Vestige Home

When we moved from an 1835 house in Massachusetts to a small condo in a 1960s Philadelphia high rise, I knew we would need someone to help prepare our new home. I had never used a design firm before and was frankly apprehensive. After gathering recommendations I reviewed portfolios on various websites, all of which seemed either pretentiously grandiose or blandly modern, of the style seen in catalogs. Then I happened upon Vestige-Home, where the rooms designed by Nicole and her team were understated, quirky and beautiful – exactly what I was looking for. Nicole created a wonderful design for our three-room flat and the longer I have lived in it the more I appreciate her skill. I would never have chosen such dark walls, but they frame our floor-to-ceiling windows beautifully and the furnishings she selected echo the colors of the historic buildings we overlook. She took careful note of our tastes and preferences so our rooms would be functional – for example, all sofas are long enough for naps, a frequent activity of my husband. She understood our love of history and several pieces of our antique furniture were integrated into the design in ways that are fresh and modern. Nicole and her team took care of everything, from finding contractors to scheduling the freight elevator and supervising deliveries – a huge relief when one is not living on site. As in every project there were a few problems with deliveries, etc,, but Nicole was on top of every issue and communication was excellent. Our home is now comfortable, casual, and elegant, a delightful blend of old and new. It suits us perfectly.

STELLAR DESIGN SUPERB EXECUTION We couldn't be happier with vestige's concept and realization of our new living and kitchen space. We purchased a home during the summer and were completely at a loss of how to begin decorating. Nicole and her team stepped in and discovered ingenious ways to incorporate unexpected and surprising design moments in these two spaces, and at a very limited budget at that. Every stage of the process was superbly executed. We also enjoyed working with other team members at vestige (thanks, Brooke, Emily, and Maureen!) Nicole is extremely creative, fun and laid-back--and a testament to her work is that we are already hoping to work with vestige HOME on our third floor. During these challenging times, it is such a pleasure to sit, eat, relax, and live in a space that is made just for you. Thanks, Nicole, for making us feel at home.

tl;dr Hire vestige Home – they are great! We had a great experience with Nicole and the vestige HOME team. We re-designed a home office, dining room, living room and sunroom. All of our design objectives were met, and our family is absolutely delighted with the end result. In particular we feel we now really have the home we wanted - which really was down to having a true professional manage the design & installation process from start to finish. We also appreciate Nicole's design aesthetic, and this is one of the keys that led us to initially select vestige HOME. We started our journey when we decided against a move and as a result decided that we wanted to make the best of our current home. In essence, we wanted to “move” into an awesome new living space that was our current home. And we wanted to enjoy our new spaces with a sense of joy, calm and great design that our home lacked – we wanted to feel we’d checked into a small design hotel right at home. It was also interesting in retrospect that vestige HOME served us not only as designers but also as psychologists. I say that because they really have to dig into how you describe what you want to figure out what’s really important and what is really driving a given goal – as well as how you live your life and what’s important to you. By really listening and observing they were able to design a space that was a fit for us, that just felt right. As well, they really helped walk us through the process of understanding design proposals and getting past some initial concerns at how drastic a change some of the rooms would represent. In the end, any areas of ‘we’re not really sure’ or ‘it’s such a big change’ converted to ‘this is amazing!’. We’ve also noticed that the appeal of these new spaces has changed how we use our home. To use one example, before the redesign, we often ended up dining at a kitchen island because our old dining room was such a mess and just never felt like it was our space. But now we look forward to moving into the dining room for meals, and we sit and talk longer than would have felt natural in a high traffic and more task-focused kitchen space. And the space just ‘fits’ and feels a lot better and more enjoyable – we want to be there now. On a more practical level, the electrical, painting and installation sub-contractors they used were all top-notch. Any small nits (that happen on any project) were immediately rectified and all of the contractors were friendly and extremely detail oriented. And all of the furniture, paint, wallpaper and other selections came out great in the end. We had one credenza that was shipped and damaged three times by the furniture company due to bad packaging, but the vestige HOME team kept us updated on status along the way and helped us select a new piece from a different supplier that we ended up liking better anyway. They also work closely with local and domestic suppliers, which was important to us as we didn’t want everything to come from some distant company overseas and instead wanted to support local and domestic businesses. In particular, a local furniture maker they partnered with was a real gem and delivered some truly amazing purpose-built tables that are an absolute delight to own and use. I should also say that in prior home projects we have tended to be our own general contractor, which was a real pain. It was a relief to be able to hand it all over to vestige HOME to take care of it all from start to finish. But you also should bear in mind (you’ll know this if you have ever tried to be a GC) that little scheduling bumps happen, minor shipping delays, etc. So just factor that all in ahead of time, set a schedule that is realistic & achievable, and be flexible -- it all works out when the project is complete. One downside of working with vestige HOME is now that these initial rooms have been redesigned, we now realize our remaining rooms could really use some work! LOL. So needless to say, we’re now thinking about those spaces and what we want out of the next phase of our work with vestige HOME. :-)

