By AUDREY TEMPELSMAN, Read the story at the NY Times.

Published: August 19, 2009

ALTHOUGH the economy has made it easier to gain access to high-end interior designers, it can still be hard to find the perfect fit. One route is to connect with a new online venture called Decorati Design Advisors(decorati.com/designadvisors), begun in May by Shane Reilly, a San Francisco interior designer and founder of Decorati, a decorating Web site.

The new service matches interior designers with people shopping for help with projects large or small. Decorati customers choose from six project categories, then complete an online form describing budget, needs and whether a local designer is preferred (although e-decorating renders location irrelevant). Photographs can also be attached.

A selection process that is “part algorithm, part human intervention,” according to Ms. Reilly, helps the Decorati staff cherry-pick 100 designers from their database of 20,000. (The site plans to begin charging designers a $200 to $500 annual membership fee in September.) “It’s like a dating game,” she said.

The staff then sends an e-mail message notifying the designers that they are a potential match and outlining the project’s specifications. The first five designers to pay the $10 lead fee have access to the customer’s contact information. Customers can then chose which designer they want to work with. The leads, which typically sell out in an hour, are being snatched up by some of the most established names in interior design.

The New York designer Amy Lau, for example, a frequent presence in top national decorating magazines, bought a lead for a three-room apartment renovation in Manhattan. “To do a living room, a kitchen and a master bedroom is not something that I would particularly look to take on” under normal circumstances, Ms. Lau said. But in this faltering economy, she said, she is more receptive. “In a world where everything’s up and down, it just provides that many more choices,” she said.

Some designers express frustration with the impersonal element that the Internet introduces, particularly with small projects that the client wants completed quickly. Shirley Parks, a Mill Valley, Calif., interior designer, bought a lead to find eight new dining chairs for Paul Schneider, 66, a computer consultant in the same town, and was hired for the job. Ms. Parks suggested they meet so she could understand his “goals, who you are, what you want,” she said.

But Mr. Schneider shied away from an intimate — not to mention expensive — relationship. “He told me: ‘No, we don’t need to meet. Let’s just keep e-mailing and we’ll tell you what we want, and you’ll go get it for us,’ ” she said. Through e-mail messages and phone calls, Ms. Parks selected a set of clear acrylic and steel chairs from Janus et Cie, a California furniture retailer, but found the process dispiritingly disconnected.

“As a designer, it’s our job to come up with ideas they wouldn’t have ever come up with and to understand their style better than they even understand it themselves,” she said. “The client is going to miss out on that if they keep the designer at arm’s length.”

But Mr. Schneider thought that the low-cost, low-commitment project was the perfect “trial balloon” for building confidence. “We have ideas that we’d like to pursue, if our 401(k)’s inflate a bit more — again,” he said. “I wouldn’t hesitate now to go and talk to Shirley and say, ‘This is what we’d like to do next.’ ”

In fact, he said, he is thinking of hiring Ms. Parks for a larger project: renovating his large open-plan living room. “It’s like you can’t paint one wall — once you start, you’ve got to keep going.”

Decorati Founder Shane Reilly contributed the following article to Forbes featuring designers Amanda Nisbet, Martha Angus, Jay Jeffers, and Jon Amdersen-Miller.

Would-be sellers are turning to small renovations and cosmetic upgrades to achieve a shadow of the plans they had for new spaces.

When empty-nesting clients of New York designer Amanda Nisbet recently halted plans to move out of their open-format, family-friendly space in Manhattan to something cozier and more functional, Nisbet quickly moved to Plan B. That involved creating some semblance of their dream home in the one they already had.

She walled off the end of the L-shaped living room into a much-desired home office for the husband. And although Nisbet couldn’t squeeze the requested adjoining dressing room out of the master bedroom, she replaced the linens, carpet, headboard and window treatments, creating a fresher, more restful bedroom to “appease the wife while they wait [to move].”

