Catherine Renae Thomas Design Co.

So to start simply, Catherine is AMAZING! So I fancy myself a designer (I am not, but I enjoy and have remodeled many homes), but I finally faced a project I just couldn't "see", a full remodel of a large outdated master bath & closet, that didn't just need to be redesigned, but completely reconfigured. Well here comes Catherine to the rescue, seeing all the things I could never have seen. Taking the time to really understand me, my needs, how I use things and my style. Then she brought me more options that I could have ever imagined, was insanely patient with my 8000 questions and so easily pieced together what I liked from each option to form cohesive perfection. She continually saw things I didn't and gave options and ideas I didn't know were even possible. I could not have asked for a better experience and she delivered way more than I could have expected. I am so happy with the finished results and that would never have happened without Catherine. I would use her 1000 times over.

I’ve worked with Catherine on many projects. Her knowledge and attention to detail is incredible. I highly recommend using Catherine for all your design projects.

Catherine is efficient, creative, and detailed. If you want to have the best job done on your next design project, contact her!

Catherine is awesome! She assisted us with our basement remodel and completely catered her services to our needs. Catherine was able to provide multiple different layouts (that we didn't realize were possible). Along with design plans, she also helped us think through traffic patterns as well as room usages for the short and long-term. In addition to her talented design services, she is also a great communicator. Catherine provided regular check-ins which ensured transparency and alignment on what was going on within the project.

We completely remodeled our home this year. I knew what I wanted to have in my house but I have no vision and couldn't figure out how to achieve what I wanted. Catherine came and had me do my wish list and then drew up plans for it. She was incredible! Catherine made my entire wish list come true! So if you are someone like me and can't "see it or picture it" let her help you. She has some amazing ideas to get you what you want. Plus she shows you visuals which help a person like me. I also loved her because when we had questions she was very accessible. I would use her over and over again. I can't say enough great things about Catherine!

Catherine was a great help and gave us great recommendations for our house renovations. She took the time to listen to our desires/dreams and then advised us which route would work best for our house.

I called Catherine for help with our exterior home remodel. I had a vision of what I wanted and she made it all come together. Our contractor loved the design she came up with and shared it with all the sub-contractors. Catherine listened to me and came up with solutions and products that were perfect for our home and neighborhood. I would email her with a question and she was always quick to respond. I have had so many compliments on how it has turned out. I will be using Catherine again when I remodel rooms inside our home!

My husband and I retained Catherine to help us with a significant remodeling project. She was terrific! Her experience, creativity, and attention to details saved us time and angst! I would recommend Catherine without hesitation. She is a very talented and delightful person with whom to work. Bonnie Campbell

If you are in the market for this kind of help and don't use Catherine...... a doctor's visit could be necessary. There might be something wrong with you :-). She's the absolute best! Doug E.

Catherine helped us with design and remodel vision in an older home. She was thorough, considering our lifestyle, budget, longevity plans for the home, and many other factors that matter. Even though we didn’t proceed with the project, she was super helpful, a delight to work with, and was grateful for our business. Would use her again for sure!

We have used Catherine a handful of times for various projects- some bigger (total bathroom remodels) and some smaller (updating the front of our house). We have been beyond pleased with the outcome each time. Catherine understands the vision we have for our house and is great at helping us get there piece by piece. We would highly recommend Catherine. She is easy to work with, communicates very well, and delivers a great end product.

