Residential Interior Design
Full-service design for a whole home or a floor of it, where the studio carries direction, selections, furnishing, and the final styled layer rather than advising from the sidelines.
See how full-service design works
Dwelling Design · Wenatchee, WA
Interior Design Consulting
For homeowners who already have a vision and want an experienced designer in their corner. Clear answers, honest second opinions, and direction you can act on yourself.
The lightest touch we offer
Expert eyes on your project, without handing it over
Some homeowners do not want a designer to take the wheel. They have a builder they trust, a plan they believe in, and a reasonably clear picture of the home they are working toward. What they want is someone experienced to look at all of it honestly before the orders go in. Interior design consulting is exactly that: focused access to a designer's judgment, applied to the decisions actually in front of you.
Design consulting works best when you are the one steering. You keep the relationships with your builder, your cabinet shop, and your tile supplier. You place the orders, you hold the schedule, and you make the final call. The studio comes in at the moments where an outside opinion is worth the most: before a layout is locked, before a finish palette is committed, and before something large and expensive is paid for.
It suits narrower needs too. Sometimes there is no build at all, just a room that has never quite worked, or a house that needs to be readied for the market. A single conversation with an interior designer Wenatchee homeowners can reach by phone often settles a question they have circled for weeks. The engagement can be small and the answer can still be entirely specific.
Who this suits
Design consulting is built for a particular kind of homeowner
You do not need someone to run the project for you. You need someone who has made these decisions many times to say plainly whether the one in front of you is a good one, and what it is likely to cost you if it is not.
- You are managing your own build. You have hired the trades and you are comfortable coordinating them. What you want is design direction to hand over, plus a check on the choices that become hard to reverse once the drywall is up.
- You are stuck between two options. Two tile samples, two off-whites, two sofa depths. A short conversation with someone who has seen both installed in real rooms is usually enough to break the tie.
- You have a plan and want it pressure-tested. Bring the floor plan, the elevations, the selection sheet. We look for the walkway that is too tight, the outlet that is missing, and the finish that will quietly fight the one beside it.
- You are preparing a home for sale. Deciding what stays, what goes, what gets painted, and what is simply not worth spending on before listing. Clear priorities matter more than a full redesign when a home is going on the market.
- You want a designer available as questions come up. Not a full engagement. Just someone to call when a decision lands on your desk midweek and you would rather not guess your way through it.
What actually happens
What a consulting engagement looks like in practice
Most consulting work starts with you sending over what already exists: a floor plan, a builder's selection sheet, photos of the room as it stands today, and the folder of images you keep returning to. We read all of it before we meet. The conversation should begin at the real question rather than at the beginning, and you should not be paying a designer to catch up on your own project.
From there it becomes a working session, at your house or on a call with the drawings open between us. We move decision by decision, in the order the project needs them answered, and you finish with notes you can act on that week: what to change, what to leave alone, what to order first, and which questions to take back to your builder.
- Plan and layout review. We walk the floor plan for clearances, sightlines, door swings, and the furniture you already own, then mark where the layout will fight you later.
- Finish and material direction. Guidance on how cabinetry, counters, tile, flooring, and paint relate to one another, so the palette still holds together once every sample is installed.
- A second opinion on choices already made. Bring the selections you are unsure about. We say plainly what works, what we would change, and what is not worth the cost of changing now.
- Priorities and sequence. Which decisions are urgent, which can safely wait, and where the money you have will show up most clearly in the finished room.
Where the line sits
What interior design consulting includes, and what it does not
Clarity on this point saves everyone an awkward conversation later. Consulting is advice, direction, and a trained eye applied to the decisions you bring to the table. It covers layout and plan review, finish and material direction, furniture scale and placement, lighting thinking, and candid feedback on selections you are weighing. The thinking is the deliverable, and it is yours to use however you like.
It is not full-service design. The studio is not sourcing your furniture, placing your orders, chasing lead times, receiving deliveries, or standing in your living room the day the install truck arrives. There is no procurement, no trade accounts opened on your behalf, and no managing of your builder or trades. Those responsibilities stay with you, and that is precisely the point of the service.
If you get partway in and decide you would rather hand the work over, that is a normal and easy thing to arrange. Consulting is often the first conversation of a much larger project. It can also stay exactly what it is, a designer you call three or four times over the course of a year, and that is a completely legitimate way to work together.
