Design Matters

Brilliant Interior Design by Julie Cavanaugh and the Design Matters team. Now working with Julie on our THIRD remodel project! Julie is excellent in the early phase spacial planning, often recommending small changes that yield big benefits in the flow and efficiency of the house. She has an unparalleled design aesthetic that creates rooms and color palettes that are unique and beautiful. Uses a variety of materials and textures, and great cabinetry design. Very distinctive work that always gets a "WOW" from guests. And to top it off, she and the team are very fun to work with!

Julie is an absolute pro in every aspect of interior design. From conceptualization to execution, she handled every detail flawlessly. Our project encompassed construction design, custom interior finishes, and interior design, including the meticulous selection of custom materials What truly sets Julie apart is her ability to capture her clients' goals and transform spaces into visions beyond expectation. Despite my strong preferences and attention to detail, Julie and the Design Matters team exceeded my every expectation. The transformation of our space was nothing short of remarkable. I cannot recommend Julie Cavanaugh and Design Matters highly enough. If you're looking for an interior designer who will surpass your expectations, deliver impeccable results, and make the design process an absolute pleasure, Julie is the one to call. Trust me; you won't be disappointed. Thank you, Julie, and the Design Matters team, for an incredible experience and for bringing our vision to life in such a spectacular way!

Julie and Design Matters did such a gorgeous job with our remodel. We redid our kitchen and main living area, as well as our primary bathroom, and added a new office, pantry, and mudroom. Julie and her team elevated the project every step of the way - from recommending we open up our entire living area to redoing floors and walls throughout the home. The layouts the team created have been so functional - even after living in the home for four months, there's not a thing we'd change. Her selection of materials was unparalleled - all of the finishes appear luxury and unique, and the house just feels like "us."

Julie and her team were instrumental in planning and guiding my home remodel project from start to finish. The entire interior of the house was updated and every design detail was meticulously planned. The results were transformational. I highly recommend Julie and her Design Matters team!

Since 2022, we have remodeled three bathrooms with Design Matters acting as either the designer (with a third party acting as the architect) or as the single-source architect/designer. All three new bathrooms are wonderful. For the two projects where Design Matters functioned as the architect/designer, they created really amazing, highly functional bathrooms given some significant site plan challenges. The materials and finishes in all three bathrooms are just great. Thanks for everything!!

We worked with DM on a large inside-and-out remodel of a 1960s ranch-style home. We love the vision they brought to our project, a true challenge — retain the original feel, while updating it for modern times, but keeping the house congruent with the surrounding neighborhood. We love the end result.

Julie is an amazing designer to work with. She has the vision and the ability to execute on a plan. She has so many contacts in the construction / manufacturing world, and knows where to pull from to make my vision a reality. She is also very quick to respond and will move as quickly as I need to get the job done. This is my second major remodel working with her in 8 years. She has only gotten better with time. Highly recommend and have been completely satisfied with her.

I would have given 0 stars if that was an option! Had to terminate contract midway after minimal progress and spending 10s of thousands of dollars. 1. Extremely disorganized and haphazard about communication, no project management whatsoever, no visibility into what's ahead 2. Unwilling to take feedback. Does work without any input from client. Whenever we ask for a follow-up, gets very defensive and aggressive 3. Invoicing without providing breakdown or visibility. Invoices have no relation to SOW and no details on where the hours are going. 4. Behind schedule and over-budget. Always asking for the next retainer before completing the previous work

We recently completed our home remodel which was essentially a near total rebuild. Having never done something like this before, we had a lot of starts and stops and let me just say....."mistakes were made!" The first of which was not hiring a designer at the start of the process! We thought we could work through most of it ourselves and hit some construction roadblocks early on. We found Julie through Houzz and called her in a bit of a panic looking for help. Julie and team were instrumental in getting things on track for us and helping to deal with some major layout / framing problems we had run into. While it meant some rework even our contractor acknowledged the improvements Julie suggested and stressed that she really knows her stuff (as he put it). From there we used Julie and her team to design other areas of the home we were having trouble with. I am the first to admit that we are probably considered very difficult clients - we are very particular, crazy indecisive, opinionated, know what we don't like, yet couldn't quite articulate what we DO like and were figuring it out along the way. I mean....I wouldn't want to work with us! But Julie was awesome, patient, direct and fun to work with. When I needed to just see endless options - she'd help me with that. When I just needed her to just help me decide - she would do that too. We were super stuck on what to do for the kitchen and the design she came up with was incredible. It's been amazing to see our kitchen come to life and REALLY looks just like the renderings. Two learnings I can offer......hire Julie EARLY and leverage her partnership with contractors such as the cabinetmaker. We ended up going with a different cabinet maker primarily because we wanted someone local to work with directly. Save yourself the headaches! It took far too much work on our part to get what we wanted and being stuck in between contractors when problems arise is far too stressful. Had we gone with Julie's contact I believe she would have facilitated that process and mitigated any issues that came up. We are still dealing with some of that fallout - having nothing to do with design element. It just made the process very stressful for us. So hire early and leverage her expertise fully. Also, her team members -specifically, Beverly, was also fantastic to work with!

I have been working with Julie and the Design Matters team for about a year now on my remodeling project. I can't say enough about the talent Julie and her team have. They brought my dream home to life! Julie has extremely great taste and a great work ethic. Julie not only created our dream kitchen but she designed the living room, bathroom, perfect lighting to go with the space, furniture, and my dream prayer room! She put a lot of thought into the custom cabinet design, making sure all of my requirements were met. From the moment you meet her, you can tell she is passionate about what she does and you know you are in great hands! I highly recommend them!

