Named one of House Beautiful’s Top 20 young interior designers, Melanie Coddington is the founder of Coddington Design, a boutique firm with studios in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Taylor Tanimoto is the senior designer in the Los Angeles studio.  Known for their feminine-but-streamlined “girly modern” look, Coddington Design has established a reputation for interiors with elegance and charm.

The firm’s recent projects include residences in Pacific Heights, Palo Alto, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Carmel and Napa Valley. Coddington also recently launched Room Service, an e interior design (virtual decorating) platform that empowers clients to DIY worldwide.

Melanie took a moment to answer some questions about her e interior design services and the evolution of this trend:

How did e interior design evolve into your work?
We launched Room Service in response to what we considered to be an unmet need - instead of designing an entire house, some clients prefer to take it one room at a time on their own schedule.  We like the idea of designing gorgeous rooms for clients on their terms.

How does e-consulting differ from regular design? 
Full service interior design involves a face to face meetings, designer window treatments, home decor and furnishings customized for the clients.

How does e-consulting work?   Talk us through the e-consulting process.
We have a great outline on our Girly Modern blog.

Where/How do you start?
We start the design process with the floor plan, basically what furniture will actually fit and where will we place it?  We then move on to selecting the actual furnishings.  We base the entire design on what the client tells us they want and how they will utilize the space.

Is it expensive?
For clients who have a budget of at least $5,000 for furnishings, spending $975 for us to shop everything and make sure it works together is a real value.

Is there is set cost?
Yes, $975 per room.

From start to finish what is the estimate time involvement for a client? 
The client will need to spend time upfront answer our questionnaire and gather images of rooms they like. They will also review our design and then purchase our recommended items online. 

What about images, sketches, color suggestions, fabric suggestions, products, layouts….how do you share the information with a client?
We are a truly virtual service, you will not receive anything from us via snail mail. 

What if I only need help in are certain area, like color selection, can I start there and continue into other areas later?
We will design the entire room for you at once, you can implement that design on your own schedule.

How do you select the retailers you suggest?
We use retailer that offer good value and have a positive track record with customer service.

By going through a designer, are there any savings?
We generally specify only retail items.  If you want custom furniture or window treatments made then we offer 5 -10% off retail pricing.

What if I don’t like the design or suggestions?
Luckily our clients love what we do for them.  If one or two items need to be reselected we generally do this on a case by case basis.

Do you see e-consulting being a trend that will continue?
We do! Now that we can shop in our pajamas, why would we stop? 

Images courtesy of Coddington Design.