Collaborative Interior Design

We wanted to update our new (old) home and have more efficient use of existing space. We found Sandy Kritzinger (Collaborative Interior Design) on Houzz.com and she stood out among others. Sandy understood what we were trying to solve for, brought us creative solutions, and helped us envision things through her design boards that we may not have otherwise considered. The project with Sandy involved a family room and kitchen remodel, as well as working through plans for future phases of renovation/additions. She helped us pull together the architectural/construction, design, and decorating phases of our renovation. Sandy understood our desire to do some of the legwork and installation ourselves to help keep costs down. She reviewed our architect’s drawings for current and future phases; worked with us on the design, selections, and sourcing for the family room and kitchen; and plans for future phases/additions. We used some of the tradesmen and resources that Sandy recommended, and she kept us up to date on the status of each. They were good to work with and we could tell how well-respected Sandy is in the industry. We love the transformation to our home! With Sandy’s help, we have achieved the look and feel of a peaceful and welcoming rustic, lake cottage.

We couldn't be happier with the outcome of our new home. Building a home is such a complex and taxing process. Sandy was instrumental in helping with the design and build our custom home. She was always there any time of day or weekend to help us move forward and assist us with every detail. Our builder had an aggressive timeframe, and making builder selections on time and within budget was a priority. Sandy also took the time to understand our preferred style. Her creativity and eye for detail made the entire project come together beautifully, and she managed to get ahead of as many of the supply chain issues as possible so that we could function in our new home right after we moved in. She was an absolute pleasure to work with and extremely organized and on point. We highly recommend Sandy for any project. We LOVE our new home!!

My husband and I recently completed a full house reno on our 20 year old townhome as it was in desperate need of updating and modernizing. This was the first time we had done a reno and the task seemed quite daunting given all the work involved, decisions required and the fact that my husband and I are polar opposites on the design spectrum. We were very fortunate to work with Sandy as she made the entire endeavour seem easy as she shepherded us through the project from start to finish. She was able to take our disparate tastes and objectives to design around our eclectic art collection and collections from our travels to a create a wonderful haven. Sandy was very patient with us in addressing our many questions, guiding us around the design choices and coordinating with the contractor. We really loved the design boards she created for each room as it helped us visualize how everything would come together. In many instances, we took a leap of faith and deferred to Sandy’s design recommendations when were quite indecisive. We love the end result! Our home is truly a haven now, it makes so happy to look around and see the transformation. If we are ever so crazy to do another full reno, we definitely want to have Sandy as our partner! We highly recommend Sandy, she is a pleasure to work with and wonderful collaborator.

Sandy is a great listener, adapts to people's preferences, and at the same time provides imaginative paths to consider. She led us through a kitchen design process that also touched other areas of our house, and made suggestions we would never have thought of. While Sandy has a great eye for coordination across rooms, her concepts are refreshing and treat each space uniquely. In addition to her design capabilities, my wife and I greatly appreciated the ease of working with Sandy. She has a very friendly manner and is responsive to the ideas preferences we expressed.

Sandy was wonderful to work with from beginning of our house remodel project until the end. She was responsive to phone calls/emails/texts and always projected a calm confidence that made the whole process much easier to live through. She was professional and we could count on her showing up at our house whenever she was scheduled to. She was also flexible when I requested a couple changes to our original plan (which I asked for early enough in the process that things could still be changed out.) All in all, I would highly recommend Sandy and would be pleased to work with her again in the future.

Just as the name of her company, Collaborative Interior Design, implies, Sandy worked in full partnership with me to select the perfect products and design for the whole home refresh we just completed. She has a keen eye for design and detail. I love that she just starts moving furniture and rugs when she wants to get a better idea of how something will look and work in a space. In fact just from the initial consultation, her rearrangement of the existing furniture and rug in the living room made a HUGE difference! Her team of contractors, painters, and handyman are simply the best--and of course she would not have it any other way! She, and they, sweat the small details up front and all along the way. I've added a few photos below, which only approximate the lovely design elements Sandy brought to this project. My husband and I couldn't be more pleased with the way the bathroom remodel turned out, as well as the way our house feels completely up to date through simple touches like new paint, door and cabinet hardware, lighting, mirrors, light fixtures, area rugs, and accessories. These touches all add up to an amazing space that was a joy to co-create with Sandy and team.