Beautiful design ideas. Absolutely impressed and overjoyed with the outcome. This was money well spent. I would work with again.

Last June we awoke to a dishwasher flood that ruined our kitchen floors. In the midst of water remediation and insurance claims, we decided to remodel, since much demo had already been done. We contacted Julie Cavanaugh because she was recommended by a friend, and she came right over to view the space and listen to our needs and wants. We were absolutely amazed by her design- we never would have thought to turn the entire space 90 degrees. This was a brilliant inspiration, and things continued from there. The space itself was unchanged except moving a door, a big saving. And she and her team responded to our need for more reachable storage and better lighting as we age. She respected our suggestions about changes to materials and layout. Her firm did all the detailed plans for the permits, assisting with appliance orders, and communicating with our contractor. Julie always answered emails promptly, even on weekends. Design Matters is definitely worth the cost, and we are really thrilled with our kitchen.

Simply the best. If you are looking to remodel your home, you need Design Matters. Julie and her team are wonderful. From the moment Julie steps into your home she starts envisioning the best remodel for your house. She redesigned our whole first floor and we loved it so much we had her do the same for our second home! Her work ethic is unbeatable. She does it all, from blueprints, appliance selection, materials, and permit documentation. I had no idea what I wanted and Julie kept working with me to design rooms I absolutely loved.

We want to start off by saying, the ladies at Design Matters are absolutely amazing! We started our home project with nothing more than a rough idea of what things were important to us. Julie and Nicole have a wealth of knowledge in space planning and this was the first step in turning our dreams into reality. These ladies asked all the right questions and listened to what we wanted in our dream home. When the final day came to review their design, we were almost in tears with how well the vision was understood. They thought of every little detail and didn't overlook any aspect of the project that we felt was important. The level of detail and thoroughness when it came to how the space was laid out really showed their level of expertise. We immediately knew that this team had our dreams, vision, and best interest in mind. We look forward to the next stages of our project. Look no further this is the A-team! We are super fortunate to have met them and been able to have our dreams come to life.

I first used Design Matters in 2020 for a kitchen remodel. I really liked the designer's suggestions and knowledge of materials and suppliers. However, there were several problems along the way including mis-measuring the size of the sink (causing me additional return fees and time), not enough tile ordered for the backsplash (causing a week delay during construction), and not ordering the correct number of door knobs/drawer pulls (causing further delay in the completion of the project). When I started to plan for a bathroom remodel earlier this year my first thought was to select the materials on my own without the help of a designer. After visiting a few tile stores, I was overwhelmed and decided to use Design Matters again. Although the issues with the kitchen remodel were frustrating, I gave them the benefit of the doubt as that was during a heightened Covid period and the designer did not visit my kitchen to determine the details as often as they probably would have otherwise. I met with the designer at the Los Gatos showroom in the end of June to discuss materials, colors, and tile layout. I was not able to find a new vanity by that time, so the designer said she would look into one and get back to me with a suggestion. She did place the orders for the tile. However, after over two months, and with the contractor starting in two weeks, I had not received any follow up on the vanity, design plans, paint colors, etc. I emailed the designer and received a response that she was out of the office and after several back-and-forth emails, over a week later I finally received the design information that was overdue. However, Design Matters completely dropped the ball on the new vanity and at that point there was no time to order one before the contactor started. No apology, suggestions, or alternatives were ever offered. Most frustrating was the lack of follow-through on the tile order. Design Matters had ordered tile from Porcelanosa in early July that was to take 8-12 weeks to arrive. Porcelanosa informed Design Matters of a two to three month shipping delay. Without any communication with me, with Design Matters told Porcelanosa it would not be an issue, even though they were aware of my construction start date. Not only did Design Matters not inform me of this delay, they offered absolutely no assistance or suggestions on how to solve the issue. Luckily for me, the staff at Porcelanosa was wonderful and were able to rush a new order for the tile with expedited shipping. Of course, I had to pay significant amount of money for the additional order and expedited shipping; again, without any remedy or assistance from Design Matters. I did like the design suggestions provided by Design Matters; however, the lack of follow up, accurate material ordering, or follow-through on the ordering caused me significant additional costs and time. I would not recommend Design Matters and will certainly not use their services in the future.

Julie has an incredible vision and attention to detail. Her eye on identifying, pairing, and aligning materials is incredible. Our kitchen remodel design is a masterpiece. We loved so much, we ended up designing most of the house. I highly recommend Design Matters.

Julie and her team at Design Matters are wonderful. We hired Design Matters to remodel our kitchen in our first home in 2014 and again in our second home in 2020 but for a much larger remodel/addition and were beyond pleased with the process and end result. Julie is an absolute pro and she helped to make the remodel a seamless and stress free experience from start to finish. She referred excellent contractors and suggested the best, high end and quality finishes and materials. Most importantly, Julie made sure we got everything we wanted on our checklist. From start to finish, the design process went smoothly and the meetings and discussions were fun and productive. We couldn't be happier with our Design Matters experience and have referred friends to Julie and her team.

Julie did an amazing job on our project. He vision and use of materials created an incredibly dramatic space. She listened well and took excellent direction from us. Ultimately, the project is breathtaking. We couldn't be more pleased!

