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March 2023 by L. H.
"Each room belongs in a Design magazine!" - what I hear from everyone who walks in :)I remodeled an entire condo and Kimball guided the design process. Her keen sense of design, professionalism and most important - patience, made it a pleasure to work with her during an otherwise stressful period. Brining a vision of how I wanted my home to look, Kimball educated me on finishes, color combinations, textures and overall design protocol. For the kitchen and bathrooms, she meticulously drafted the plans for the contractors ensuring our unique designs came to life, and consulted on furniture selection and placement. Saying I love how the condo turned out would be an understatement. I highly recommend Kimball Starr!
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January 2022 by Alan B.
In November, 2019, I bought a home in San Francisco. A friend referred me to an interior designer. From the beginning, that relationship was a mess. I had to find someone else. Another friend suggested Kimball Starr. From my first meeting with her, I knew she was the right choice. This could have been difficult, with delays due to the pandemic, and my primary residence being in another city. But she made everything fun and easy. We didn't have one disagreement. A lot of the work was by email, but always included photos and complete descriptions. She clearly understood what I wanted, and made it happen. I couldn't be more pleased with the results, and I owe all of that to Kimball. She was professional, fun to work with, and prompt. Great communication. I would recommend her to anyone wanting to furnish a new home, or remodel an existing home. Thank you for everything, Kimball. You are the best!!
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December 2021 by H K
Kimball is amazing. She was our designer for a full remodel and guided us through decisions ranging from light fixtures to wood floor stain colors to hardware to doing the layout design and elevations for our LR built ins, laundry room, office and tandem desk. I loved how she was opinionated but not pushy, and really advocated for what I laid out as my vision at the beginning of the project. She is very low key and warm without being a pushover. She frequently suggested things that at first I didn't gravitate towards, but I would end up choosing in the end because they were the right choices. She also worked extremely well with our contractor and was always professional and personable with vendors. I highly recommend Kimball for any interior design or more complex design projects.
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August 2021 by Hilary Krant
Kimball is amazing. She was our designer for a full remodel and guided us through decisions ranging from light fixtures to wood floor stain colors to hardware to doing the layout design and elevations for our LR built ins, laundry room, office and tandem desk. I loved how she was opinionated but not pushy, and really advocated for what I laid out as my vision at the beginning of the project. She is very low key and warm without being a pushover. She frequently suggested things that at first I didn't gravitate towards, but I would end up choosing in the end because they were the right choices. She also worked extremely well with our contractor and was always professional and personable with vendors. I highly recommend Kimball for any interior design or more complex design projects.
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January 2021 by Lindsey Pitt
We recently remodeled our kitchen, laundry and dining room and converted a storage room into a bedroom with Kimball as our designer. It ended up being a 7-month project, largely because we accidentally timed it to coincide with Covid-19 lockdown (I don’t recommend this). In total, it cost over $200K, so not a trivial project. Kimball was essential because (1) neither my husband nor I have much in the way of design flair and yet we disagree on almost everything, (2) we didn’t understand the process, and (3) we needed help finding the right builder, cabinet-maker and countertop manufacturer.*Design*Kimball brings the perfect blend of design chops, pragmatism, fortitude and calm. She stuck to her guns when it was important (and she was always right), but was adaptable to our input where it made sense. She listened carefully to us and our divergent perspectives and somehow magicked up designs that we both liked. We love the renovated dining room, where Kimball advised on color scheme, furniture, furnishings. She was very heavily involved in the kitchen remodel, which has been a life-changer for me. She dramatically improved the layout, getting rid of pinch points and opening up the line of sight. She came with me to work on the countertop layout (I had no idea that was so complicated). Our storage room has been converted into a cozy bedroom with a built-in closet that makes best use of limited space. Kimball provided clear instructions to the building team so the lights, power sockets, tiles etc. were in the right places aesthetically and from a practical standpoint too: she balances form and function. She presented curated selections for tiles, paints, cabinetry, so my husband and I weren’t overwhelmed with choice. She spent a lot of time on color, what works, what doesn’t. Without Kimball, we would have stepped on lots of landmines.*Process*I was worried that working with a designer would be loose and fluffy, but Kimball is organized, structured and thorough. She gets into the weeds, produces accurate drawings and double checks things so we don’t have mistakes to rectify later. She explains the process and what needs to happen when in order to stay on track.*Contacts*Kimball introduced us to our contractor (who did a great job), our cabinetry contact (who also did a great job) and our countertop company (ditto). From what I read/hear, it’s rare for a renovation to go as smoothly as ours did, much of this during a global pandemic, mind you.Kimball was a pleasure to work with. She’s fun and funny, able to navigate serious differences in the opinions of her clients to get to an excellent outcome acceptable to all parties. I would wholeheartedly recommend Kimball to friends and would definitely use her services again for future remodels.Service: Refurbishment
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August 2020 by Lindsey P.
