redfox-you can bring them in at any point and time where you want input? Ours even helped with shingles and porch ceiling materials and that's pretty early. Then it was 'quiet' for a while until I wanted help with paint and flooring in the master bath. We chose the wood floor for the main living area on our own so then I needed help with coordination or pulling it all together. She also helped with where to stop and start and heights of certain design elements like wainscoting and how to layout the built ins based upon the pictures we showed her and things of that nature. She has seen and done so much she had great and creative ideas that I am simply just not capable of.

Once it was complete, she also gave a lot of advise on how much is too much as far as finishing touches and was a great help with budget and where to find certain decor after it was finished.

As for control - since it's your house you should be on the same page. If you aren't I'd think they are designing someone else's house. We picked paint together but there was one color for the bathroom that dh did NOT like so in the end we went with something else. No problems there - she was there to help us with a house that felt like us. She listened to both of us and then would make suggestions on how to merge our two styles together so we'd both be happy.

Easily one of the best decisions we made and well worth the cost. She helped as much or as little as we wanted.

I used both an interior designer and an architect while designing our new house. I would never again design a house WITHOUT an interior designer! Our architect was great, but the designer made so many suggestions that really enhanced the final plans. We started using the designer once the initial floor plan had been completed. The designer reviewed it and made some excellent suggestions that we adopted, such as the width of the staircase, the kitchen layout, bathroom layouts, etc. The architect was not initially completely on board with using the designer--I think the concern was that the designer would only be critiquing, so we started meeting with the architect and the designer at the same time every 3 weeks or so until the final plans were completed. The designer did things like prepare furniture plans so that we could coordinate window size and placement, electrical outlets, where lights would go, etc. The designer has continued throughout the build process helping pick paint colors, door styles, tile, flooring, etc. The cost of the designer has been one of the best values in the entire process!

I think the earlier the better. For example, if you use a designer with experience in lighting and bring him/her on early in the design process you can get some valuable input re: window placement for ambient lighting. Likewise for kitchen layout, stairs, etc. as mentioned above. Once the house is fully designed by the architect, the designer has less flexibility in the suggestions he/she can make.