We began plans on a Morton building with living quarters in the Fall of 2018 on our farm. We had looked at several floor plans and ended up drafting a rough layout ourselves after touring an open house. We wanted an open design and yet a homey feel to it. We needed help! We then engaged with Catherine after a reference from Morton, in 2020, to help with the interior construction and final designs. As we had no in-person meetings(Covid-19), Catherine was blessing to work with. She not only had the engineering experience and knowledge but also had many great ideas to help us finalize a design that met our needs. With the use of 3-D video of the layout, email communications and morning phone calls, it made things easy to visualize and walk thru decisions or ideas with her. Catherine was a pleasure to work with and we feel she listened to what we wanted and quickly became one of our Friends. Together, we have built a "Shouse" that are Family and Friends will enjoy for years to come! We highly recommend working with Catherine Renae Thomas Design Co. on any of your project needs and hope we will again someday too! John & Jeanne

I asked Catherine to help me do a total renovation of my Master Bathroom. I shared my thoughts with her and she gave me more than I could imagine. My bathroom is a place of complete serenity — very Spa like. Family and friends marvel at the peace they feel when they walk in. Catherine’s professionalism and great sense of humor made this project a joy. Thanks Catherine —- your good work makes me smile every day. Elana

Catherine has been helping us design our master bed/ bath and garage and outdoor living space addition. She is great at listening and taking into account our needs, wants, and budget constraints. She gives creative and new ideas and sees the big picture as well as the smallest detail. My husband and I can differ in our ideas, and she helps us come together and find solutions that we both love and are excited about! We are so glad to have found her and highly recommend!

See remarks in previous box, which was very complete in describing our complete satisfaction with Catherine. This is the second remodeling project we have used Catherine for. She is very precise, communicates well and is detailed oriented. She follows up on every detail for which she is responsible. She is very creative as she presented us with ideas and alternatives that we had not previously considered

Catherine was integral in helping us streamline our kitchen design (which turned out amazing!). She was always detail-oriented, creative, personable, and professional. We'd highly recommend her for any interior design needs, as she was a pleasure to work with.

Catherine helped with my powder room remodel, which turned out fabulous. I had already replaced the toilet, purchased the vanity, and had firm ideas about what I wanted in terms of flooring, lighting, fixtures, paint, trim, and wallpaper. Catherine was happy to vet my ideas and make sure they would actually work out. Because I was certain about powder room elements and had the time, I did most of the shopping and cleared choices with Catherine or had her help make decisions that were difficult for me. This also kept me within my budget since I was not using Catherine’s time to shop for items I knew I preferred. Catherine is a pleasure to work with: punctual, professional, friendly, knowledgeable, understanding, and fun. I look forward to working with her in 2020 on my other three bathrooms!

Catherine is amazing! We live in a house built in the 1920s with lots of quirks. We hired Catherine to help us remodel a sun room that had previously been wasted space in our home. The room is long and narrow and had a drop ceiling. Catherine helped us vault the ceiling, add beams throughout the room, finish the brickwork on our fireplace, and pick out flooring and lighting. She gave great advice (that fit our vision and the time period of our home) and had great ideas. We/our general contractor also really appreciated her detailed digital room layouts, which helped us visualize the finished space and gave our general contractor direction. Catherine is also very busy with lots of clients, but her turnaround times were always fast and very economical, especially for the great work product. We would not hesitate to hire Catherine again.

Hiring Catherine was an excellent decision, one that I plan to repeat. I really appreciated the time Catherine spent with us considering our style and hopes. The first thing she helped us with was working out the colors and details of our exterior design. I would have failed at this on my own. The second thing she helped us with was coming up with a design for a long, narrow living room that was beyond my wildest dreams for making that space interesting, attractive, and flowing with the rest of the house. I would definitely recommend working with Catherine!

Catherine is exceptional. What I am especially pleased with is she really works to SERVE her clients and meet them exactly where they are. Our 100 year old home needed "polishing" and we had a tight budget. Catherine worked with me to understand how we live and what we envisioned and then created a full plan for us, with products links and professional contacts. We have been implementing her plan as we have time and budget. I'm thrilled with how it is coming together and her willingness to be so flexible. She gave us several ideas that really made a WOW in our old home!

