It would help to get good recommendations if you’d say where you live.

Or depending on what kind of work needs doing, Maria Killam does online consulting. I’m sure there are other designers who do as well.

For design only, be sure you’re budgeting appropriately. You will pay more for this up front than you would if you have a designer procure to the trade products and manage the logistics and install. When the designerdoes design and furnish, the fees are more seamlessly woven into the whole, and not a big chunk up front. What is your budget for furnishing the home? For design services? For remodel changes?

Sounds like an online service might be the way to go.

I do virtual design and would be happy to help. I do this type of work all the time. I provide 3d renderings and the clients execute the design. I plan both renovations and/or design. You can reach out to me at clare@cdrdesign.com and we can talk about it. Here is my website www.cdrdesign.com My houzz profile https://www.houzz.com/pro/cdrdesign/cdr-design-llc . .

IMO there is no way to design spaces on line. What often works on paper in my experience just does not in real life . I would never design a space remotely I need to see and get a feel for the space. I know we all give advice here but it is free so you take it with a grain of salt. Get an ID in your area and start there. Make sure they know from the beginning that this will be DIY job so they can bill you accordingly . . I designed a kitchen from Calagry for a friend in Miami Beach but I had taken all mesurements on a vist and knew her taste exactly. I would not attempt that ever for a starnger.

My virtual design is not for everyone. Some people like designers to hang their art, shop with them, etc.

To illustrate this, I recently had a long-term virtual client recommend me to friend. "Oh, no, she said, I don't feel I could execute anything on my own. I want a local person." My long-term virtual client could not understand this, as she has been very happy with the process. (I have designed 2 homes for her and am currently renovating and staging a flip for her).

The service I offer is detailed, more visual than an in-person design as I offer 3d renderings that totally envision the future space. My process is very well laid out and all measurements and details needed are accounted for. Some clients are amazed that I am able to do this, without ever being in their home. I collaborate on a very user-friendly platform that can be accessed 24-7.

I have even had clients comment that they appreciate NOT having anyone in their homes. Each person has different needs and wants and I am lucky to have very happy clients. I welcome clients to explore what I offer and if it is not for them, I actually encourage them to find the right person to fit their needs.

Reviews are below projects.

https://www.houzz.com/pro/cdrdesign/__public

Post some photos with question about decoration, layout, furniture, exterior, interior...etc and people help you here.

I'm in northeastern pennsylvania. I appreciate everyone's advice. There are spaces with details I'd love to keep, but can't imagine how. I'll post some of the photos from the listing just to give you a sense of how desperately I need direction with this place. Hahahaha....

I also do virtual online design, but not typically heavily traditional in design. See my profile for details and charges.

Front door that I love and would like to fix

Unless you post also what you want the "after" house to look like, the advise is useless.

What do you mean by "fix" the door?

Entryway

Living room

Same living room

Same living room viewing the dining room

Fireplace

Your house reminds me youtube show The Kinwoven Home - Live Your Style.

Check her home style, empty house tour in Tulsa OK.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYwDvHMSjAM

and then follow them in their renovation room by room. Just remember do not try to do entire house at once. Go from small.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wneo8Bsw5n8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTINlN6cAOg&t=1s

The same dilemma is here. Start from one room, people can give your advice. Then move further. Room by room.

Before

After

The bottom of the door has damage from regular use.

I want to open up the kitchen/living/dining area. My style is traditional. I prefer a neutral color palette.

Since I want to unite all three rooms they have to be considered together.

Dining/kitchen view from living room

Kitchen from the dining room. I already know the cabinets I want. All of the cabinets and all of the appliances will be replaced.

Dining room from the kitchen. The door exits to the garage. The sliding door of the left exits to a deck.

I'm going to look into virtual online design firms as you all have suggested. I think that might be our best option, especially during this pandemic.

The outside door is beautiful and unique!