We bought our house many, many years ago and always hoped to update it. We finally bit the bullet and ended up doing a complete rebuild of our house in 2018-2019. We quickly discovered that we didn’t have the time or skill to make all the decisions needed for an interior design. Enter Design Matters. Julie and Elise worked closely with us on selecting tile, counters, and cabinet design for the kitchen, 4.5 bathrooms, and other built-in cabinets. They also provided recommendations for paint, flooring, and the outside facade. Basically, they provided designs for the interior of the entire house. This removed a great weight off our shoulders, reduced our stress, and made us confident that our house would look great. They listened to our preferences, came up with suggestions that matched our likes as well as showing us options that we would not have considered on our own. Some interior designers try to push their will onto you, but Design Matters doesn’t do that. They sometimes offered suggestions that expanded our horizons but never forced us to pick an option that we were not comfortable with. We are very happy with the results. Everything looks fantastic. We finally have a grown-up house.

My wife and I selected Design Matters for the interior design of our home we purchased in the fall of 2019. It was a complete interior renovation, including the relocation of some interior walls. Julie and Beverly were great to work with. From the initial space planning, the layout of tile and cabinetry, selection of all the finish materials, colors, fixtures and hardware, they are very professional to work with. Details matter to us, and their attention to detail is apparent in our finished home. They have a great design process and were there every step of the way from start to finish. We recommend Design Matters wholeheartedly.

We worked with Sasha and her team in the Morgan Hill office, it was a wonderful experience. We did what I’d call an 80% remodel of a 3400sqft house, pretty much everything except drywall or major structural changes...full kitchen gut, 2 of 3 bathrooms including the master, adding a home office in the master, new flooring throughout the house, new fireplace, new baseboards and crown, wainscoting, etc, etc. Sasha was available and attentive. Her suggestions were always spot-on and she knew exactly which company to talk to in order to get what we wanted. We simply couldn’t have done this effectively without Sasha and her team. If you’re hesitant about the cost of hiring a designer or simply think it will turn out just as well if you do it yourself, I’m convinced that working with Design Matters actually saved us time and money...well worth the investment, we plan on working with her again on an addition in the future. Highly recommend you use Design Matters!

We discovered Design Matters and were impressed by the immense amount of value, knowledge, and expertise that they added to our project. We started engaging with Design Matters later in our process and wished we would have engaged much earlier with their team, ideally at the same stage as with the Architect and Builder. Julie and the Design Matters team reorganized the home layout for better function and flow, while guiding us on material selections. They provided industry expertise related to project oversight, project management, coordination with building professionals, detailed specification reviews, and installation support for the sub-contractors. Julie’s passion for her craft and her profession is contagious. It was a lot of work, but she did it with full charge enthusiasm and made it a worthwhile and fun process for us as well! I would recommend Design Matters without any hesitation.

We moved into an older house in 2002, vowing that one day we'd remodel. Then life happened - jobs, kids, and life in general - and it became like a "one day" wish. The house was so embarrassing and dated, but the task of picking out everything, coordinating subcontractors, timing, etc. was just too daunting. I was motivated and knew the design style I wanted, but I had a hard time finding someone whose design "spoke to me." And I am picky, which may also explain why it took this long. By luck, I saw a friend's house that Design Matters did and fell in love with her place. I wanted clean lines, modern yet still warm and livable, neutral & timeless. I met Julie (owner of Design Matters), and on the spot, knew she was "THE ONE." If I had a ring, I would have proposed to her (just kidding). Julie and her team (Cindy, Elise, etc) stepped up to the challenge of remodeling a whole house with a set budget limit. They did a wonderful job. Marvin Davis Construction (specifically, Charles Driscoll), our general contractor, stepped up to put the design into reality. The remodeling process is not perfect. There will always be hiccups, unplanned problems - it's a matter of finding someone who you trust to fix the problem. You want a collaborator, someone who will suggest something you never thought of, an expert in their field. At the end of the day, you will be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to remodel - make sure it looks like a million bucks. We love our new house and will have many future memories made in a place that is even more beautiful than I imagined. Kudos and thanks to Julie and her wonderful team and Marvin Davis Construction/Charles Driscoll.

Roberta Wilson designed our kitchen remodel. We were so happy with the progress and quality of her work that we asked her to help with the design of our living room, also. We have remodeled enough to know that what makes a remodel successful is someone who is professional, experienced, communicative, a listener, and knows how to take on the “heavy lifting”—Roberta is all these things. I recommend Roberta to family and friends.

Julie and her team were fantastic throughout our entire kitchen remodel process. She will work with you and your aesthetic as well as be very cognizant of your budget and constraints. She also put us in touch with an amazing architect and a contractor that I would recommend to anyone. I have gotten so many compliments on my kitchen and am beyond pleased with how it turned out. It exceeded my wildest expectations. Julie designed the layout of the kitchen, picked out the cabinetry and hardware along with all the light fixtures. She gave me options for tile, counter-tops and paints and helped me navigate through so many choices. She made the process extremely easy and stress-free. Highly, highly, recommend Julie and her team.

Julie Cavanaugh is brilliant at what she does. She is incredibly attentive to every detail while making sure that each client gets exactly what they want out of their home/design. She was able to work within our budget, and focus on getting us the most "bang for our buck". I could not recommend Julie and her team more highly!

Over the past two years, we've worked with Design Matters on two beautiful residential projects in Los Altos. Julie and her team are attentive, professional, and always a pleasure to work with. The most recent project we worked together on was detail-oriented and required a high level of custom design. Design Matters had great communication throughout and welcomed our input and ideas on how to ensure that the project was a success. We look forward to working with the Design Matters team again soon!

We have met staff members at both locations and you can not find a better group poeple. They are super friendly and so helpfull!

My husband and I were looking for a one stop shop to remodel our kitchen and bath to bring value to our home. Julie and her team at Design Matters came recommended to us from a neighbor who has used their services (I was jealous of her beautiful updated kitchen) and we couldn't be more pleased! Their showroom is modern and has fresh ideas, plus they worked within our budget, giving our home the facelift that it needs to stay competitive in this market. Would definitely recommend.