Dropping sales and plummeting prices have forced aspiring homeowners to postpone or cancel their moving plans. Whether they had been hoping to upgrade, change neighborhoods or graduate from leasing to owning, many would-be movers are staying put, settling on a more modest American dream of home ownership: whatever home they already have, with some improvements.

In Pictures: Home Improvement Tips For Those Who Can’t Move

In January, existing home sales were down 5.3% and new home sales were down 10.2% from the previous month. As lawmakers wrestle over ways to stimulate sales, many sellers who had specific goals in mind for new homes are turning to small renovations and cosmetic improvements to achieve a shadow of their original plans.

San Francisco designer Martha Angus has witnessed young, would-be first-time home buyers put newborn babies to bed in closets. They hang a drape in place of a door, paint the back wall and “figure the baby won’t remember,” assuming it is a temporary solution, she says.

Another client of Nisbet’s had signed a contract for a new home and already purchased custom-made de Gournay wallpaper for the front hall when financial pressures forced them to stay in their existing house. Fortunately, the designer was able to recycle the wallpaper into free-standing decorative panels for the current home’s foyer, providing the desired effect in a portable format.

These types of quick fixes are increasingly popular. Solutions range from buying new sheets for a few hundred dollars, to creating a room where there wasn’t one by erecting a wall, which can run upward of $10,000. But with the Dow careening toward an uncertain future, many homeowners don’t know how long they may stay in the homes they do not want, nor what they should spend to fix them up.

“People have been conditioned over the last 15 years to think of their property foremost as an investment,” explains Los Angeles designer Jon Andersen-Miller. “Now without a guaranteed appreciation per annum and equal return on renovations, they have to return to thinking of creating a home as their primary motivation.”

San Francisco designer Jay Jeffers advises his clients that if there is a chance they may be in the home for five years, they should decorate, while “concentrating on things that add resale value, like kitchens and bathrooms.”

Nisbet takes the opposite approach with her clients, strongly deterring them from kitchen and bath projects when they are fundamentally not committed to their homes. She believes the expense and disruption are not worth it from a resale perspective when so many prospective buyers will factor in the costs of kitchen and bath remodels to suit their personal tastes.

For those who wish to hedge their bets and renovate without breaking the bank, Angus suggests smart-looking Ikea cabinets for kitchens. For a recent bathroom project, she cut costs but achieved a contemporary look by mixing Restoration Hardware light fixtures and Home Depot (nyse: HD – news - people ) marble mosaic floor tiles with a $1,000 mahogany toilet seat from Waterworks.

For the homeowners who are determined to move at the first opportunity, San Francisco designer Angus provides sound advice: “Don’t spend on the envelope.” Rather, she says, invest in mobile pieces like a good sofa or art. Jeffers agrees, suggesting his clients change only movable fixtures, like chandeliers and sconces, if they must stay longer than planned. Nisbet suggests new window treatments as a way to transform and soften a room with minimal investment.

With all the uncertainty in the economy, even some people who could move are staying put. “People feel safer in the environment they are already in,” says Nisbet.

And she will gladly help them decorate it.

Check out my article “High-End Decor on a Low-End Budget” on Forbes.  The story features designers Timothy Corrigan, Robert Passal, Palmer Weiss and Cecil Hayes, and designer-manufacturer Vicente Wolf.

Enjoy!
Shane
Decorati Founder
Contact Me

“On Cloud Nine”
By Charlot Druckman
Read below or see the article on Interior Design Magazine.

Asked to renovate a penthouse in Cesar Pelli & Associates Architects’s Bloomberg building, Decorati CEO Shane Reilly faced one of design’s toughest foes. No, not budget. Time. She had just 90 days to overhaul 3,900 square feet for a client she’d worked with before in San Francisco and New York. “The owner is an Internet tycoon,” she explains as she stands in the finished apartment, 54 stories above Midtown. “He operates at a fast pace.”