I recently reached out to Catherine for help on a family room addition. Due to budget I had been working with a local drafter who was very capable of drawing up specifics but lacking in creativity, design, or unique ideas. In our consultation meeting we were able to talk through my current drawings, go through photos of potential ideas I wanted to incorporate, and in the end left the meeting with measurements and specifics for my drafter which were used to complete our plans. Catherine was incredibly knowledgable, patient as we discussed many different ideas, and conscious of budget as she made suggestions. She took what had become a very frustrating project back to something I was excited about again. I can’t thank her enough for all her help and hope to work with her again in the future.

We are super thankful that Catherine was involved from start to finish for our recent remodel. We like to say that she saved us from ourselves....who knows what we may have ended up with without her!! Catherine was exactly who we needed to make our vision of a bright home with unique touches a reality. She is very talented and knowledgable about the entire process from conceptualizing ideas through the design and build phases. She listened to us and helped shape our vision. Her ideas to embrace certain aspects of our existing space helped fuze together existing and new finishes. We asked Catherine to explain pros and cons, to be our "tiebreaker" when asked, and ultimately assist or make final decisions. We also asked her to tell us when we had a bad idea or when there was a better alternative. She kept our budget in mind and we allocated resources to best utilize our space. She was timely with her responses and embraced all forms of communication including phone calls, emails, texts, etc. We had so much fun working with her and she helped make the process enjoyable. We forward forward to working with Catherine in the future.

We have worked with Catherine intermittently on a significant home remodel project. She is nothing short of awesome. She is professional yet also casual and comfortable and easy to work with. She works with the highest integrity and honest about when she doesn't know something. She is sensitive to budget, giving options and finding ways to make best use of the investment you make in her time. We look forward to continuing to use her services as we move forward with our project. Without her it wouldn't even be happening.

Catherine is amazing!! After we provided some general ideas, she brought our dream home to life! We are ecstatic to start construction knowing we now have a perfect floor plan. Many thanks to Catherine and her amazing talents! We can't stop bragging to her to our friends!

Catherine is the type of professional I love to deal with. She is a great listener, quick to adopt and adapt ideas, responsive, and very flexible. She will provide you with as much or as little assistance as you need for your project. The fireplace project she designed turned out better than we could have hoped. Catherine developed the design (and refined it based on our feedback), helped us find a great contractor, and helped with materials selection. She also assisted with a foyer remodel, including helping get a custom rug, finding a painter, and consulting on colors and lighting. I would highly recommend Catherine as a designer, and we will continue to use her for many upcoming projects.

I called Catherine to consult with me on our kitchen remodel. I was trying to "general" the project myself and wanted another professional's eye with regards to the space/layout. Catherine thinks out-of-the-box and her insight was invaluable. She has the ability to envision the final space BEFORE it's the work has started and identified several areas of concern that ended up saving me thousands of dollars and regret. I highly recommend Catherine Thomas - for the entire project or even a 2-hour consult!

I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Catherine. She helped us take an unfinished basement to a fun & functional space for our family. I feel that she truly listened & understood the goals we had identified and made them a reality in a way we couldn't have done without her. She brought fun, unique ideas to the project and helped to guide our decisions in ways that far exceeded our thoughts and goals. She also assisted us through the build as we picked out paint, carpet and the finishing touches that fit us to a tee. I love Catherine's warm persona and willingness to help us make the space what we wanted. I would work with her again in a heartbeat and look forward to many future projects!

Catherine was an amazing designer to work with on the design of our dream home! She was extremely organized, attentive, creative, and knowledgeable throughout the entire process. We are absolutely in love with our floor plan she helped create and we cannot wait to move in and enjoy it!

We loved working with Catherine and would highly recommend her to anyone who is starting a remodel adventure! My husband spent a lot of time researching the best designer in the Des Moines area and we truly feel we found the best! Catherine was able to take our requirements and design our home so it met our needs and budget. She brought new ideas to the table that we would have never considered and provided different options to choose from. She is super easy to work with and accommodated our busy schedule. She definitely knows what she's doing and will be our first choice for any design work we may need in the future!