I have worked with Julie at design matters on a previous project. Since I was so satisfied with her work and professionalism the first time, I decided to use her again to remodel my kitchen. Again, she has outdone herself. I appreciate how well she listens to what my vision is, yet offers some great insight on what she thinks would be good. She gets everything done in a timely matter and she is so professional and sweet, it has just been a pleasure to work with her. I will gladly use her again for more projects in the future and would highly recommend her to anyone!

I love Design Matters & everything about this company! The work & effort Julie puts in to her projects is outstanding! Everybody I know who has gone with DM has been extremely happy! I will continually refer Julie & Design Matters to everyone I know needing design work.

We did not have a good experience with Julie and Design Matters. Julie helped with design and getting a contractor for our project. She had a difficult time managing the job, seemed overwhelmed, and did not collaborate well with others to get issues solved. Lastly, I think Julie lacks integrity. There were billing and invoice discrepancies that left us feeling taken advantage of. Just search Julie online carefully before using her....

I have worked with Design Matters on several projects and very impressed with the level of professionalism/talent/taste of Julie and her team, as are her clients. I would highly recommend her and look forward to working with her in the future. Art Luxury Home Builder

I'm a real estate professional and help remodel kitchens and bathrooms for my clients before selling their home. However, when it came to my own personal home, I wanted the guidance of a professional to make sure no major design mistakes were made as I knew my project involved many decisions and I wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible. I started my research on Houzz and that's where I found Julie. From our initial appointment and throughout the entire process, I loved Julie's energy and her recommendations. As a busy individual, I valued that Julie took the time to understand my style and was always super efficient in our meetings and all our communications. When we met to pick materials, Julie had almost everything picked out, listened to my feedback, made a few tweaks and in the end, created a masterpiece. We love our new home and kitchen and would've had so many more headaches and restless nights if it weren't for Julie, her team and their expertise. I would not hesitate to recommend Design Matters and hope to work together with them again some day!

We have been doing business with Design Matters now for many years and have had nothing but exceptional correspondence with every team member. Each member of their staff is extremely ‘hands on’ and trained professionals. We find in design that both creativity and the logistics side must be balanced if you are going to have a smooth transition for remodeling, and these designers know that balance. The overall efficiency and quality of work at Design Matters, with Julie as their lead, will alleviate your concerns, but also streamline the entire process so that you and your family may enjoy your new remodel in the quickest manner possible. Thank you, Design Matters!

We engaged Julie early last year to help us finish our kitchen pantry and utility area. Julie immediately brought her A-game and suggested a more holistic, thoughtful design that included also revamping our kitchen island and lighting. Julie brought balance to our own ideas, and guided us every step of the way. This included drafting various plans for the house, selecting materials and lighting (all luxe, but very affordable), and introducing us to a range of contractors suited to our budget. Julie was able to squeeze every usable inch out of our space. She was also kind enough to create a range of plans for us, so we had options to choose from and could get a good feel for the layout before the project began. After several highly efficient meetings, we selected final materials, picked a contractor and were ready to start construction. Julie also has a team of fabulous designers supporting her. The hand drawn master plans the team produces are a personal favorite of ours. Her team will also work to help pick fixtures, finishings and fabrics. All the Designers work in a super professional, but courteous manner, to augment Julie's vision. A special shout out to all the ladies at Design Matters Los Gatos! At the same time, we also commissioned a couple of one off furniture restorations through Julie and her team, that have turned out to be statement pieces in our home. We can't say enough how much we've enjoyed working with Julie, and how great the upgrades to our house will be!

Julie and the Design Matters team are talented, responsive and professional. Julie has an amazing eye for creative design and has provided us such incredible insight and help in the remodel of our kitchen and bathrooms. We are constantly given great compliments from friends and family on how our house has been transformed. Julie has a clear passion and deep knowledge of interior design and can align the needs of her clients with options and ideas with top notch execution of projects Without a doubt, we HIGHLY recommend Design Matters!!

I have worked with Julie and her staff at Design Matters a little over a year now and had a great experience start to finish. Consulting with her at the very start of our whole house remodel was key to creating the space we are really enjoying today. I brought Julie on at the very beginning before finalizing our floor plan and she made some key suggestions/adjustments to the layout. She didn’t stray far from what we were thinking but her suggestions really improved the overall layout and use of space. From there Julie played a major role in all the design decisions. I relied heavily on her recommendations for a combination of material/color/fixtures to create a space that I absolutely love each and every day I come home. She was also responsible for designing a kitchen that was both functional for my husband who loves to cook and absolutely beautiful. A project of this magnitude didn’t happen w/o a few hiccups along the way but Julie and her team worked diligently to make it right when it did. I will definitely recommend Julie and Design Matters to friends/family beginning a project in need of a designer.

I was referred to Julie at Design Matters by a colleague and after our initial consultation I knew she was the right fit for my project. Julie was professional and communicated the process to me up front which helped clarify my questions and provided me with realistic expectations and a better understanding of the process. Julie was enthusiastic and took the reins in transforming my small dated kitchen into a warm and welcoming and super functional environment Julie understood my more traditional taste and with her exceptional vision was able to incorporate my style and love for autumn colors into a beautiful design that efficiently maximizes the space. I truly value and am thankful for Julie’s knowledge and expertise in exceeding my expectations and bringing my dream to reality.

