How to use Havenly for Your Interior Design Needs

Affordable Design Advice is Out There

For those homeowners pondering décor design challenges after completing their home improvement projects, keep in mind that there are ever expanding choices of how one can hire and work with seasoned interior design professionals. With digital technology, it has become easy to choose and collaborate with a designer, from both an aesthetically and geographically broad pool of candidates.

In this post, we cover one company offering this type of service, Havenly.com, an online interior design service. The website’s purpose is to have designers curate furniture and décor for specific rooms of end customers. Havenly currently has over 200 screened, professional designers in its network, providing services within the United State for now. One key distinction, to keep in mind, is that Havenly is focused on décor-related design needs and not renovation design needs. They explicitly recommend using their site for “the finishing touches”.

Havenly’s Mission

Havenly’s mission is to help extend interior design to everyone, by striving to be “affordable, extraordinary, and personable”. One of the site’s pre-vetted designers will work with a customer to create a well-curated space based on one’s personal style and budget. Customers can collaborate with a professional designer, all online, with an entry-level package (Consult) at a mere $19, a mid-tier package (Mini) at $79, and a more robust offering (Full Design) at $169 per room. The largest size that a single room fee will cover is 400 square feet. Rooms that are larger than this would be priced as multiple rooms. Kitchens and bathrooms, have Mini packages for $79 each.

The Full Design package is for customers who want to redesign a room or decorate an empty space. This package includes: an ideas phase; a concept phase; a design phase; a personal shopping list; and designer tips. This package is most intriguing as the package includes two valuable visual deliverables: 1) a 2-D color visualization of the given room, with curated furniture and décor; and 2) an abstract 2-D floor plan which shows exact locations of the room elements. A personal shopping list can be quite helpful, as well. Example Havenly visuals are embedded in this article.

How the Process Works

Havenly categorizes its services into three main steps: Define; Select; and Collaborate.

1. Define Your Needs, Select Your Style and Get Matched

To get started, Havenly requires users to take a style survey, to get a sense of one’s likes and dislikes in terms of design. This information is used to present a small set of designers that may be a good fit for one’s aesthetic tastes. In Pinterest-fashion, the customer is then shown a variety of images of rooms and asked to select the ones that are most amenable. Based on the photos chosen, Havenly’s algorithm determines your main style. Next, the customer is asked several questions to narrow down the choices of designers that cater towards that particular style.

Next, the customer picks a room, determines a start date for the project and chooses which of Havenly’s packages works best. In other words, you decide whether you just want some quick design advice or a full overhaul. Virtually all room types are covered: Bedroom; Living Room; Office; Dining Room; Nursery; Bathroom; Kitchen; Patio; Mudroom; Entry Way; Studio. If a customer has something else in mind he can simply select “I Don’t Know” for the Room Selection in the Style Survey, or select “Other” when signing up for a room.

2. Select a Designer

Havenly’s algorithm then matches personal preferences with a small set of designers that mesh well with a customer’s previous selections in the Style Survey. Here one can browse individual profiles and representative examples from their portfolio of work, prior to selecting a favorite.

3. Collaborate Online

After selecting a Havenly designer, customers can prepare to work one-on-one throughout the entire process to find stylish solutions that fit their own style and budget. Once paired with a designer, customers will begin working on a few ideas for their project. These ideas will be shown through simple moodboards, which will be uploaded to a personal account, 2 business days after they have been matched with a designer. After receiving customer feedback, the concept (a more in-depth version of the ideas) will be delivered 2 business days later. The customer will rate the concept, provide feedback on the overall look and like-and-dislike products at the individual item level.

If the Full package is purchased, the designer will then take all feedback and start working on the final layout. The layout will show a representation of the items in the space, so that the customer can visualize how the space will look when complete. The turnaround time for the layout is 3 business days following concept feedback.

Shopping with Havenly

Another service to keep in mind when considering Havenly, is that you can purchase products during your design project. Though this is not required, there are several convenient benefits for homeowners to consider. Havenly has a dedicated team to help manage orders across more than 200 vendors. Their order management also includes monitoring for best-price-matching and applying promo codes. Shopping through Havenly also extends access to unique trade-only suppliers, not available to the general public. Keep in mind that designers will earn commissions off of your orders, which is not an unfair contribution to their value-added service, in our opinion. Havenly refers to this commission as a “thank you” for the designer’s hard work. Example commerce partners include: West Elm; Pottery Barn; Interior Define; CB2; and Surya.

Company Overview:

Website: havenly.com
Key Features & Services: Interior Design & Décor Services
Estimated Number of Designers: 200+
Markets Served: United States
Year Launched: 2013
Location: Denver