When we looked for an architect to design our home, CRT was the first person we spoke with and looked no further. She immediately “got” us and our vision. When we explained our need for pet friendly spaces she creatively incorporated their needs as well. She throughly explained her process, listened to our ideas and produced a design we absolutely love. We have now moved into our new home and we are so pleased with how it turned out. We wake up in the mourning and think we are on vacation everyday. Our cats are angry they previously were forced in live in a home with no pet feeding station and no special private litter box area. CRT fully met the needs of both humans and felines. Could not recommend her more highly. Absolutely better then we ever imagined. Laura and Scott

Catherine is great to work with from start to finish. She has amazing ideas and is always receptive to her client’s needs/wants. We love her lively personality!

I found Catherine on HOUZZ and after reviewing her projects thought she might be a good fit fo four project. That was over three years ago and we have continued to work with her ever since. She is WONDERFUL! The fact that she is extremely competent goes without saying the added bonus is that she is completely delightful. Contractors love her which is helpful when getting projects done well and in a timely manner. She returns calls and emails promptly and is a straight shooter. She also listened to our goals and ideas and incorporated our wishes into her designs. You will not be disappointed.

I haveI hired Catherine for a remodel of my master bath and have found her to be very pleasant,professional and gives much attention to detail. I would highly recommend Catherine for any housing project as she listens to what you want and carries through,her goal is to make you happy and love the finished project. I have so enjoyed meeting and working with Catherine.

TRUST AT FIRST SIGHT happened when I first met Catherine Thomas in May 2015, to discuss the services that CRT Design Company offers. I was profoundly impressed with the details I received during the discussion. Within a few minutes, we were talking like we have known each other for years. Shortly after the first meeting, I received her written proposal for design services. It was written professionally and clearly communicated a sense of honesty, integrity and passion in her chosen profession. My circumstances did not allow me to move forward on my project until December 2016, at which time CRT Design was fully booked and not available for new projects. Nevertheless, Catherine willingly and unselfishly provided me with tremendous amount of insights, advice, and inspiration on getting my project done right. THANK YOU, CATHERINE!

Catherine did an amazing job coming up with a great layout for my lake house remodel. We are very pleased with the outcome of the remodel.

Catherine was amazing to work with! So professional and accommodating! She nailed everything we asked for right on the head! We will definitely be using her for future projects. I even live almost 2 hours away and she was willing to travel! I just can't express what a wonderful experience we had with her!

Catherine produced a project plan for a remodel of guest quarters in our coop building. The project will begin with a complete remodel of the bathroom and Catherine produced a list of product selections for the entire project and consulted on the bathroom as the first part of the project. She provided valuable information for our building manager and was able to keep the product selection within our budget. Catherine is always helpful and available.

We worked with Catherine on the redesign of a 150-year old farm house in Iowa. She listened and always tried to give us what we wanted while incorporating her ideas and also providing the pros and cons of design decisions.

We hired Catherine to design a new master bathroom and closet as well as a loft area. Catherine's design ideas made creative and efficient use of limited space, greatly improving the layout of the master suite. Catherine's knowledge and experience goes well beyond style. Her ability to take "dreamt up" ideas and make them into functional/realistic plans that work within a budget, sets Catherine above other designers. Catherine's greatest strength may be in keeping a project focused on a style and understanding how materials work together to create a unified project. We also appreciated Catherine's focus on detail and demand for quality craftsmanship. Catherine is both friendly and professional and always keeps a positive attitude about the project.

My husband and I hired Catherine for a BIG remodel project on our current home. I am ECSTATIC with the final outcome - our home now looks BEAUTIFUL and UPDATED and it has been fun to have family and friends over and hear their compliments :)!!! Catherine was awesome to work with in every way! She was extremely professional, knowledgeable and had high standards in quality and workmanship. She was great in going over project details, gave us an outline of what to expect time wise and budget wise and was very diligent in working with a tight time frame, our daughter's wedding at our house! She accompanied me to every appointment and was extremely helpful in the decision making and also pointed out details that I didn't think of. I would HIGHLY recommend Catherine for any size project - she WILL get the job done in a TIMELY manner and best of all, I think you will be ECSTATIC, too :)!!