Julie and her Design Matters team is top notch. Julie provided us with initial design mocks and based on our wants and needs she helped us fine tune the design to the way we wanted. She provided guidance in all aspects of of the remodel process: providing us contractor recommendations and going over various materials such as tiles, cabinets, marble and appliances. She also would go with us to the vendor stores to assist with any questions we had and how things would look when implemented into our remodel. Julie has a great eye for design/remodel as well as just the little details you wouldn't think of. We really valued her opinions and suggestions when remodeling our Kitchen and Master Bathroom. She was also available to answer questions from the contractor when issues arose. We are very happy with the finished product!! Thank you Julie and the Team at Design Matters!!!

very very happy customer!! Julie has help me redesign/renovate several rooms of my house. She has always been on top of everything, always responsive when I called, she understood what I was looking for, she was patient every time I changed my mind and she worked on my budget, while still taking control of the project and guiding me. It was a pleasure working with her,

Julie is amazingly creative and very understanding of our desires and how to make them come to life. She has great ability to communicate, listen, and deliver results in a timely manner. She's always been prompt in returning our calls and emails and when meeting on site or in her shop. Her commitment to our project has been stellar. We trust her fully and have confidence in her knowledge, which has come in handy with our project. We will be hiring Julie again as a designer for all our future projects.

We hired Julie to do our kitchen renovation after being impressed by the Design Matters showroom in Los Gatos. We thought we had a pretty good sense of how to redesign our space after living there for many years. Julie walked in, took a look, and immediately came up with an idea for the space that was so much better than anything we had considered. We decided to renovate the entire front half of our house, and we couldn’t be happier with the results. We went from having a series of cramped rooms, without much natural light, to an open space that seamlessly connects the family room, kitchen, and dining room. In addition to advising us on space planning, Julie designed, spec.’d, and ordered our new cabinets. She also helped us select hardware, lighting, and furniture for the space. Her architect and contractor referrals were both excellent choices. Our time constraints were pretty rigid, because I was pregnant with our second child and wanted everything to be completed before The baby's arrival. Julie helped us coordinate with the construction company to have the renovation completed in approximately 2 months. Julie was wonderful to work with and we will definitely have her do our next project.

Design Matters is the perfect combination of consummate professionals with a sense of overall design that will take your breath away. Julie and her staff took my dated space-challenged kitchen and seldom used formal living room and transformed them into a thing of beauty. They were able to not only meet but exceed our expectations by delivering a functional space that is beautiful, warm and inviting. And…I have more storage than I know what to do with! They were able to shift the focal point of the most used area of our home to an open flowing space with clean lines and the perfect splash of color. My husband, my teenage boys and I thank Design Matters for our “nest” rejuvenation.

We hired Julie and her team to help design the layout of our master bathroom and hallway bathroom, and the master involved moving walls around and being clever about space. In addition, picking paint colors for our house and master bedroom, and picking out a hallway cabinet. Julie is confident and easy to like. She was very kind to us, and at the time I was very pregnant and had a 3 year old running around constantly, and she took it all in stride and made time for us when we were available. We are the type of clients that know what we don't like, but not really fashionable or know where to start with style. We knew right away when Julie showed us the materials for the bathrooms that we would love them; beautiful green glass, modern fixtures, pretty colorful backsplash for hall bath, beautiful flooring, cool funky lights... When I see negative reviews for her company, one thought I have is that please do not rely upon an interior designer to be your project manager. I never had any expectation that Design Matters would be working to keep our project on task, or double-checking all the coordination and modifications that have to be done when gutting a room and rebuilding; in my opinion, it is the client (us) and the contractor's responsibility to think about the bigger picture of how the design fits into reality. She did make a mistake with not identifying one of the vanities in the Master bathroom as a stand-alone piece, but when building the contractor simply made the shower larger to accommodate that snafu of communication. Our hallway cabinet she ordered was way too big for the space, and a weird color (that I approved out of being too lax in my own opinions). Looking back I wish for cabinets I would have just hired a local company to come out to measure and build, but Julie came right out as soon as we alerted her to the issue, and helped us buy a few parts and it was fixed immediately. My only regret was that I should have thought more critically about size and color. It was a good learning experience for us as clients. Our contractor and one of the sub-contractors (Eric with Tool time construction, and George with A California Home Construction) with Julie were the dream team of bathroom remodeling since the contractors had above-average skill with project-management. Our bathrooms were completed in October 2014, and please refer to them as the "Stuckey house bathrooms" if you would like to see photos from Julie. We did not plan for this, but we had the opportunity to buy a house in Los Gatos recently, so this year we are moving in soon, and we plan to ask Julie and her team for some design hours for some help, including picking paint colors, picking furniture for our entryway, picking rugs and window treatments, etc. My only regret is we spent so much on our bathroom remodel, that with this new house purchase we do not have a very large design budget to hire Design Matters for a lot of hours, but over the next few years we hope to include Julie in some of our design decisions for our new forever home. Thanks Julie and Team!

We worked with Design Matters for our home remodel and Roberta helped us through the whole process. We remodeled our bath, kitchen as well as modified the general floorplan of the house to be more contemporary and open. Our experience was a pleasant one. She listened to our needs carefully and was very creative in coming up with designs and material selections as well as with all the accessories. She was in tune with our tastes and the selections she showed us were very exciting. We did not find the best prices on the materials through them, so we went and bought the same materials (or sometimes very similar) on our own. But Roberta will point to the right stores to check out. There were a few hiccups with the cabinets, nothing out of the ordinary. She was professional, on schedule and respectful of our budget considerations. Overall our house has turned our nice and we were glad we went with Design matters and Roberta to help us through the process.