This was my second project with Sandy, and it was just as great of an experience as the first. This one focused on a condo renovation in Southend. The entire place needed a facelift, but the main focus was a bathroom gut rehab. We went with a loft/industrial style, because the space allowed for it, and it’s also my personal preference. The end result is awesome. In terms of the experience with Sandy, the main points mirror those from my other project (Feb 2020 review). Her approach is a collaborative one, so she and I made the decisions in partnership. We had to work together to balance our ideal scenario with the budget and with the condo’s potential market value. Sandy was again helpful in weighing the costs/benefits of options, so that the selections represented good design choices AND good financial decisions. Also, I used two of Sandy’s preferred contractors for the work. They were both excellent, in price and quality. Sandy’s vendor referrals represent tangible value for me, as it saves me days of research, and I’ve yet to be disappointed with any of her people. (Many of her recommendations are folks she’s used for her own projects.) Lastly, the entire process was simply enjoyable. Even with my two projects overlapping a bit (potentially confusing and stressful), Sandy helped keep things on track and the design process was honestly fun. I hope to be done with renovations for a bit. But whenever I do tackle another project, I will definitely pull in Sandy.

Full indoor and outdoor renovation, refinishing hardwood floors, replacing all interior trim, lighting, staircase, refinishing kitchen island, replacing carpeting, three full-bath remodels, interior finishes and fixtures, full furnishing and window treatments etc, and a complete outdoor living space addition, outdoor living room, open deck area, outdoor kitchen, and landscaping. Exceptional experience working the Sandy. Her attention to detail is unsurpassed. Sandy is super easy to work with. Her communication is great. We worked very closely on my project for several months. She is fully committed to making sure the client gets what they want. Sandy has a knack for being able to customize most anything to fit certain spaces perfectly. Would highly recommend her.

We hired Sandy specifically with the intent to update and renovate our home so that we could sell it. We are so glad we did! Sandy came highly recommended and we quickly realized that her talent and vision is incredible. She is so knowledgeable, patient, and organized. She guided us through every step of our renovation, providing us with invaluable insight and advice. Our home needed a lot of work and she took the fear out of moving forward and she made us feel confident that we were making the right decision. Sandy was able to help us figure out our options and she made sure that we were able to stay within our budget (actually under). Sandy knows exactly what she is doing, she has the contacts to pull it all together, and she was well respected by all that worked on the project. She managed every aspect of the renovation process for us and she made it so easy. The best part is that she ensured the quality of the work was excellent. Her standards are high and she made sure that those performing the work rose to the occasion. Everything turned out perfect. In the end, she turned our house into a jewel. The transformation after our renovation and with her design help was shocking and exciting. We could not be more pleased with how our home turned out. I am certain it is the reason we were able to sell our home the very FIRST day we listed it. I trust Sandy implicitly and can wholeheartedly say her services will add more value than you can ever imagine. We can’t thank you enough Sandy. Hiring you was the best decision we ever made. I just wish we had done it sooner!