She can definitely keep up. To sidestep time constraints, she bought items online or from showroom floors, then reupholstered if necessary. One of the first things she found was a custom rug in chocolate and ivory. It had been rejected by the designer who’d commissioned it, but Reilly could tell that its geometric disposition and mammoth dimensions, a whopping 11 by 18 feet, would have the impact needed to stand up to the penthouse living room.

To counterbalance the apartment’s vast scale and glass-box architecture, which lend themselves more to intimidation than to comfort, Reilly relied on soft shapes. A shallow circle is carved into the top of the living room’s ebonized walnut cocktail table by David Gulassa. In the dining room, the edges of an ebonized oak table curve slightly downward. The master bedroom’s walnut headboard arcs ever so slightly up.

Color also tempers the hard lines, with blue prevailing throughout. “Everything up here turns blue anyway because of the sky,” Reilly observes. When daylight pours into the living room, its periwinkle walls blend in so seamlessly that, instead of processing painted walls, the mind reads only atmosphere. The living room’s daybed is smartly swathed in steel-blue leather, while semi-sheer cerulean curtains complement the slate-blue silk on the dining chairs visible next door.

Although the dimensions of the living and dining rooms would seem to make them perfect for a party, they were originally separated by a thick wall. There wasn’t enough time to make removing it feasible, but Reilly did cut out a wide doorway. In the glow of Kevin Riley’s lantern-style pendant, the dining room’s silvery handwoven carpet shimmers along with the sumptuous indigo curtains, which drape not only the windows but also the opening between the two rooms and the main entry, off the foyer.

Fabrics that evoke men’s tailoring allowed Reilly to soften the master bedroom, she says, without “getting froufrou.” Heathery silver-gray cashmere upholsters a Tommi Parzinger armchair, and gray pin-striped pillows rest on the bed. Wolf Kahn’s expressionist renditions of a forest introduce a touch of bright color. Because the 13-foot ceiling posed a threat to serenity in all three bedrooms, she relied on visual tricks to reduce the loftiness. Lighting, for example, is placed at eye level.

Inspired by this project and others like it, Reilly has just launched a Web site to help fellow designers source products—identifying showrooms that represent a specific brand, even locating in-stock pieces. Like the look of the walnut side table or the striped rug in this apartment? You’ll notice distinctly similar items on decorati.com.

BERGÈRES (LIVING ROOM): MATTALIANO; MANUEL CANOVAS (FABRIC). ROUND TABLE: POWELL & BONNELL. DOUBLE FLOOR LAMP: THROUGH RETRO MODERN.COM. SHEER FABRIC (LIVING, DINING ROOMS): BERGAMO FABRICS. CUSTOM RUG (HALL): KYLE BUNTING. CLOCK (HALL), CHAIR (MASTER BEDROOM): THROUGH PALUMBO. CABINETRY (KITCHEN): POGGENPOHL. WINDOW SHADE FABRIC: BART HALPERN. CHAIRS: CASSINA. CHAIR FABRIC, PENDANT FIXTURE (KITCHEN), SOFA, SOLID ARMCHAIR, SLIPPER CHAIRS, DAYBED UPHOLSTERY, OTTOMAN UPHOLSTERY, SQUARE FLOOR LAMP (LIVING ROOM), SCREEN, DESK CHAIR UPHOLSTERY (OFFICE), LANTERN, TRAY, CHAIR FABRIC (DINING ROOM), SOFA, CURTAIN FABRIC (MASTER BEDROOM), WINDOW SHADE FABRIC (BATHROOM): HOLLY HUNT. TRIPOD LAMP (LIVING ROOM): PHOENIX DAY. CUSTOM RUG: SACCO CARPET. BOOKCASE: ANTOINE PROULX. WALNUT SIDE TABLE: NEWELL DESIGN. SLIPPER CHAIR FABRIC (LIVING ROOM), DESK CHAIR FABRIC, CURTAIN FABRIC (OFFICE), CHAIR FABRIC (MASTER BEDROOM): HOLLAND & SHERRY. HEATHERED ARMCHAIR (LIVING ROOM), CURTAIN FABRIC (DINING ROOM): DONGHIA. COCKTAIL TABLE, DAYBED (LIVING ROOM), MIRROR (FOYER): THROUGH SLOAN MIYASATO. LACQUERED SIDE TABLE (LIVING ROOM), TABLE LAMP (MASTER BEDROOM): AERO STUDIOS. BOX (LIVING ROOM), BEDSIDE LAMPS (MASTER BEDROOM): THROUGH LOBEL MODERN. DESK (OFFICE): ALTURA FURNITURE. DESK CHAIR: THROUGH ORANGE FURNITURE. LOUNGE CHAIRS: THROUGH NOHO MODERN; LARSEN (FABRIC). LAMP: BLACKBIRD. RUGS (OFFICE, DINING ROOM, MASTER BEDROOM): ODEGARD. CHAIRS (DINING ROOM): NIEDERMAIER. TABLE (DINING ROOM), SCREEN (GUEST ROOM): JAMES DUNCAN. BEDDING (MASTER BEDROOM): ANICHINI. TABLES: TROY. CHAISE: ALAN MOSS. FLOOR LAMP: EMMERSON TROOP. SOFA FABRIC (MASTER BEDROOM), HEADBOARD FABRIC (GUEST ROOM): COWTAN & TOUT. BEDDING (GUEST ROOM): FRETTE. LAMPS: THROUGH JOHN SALIBELLO ANTIQUES. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: ZEN RESTORATION.