Catherine worked with us and our contractor to design a first floor master suite. We initially explored alternatives and she designed an addition that looks like it has always been part of the house. She was engaged and responsive to our needs.

We interviewed other architects and designers for our modern farmhouse, but Catherine got the job because she listens*. The projects in her portfolio didn't all look the same--you can tell she pays attention to her clients. From initial meetings through move-in, communication was clear and frequent. In fact, she'd even check to make sure it wasn't 'too' frequent!. Catherine's help finding a builder for our project was invaluable, and we were very pleased with that choice, as well. We've been in our home for only a short time, but each day we find another thing we love: the way the windows frame the views, the way the light moves through the space, the design details. We couldn't be more pleased with our experience and our home. *She also has a sense of humor. This is very important.

I met Catherine 4 years ago. We were in the later stages of building our house and I really needed someone to help me finish things up and provide some guidance. I was given Catherine’s name and gave her a call. I quickly realized that I needed this woman’s help desperately. Catherine is great. I had been kicking about the idea of an addition and met with Catherine again last year to discuss. She drew up very detailed and thorough plans. About a month ago I decided to go ahead with the remodel so called Catherine. She quickly incorporated my new ideas, revised the plan and offered great ideas as always. Catherine’s turn around time is amazing. She is one of the best listeners and thinkers. My builder thinks she is the smartest architect he has met. If you are building a new home or doing a remodel. She is the one to call.

I was trepidatious about hiring an architect or designer given that we were doing a budget-conscious DIY bathroom remodel but given the complexities of the space (small area with a tricky footprint), I also felt the project would benefit from some professional input on the overall layout. Catherine was a perfect fit for what we needed - obviously very skilled, but also down to earth and pragmatic and very client-centered in meeting our needs and working with our constraints and being willing to do as much or as little as we wanted. Catherine was very responsive and a pleasure to work with. I look forward to working with her again.

I found Catherine on Houzz. Based on the reviews I thought she would be one who would be a good candidate to work with on the many details of finishing our home we were building. She did not disappoint. From our first meeting she saw the vision I had for our home and every step of the way she considered my style but yet was able to push me at times to be forward thinking in the design elements being considered. Catherine listened to my ideas and all of my wishes were considered throughout the whole process. She has an amazing eye for color and design giving her a great perspective of how the entire project will look and function when completed. Catherine saved me many hours and dollars in the project by working along side me to pull everything together so it looks cohesive and just the way we had envisioned it. Catherine is very efficient, knowledgeable, professional and dependable. Those qualities along with her friendly disposition made her a perfect match for me and working with her was a very positive and fun experiance. Her background in the industry gives her connections to many sub contracts such as: fabricators, electricians, plumbers, painters, flooring & wallpaper installers. She left no stone unturned in following though with the project. She saw it to the end and followed up to make sure everything was done to my satisfaction. We could not be happier with how our house turned out thanks to Catherine's hard work and eye for design. Our experience working with her was delightful and I will certainly look to her to help me with design and building projects in the future.

To say that I was nervous about doing an extensive remodel of my loft is an understatement. Once I met with Catherine, I could tell that she understood my concerns completely. I wanted to rework the whole layout to use the space more efficiently. She gave me several options ranging from some basic changes to a major overhaul. Catherine went way beyond my limited imagination of what was possible for the space. I love, love, love the end result. It is both beautiful and functional. The best part is that she captured the look I wanted. The space is very untraditional and needed a design to match!

Catherine helped me with my kitchen remodel. I mainly hired her for her design expertise, although I know she does architectural work, as well. Working with Catherine was like working with a good friend. She seemed to care as much about my project as I did myself. When I called her with a problem, she always made herself available to me, regardless of how busy she was. I would highly recommend Catherine to anyone who wants a genuine, attentive, helpful designer.