As far as the outside and the door, from what I am seeing, it looks very busy. I would need more photos. I don't think the 2 bricks and the door go well together. Too many small, busy patterns. I would need to see more photos of the outside. If you love the front door (and I do think it is interesting!) you might consider painting at least the brick to the left of the door. There are many ways to do this.

Below is a house I designed recently. The brick was pink and the homeowner hated it. You can see the "before" , my 3d rendering and "after". We were able to keep the stone, but modernize the exterior. We used a product called Romabio.

The front door repair: if it is solid wood, it could easily be stripped and stained. If veneer, another story. Another idea if the door is in otherwise good shape: add a kickplate to it.

As far as the interior, walls can be taken down. Beams can always be added and elements inside a wall moved. Having said that, the price could be reasonable or exorbitant. So, finding a good contractor, who may or may not have to consult an engineer, is a good first step. Sometimes, a compromise is not every inch of wall comes down. At the same time, find a good designer. I would look at several, as this is an important step and you want to be comfortable with the persons with whom you work.

Those 3 rooms would be fantastic opened up and the house has some really nice elements (and some not so nice like the kitchen cabinets and appliances).

Good luck!

I’d look for a designer (who could recommend a contractor or find one on your own) and discuss parameters - how much DIY you plan to do, budget, etc. Lots to discuss with some walls coming down, potential structural support, plumbing and electrical (may find house needs all new electrical), affected flooring needs.

The Kitchen designer will really help with layout options, recommend a good flow, storage solutions, potential for an island, Etc. They can help with decor options (or you would have advised you were handling).

In regards to your front door, if it can be repaired at the bottom, just strip and restrain if that’s the look you want. Hope the inserts are also wood and if not, paint

I think virtual design works well for decorating, but not so much for remodeling. I would never be comfortable with clients doing take-off measurements themselves if I'm going to be responsible for guiding the contractor's work and doing detailed drawings.

So, LW, I think you need to develop a scope of work. Are you just doing cosmetic fixes, or are you moving walls and reconfiguring spaces? If the latter, that's not a DIY job, in my opinion, and professionals should be hired, accordingly.

You mentioned you are DIY and I am not clear of your skill level. I am not responsible for measurements in virtual design and that is in the contract. So, if you work with a contractor, that person will normally do the measuring, prior to any work. If you are doing the work yourself, you are.

There are also companies that do "contractor assisting". They will advise you on the actual work on projects, as you do the work yourself.

@Jennifer Hogan that was so kind of you to say that!

My husband has home/furniture construction experience and he's a professional machinist so measurements are an area I'm confident won't be an issue. I don't have any construction/design/decor/renovation experience, but after enduring this year as a nurse I have a newfound confidence that I can do anything, even if it takes a lot of time and hard work. Hahaha... *Within mostly realistic expectations*

My husband built almost all of the furniture in our current home because we couldn't find the perfect pieces for our spaces to purchase.

So, once we have a plan of action our budget will pretty much be determined by whether or not my husband will build stuff. Hahaha...

We both just want to create spaces in our home that are functional, beautiful, cozy, and can be family friendly (we don't have kids, but our friends and family do).

I appreciate all of your responses grounding me in the reality of the scope of this project.

@Jennifer Hogan I appreciate you sharing your experience because that was exactly what we were experiencing. I felt like people were blowing us off because our project wouldn't be a large source of revenue for them. I just came to this forum to see if there was hope that I could find someone willing to work with us to accomplish our goals on our terms.

I totally understand what you mean about measuring. I have 2 clients who sew. Their measurements are always detailed and great!

One of the sewers I am currently working with on her living room. She is making a wall-hanging, reupholstering her sofa and ottomans, making drapes and seat cushions and pillows. I feel honored to work with such talented people and consider projects like this interesting.

There are professionals out there you can work with.....not common, but there.

Hi @Shameka Colantuono: I don't think anyone is "blowing you off". We have to make money to stay in business. And, quite frankly, remodeling and decorating projects are VERY labor intensive. You might be able to find someone to do a master plan for you, i.e. a new layout for the house and recommended furniture plans. But even that will likely fall below most professional designers' minimum retainer.