“Detail Oriented”
By Jennie Nunn
Read below or see the article on7 x7.

The key to a lavish look, says designer Shane Reilly, isn’t a deep wallet, but simply the right accessories.

I like to suggest practical accessories that clients will keep for a long time and that will become a part of how their friends identify their houses,” says Shane Reilly, the self-taught, SoMa-based interior designer, who just penned her first book, Inspired High-End Interior Design (Schiffer Publishing), and recently launched the furniture-and-accessories website Decorati.com. Here, Reilly offers three realistic ways to spruce up your space with finishing touches that will make it feel more upscale.

SHOW OFF YOUR PLANTS

“A bit of greenery goes a long way in a home. Some of my favorite places to go for plants and vases are Area (540 Jackson St., 415-989-2732, areasanfrancisco.com) and Rose and Radish (460 Gough St., 415-864-4988, roseandradish.com). For interiors, I like planters and vases that look more refined than ones you might stick outside—simple, light-colored, sculptural ceramic vases and planters filled with white flowers. The flowers should look as if they were chosen as part of the design, not any old mismatched bouquet. I stay away from terracotta and very rustic pots, as they can bring too much attention to themselves. The greenery should go with everything in the room as much as the throw pillows do.”

LIGHTEN UP WITH MIRRORS

“To add light to a dark space or to break up walls with heavy patterns from either wood paneling or wallpaper, choose an oversized floor mirror. It will reflect light, as well as the other side of the room, and provide a new dimension. I like to use mirrors with bold frames, either a dark wood against a light-colored wall or a light, parchment-colored finish on a dark wall. To bring interest into a room without detracting from the overall design, I like to use a mirror of an interesting shape and color. Mirrors with character can be as strong as art, but they blend in as well. A well-chosen mirror is forgiving and supportive of any design.”

KEEP TIME WITH STYLE

“You can choose grandfather clocks, mantel clocks, wall clocks and decorative bedside alarm clocks to give personality to a space. While they are utilitarian, I choose ones that are aesthetically pleasing. My favorites are white-lacquer clocks and those with funky backgrounds. You can take an existing clock to a fine-furniture finisher to get it restored and modernized. I have hunted down antique mantel clocks at a variety of antique shops here. The best thing about a good clock is that it generally can hold its own, either in the hallway or on your mantel. You don’t need anything else.”