Julie is the best! She redesigned my kitchen, nook area and powder room in a completely innovative way that left me with a much larger, brighter and functional kitchen, increasing storage, lighting and counter space. She listened to my requirements and gave me exactly what I wanted in a way I couldn't have imagined. And the interior design, colors, and materials are dazzling! She also took all the guesswork out of other areas of the house, with a complete interior paint palette, interior door and door hardware styles, stairwell chandelier, and exterior lighting. With a killer kitchen and powder room and a wonderful modern facelift everywhere else, I feel like I have a brand new house, and I love it! Julie is very, very good at what she does including how she works with you. So responsive, patient, and very attuned to your concerns. She gave me the confidence to make big decisions and still sleep well at night! And I could not be happier with the results. Enough said.

Julie and I have worked together on a couple of different projects, and I have to say, I love working with Julie. She's professional, fun and knows what she wants for her clients. most of all, she wants it elegant, which is what my company specializes in. Thanks Julie, I look forward to many more projects together.

My experience working with Julie went very smoothly. She hired me to paint a Modular Arts textured wall at an athletic center in San Jose. The time between getting the sample approved, doing the work and receiving payment was ideal. Throughout, Julie was available and easy to work with. I hope we'll work together again in the near future.

I have debated for awhile about writing this review. Unfortunately, I had a very disappointing experience and while I feel she will be upset at this review, I think other potential clients need to be aware of her strengths and weaknesses. When I met with Design Matters, I was immediately impressed and excited to work with her. I signed my contract to remodel my kitchen at the very end of January 2014. I told her that I knew that completing my project before I was to have my baby (June) would be difficult, but I wanted to have all major decisions made before my due date. She assured me that it would be possible to be well into construction and her goal was to start construction by May 1st. To understand the scope of my project I was pushing out a wall of my 2 story house and totally remodeling my kitchen (new everything). From signing the contract on January 30th, 2014, I found myself well into July without my design details finalized. I do not understand how a designer can allow a client to begin construction without all materials finalized and ordered. I was frequently emailing her asking for the details of my project to be finalized but I would get told those things came “later”. I eventually grew tired of asking her to work on my project and was forced to make my own decisions. In addition, to her poor project management, there were numerous mistakes that were made that caused my project to be 1.5 months delayed. I will explain in detail below. Here is how I would describe strengths and weaknesses. 1) Project Management: Julie is not good at project management. I frequently had to email her to ask about the many items that still had to be selected. Things such as paint colors, lighting, cabinet hardware, pantry design, window treatments, etc. I kept sending lists of things that I thought we should make decisions on but she would never move forward on them. I was told those would come later. By the time I started construction I still did not have the whole design finalized. I eventually grew tired of asking for ideas and had to make decisions on my own because my contractor was blocked on her. She never had a checklist of items to select or a timeline. It was all on the fly and when she could fit me in. 2) Quotes and time estimates: I do not think Julie has worked with many structural engineers or large scale remodeling projects. At least, that was my impression given what happened. She had told me that getting plans for my remodel would be around $2500. It ended up being almost $7000. Thats far from her estimate. The engineer also required 4 weeks, which she seemed to have no idea it would take that long. Because of her grossly underestimating the cost, I spent 2-3 weeks getting more quotes which all ended up in the same range. If she had the experience in this area and given me a more accurate estimate, a lot of time could have been saved. I realize its not her job to know the costs of everything, but don’t tell a client something if you are not sure. 3) Mistakes: - The biggest problem were mistakes with the cabinet order. There was a clearly a communication gap between the structural engineer and Julie. The engineer gave her the measurement for the kitchen as a smaller number than what she had used for her cabinet order so she revised it. Therefore, the cabinets all came in too narrow for the space on one side of the window. This was a huge issue as it took over 4 weeks to reorder the cabinets. To Julie’s credit she stood up for this mistake and purchased the new cabinets herself. However, I feel that she probably should have come out and remeasured herself to double check who was right and it may have prevented the 4+ week delay we had. - The shelf cabinet for my microwave was too shallow and did not fit my microwave. We had discussed in email the dimensions of my microwave and the size of the cabinet. However, what was on the order was 2” too shallow. Its my fault for not catching it when we did the cabinet order, but there are a ton of measurements on the specs that you sign off on and you must trust your designer has done them correctly. To her credit, she split the cost of the fix with me. - Incomplete materials: The cabinet order was missing a lot of trim and crown pieces that were necessary. I had to wait for those to be ordered and delivered. I guess it was lucky that my cabinet reorder was taking the same time. 4) Lack of attention to detail: - I had sent her a picture of a tile backsplash I liked. To her credit, she found some tile choices and I agreed to the tile choice, I was sent an email with the name of the tiles and grout color, but with absolutely no other direction. There was no ratio of tile colors (it was a blend of colors), a detailed drawing for layout, or grout size. This was apparently all to be figured out by the client (me) and my contractor (that exactly what the email said). I would have thought a designer would care about these details. I was very frustrated with this. - I asked her where my pot filler should go (as in specific location with measurements) and she just told me to the right or left but not in the center. I had to go online and try to figure out what to tell my contractor. - The hood duct could not go through my sheer wall and had to run through the cabinets. This is a detail that I would expect the engineer and designer to discuss and figure out a plan before ordering cabinets. Another example of communication failure between the two. - Julie had selected a microwave shelf for my microwave. Given how custom my kitchen looked, it really was an afterthought and horrible design decision. I ended up having it switch to a more built in box and I’m much happier but this also was a delay. 5) Not enough time: - Julie clearly has more projects than she can handle. Getting her to respond to my calls or emails fast enough for my contractor to make forward progress was very difficult. I understand she has more than one client, but she was the only person in her office that could do anything when a crisis arose and I often would hear nothing from her and have to call again the next day. Julie does know her stuff in many areas. I would meet with her and be reminded of why I hired her to begin with. I think her main problem is that she has overbooked herself and doesn't have the bandwidth to focus on all her projects. I did like her layout and cabinet choices. I also think that I wasn’t her typical client that was happy with the standard set of designs she has. I wanted a more customized look. I expected her to talk with me more about my likes and dislikes, but I don't feel like she ever took the time to really get to know me. I also would expect to be presented with full designs instead of piecing it together was we went. At the end of the day, I will not be using Julie again. I have a whole house that needs help so I am really disappointed that she didn’t work out. I spent so much time in angst over this project because of her just acting like she didn't care about my project. This was my dream kitchen and I really wanted it to be everything and more. In the end, I do love it (because of many decisions I made)… but I can’t look at it without feeling sad and angry about the process. Its now been 7 months since I started construction and I still do not have light fixtures.

