Interior Designer FAQs

Decorators typically focus on the decorative elements of a home, such as: paint color, furniture, décor, window treatments, bedding, etc. Interior Designers, in addition to all these things, also have formal training and knowledge of interior architecture principals, drafting skills, extensive relationships with trade vendors and contractors, knowledge of general building code guidelines and more.

Retail in-store decorators, oftentimes, are primarily sales people. They will likely have some education in interior design and space planning, however, they may not be as well-versed in space planning, color theory and health and safety issues as an Interior Designer. They focus only on product selections from their featured lines, as opposed to the wider variety of vendors available through an Interior Designer.

We work primarily in the Greater Boston Area, with projects as far as the Berkshires and Maine. When we work with clients outside of the Boston metro region, travel fees apply for distances exceeding 30 miles one way.

The Work page on this site has a sampling of our home design work. Feel free to contact us to see more images of other projects. And please consider following us on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest!

Please visit our Testimonials page. References are available upon request.

We do not have a strictly defined style. Our clients’ preferences, the architecture of the home or building and its natural surroundings mostly dictate the interior’s style direction. At Joanne Modica Interior Design our goal is to bring the clients’ personalities and their best selves to each space.

We hear this concern frequently, and have a great assessment system to draw out what colors, textures, images, shapes, finishes and feelings resonate with you. Your answers inform our design process. Our favorite part of our job is helping you create a space that’s completely unique to your personality and not a replica of “specific style” that looks done and impersonal.

We purchase product from a variety of sources, curated over years of trade experience. We also use local stores, to-the-trade showrooms and retail locations, as well as online and catalogue retailers. If our clients have sources that they prefer to work with, we are more than happy to do so. We also work with local custom upholstery, cabinetry and drapery workrooms.

No. We will work with your builder, or tradespeople. You always pay the contractor for all related labor, whether we procure the company or you do.

No. You are welcome to make any purchases on your own. Most clients do purchase through us because of the discount we pass along, coupled with our trade contacts and procurement and installation experience. It is very important to agree upon who purchases which items early on in the process. We cannot take responsibility for items purchased by clients that turn out to be the wrong size or wrong materials, should the client change our agreed-upon selections. We are also not responsible for tracking/receiving items we did not procure directly.

When you have a larger project that you need a lot of help with, full-scale Interior Design Projects are probably the way to go. Many smaller projects also benefit from our full attention. Here are some examples of common interior design projects we work on:

• Assisting with furnishing a single room or an entire home.
• Designing a new powder room or bathroom.
• Helping you design the kitchen you have been dreaming about for years.
• Picking the artwork and accessories that finish off your room.
• Developing a furniture layout for a home that you are moving to. We can help you decide which pieces to move, donate or discard.
• Assisting you in finding and interviewing contractors.

We have a variety of different options to fit your needs. They go from a few hours (Casa Piccolo) to a 10-hour package (Casa Medio) to full service (Casa Grande). You can read more about each one here. If you are unsure where you want to start, you can book a free 15-minute Discovery Call to talk about it.

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 you may think. This comes under our Casa Piccolo. We ask that you send pictures before our meeting. We will arrive at your home for an intense paint selection session that typically lasts 2.5+ hours with some ideas in mind. We use special oversized paint samples to help get a better idea for the colors than the standard paint chips allow. 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.

We look forward to helping you achieve this goal. At Joanne Modica Interior Design, we request a phone conversation to help us evaluate your project, and if we may be of help (please schedule via the site, or call or email our office to set this up). We then schedule an initial consultation. In this 30-to-90 minute meeting, JMID will walk through your home or selected rooms with you, discuss the specific needs of your interior design or construction project and review your aesthetic and functional needs. No actual design is done in this meeting, just an evaluation of the project scope and your particular needs and timing.

We’ll send you a questionnaire prior to the meeting to help the conversation along. At the meeting, we’ll ask a number of detailed questions, photograph your current space, and discuss your project budget and timeline. The fee for this consultation is free. After this meeting, a contract and non-refundable design fee proposal will be sent to you for your review.

Before beginning work, we will send a contract for your review, which includes a non-refundable design fee, estimate for hours to implement the work and a non-refundable retainer fee (see below). After the contract is signed and the design fee is received, we return for a more detailed session. This will include more discussion on preferred design styles, and requirements for each room, etc. We take formal measurements and more photographs. From there we prepare three schematic design presentation, with drawings, proposed material selections, palette options and concepts. After you select a design option, we move into the execution of the work: final selections, pricing, procurement, scheduling contractors and implementing the design.

The design fee covers time spent on preparing presentations (initial time for measuring rooms, taking pictures, bringing in contractors for estimates, sourcing materials, creating presentation drawings, putting together budgets and purchasing samples where required) on three different design concepts and the time used for the presentation.

The retainer fee covers small costs that pop up along the way (larger shipping costs than expected, maybe an extra can of paint, wall paper, fabric or paint samples) and final hours at the end of the project, if applicable. You will be sent a paid invoice for every charge towards the fee, so you know when and how it has been used. The retainer is charged when the execution phase begins.

The timeline varies per project. Every project has five phases: kick-off, design, execution, installation/delivery and wrap-up (click here for more info). Things that directly affect the length of the timeline include size of the project, how quickly you make decisions, availability of product, time needed for customized work, availability of contractors, delivery of product and scheduling an installation date (if needed). We always work with you – and the contractors on your behalf – on requested timelines and advise on how best to meet them.