To quote the Rolling Stones, "you can't always get what you want". So if you're set on DIY'ing your home, you'll likely have to do the design work, too. Just don't expect full service design levels of input on this site or others.

I don't make the rules. :-)

@JuneKnow - I find your statements condescending and offensive.

I agree that HGTV is not real, however, the median price of homes sold in my zip code in the past 12 months was 190k. We had just under 500 homes sold in the past 12 months and exactly 4 homes that sold over $500k. Who in their right mind would spend $250k renovating a home in this market?

It sounds to me that you believe people who can't afford to spend $250k renovating their homes don't really deserve to live in a nice home and should just stop fooling themselves. This is simply not true. I am renovating a 2000 sf home built in 1970 from stem to stern on a budget of $30k.

There really are ways to save and just because you are not a 1 percenter does not mean you can't have a nice home.

@Sabrina Alfin Interiors I totally understand and respect that. I appreciate the time of any professional willing to help us and I'm open to having designers name their price while expecting it to be higher than their regular rate because of our unique circumstances. Since most of my life is subsidized by the money I earn exchanging my labor for a wage, I can absolutely respect and empathize with anyone who does the same.

I think my issue is my ignorance regarding the design process and how to translate that into what I'm willing to pay for what I want to accomplish. This is why when I'm asked for my budget my response is "it depends on the design."

Writing this just caused me to have an epiphany...

I think I just need help with planning the room layouts first. From there I might just need help filling out the decor to give the spaces the feel that I want.

*Leaving to waste more time on the internet*

Hahaha...

That is definitely where to start (planning the room layouts). Notice many design dilemmas on houzz begin with a decor question. Meanwhile, the room needs major work with a floor plan. Backwards. It is like anything. You begin with the foundation: floor planning. You then add the larger items (furniture). Finally, you add decor.

@Shemeka, don't get disheartened. It takes a bit of time and self reflection to get started in this lifelong journey. When we leave our parents homes we have to discover our own style. Most of us make some pretty stupid decisions when we first start out, but we learn. Probably the one I see most often is buying furniture that is too big for the space. It never looks as large in a huge store as it does in your living room.

The other mistake that just hurts my heart is people who spend their hard earned money only to gift it to the next owner - renovations almost always cost more than you get back when you sell.

If you are young and think you will upgrade to a larger home in the future spend more on the things you will take with you than the things that stay with the house. Good furniture can be passed down through generations, cheap furniture needs to be replaced every 5 years. Don't be in such a hurry that you throw money away because you can't afford the good stuff - save toward it and buy one piece every 6 months or year and it won't be all that long till your home is filled with beautiful, durable pieces that will last you a lifetime.

Renovate to keep your home in good condition and make it work for your family without going overboard and overspending. The core value of a home is in the price of the land - that is why the top three things to look for in a home are 'location, location, location',

Explore all styles until you find one that really reflects who you are. I come from a large family and every one of our homes is beautiful, but we all have very different styles. It is easy to look at our homes and know that the country style furnishings and cornflower blue and peach color palette belongs to my blue eyed, blond sister in law. The saddle rack in the corner of the rustic dining room in my daughters home is a dead giveaway that this home is owned by the girl with 8 acres, 3 horses, chickens, a milk cow and a beef steer who lives primarily off the land. My sister spent her career specializing in consumer insights, she love the messy world of looking at how people make buying decisions. It fits that her home is furnished in Queen Anne antique furnishings with intricate carvings intermixed with industrial pieces while I, as a statistical data analyst who loves numbers and order, filled my home with sleek mid century modern furniture.

About the only thing I dislike is when I walk into a generic home that looks like a high end hotel room where I am drowning in a sea of neutral that shares no clues to the personality of the people living in the home. Blah, dead, lifeless spaces leave me wanting to shake the owners awake and scream in their faces to find passion in their lives.