We had Design Matters (Julie Cavanaugh) design our kitchen and recommend contractors that fit our needs and personality. She narrowed down the ocean of materials and designs quickly for us which allowed us to move through the process quickly. We chose Paul Burton for our contractor based on the 3 different contractors that she recommended. Paul's crew was amazing to work with and they were very respectful of our home since we lived there during the construction. The entire kitchen remodel turned out great due to Julie and her staff presenting quality materials and designs for us. Unfortunately, we had to move from our San Jose home and settle in another state. I credit Julie's fantastic design work on our kitchen for the great price and quick sale of our home when it went on the market. Thanks Julie and we wish you the best.

Julie has been a gift to our remodeling project. Every part of our project which she "touched" is absolutely amazing; the beauty of her designs and her impeccable design sense is readily apparent from the moment you walk into our home. Some particulars on why I love working with Julie: -her design knowledge is deep and her design sense is inherent -She knows color -she knows architecture, even down to the minutiae -she is flexible and will listen to clients' preferences and needs When you hire a designer, you have to know that you are hiring that person's sensibilities for design; we had great success with Julie because we allowed her to guide us AND we communicated our own preferences and she listened, worked with us, helped us develop the design plan to be the best possible one. -She has many resources and can help clients find the right people to get the job done -She is energetic and tells you what she is thinking. Honest and clear.

I work with Julie every day on multiple jobs ranging from 10k to 2million. She comes up with new and interesting ideas that my clients love. I give her the reigns to make design calls on the spot keeping my job flowing and clients happy. In my business people want different / new / exciting , Julie delivers every time making me look good !! Nico Cianciarulo Cianciarulo Construction Inc.

We had a terrible experience with Design Matters. Very bad. We asked her (Julie) to design interior window treatments, pergola drapery, kitchen dining area, and design a new fireplace in the family room. After we signed the contract (she never returned it signed back) and after she got the job payed in full upfront as per her demands, it seemed obvious to us that she wasn't interested in the work. Actually, we believe she never finished it. (She never sent the invoice either) What was presented was unacceptable. The work that wasn't useful to us at all. When we complained about the job, we got lectured and mistreated. After that we asked for a refund she accused us of bullying her... Incredible. Awful experience.

I have worked and continue to work with Julie and her team for many years. She and her team have designed amazing projects that I have been so fortunate to complete her vision, which in fact always surprises and inspires. I look forward to seeing what she does next!!!

my experience with Design Matters was very bad. Julie, the owner (I think), was very quick and sweet-talker at the time of contract signing but after a few days it became obvious that she wasn't interested in the work nor had time. I had shown her a few things that I needed get done in the Architectural designs (done by another Architect) for city approval. She initially told me that she can do the change and it is very easy. Later on she told me that she didn't have license to make that type of the change and she can't do it. That was the one of the main work items that I hard hired her to do. When I saw nothing good coming out of the contract, I broke the contract and asked her to give me refund of my money. I had signed a retainer agreement with her and she kept almost all of the money (for the work that wasn't useful to me at all) and only returned me 20%. She charged me for responding to 50 odd emails for my project but in fact we barely exchanged 15 emails. Also during the time we "tried" to work together, I felt like she was just bossing me around and behaved like she never cared for the work. I think she was just after making some quick cash from my project and really didn't want to do the work. Of course this is my side of the story (as the homeowner) and I am sure she has her side of the story as well but I just wanted to warn everyone out here in case you might be looking to hire her.

We have been working with Julie since 2003 when she did a spectacular renovation on our 1985 kitchen. We're still in the same home and Julie is re-making areas one at a time. I love my office. Our family room is awesome. Lots left to do and we wouldn't work with anyone else. Her vision is incredible. Doesn't hurt that she's fun to work with. Before working with Julie, we went through 3 - 4 designers, one at a time. One small project then start the search again. We feel very fortunate to have found her.

Julie and the Design Matters team are the best! Julie helped me design and build my dream orthodontic office about 2 years ago. She was an integral part of the project, from start to finish. I could not have done it with out her. Julie is incredibly detail oriented, making sure every element of the project is done to perfection. She works well with contractors, helping keep them on point and ensuring deadlines are met. She has a tremendous eye for design with boundless creativity, all keeping the clients' vision and wants in focus. I absolutely love my new office and look forward to coming to work everyday. We consistently get positive feedback from our patients on the design of our office. They always ask who we used to design our office, and we are happy to tell them about Julie and Design Matters, without reservation!!! I can't wait to work with Julie again on my next project.

I have worked with Julie Cavanaugh on a number of projects over many years. Julie is an enthusiastic designer who is passionate about what she does. Julie has a remarkable sense for layout and impeccable design idea's. Of all the designers i have worked with, i selected Julie for my own home kitchen remodel. She made amazing modifications to what i thought was the best use of space. I would never have come up with these idea's on my own. Julie is truly top notch!