Catherine has helped us with our kitchen remodel and has done an amazing job. As an architect, she is able to take designs of homes or remodels to a new level. We also love the fact that she gives us multiple choices that all work which allows us the final decision. Catherine is also highly organized and her ethics are the highest. When she says something will be done- she gets it done on time!! My wife and I highly recommend Catherine- you will love her!

We hired Catherine to help us with our dining room remodel this summer. We are more than thrilled with the results! We thoroughly enjoyed working with Catherine! We used Catherine's knowledge/expertise to select/decide on molding for wainscoting, various paint colors/finishes, carpeting and other small but impactful details for our room. She also provided us with the company that we used to replace 12 cabinet doors (paint & glass too) on our build-ins. For the most part, I selected the fabrics and colors for the room based on my tastes. We used Catherine to confirm or adjust our choices and provide other suggestions. We were very impressed with her knowledge of design and current style, her flexibility and confidence. Catherine was easy to work with, upbeat and always professional. We look forward to working with Catherine in the future on other projects of various sizes in our West Des Moines home.

Catherine designed a full bathroom remodel and redesign, including expanding the space into the bedroom to make room for a separate tub. She was incredibly timely and professional and really brought what was a pipe dream that I had difficultly articulating into reality. She works well with contractors and makes it easy on them to complete the project as well. We were given many different options for layouts and she maximized a small space. I highly recommend her--she has impeccable taste and we wouldn't have had such a great end result were it not for her.

We really enjoyed working with Catherine on our kitchen remodel in early 2015, and more recently on our office/Den renovation in 2018. We were faced with the task of a complete gut renovation of the kitchen in a 1920's house. Not an easy task as there were a lot of moving parts. Catherine came up with multiple floor plans for the space, that fully addressed our needs and optimized the square footage. Catherine is a true professional and a joy to work with. We anticipate a long relationship with CRT Design Co and look forward to the next project!

Catherine is awesome! We hired Catherine to help us in finishing our basement, which was approximately 1,000 unfinished square feet. She did an excellent job of helping us determine the layout, work with the contractor, and pick out the finishes. We are in the final stages of the project, and all of our friends and family who have stopped by have continued to comment how beautiful it is. Catherine really listened to us, understood what we wanted to use the space for, and then put together plans that reflected our conversations. She also helped us in tracking to a budget. Anytime we emailed Catherine she responded to our questions the same day. Overall we had an excellent experience working with Catherine and plan on hiring her to help us with other projects in the near future.

Catherine has been an absolute pleasure to work with. She listens to our ideas, understands our style, and is helping us transform our midwest 90’s home into an updated and beautiful space. We interviewed several interior designers before deciding on Catherine, and have been very happy with our decision thus far. Catherine is as personable as she is accessible and it feels that she has gone out of her way to make the process as easy and efficient as possible. She demonstrates a high level of professionalism coupled with creativity, which I feel sets her apart from others in her field. She is always organized and detail-oriented which makes our meetings easy and productive. We would highly recommend Catherine Renae Thomas Design Co. for any project (and already have to several friends)!

I've worked with Catherine for over three years on a long, problematic new home build that my husband and I, essentially, took over from our GC. As we have built before and I went to design school, I was looking for a sounding board and architectural and interior design input, which Catherine has ably provided. From our exterior, adding key detailing that made our house something special, to color and scale issues inside and out, and every kind of issue in our door, cabinet, floor, bath and tile choices. Catherine is great dealing with contractors, flexible, tactful, upbeat when the going gets rough, yet honest when you need to hear the bottom line. She is willing to help a lot, or a little, depending on your wishes and needs. I will miss our time together when we are "done"!

Catherine has worked on my kitchen remodel. She has been so easy to work with and has a true gift to bring vision to life. Highly recommend!