In case the following review is too lengthy, I’ll sum it up by saying that working with Sandy was a pleasure, and the finished product is beyond my expectations. I worked with Sandy on the design/renovation of my newly-purchased lake house. It was built in 1969, stood at around 2,800 square feet, and had 5 beds, 3 baths. In short, it needed to be nearly gutted and redone. I hired Sandy due largely to the style of some of her past projects being quite similar to what I had in mind. Specifically, I was shooting for a rustic/industrial mix, and liked the work she had done along those lines. Many other designers in the area seemed to have a style that would result more in a cookie cutter suburb-looking house that just happened to be located on a lake, and less in the cozy and peaceful retreat that paid tribute to the surrounding nature vibe (which was my end goal). Additionally, I found her pricing to be competitive and fair. Finally, as her company’s name suggests, her process is a collaborative one. I wanted to take part in the design process, rather than blindly hand decisions over to someone and then just cut the check. I learned more about tile and flooring and paint and bedding and light fixtures and so on… than I ever expected to know. But it resulted in our playing complementary roles in the partnership, and probably in both of our feeling as if we built the house with our own hands. Sandy’s value came from three main factors. First, most obviously, was the design aptitude and experience. Part of the reason I hired a designer, was to push me out of my comfort zone, and prevent everything from ending up a typical male-chosen brown or grey. Sandy delivered, challenging me here and there, and presenting ideas that added interest to the house, while still respecting my style. She demonstrated excellent attention to detail and sense for the space and the vision, even accounting for how the individual elements would play off of each other, to form the full effect. Also, as part of that style and design guidance, she was able to provide recommendations that maximized the impact of my reno budget. For example, she advised on where putting extra money into higher-end finishes (reclaimed wood, for instance) would make a significant impact and create a “wow factor”. And conversely, she was able to steer me toward “standard” options in other areas that would be less impactful and didn’t require the extra investment. Second, she was able to help me arrive at conclusions that, without her, would have taken hours upon hours of googling, and would still lack practical knowledge. For example, she has a band of vendors that she trusts, and they do good work. At the outset of my project, I was insistent upon calling several options, pricing them out, looking at reviews, etc. But it wasn’t scalable for me to do that across the board, and it wouldn’t even necessarily result in the best decision. By the end of the project, I was jumping at the chance to just roll with one of her recommendations. There’s significant value in that network, and in not having to agonize over vendor selection. Finally, she was helpful in guiding me through the process. This was my first property, and definitely my first renovation. And with a full-time job keeping me busy, I was only able to learn so quickly on the fly. She was gracious in walking me through what factors I should consider, and in anticipating questions and decisions that would need to be addressed. And she was also able to handle the tactical items (confirming specs with vendors, asking clarifying questions, etc.) that I either wouldn’t have had the time to do, or wouldn’t have thought to do. Lastly, I’ll say that I work in consulting, where we often evaluate team members via the theoretical airport test. That is – if you were stuck in an airport for hours with this person, would you be ok with it, or would you pray for it to be over (out of boredom/frustration/whatever). I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed working with Sandy. I looked forward to our meetings, and the discovery/decision processes that unfolded; and I always walked away feeling like we accomplished a lot. So, I would be fine getting stuck in an airport with her. As long as she doesn’t make me look at any more tile samples ever again. ;)

I absolutely loved working with Sandy to put the finishing touches on our home! After managing a year-long renovation, I really needed her fresh eyes and vision to complete the project. After one meeting, I knew that she understood my goals and her excitement about the project re-energized me. In addition to her design skills, her keen attention to details was extremely helpful in ensuring the final construction details were well executed. Sandy is truly a 'Collaborator' - she worked closely with us to integrate the art work we had collected into the design. She's embraced our desire for a modern home that would still feel warm and inviting. She helped us maintain our focus and kept us to our timelines for move-in. Sandy selected the perfect colors for accent walls in our home, along with the furniture, carpets, and decor items for our home. We always receive compliments about how cohesive the house looks and how livable it feels. It was especially helpful that she has resources with skilled tradesmen for custom items such a built-in bookshelf that she designed and sourced for us. She knew exactly where to find the right furniture pieces and streamlined this process for us as well. She works very efficiently and came to every meeting prepared. At the same time, I never felt rushed to make decisions until I had clear understanding of the final results. I would do one thing differently next time, I would bring Sandy into the project earlier -- she would have been a tremendous help and saved me weeks of time during the design and finish selection phases of our project Sandy, thank you so much for helping turn our dreams into reality!

We turned our entire house over to Collaborative Interior Design. (Seriously!) We built our home 18 years ago. We love our location and neighbors, but the house needed refreshing after years of wear and tear from our active family. We didn’t have the expertise to pull off a cohesive plan, and frankly didn’t have the time. Sandy took care of everything. She helped us pick a beautiful, modern color palette, and created a design plan that greatly enhanced the look and function of our home. She found high quality flooring, carpeting, cabinets, fixtures, furniture and accessories for our project. Due to her extensive list of contacts, we were able to contract with the best craftsmen and tradespeople in the area. Our kitchen is a cook’s dream. Our bathrooms are gorgeous, spacious and bright. The teenagers have fun, functional spaces that highlight their individuality and creativity. Our new family room beautifully accommodates large functions and smaller gatherings. She even transformed the exterior with a new front door, planters and carriage lights. Sandy is a talented designer and an astute project manager. She was easy to work with and completed our (huge) project on time and under budget.