I hired Nicole for many projects in a home we had just purchased in June. Including design ideas for numerous baths, selection of finishes of the master bath, family room door way remodel, main entry door, a master fireplace, living room, plating a vintage shower door frame, general direction on design for the home and styling. A good portion budget went to 33 hours of opining, but not supervision of installations or execution. Thus, work quality and value was just not to par in this case. Pros: Her aesthetic and ideas are lovely - that goes without saying. She is well connected with really great people (contractors, painters, vendors, etc.). Cons: Execution could be improved. Support and follow through were disappointing. Main jobs fell through the cracks. Although the master bath fixtures were custom and beautiful, the wrong ones arrived past the 8 week timeline which was disclosed very late in the process. I was told to deal with the showroom myself directly to seek remedy contrary to our contractual agreement. It took ~16 weeks for the master to be complete and usable/fully functional. The process was stressful and time consuming. Communication could be improved. I was under the impression based on a few conversations that rooms we discussed would be styled with our belongings and the master installation would (at some point) be "supervised". Never happened. When issues arose, Nicole was not reachable by phone, phone calls were slatted to her assistants, unless she wanted payment. I was "reprimanded" and made to feel quite bad within hours when I emailed to see if she would be amenable to accepting a 50% deposit (versus 100%) on some of the materials given the lengthy delay on fixtures which had not previously been disclosed. I was told that that was unreasonable since they were a small business and shamed for even making the request. Payment was requested in full for all ordered deliverables that were highly delayed at a great inconvenience. Her camp blamed the show room for the wrong order, the showroom blamed them. I paid for our plumber to come out 4 times to try to install the master, each time he couldn't as parts were missing, mismatched to our plumbing or just accidentally the wrong thing. If you engage vestige, 1) agree upon a timeline and completion date, 2) Have her disclose any mark up fees upfront, 3) have her nix voidable clauses (unnecessary intimidating jargon), 4) be sure you are ok with 8-16 week delay in your timeline if you order custom fixtures (which you should know you are agreeing to) and 5) confirm ahead of time exactly what and where she will be styling. In the end, after perseverance, there was resolution, I was refunded for fixtures that did not match the faucets. Small details (like toilet paper holder, shower door handle and shower hinges/drains) were after thought. Some of these remain unmatched to the matte black design scheme. The entire master arrived peace-meal. We were without a master bath for 4 months due to fixture faux pas alone. I had to go through great lengths and discussions to get her to rectify the situation. I've since consulted with another designer and have had a smoother encounter for our basement and attic renovation projects. In response 2/27- Nicole, I never said you "reprimanded me", I said it was how you made me feel. I can't change that. Nothing in the above review is untrue. The correct fixtures took 16 weeks to get, delaying install of the otherwise finished master by that length, leading to $400 of unnecessary plumber fees. We were absolutely happy early on, but very dissatisfied in the end with the communication break downs & project hiccups. I emailed you on a number of occasions expressing dissatisfaction and to notify you that it would be unethical not to reimburse me for deliverable items that were not as described/expected. It was only then that you agreed to reimburse for those items. Thanks for that. We wish you the best in future endeavors and are sorry it just didn't work out.

We could not recommend Nicole and the Vestige Home team more highly. After several good but not great experiences with remodeling other rooms in our 1800s row home we decided it was time for a change. We found Nicole and are so happy we did. She introduced us to a great new contractor, Buckminster Green, and gave us everything we wanted and needed to make the first floor of our house a perfect space for our family. Our kitchen went from a place we avoided other than when absolutely necessary to a beautiful family space. Nicole also helped us create beautiful and functional storage. She took our house which had a number of "problems" and found beautiful solutions both big and small.

Nicole was so great to work with! Her vision is spot-on, her approach is very professional, and her design process is very streamlined with a well-thought plan. She took the stress out of decorating our home and was able to just bring everything together so perfectly. All the pieces finally all fit together and we couldn't be happier!

Nicole was incredible to work with! She redesigned one of our guest bedrooms into a nursery. The transformation was amazing. Nicole reworked the entire room from top to bottom, with the highest level of care, creativity, professionalism, and attention to detail. From the start, Nicole imparted a spirit of collaboration into the project. She sat down with us and went through each step of the design process, asking us questions and inviting us to ask our own. We explained to her how we imagined the nursery would be set up, and the various baby-centric components that we felt were necessary for the room. She came back to us a few days later with a comprehensive model of the room, a beautifully realized vision of how we could design the layout to best maximize the space of the room, and how to set the mood and feeling of the room with color schemes for the walls, the furniture, the lighting, and the rugs. That level of communication continued throughout the entire project; she was always there to answer any questions we had from start to finish. She then perfectly executed the project's plan, and the end result was even more impressive than we could have imagined. Working with Nicole was truly a wonderful experience!

She is warm and friendly and has a great eye for design. We look forward to working with her sometime soon!

Nicole was adept at choosing the right furniture, carpet, artwork, and other decor to fit both my style and budget. A couple of times I was skeptical on some choices, but I've never had a pulled-together, cohesive space in my home and I trusted her. TRUST HER! She will know what you want/need before you even realize it yourself. I am proud of my home and I would hire her again! Also, I LOVE my handmade natural wood desk that she made - and literally everyone who sees it wants one too!

Nicole Cole is a very professional interior designer, with excellent space planning and decorating skills. She completed three major renovations for us in historic homes in Jacksonville Florida and all of them turned out to be the best homes in the neighborhoods. We would highly recommend Nicole to anyone who wants the best results for their projects. on homes for us

Highest recommendation for Nicole and vestige HOME. Nicole met with me when my project was in the earliest stages and I knew only that I wanted "a change" to my current space. She brainstormed various options for a powder room/laundry room, created a space plan that made better use of my space, found an inspiration for the mood and feel of the space in line with my style and worked with me to execute it within the budget and timing that worked best for me. I have had many quotes for design worked and liked Nicole's work style and communication the best. She is creative, organized, responsive and thorough. Also flexible to be involved or hands off as the project got off the ground. Please contact me for additional information.

Nicole is absolutely amazing. I can't say enough good things about her and the interior decorating services that she provided for us. Nicole originally helped us in a historic home in Jacksonville. She was incredible at learning what we wanted, matching the neighborhood feel, and making the house feel just right. We then unexpectedly moved to the beach!! Nicole worked with us to repurpose our old furniture, adapt it to our new house style and make the PERFECT house sitting. We love, love, love the work that Nicole did for us. We're so grateful.