We recently remodeled our kitchen, laundry and dining room and converted a storage room into a bedroom with Kimball as our designer. It ended up being a 7-month project, largely because we accidentally timed it to coincide with Covid-19 lockdown (I don't recommend this). In total, it cost over $200K, so not a trivial project. Kimball was essential because (1) neither my husband nor I have much in the way of design flair and yet we disagree on almost everything, (2) we didn't understand the process, and (3) we needed help finding the right builder, cabinet-maker and countertop manufacturer.DesignKimball brings the perfect blend of design chops, pragmatism, fortitude and calm. She stuck to her guns when it was important (and she was always right), but was adaptable to our input where it made sense. She listened carefully to us and our divergent perspectives and somehow magicked up designs that we both liked. We love the renovated dining room, where Kimball advised on color scheme, furniture, furnishings. She was very heavily involved in the kitchen remodel, which has been a life-changer for me. She dramatically improved the layout, getting rid of pinch points and opening up the line of sight. She came with me to work on the countertop layout (I had no idea that was so complicated). Our storage room has been converted into a cozy bedroom with a built-in closet that makes best use of limited space. Kimball provided clear instructions to the building team so the lights, power sockets, tiles etc. were in the right places aesthetically and from a practical standpoint too: she balances form and function. She presented curated selections for tiles, paints, cabinetry, so my husband and I weren't overwhelmed with choice. She spent a lot of time on color, what works, what doesn't. Without Kimball, we would have stepped on lots of landmines. ProcessI was worried that working with a designer would be loose and fluffy, but Kimball is organized, structured and thorough. She gets into the weeds, produces accurate drawings and double checks things so we don't have mistakes to rectify later. She explains the process and what needs to happen when in order to stay on track. ContactsKimball introduced us to our contractor (who did a great job), our cabinetry contact (who also did a great job) and our countertop company (ditto). From what I read/hear, it's rare for a renovation to go as smoothly as ours did, much of this during a global pandemic, mind you.Kimball was a pleasure to work with. She's fun and funny, able to navigate serious differences in the opinions of her clients to get to an excellent outcome acceptable to all parties. I would wholeheartedly recommend Kimball to friends and would definitely use her services again for future remodels.
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April 2020 by H W.
We hired Kimball to help us remodel a small bathroom and office space, and it was a great decision. I literally cannot (and don't really want to) imagine what decisions we might have made, left to our own devices :-) Kimball encouraged us to think a little more broadly about how to use the space, perhaps a bit forcefully at times, but all in the service of providing a great, livable design that fits our lifestyle and aesthetics. She was also a great advocate for us with the contractor, especially for the tile layout. Excellent communication, she listened carefully to the input from my husband and me, and helped us navigate our differences. Highly recommended!
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April 2019 by Barbara White
Excellent product selection and in-store customer service. Max and Gerardo delivered and assembled the items I purchased -- they were on time, friendly, and highly professional. I am very happy with my bed frame and mirror and appreciate the thoughtful and efficient services.
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April 2019 by Kimberly Brackett
This was my first time using Kimball Starr Interior Design. It really turned out to be a great experience and a fabulous value. We worked with Kendall and she was super responsive and we are so happy with the outcome.
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January 2019 by L W.
We've worked with Kimball on two very different projects, and can't recommend her highly enough. The first project was a gut renovation of a tiny bathroom. The size of the bathroom made design choices especially important because we needed to maximize the use of space. The second project was a whole-house remodel, where she was involved every step of the way, from space planning to physical layout (walls, electrical, etc.), selection of all materials (tiles, flooring, fixtures, paint colors), interior design, and serving as our liaison with the contractor throughout the whole, year-long process. We could not have made it through the process without her. Here are some things that worked really well: - She did a great job of listening to our design preferences while also offering clear recommendations and guidance. She contributed expertise vs just implementing our initial, uninformed opinions. - She is extremely organized and a skilled project manager, tracking every decision that needs to be made, understanding how choices are integrated, timelines, ordering, delivery & installation processes, etc. - She's incredibly detail-oriented and can envision exactly what things will look like once they're finished. This means that she could give us practical advice on things that we didn't even realize were important. She also offloaded an incredible amount of work, which was critical for us. - She made the process efficient by quickly guiding us towards designs & products that met our criteria, saving us time and money by not having to conduct a wide, laborious search. She would take direction from us re: how involved we wanted her to be. If we wanted her to choose specific options and bring them to the house to evaluate, she could do that. If we just wanted general guidelines & do something ourselves, she could set us up for success there, too. - She has deep experience working with contractors. She spoke their language and so could communicate with them much more productively than we could. She could also incorporate construction considerations (what would it take to install? what else would it affect?) into our choices. For example, she worked directly with the tile expert to lay out the tile so that the final tile design incorporated the contractor's expertise and also met our design objectives. She also developed the specific electrical plan and worked with the contractor on specific placement of walls, etc. - Of course, her sense of design is impeccable. And she's skilled at client management, so she always had diplomatic ways of steering us towards good choices. :) You absolutely can't go wrong hiring Kimball. While I hope to never renovate our house again, if we did, I would seek her out.
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January 2019 by Win L.
We just finished a complete remodel of our master bath and we hired Kimball to help with the design. What a great experience! Not only did she help us navigate the design process but she also helped us make all of the color and finish decisions along the way. The result is both beautiful and functional. Kimball is easy to talk to and has a wonderful sense of humor. In addition to help with colors and finishes she made sure everything was to scale in the room and in line with the style of our 90 year old house. If you're planning a remodel you should consider Kimball. We would definitely hire her again.