Once you know your style the rest will come, one room at a time, one day at a time, one dollar at a time.

I would start from creating idea books here, style what you like and what you want to ...achieve .

Moving in with what you have and living with the space as is for 6 months while you research, create ideabooks etc is the best advice. At that point post back photos of each room and what your goals are....working online w a designer is totally doable but right now the cart is before the horse.

@User Your opinion is valid. Your time, effort, and contributions are appreciated. Please, have a spectacular day!

@User -

You’re not removing walls, and rearranging the Legos, with all new flooring, electrical, and HVAC. plus kitchen and baths redo, and all new home furnishings, on 30K. Even buying used everything, you’ll spend more than that on materials.

First - furniture and renovation are two very different budget categories. Furniture goes with you from home to home. Renovation is upgrading the house and can be done large or small scale.

When I purchased I specifically looked for a home that had the core layout, good bones and newer HVAC and Roof.

However, my 30k budget is covering the renovation costs for my entire home:

I am replacing flooring, moving 2 doorways, closing a doorway, expanding a doorway, and am saving/using what I can.

2 Bathrooms are almost complete - I did not move plumbing, but replaced everything except the bathtub/surround in one bathroom and the vanity in the second bathroom (did replace the top, sink, fixture, mirror and lighting. - The totals cost for both bathrooms excluding flooring is $6k.

I am replacing the flooring throughout except the slate entry where I am redoing the grout. The cost of the flooring for the entire home was $8k, Coretech Pro Plus LVT.

Painting will run $1,000-$1,500 for paint and primer, patch . . .

I have also spent $3k on the landscape, extended my patio, replaced the shed with a refurbished shed and had 3 trees removed and one tree trimmed. Most of the landscaping involved removing landscape that was overgrown. New plants have been collected from friends, neighbors and siblings that had plants that didn't work or were getting too full and needed to be split. Daylilies and hostas can fill a lot of space for virtually no money. Buying small plants or doing your own cuttings just takes patience - it will be a few years till things fill in, but the end result will be the same as if I purchased full price plants.

For the kitchen the only appliance that I am counting toward renovation is the range - everything else will be replaced as they die, but they were in fine working condition when I purchased the home. I am having the gas line moved into the kitchen and buying a gas range. The current, working electric glass top stove will be donated to the rehab store. I am moving things around a bit, but keeping all the cabinets that will work in the new layout. Sink and dishwasher are not moving, but the plumber will be moving the plumbing for the Washer and Dryer at the same time he adds the gas line. I will need to purchase 2 30" uppers, 2 30" lowers and the two uppers that go above the refrigerator and microwave hood to complete the design. I will be painting all the cabinets myself. There is no reason this cannot be accomplished with 10k. I am watching the rehab stores for the cabinets I need - who knows how lucky I may be, but new Ikea cabinets and solid surface counter tops will still be within my budget.

The final 2 k will be spent on lighting and miscellaneous items. (Had to replace a glass pane, rescreen some of the window screens and want to replace the stone on the hearth).

Is this a tight budget - yes, did I have to compromise along the way - yes, will I have a fully updated home when I am done that fits my needs and my budget - yes.

@User

It is not the fault of the pro that you can’t afford their services. Get rid of the class envy eating at you. Design isn’t healthcare. It is a luxury, not a right.

You may have not noticed my earlier comment - 'The issue you have is common and one that I ran into myself. Designers will make 90% of their income from 10% of their clients. Your not going to be their lifeblood. I can't fault the designers for not wanting to spend time on something that is going to produce enough juice for the squeeze.'

I never suggested that anyone should feel entitled to design services. I advised the OP that we must recognize the needs of the designer to make good business decisions and concentrate on the 10% of their clients who produce 90% of their income.

I don't know where you are getting the class envy bs.