I hired Julie from Design Matters to design my remodel - kitchen, 2 1/2 baths, all cabinetry and coutertops throughout the house, as well as window treatments throughout. Julie spent time getting to know me and a sense for the style I was looking for. When she presented me with my choices, I was so happy and amazed that she completely understood what I wanted, was able to give me options in different price ranges,- from 'over the top' materials, to choices that were modest but still very stylish. We chose things across the board. She also assisted with the selection of the contractor. I can honestly say at the end of my project, I still liked my contractor and would hire him again! He was communicative and professional. Julie is creative, professional and a ton of fun to work with. I couldn't be happier with how my remodel came together, and I'd hire her in a minute for whatever home project I may have.

Julie is currently helping my wife and I design a remodel for our house. If you are doubtful about your ideas or nervous about getting a project going, she is the designer for you. Give her a rough idea of what you are thinking and her energy and creativity take over. Even with a wide range of clients she seems able to figure out your style and works within it - but she isn't scared to push you out of your comfort zone. Her huge showroom almost can't keep up with her new ideas, she has secret boxes of new tile and a scrap of wood with new colors that might be just the right fit. It's a fun process to be involved in. The design is awesome, she has transformed our 1948 house into a modern floorplan while keeping the original flavor of the house. We probably did 4 or 5 major revisions of the design and she kept hanging in there to get it right. She wasn't done until we were convinced it was right. Now we are finalizing our finishing materials with her (color, tile, kitchen stuff), getting close to seeing rough construction turn into a new house! I'll have to update this once we finish. One other important note, she has great references for architects and contractors which has turned out to be a big deal both for cost and quality.

Julie and the staff are top notch! I have had the joy of working with them on two sides. Julie regularly bring business into SplashWorks to select bathroom and kitchen fixtures for her clients. The styles and designs she creates are fabulous and unique for every customer. On the personal side, we had our home office remodeled in our home and I couldn't have asked for it to turn out better. The quality of material and attention to detail were incredible.

"I have worked with Julie on several projects ranging from different types of needs; interior design, i.e. drapers, pillow and fabrics as well as kitchen cabinets, layout colors and product selection. I have also worked with many others, in the past. I currently direct all my design needs to Julie. She is calm, helpful, experienced and gets it right. Her ability to get things right the first time has saved me money and time. In an age when execution is often times a premium, I have total confidence in Julie executing on my needs."

My company has been working with Julie in a business relationship for over 10 years- helping with the lighting side of her designs. Overall, we're all very impressed with not only the lighting layouts she creates for clients, but with the fact that there are simply never any problems as the jobs progress. This is huge because it means no surprises or extra costs for her customers. On the personality side, she's always so easy to speak to and is a joy to work with. Whenever a customer comes in and mentions that Julie is her designer, I know that we're going to have a smooth process to look forward to.

We worked with Julie at Design Matters for a remodel of our home. She very quickly assessed our living style and created plans to fit it. She was great about showing us a couple options on materials. If we didn't like them, she suggested a couple more. This was helpful because we would have been completely overwhelmed if we had to look at everything. We loved the home she created for us and enjoyed working with her.

Over a 6 month period, we worked with Julie from Design Matters on a kitchen remodel. Her vision was fantasitc and ideas fit with ours. She was flexible and went the extra mile helping us choose cabinets, countertops, backsplash, lighting, knobs and more. My husband and I would highly recommend Design Matters for any kithcen remodels! Lisa & Joe

I have had a very positive experience with Julie. She is very intelligent, efficient, organized and presents her ideas and materials beautifully. She has definitely made my life easier. My home is perfect. Thank you Julie. Barrie Cress

Julie created a space plan and kitchen design for our home. She had to undo decades of poorly executed add-on work by previous owners. Besides having a brilliant vision for our mess of a house, she helped us first-time remodelers, find beautiful materials within our budget, set priorities, hire the right people, and stay on track. She's extremely responsive. She listened to our style ideas, and incorporated them-- but always spoke up when she thought we were making a mistake-- and explained to us why. We trust her so much. Plus she's a lot of fun to work with. I think hiring Julie was one our smartest-ever decisions.

I’ve known Julie for some time now and have had the opportunity to work with her on several of her projects. Her varied portfolio of both contemporary as well as traditional projects is an example of her multi-faceted ability to design and provide solutions for almost anyone taste. I’ve seen her manage a large team of design professionals with good leadership and enthusiasm that makes one want to be on her team. Bernardo Grijalva

We hired Julie to do a full remodel of the public spaces in our home. It meant she had to have a strong understanding of how we live and what our hopes for the final product were - as well as being able to look at the current space and envision changes that would deliver on our vision of a peaceful home with a touch of drama. Julie delivered magnificently! The design won awards, but more importantly the final product exceeded all our expectations and continues to do so. She is unbelievably creative - coming up with ideas like a backsplash that draws ooohs and aaahs from anyone who sees it. I love her creativity, her passion and excitement for what she does - and her ability to come up with original ideas that you won't see anywhere else. Most importantly, she always kept our preferences, our needs, our vision at the forefront. I never really knew what her own design esthetic is. It was all about us. I highly recommend Julie and continue to use her for projects in our home. In fact, she is working on a redo of our master bedroom and bath right now.

How wonderful to have a decorator who does not provide cookie-cutter designs. She looked at our home, listened to who we are and what we wanted and provided us with choices. From our slate entry to our new floors to the built-ins in the family room to our granite in the kitchen and bathroom, it all ties together to provide a warm, comfortable home. We get so many compliments, I think we may have the design others want to copy.