Dear Ratan,
My first idea was similar to yours. The Art Institute of Fort
Lauderdale has an interior design department. You could either come to
the campus, and hang a "wanted" ad, looking for an interior design
student; or even arrange it with the dean or one of the teachers as an
exercise. This might cost you in quality, though - but remember that
tomorrow's brilliant designers are there.
Their details:
1799 S.E. 17th Street • Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316-3000 •
1-800-275-7603
You could also contact them with this address:
http://www.aifl.edu/contact.html
(By the way, they also have a campus restaurant which is run by the
Culinary Institute's students, and is also supposed to be prime food
in reduced prices).
You may also want to consider hiring a redesigner or a home-decorator.
This should be cheaper than hiring a professional designer.
Another alternative, is to DIY, with some assistance from a service
such as You Interior Designer http://www.yourinteriordesigner.com/ - I
would resort to this if money is more valuable to you than the time
you'll invest in such an "adventure". Most experts warn that at the
end of the day, this might cost you more. Some advices in that spirit:
All things frugal - discuss "Shabby Chic"
<http://www.allthingsfrugal.com/s_chic.htm> and have a wide selection
of articles on decoration <http://www.allthingsfrugal.com/decor.htm>
Hawaii Remodeling [sic] - "Designing on a Budget"
http://www.hawaiiremodeling.com/hr122002/default.php?urlarticleid=0004
Creating Home Decor http://www.creatinghomedecor.com/ is the self
confessed "site for do-it-yourself decorating and craft enthusiasts"
and contains many saving tips.
The Interior Design directory features several professionals:
http://www.i-d-d.com/interior_designers_directory/Florida_interior_designers_decorators.htm
.
Maybe comparison between the prices would help you find a cheaper
designer, an apprentice etc. The site "Redecorate, Use What you Have"
offers advices and design services based on relatively low-prices
(although they do not publish them, it implies from the text). They
claim they'll link you with a decorator in your region.
A list of decorators and designers could be also found at Switchboard
http://search.worldpages.com/bin/cgidir.dll?MEM=45&PR=108&CID=256&C=Interior+Decorators+%26+Designers&S=FL&T=Fort%20Lauderdale
About.com has a few tips on hiring a designer:
http://interiordec.about.com/library/weekly/aa092099.htm
Notwithstanding the previous results, it might be always a good idea
to talk with friends, family and neighbours and to seek for ideas. The
newly graduated neighbours' cousin would not pop-up in your Yellow
Pages, but she's out there, willing to do beginners' jobs.
This recent discussion in the Google Group
misc.consumers.frugal-living discusses interior decoration (but
doesn't give any further advices not divulged here):
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=38C57B3C.9D377732%40ripco.com&rnum=3&prev=/groups%3Fq%3D%2522interior%2Bdesign%2522%2Bgroup:misc.consumers.frugal-living%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26group%3Dmisc.consumers.frugal-living%26selm%3D38C57B3C.9D377732%2540ripco.com%26rnum%3D3
This group could give you many ideas, whether you decide to go on your
own, or to hire a designer but control their actions and expenses.
I hope this gave you several ideas. In order to find information for
you, I searched for:
"saving money" with "interior design" or "interior designer"
Lauderdale "interior design" (for the school)
And, as mentioned before, inside misc.consumers.frugal-living
If you need any clarifications on this answer, please let me know. |