Catherine did such a fantastic job on previous projects that we asked her to come back to help us design two walk-in closets. We wanted one closet to be used mainly for storage. The other is our bedroom closet. Catherine’s designs made the best use of limited space. We truly couldn’t be more pleased! Our contractor also commented on more than one occasion how impressed he was with the designs. Her drawings were detailed and easy to understand. Our storage closet could be used as a fantastic clothes closet if needed which is what we asked for. Our master closet turned out to be beyond anything we could have imagined! It is a show stopper. There is a place for everything and you really should see the shoe closet. It was a pleasure to work with Catherine again and we will do so in the future when the need arises.

We had been planning our first floor remodel for some time. The one lesson we learned early on is that contractors are not necessarily the best designers. So we began doing online research for an architect/designer with a track record of success. Catherine's website and comments from her clients led us to schedule a meeting at our home. That meeting gave us the comfort we needed to move forward. Catherine actually listened to what our vision was for our main living space and she provided us with alternative design options that reflected that vision. Soon we went from vision to design/build drawings that we sent out for bid. Catherine helped us in the selection of a builder, color scheme, tile and countertop options. She was with us every step of the way, including standing on a wet floor at the fabricator as they laid out the templates for the marble cuts. Our remodel is finished and we couldn't be happier! Catherine took our vision and made it our home that fits the way we live and now reflects our personal style. She helped us take our cookie cutter ranch home and make it into into the custom home we have today! Without Catherine's expertise it would never have happened!

Catherine helped my husband and myself complete a home remodel. We hired her to help us select interior and exterior paint colors. We received numerous compliments from neighbors on how nice our house looks. Catherine was very professional and followed our tastes and ideas exactly as requested. We would be happy to hire her or suggest her to anyone.

We hired Catherine to consult on a variety of projects a home we had just moved into, and we are extremely pleased with the results. We did not have an overall plan of what we wanted to accomplish, so I enlisted Catherine's help over the course of several months as the projects came up. Those things included: 1. Determining paint colors for our entire home interior, ensuring that everything flowed well. 2. Choosing an appropriate stain for our hardwood floors when having them refinished. 3. Choosing carpet for a runner on our wood stairs, which are the focal point of our foyer. 4. Choosing new chandeliers for our 2-story foyer and dining room. 5. Choosing tile for a new kitchen backsplash, as well as determining the best positioning for it (went from standard backsplash to full-wall installation--Catherine used Photoshop to provide images of what the different tiles and configurations would look like, which was EXTREMELY helpful). 6. Choosing new cabinets and counters for our laundry room. 7. Recommendations on furniture placement/configuration when purchasing new living room furniture. I used Catherine on an hourly consulting basis and did most of the shopping and contracting myself, based on her recommendations for places to go and people to use. I did have her source tile and carpet choices after going to several showrooms and getting completely overwhelmed by the selection; it worked out MUCH better to have her bring a bunch of options to our house and see what we liked. I appreciated her flexibility in getting as involved as I wanted, though I learned that I will definitely have her run the show entirely on all future projects--the savings were not worth anywhere near the headache of attempting to coordinate the projects on my own!

Catherine brought a creative, positive and professional attitude from start to finish of our unique project. Our space was a secondary attached unfinished garage on the lakeside of our house. It is now a fabulous dual purpose space for kids to "hang" with friends and organization of all our outdoor activity equipment, with ready access to the lake. Catherine incorporated our suggestions with her creative fresh ideas to further enhance the function, size and visual appeal of our new space. She is a team player, with us as clients, and other professionals that we contracted to complete this space. She offered suggestions of finishes that are eclectic but durable with the possible contact with lake water and snow. Also, she was mindful of our predetermined budget. Thank you Catherine for a job well done; our 14 and 10 year old love the repurposed space, and are excited to invite additional friends to their new space!

