They are out there, and being executed by lots of good designers. Good, up front communication is important when entering any business relationship. Take a look through Stories, above, on how to hire a PRO, and how to work w a designer. This one may be done, but it sounds like you may still need help, and should be armed better before paying more money for results that don't translate. Very sorry to hear that you are having a bad experience, and hope the research will be of help.

Thank you for the advice! I will look at the section on hiring a pro and then determine next steps.

Sounds like two things went wrong here. 1. The designer is completely off base and, if things went as you describe them, fairly arrogant. 2. Its is possible that you did not due enough due diligence on your end before hiring the designer.

There are many designers out there that do care about the client and service the clients properly. This is their responsibility. At the same point, it is also you responsibility to make sure that you and the designer are on the same page as far as expectations are concerned. If you are not, you need to walk away. Sorry to hear that you had a bad experience, hopefully, you did not lose too much time and money.

Design work is like show biz....you have to have a bit of an ego or at least a high level of confidence to be able to handle rejection and steer people to good design decisions in spite of personal preferences otherwise. If the designer knows a design is unworkable it might be time to step away...and if the designer isn't listening, it might be time to show him/her the door.

From all I've read and seen on here, I get the impression that a lot of designers think a normal person isn't smart enough to know how they want their house to look. They come across as 'helping' you avoid a 'serious mistake' such as picking the wrong light, sofa, coffee table, etc. when most of these items are nothing more than personal preference so there is no 'wrong' choice per se.

I also get the impression that most designers truly don't believe most people live on a budget so $27K for a light isn't at all unreasonable. My son used to manage an extremely high end oriental rug and furniture gallery in a resort area, and was told me how he sold $200K worth of area rugs to one trophy wife of a billionaire CEO who was building a 2nd, 3rd or 4th home in the area. A large area rug suitable for a living room retailed anywhere from $40 to $60,000!!! When you've dealt with people who can afford that without blinking an eye, dealing with someone on a budget is going to be very frustrating.

Find someone else before it's too late.