Storie Collective

My husband and I undertook to build a new home - something we had never done before. As the months progressed, we became more and more dissatisfied with how the build was progressing including difficult communications with the contractor and architect and just an overall feeling that the end home was not going to be what we envisioned. So we brought in Sara! From the beginning, she made sure that she understood our vision and she found a way to implement it. Due to construction delays, the project ended up taking over a year, but Sara remained imperturbable - navigating between the difficult contractor, a subsequent contractor, myriad subcontractors, etc. etc. She was our touchstone. And we could not be happier with the outcome! We feel that it represents our vision, but in a refined and elevated manner. Months later, I still find myself noticing little items and touches that she included that bring joy every day. I just want to mention that our collaboration with Sara was so productive and satisfying that we have brought her in on several subsequent smaller projects. She and her team are always professional, clear, timely - and deliver a great end product.

Sara and Storie Collective are beyond amazing! Apart from Sara’s obviously great style, she is very responsive and attentive. She sources beautiful and unique pieces and was able to interpret our aesthetic even when it was difficult for us to articulate. She managed a relatively significant kitchen renovation with ease. She is good at staying on budget without sacrificing quality. If a problem arrises, she works hard to find a solution without involving the client in the back and forth with the vendor. I could not recommend Sara more highly for projects big and small and have referred her to several friends already!

Sara is a total pro and joy to work with. Most importantly the end product is gorgeous and we will truly treasure the spaces she created for our family for decades to come. Throughout the process Sara was wonderful to work with - her designs required no revisions and she executed them beautifully - she kept all our vendors coordinated and was so organized, making sure all the design elements were ordered and arrived on schedule and that our contractor knew all the installation specs and requirements. Don't hesitate to work with Sara on projects big or small - ours was a full home renovation down to the studs and very complex due to historic district requirements; merging two distinct homes etc. She can do it all and is cool, calm and collected through it all!

Sara and her team helped turn our vague renovation vision into a beautiful home. Their attention to detail and commitment to developing spaces that their clients will love is unmatched. Every step of the way, they were professional and responsive to our interests and feedback. I cannot recommend their services (and storefront) enough.

Sara and her team at Storie Collective have been BRILLIANT and I could not wait until the end of our project to write this review. We are currently seeing all of their work come to fruition and Sara has made the process so easy and exciting for us. Sara uses her design prowess, innovative ideas, and an uncannily intuitive ear for hearing her clients tastes and styles, and combines them to create spaces more beautiful than the owner could have imagined. It's MAGIC. My husband and I don't always have the same taste and Sara has been fantastic at building compromise that we can both feel good about. We expanded our project quite a bit when we saw the exciting ideas Sara had for our space, so naturally our budget increased, but she and her team have been respectful of our limits throughout the entire process. I can't wait to see the final results come together. I will always go back to Storie Collective for future design needs. Watch this space...

This was our first foray into renovation and updating of our kitchen as well as painting the whole house and we couldn’t have done it without the exceptional talents of our interior decorator Sara Swab and her first Stories Collective. Starting with the painting project Sara patiently listened to our interests and style and then came up with a wonderful color palate for our rooms which turned out beautifully. Moving on after the painting to renovation of our kitchen, we hadn’t updated it in 25 years! She was able to suggest everything from the counter top to the hardware to the sink and the faucet. We are rather hands on so we went out and looked at all the materials before buying but for those customers that prefer not to be so hands on, Sara is a dream and can purchase samples as well as the final materials. Plus, the contractor she suggested (Lucas at Factotum remodeling) whom she works with was the best! I would strongly recommend Sara and her firm.

Sara was an absolute dream to work with! I feel like we got so lucky finding her. She is so responsive and her designs made our new house, our home. I highly recommend.

It is a daunting task to find a designer that understands your vision and helps you achieve that. Sara is that person for me. She has helped me transform the kitchen and family room into a modern, functional and beautiful space. Her design and choices for the space are exactly what I want. She also responds quickly to your questions and super patient about it. I would highly recommend her to anyone who is looking to transform/update their spaces.

I have used Storie Collective over the past year for a few different projects, and I can't say enough how impressive the results have been and what a pleasure Sara and team are to work with. They first helped me to do a quick upgrade on a condo I was selling - fresh paint, new furnishings, and updated bathroom. This expanded to a refresh of my townhome, from paint and furnishings to a full renovation of my kitchen and a bathroom. The team is responsive and thoughtful in incorporating my and my husband's personal style in each project. They made my life infinitely easier in the planning and management of each project, and the quality of the results was beyond expectations every time. I would highly recommend their services to anyone, and especially to those undertaking a major house renovation. You don't go to court without a lawyer - don't do construction without a designer in your corner!

Sara at StorieCollective is absolutely fantastic. My wife and I hired her to design and furnish several rooms of our new house, and we were extremely impressed by every aspect of her work. She started by coming out to our house and spending an hour getting a sense of the space and talking to us about our goals and tastes. Sara did a great job of listening attentively to our desires while also imparting her thoughts and expertise. She then worked quickly to create a design and propose furniture and art for each room. She created spaces that were simultaneously unique and cohesive. She proposed furniture and art that fit our taste perfectly and that we loved immediately, but they were not items we would have identified ourselves. That fact alone made hiring Sara worthwhile. But then after the furniture was selected, Sara also took care of all of the logistics, including negotiating over furniture delays and replacements (one desk arrived damaged, and Sara handled sending it back and getting a replacement). Sara was always attentive and responsive, but never overbearing. We plan to continue using Sara for the other rooms in our house. Simple put, she is excellent.

Working with StorieCollective has been really great for us! Sara was very easy to work with; she is super responsive and organized. I also appreciated that she brought a beautiful design point of view, but also really listened to what our needs were and what works for our family, incorporating that into her designs. If you haven't worked with a designer before and you are wondering about it, I highly recommend StorieCollective! The process was easy and it made such a difference. Sara really turned our house into a beautiful home.

Working with Sara at StorieCollective was a wonderful experience. I had never worked with a designer before and I found Sara to be responsive and thoughtful throughout the process. I used her services for two apartments and I really liked her selections. I would highly recommend Sara and I plan to use her again in the future.

I worked with StorieCollective on a design for my Hudson Valley living space, and I cannot say enough good things! The remote design service is so seamless and personal that you'd swear it was in-person. Sara is so incredibly talented and she completely got my style. She came up with perfect solutions for my awkward floorplan that I wouldn't have thought of in a million years. Her design is gorgeous, timeless and my only regret was not utilizing her services sooner!

Sara’s a genius who has a magic touch. She can walk into a room, take in every detail and within seconds know exactly what to do to make it the room you always wanted. After working with her, I cannot imagine doing another project without her. Not only is she talented and efficient, she’s an absolute pleasure to work with. Simply the best!

We worked with StorieCollective for a remote design of the open concept living/dining area of our Capitol Hill home. Sara was fantastic to work with and we were so pleased with the ease of the design process as well as the result. Our space had its challenges but she came up with an excellent floor plan that used the space in a smarter way than we would have come up with on our own. We were keeping a few existing pieces of furniture and the other design choices that Sara made worked well with what we already had. Sara was very easy to collaborate with and her choices for our home were spot on. I loved the ease of the clickable shopping list and the ability to reference both the space plan and design concept. I’m so happy that we worked with StorieCollective- our space is absolutely more functional, beautiful and well curated as a result.