I am not a 1 percenter, but neither are 99 out of a 100 other people. I am in good company. I wouldn't bulk at making more money, but it isn't the end all be all of life. I have spent my life doing work that I love, working in industries where I can and have made a difference in this world, from reducing animal euthanasia to ensuring that terminally ill pet owners don't have to worry about caring for their pets, ensuring that the suicide hotlines are adequately manned and that elderly can access care within a reasonable time/distance from their homes.

I can't imagine that a $100,000 kitchen could possibly enrich my life more than the lives I have touched.

Gosh for such a simple question there was a ridiculous amount of drama on this thread.

Here is a general approach that can help you:

1) You've got your budget! Yeah! Some people jump in without a budget and that can lead to trouble down the line, so, it's great you have a budget.

2) Create a floor plan with furnishings scaled to size. You can use graph paper-that will work. you're not worrying about the decor, or style yet. Think about each room, and what functions you want in each room, ie, where will your computer go, where will you pay bills, where will the mail land each day, etc etc. Do you need your bedroom completely blacked out to sleep? Start taking notes and include a place for muddy shoes, if needed, or, a spot for the pets food bowls, etc.

3) Start searching on the internet for photos of rooms that you like. You'll find simple and classic design offers you the most flexibility, ie, black and white tile floors, hard wood floors, white subway tiles, etc. Classics are classic for a reason Notice the colors that you gravitate towards and use them to create your whole house palette. Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore offer whole house palette ideas- check those out and see if any of them resonate with you. Having a house palette in mind as you begin your work will really help simplify choices as you proceed.

4) When in doubt, take your design cue from the outside of your house. You won't put modern decor in a traditional home, or vice versa. The architectural style of your home dictates, to a large extent, your furnishings and the look of the interior of your house.

5) Start a Word document and begin copying and pasting pics of rooms that you like. Create a section for each room, and post as many pictures as appeal to you. Share with your husband and see what he likes. Start to narrow your options down based on what you both like. Unify your house through consistent flooring, or color, and style

6) Prioritize rooms that you will live in the most-kitchen, main bathroom, living room, etc and then apportion your budget accordingly.

6.5) Start pricing the work and the furnishings. Replacing cabinets is costly, moving plumbing and electricity are costly. There are many good resources on Pinterest for inexpensive DIY cabinet makeovers. Check Youtube for excellent "how Tos". It's at this point that you may decide that you can spend more (that rarely happens:-) ), or, you need to begin to cut costs- choose a less expensive flooring, or, a less expensive sofa. As someone mentioned above, don't overinvest in your house. One thing I do is look at houses in my area on Zillow- what's a common level of finish? This helps me not overspend for my area.

7) Post photos/questions here on Houzz-you'll find some wonderful advice if you have specific questions. The folks on Houzz have great opinions!

8) If you have a college near you that offers an interior design degree, or classes, you might try contacting them and see if any students want to help you for a not too expensive rate. Sometimes designers just getting started need to build a portfolio and if they do a good job for you, then, you can give them an excellent reference. Win win!

9) Someone earlier said that you could consider online services, but, I've not had a good experience with online services. I paid $1200 to Maria Killam for an exterior color consultation. Really, it was money wasted. I'll never buy online decorating/design services again. Maria is a genius, but it just didn't work for me.

I hope this helps! Keep us posted!

Andrea

$1200 for a color consultation, sounds really high, based on what most people would pay. However, to some, they may find value in that price for what they are getting. Their choice. On site and virtual design prices and quality vary greatly. Each person, in my opinion, should find the right fit for that person.

Are you keeping all of that dark trim - or - going lighter?

Not sure if I'd take that wall in the kitchen down, as it seems appropriate for more cabinets.

I see that you added pictures and are going to consider an online design firm. Great house! Congratulations! Your first step will be to determine if the wall you want to take down is load bearing and for that you'll need an engineer. Your home appears to be mission style? checkout some mission style homes and see if your house fits that style. If it is mission style than have a look at mission furnishings as a design cue.