We consider ourselves very fortunate to have had Catherine design and lead our addition project. She prepared superb drawings to represent different concepts for parts of the addition so we could easily see and compare and then select the design we liked best. The entire project was a considerable undertaking with significant design and structural complexity. We had absolute trust in Catherine throughout. My husband was traveling and often away during the construction from groundbreaking to the last details. It was Catherine who worked tenaciously with the contracted construction company to ensure the addition was built and finished as specified by the drawings. We were confident that the quality of the outcome would match her excellent design and our investment, given Catherine's ability to intercede and resolve issues. The entire project took a year to complete and she was our 'Rock' and our advocate throughout.

We had just come out of a disastrous experience with a builder and didn’t know where to turn. I noticed the CRT Design advertisement on Houzz and decided to give Catherine a call. It was the best decision we made. Catherine really listened to us about the style of house we wanted, the size, and the amenities on our wish list. She took our ideas and made it a reality, all within our budget. Catherine will take you through the design and planning stage, and she will monitor the project throughout the building stage. She will be involved as much or as little as you feel comfortable with, and truly wants your project to be a success. We highly recommend Catherine and fully intend to use her services again. DeEtte and Steve Hicks Saint Marys, Iowa

Catherine assisted us with a front porch addition and an upstairs addition and expansion of our master bedroom. She consulted and worked directly with our contractor, and did a great job of intuiting my wishes and tastes and translating that into contractor/designer language. In particular, she had suggested that I Iook at photos on the Houzz site to get an idea of what I liked and when I had examples of what I wanted, she drew it up for me--and it WAS what I wanted. Really helped me. She also showed up at the site when the porch was being built and changed the design on the spot when she saw what the contractor was going to do with the steps--which I had okay'd. She immediately knew it would not look right and called me to change it. Thank goodness because she was right. Very good to work with. Professional, friendly and efficient.

"Catherine is forthcoming with schedule details and progress updates throughout the drafting process. She is thorough with her review of the project documents and applies her experience to all her efforts. Even with projects that may be outside her comfort zone, she asks the right questions in order to approach the task with competency. She makes herself available outside normal working hours for correspondence on quick lead items and has professional yet relaxed communications with her clients. We will be using her again in the future".

Catherine has designed two projects for us the first was a deck with screened in porch and the second is our new master bathroom. This review will focus on the master bath. In January 2013 my partner fell and broke her ankle. This event caused us to take a hard look at our bathroom as it was quite difficult for her to access the toilet and shower. Our house, build in the early 1990's had two closet spaces leading into the bathroom. Our thought was to combine the two closets into 1 and make the master bath larger and "aging in place" friendly. We sought out the services of Catherine and have been very pleased with the results. Catherine met with us several times as we worked on the design plan. We went back and forth on where to place the shower and tub and finally decided to combine the 2 features into one "wet" space. She was aware of the need for larger door openings, extra space around the toilet, and a bench or sitting spot in the shower to make the space truly "aging friendly". The space is very functional with plenty of hanging and shoe space, cupboards for towels and bathroom items, and a dual sink vanity that does not overwhelm the space. We have be very happy with her services and have referred her to our neighbors and family.

I recently had the pleasure of working with Catherine on a small home remodeling project..new window treatments and dining room furniture. She had previously designed an addition to my house, including all the interior choices, and I really enjoyed working with her again. While a much smaller project, she took a lot of time to choose appropriate materials and bring them to my home so we together could select what would work best in my space. Personally I appreciate that Catherine helps me make decisions that feel right as opposed to just telling me what I need. I would be happy to work with her again in the future. John Reed

Catherine Renae Thomas Design is a great company to look into for your design needs. We photograph architectural and design work for quite a few firms in the midwest and Catherine Renae Thomas Design is one of if not at the top of the list when it comes to quality on a finished project. We have been in the business for over 25 years and their attention to quality and costumer service is why Catherine Renae Thomas Design gets 5 stars from us. Paul Gates Paul Gates Photography Inc. www.pgphotoinc.com

I have worked with Catherine on several projects over the years and find her very easy to work with. She listens to the clients needs and addresses those needs into her designs. She has an architectural background and her attention to detail shows in her designs. I would recommend her for your design needs.