Why not enlist the services of a helper if you can afford to do so? The results will be a collaborative effort w/your personal stamp & preferences utilized. You may prevent a costly mistake by hiring a pro, & may get some fresh ideas that you love that are still very much "you." It has to be a "give & take" relationship! Interview a few on the list, if even just over the phone, to get a feel for how receptive they are to your ideas. Ask them what kind of decor is their forte. Certainly you will sense who you click w/ and who you don't.

You've been through a lot this year, Julia! Why not treat yourself to some assistance when you've had so much to deal with? I bet it will be fun! Best wishes!

When you hire a designer you should be able to be as involved as much or as little as you want. It's your call. I would think it would be a great advanage just to have someone to help you pick stuff at this point. Interview alot of people and ask for references from friends or homes you have seen that you liked. They will work with you, they are there to make you happy.

Even with a decorator you will still have a great deal of input. You will be the one looking at fabric samples and paint colors and picking out the ones you like. You can show the decorator all the samples you've put together to help him/her understand the look you're going with. On the other hand I furnished a large house my ex and I had custom-built with Axminster rugs that came from England, granite we bought from a stone company and had done to our specifications, carpeting and paint colors we picked, and it looked fabulous. I had the fireplaces designed and built from a local fireplace outfit, designed the kitchen and bathrooms myself and had a great deal of fun in the process, and it all came together in a fairly short time. I subscribed to and bought numerous decorating magazines and kitchen and bath magazines and got a great deal of inspiration and ideas from those. If you have basically good taste and trust yourself it can be done without a decorator. Some people do better with a decorator, but I really prefer more of an individual look. I'm afraid I haven't really answered your question but in the final analysis only you will be able to do that. Good luck.

Ingrid

I have definite opinions on this, having been recently burned by an interior designer. We had (and are still having) major communication problems that eventually ruined the relationship.

ONe thing to consider: It will, of course, depend on the individual designer, but one of the drawbacks to working with a designer is that you frequently cannot "test" certain furniture. We wanted to be able to sit in furniture before purchasing so this became a problem with our particular designer.

We found a great compromise by working with a designer who is affiliated with a big local furniture store. We were able to sit on everything, and she also had access to all the fabrics. They also did window treatments and soft goods. And she was happy to let me go to the local design center on my own to explore the fabric options. (The only downside, as far as I can tell, is that the fabric and soft goods are not as discounted as I could have obtained elsewhere. But we've tried to justify it by thinking of it as a convenience charge. We're also not paying by the hour, or for emails and house visits, etc. We should get some of our new furniture next month but I'm hopeful that it is all going to be beautiful.

My best advice: meet with him or her; discuss your likes and goals; ask questions; listen to your gut.

I am truly sorry that you have had to go through an entire rebuild and refurnishing of your home. We have friends that are having to do the same after a mysterious fire destroyed their 6 month old home.

Also, I know what you are going through, and I agree with all the above suggestions. Although we did not use a decorator after we had a house fire, the insurance company did encouraged us to go out and buy, buy, buy, right away. I love decorating, so I never considered hiring anyone to help. While we did not lose the amount of personal belongings that you did, I feel that we did make a couple of mistakes because we were made to purchase fast.

We had a brand new home and were in the process of moving into it when our rental house burned to the ground, with about 1/4 of our belongings still inside. Thankfully, the other 3/4 had already been moved, but we lost some very sentimental items, and items of value, because we wanted to move them ourselves.

Find a friend, or hire a "helper" to help YOU decorate using your "wish book." You'll have lots of fun to direct your attention away from bad memories.

thank you all so much for responding. i was feeling so conflicted bc i've always been a do-it-yourself-er and never thought i'd be enlisting the help of an interior decorator (for one thing I thought the cost would be completely prohibitive). That said, i'm encouraged that the responses echo what I've been feeling... that a project/opportunity of this size justifies at least looking into this option. I agree that someone to help focus our efforts may be the best way to go-- might leverage the positive momentum forward and take out some of the stress of pulling it all together.

I'm also heartened to hear of others (newhomebuild) that have been through the same thing- even if a different scope of loss. Thank you for sharing your experiences.