We provide a full range of interior design services.

For a detailed list of our rates, please contact us. You’ll find that we’re below what other business in the interior design industry charges, especially for smaller projects less than 40 hours. Most firms won’t even touch projects of that size, which is the main reason i formed MIE. We believe that everyone deserves a well designed interior space.

We are commonly asked this question, however, there is not an easy answer. Once a project begins, you will be in constant communication with us. We do a lot of work by email and phone since it is an incredibly efficient form of communication, and allows quicker turn-around time. Typically, we send project plans, product selections, and bounce ideas off of each other by email. We will also have periodic conference calls. Often times, about once or twice during a project, a designer will come to your project site and review the project. It is amazing how much can be accomplished in an hour on-site meeting.

If you are not a huge fan of email, don’t fret. We can easily work with you over the phone and send faxes or drop off samples when appropriate. Turn-around time is a little longer with this method, however, the end design is just as amazing.

Yes, we can!

We believe that wall color (and lighting) is one of the most important aspects of a beautiful space, however, picking paint colors is a task that is more difficult than many would like to admit. During the paint selection process, a designer from our team will arrive at your home for an intense paint selection session that typically lasts 1 – 2 hours.  At the end of the meeting, you will have a list of all of the paint colors, sheen, and surfaces that we think would look great in your home. We work with all of the major brands of paints, so you can either hire a painter to perform the actual painting, or roll up your sleeves and do it yourself.

One of the company’s best attributes is that you get Tiffany to work on your project. For all projects, you will have one lead designer who is your main point of contact, however, all team members are involved in the final design of your project, leading to a more creative solution with faster turn-around times.

We make our money by charging a flat hourly rate for any work that a designer performs on your project. Unlike other firms in the industry, we do not charge for minor expenses like postage, phone calls, mileage, faxes, etc. mainly because it is a pain to track all of these small incidentals, and nobody likes to feel that they are being nickel and dimed.

Merchandise markup is a common way for design firms to make money, this is a common practice because many firms have exclusive relationships with furniture vendors that grant them access to pieces that you could not get on your own because you are not in the industry. Because of this exclusive access, many design firms get a discounted price from the vendor which allows room to mark-up the product. The amount of markup, like many things in life, depends on the product and its exclusivity.

Similar to other firms in the industry, we may mark-up merchandise that we purchase for you, however this is typically only done if we can get a better price for you than you could get by going to the vendor and purchasing the item yourself. For instance, if you find an ottoman you love, a vendor may charge you $1,000 for that item (or may not even let you know the price because you are not a member of “the trade”). By having us work with the vendor directly, we may be able to purchase the same ottoman for slightly less, and pass along some of the savings to you. Where possible, we will discount products off retail. Because vendors do not provide a uniform discount to the design industry, it is impossible to provide a standard discount rate.

After the design process is complete we will begin the merchandise purchase process.  For most projects, merchandise will be purchased by you, Design Inside, and Contractors depending on the type of item. 

For items purchasable through MIE, we will send you a formal proposal that includes the following:

• Total Product Price – The total price of the product plus freight necessary to get the item to the offices or warehouse of MIE for inspection, receiving, and storage until it is ready for delivery to your home.
• Tax – Total sales tax due on the product. We hate this as much as you do.
• Delivery – Let us take care of hauling the heavy boxes up 3 flights of stairs in 6” of snow and drop the items off in your home in the appropriate room.
• Assembly – The price for Design Inside to assemble various items like tables, cabinets, benches, etc. If you cringe at the idea of using hex wrenches, tightening cam bolts, and following visual diagrams, this service is for you. We can assemble most furniture, however we are unable to provide assembly services for items that require the expertise of a licensed professional. We can do a lot of things, but wiring up a 3-way dimmer switch is not one of them.

After you have reviewed the proposal, simply sign the form, provide payment (cash, check or credit card), and let us take care of the rest!

When purchasing furniture for your home, 90% of the time you are ordering your furniture from our design sheets which will include a few photos of the product and as many details about the product (size, weight, etc.) that we can provide.  When we order the furniture, every order is a custom order for your specific piece from a furniture manufacturer.  Because of the custom nature of the furniture orders, all sales are final and we are unable to accept returns.

Throughout all of the years we have been doing this, we have only had a handful of situations where the customer was completely unhappy with the piece once it arrived.  We completely understand that this can be a frustrating situation and will try to work with you to find a reasonable solution.  Sometimes this may mean that we have another customer that is willing to buy the piece from you, sometimes the manufacturer will take it back for a restocking fee, other times this means that we are unable to do anything and can’t take it back. We have had a great track-record so far, however, we like to be up-front with you and our policy.

If you are the type of person that is uncomfortable with ordering items online or through a catalog, let us know up-front and we can focus our furniture searches on big-box stores that may have a floor sample that you can sit on and look at.  Keep in mind though, finding your exact piece on a showroom floor is becoming difficult to do and will typically increase the number of design hours required for your project since we will have to call around to local stores to see if they have a sample on the showroom floor.