortless manner (her presentation skills are something to behold). At work, I interact with some of the smartest people in the world, but rarely have I witnessed such efficiency and transparency in communication. We wanted no headache, no pain, no drama because we are so busy, and Amanda definitely made our life easy. Anyway, to sum up, if you live in this area and have some big complex project, go with her. You wont' regret.

Principal designer and owner of Mandarina Studio, Amanda Reid has designed my personal residence, a…read morenewly acquired loft in Midtown West area of Manhattan in New York City. She was also responsible for interior renovations of common areas for several of my residential income producing properties in Boston and Manhattan. Through the entire process, Amanda demonstrated ultimate taste and passion for interior design. Her vision transformed outdated properties into contemporary stylish spaces. She was very considerate to my requirements and budget constraints. She didn't replace my vision with hers, like many designers do; instead, she adapted her vision to accommodate my needs as a client, while transforming it into a design masterpiece. Amanda is the best designer I have ever worked with through my career of thirteen years as an architect and real estate developer. I highly recommend her to everyone in my professional network for a variety of projects. Max Drivin

Vanessa did a terrific job designing our bathroom. She chose a new tile, fixtures and wallpaper…read morethat matched our existing cabinets and countertop, giving our bathroom and entirely new look. She also managed many contractors and ensured that the project went smoothly. We highly recommend her.

This was the second time we used Tyler and Sash in Winchester and AGAIN very pleased with the…read morequality, professionalism and installation. I would recommend the without hesitation ! Thank you to Shaun and his staff !

The mindful attention to doing what needs to be done versus pushing to do more is simply the…read morethoughtful way Shawn and his contractors operate. Shawn understood our style wasn't conventional and that our home had some challenges with the layout. Versus working off photos and verbal description, he offered to come to our home in order to help recommend the best option for our wall coverings in a main bedroom, and en-suite, along with 3 floors of stairwells. I wouldn't hesitate to put my trust in them for your project.

It was time for a home re-fresh and Joanne was terrific. Among other things, Joanne worked with our…read morecreative and super opinionated 13-year-old to select a new bedroom paint color. She handled our nearly bi-annual slipcovering (two cats!), and re-did the hardwood floors (I use a wheelchair, had done a number on them, and never really liked the original finish). What's next may not matter to you, but it did to me. I gave her my keys, we went to our little Cape Cod getaway, she emptied our joint, got the work done, got the joint cleaned, everything back in place -- and we returned. You know what that is for me? Trust. Trust is a thing, just like excellent taste.

I have had an absolutely positive experience with Joanne. We interviewed 4 prospective designers,…read moreand I am very happy we went with Joanne. She's extremely approachable, flexible, and practical. Joanne helped design and completely manage a 2400sqf apartment renovation while I was living overseas. Everything was communicated clearly and the project was finished on schedule. I look forward to more projects with Joanne!