How it works
Three steps, and you are back to running your project
No long onboarding and no lengthy contract to read before anyone answers your question.
01
Send what you have
Plans, selection sheets, room photos, the images you keep coming back to, and the question that is genuinely keeping you up. We review all of it before we speak.
02
Work through it together
A focused session, in your home or on a call with the drawings shared on screen. We move through the open decisions in the order your project needs them answered.
03
Take the direction and go
You leave with clear notes, a sequence for the choices ahead, and specific direction you can hand to your builder or act on yourself straight away.
In their words
“Laney is professional, knowledgeable, personable, and warm. Her insights were so helpful as we worked to come up with a plan to stage and prepare our home for sale. I went from feeling very overwhelmed to confident in my action plan.”
Dwelling Design client · Interior design consulting
If you want more support
Two services for homeowners who would rather hand it over
Consulting is deliberately light. When a project needs the studio carrying more of the weight, these are the natural next steps.
Remodel Design Consulting
Design guidance shaped around a renovation, with finishes, layout changes, and lighting resolved before the first wall opens and the schedule starts making decisions for you.
See how remodel consulting worksClose to home
Consulting for homeowners across the Wenatchee valley
Many of the questions we are asked here are shaped by the ground the house sits on. Homes on the hillside above the valley are usually built toward one view, which means the best sightline is already spoken for and every other room has to earn its own light. Whether a window seat justifies the wall it takes, or whether the fireplace should hold the view wall or step aside, is the sort of thing one focused session can settle.
Being close by matters more than it sounds. Working as an interior designer Wenatchee homeowners can meet in person means we can look at the actual room, in the actual light, on short notice. We consult with homeowners in East Wenatchee, Lake Chelan, Leavenworth, Quincy, and across the Greater Pacific Northwest, and knowing the local suppliers, the summer glare, and how a Chelan house gets used in August versus February shortens every conversation.
Good questions
What homeowners ask before they call
What is interior design consulting?
Consulting with an interior designer is advisory work: a homeowner brings their plans, their selections, or a room that is not working, and leaves with clear direction they can act on themselves. At Dwelling Design it covers layout and plan review, finish and material guidance, furniture scale and placement, and candid feedback on decisions already made. It does not include procurement, ordering, or managing the install, which all stay with the homeowner.
How is design consulting different from full-service interior design?
With consulting, you get a designer's judgment while keeping control of the project, the purchasing, and the schedule. Full-service residential interior design means the studio carries the work itself, from direction and selections through furnishing, purchasing, and the final styling. Plenty of homeowners begin with consulting and move to full service once they see how much of the project they actually want to hold.
Can you help me get my home ready to sell?
Yes. Preparing a home for the market is a common reason homeowners book a consultation, and the work is mostly about priorities: what to repair, what to repaint, what to remove, and which rooms deserve the spending. The result is a short, ordered list of the moves worth making before the listing photos are taken, rather than a full redesign of a house you are leaving.
Do you work with my builder or contractor during a consultation?
The relationship with your builder stays yours, and you carry the direction back to them. We write guidance so it is straightforward to hand over, in the terms a builder or trade actually uses on site. If you would rather the studio coordinate with your build team directly, that is full-service work and we would scope it differently.
How far into a project is too late to bring in a designer?
It is rarely too late, though what consulting can do for you changes. Before a layout is finalized or an order is placed, a session can catch a problem while it is still only a line on a plan. Once things are installed, the conversation shifts toward making what already exists work harder, which is still a conversation worth having.
Do you consult with homeowners outside Wenatchee?
Yes. The studio is based in Wenatchee, WA, and consults with homeowners in East Wenatchee, Lake Chelan, Leavenworth, Quincy, and across the Greater Pacific Northwest. Sessions happen in your home or over a call with the plans shared on screen, so distance is rarely the deciding factor in whether we can help.
Dwelling Design · Wenatchee, WA
Bring us the decision you keep putting off
You do not need a whole project to talk to a designer. Bring the plan you are unsure about, the two samples sitting on your counter, or the room that has never quite worked. As an interior designer Wenatchee homeowners call for one clear opinion, Laney is glad to start with a single conversation and see where it leads.
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