Iska Design Studio

My ultimate experience with Iska design was not positive. What started out as a small one room project evolved into a bigger project involving 5 rooms. Having never used an interior designer before, I did not know how things work and now know I was quite naive. Karin was for most part of the project friendly and helpful but I now realise that her service lacked formal structure and follow up. She appeared to give willingly of her time as she ambled through my house,rarely taking notes with promises of links/follow ups which sometimes she sent by what's app,sometimes didn't. Everything always felt easy going and friendly and I believed this was his she normally did business. I engaged "her painter" to paint a large part of my house. I was told he was a "teeny tiny" bit more expensive but a "perfectionist". In reality, he was a LOT more expensive who charged extra for everything which Karin freely passed onto me including a €150 diesel fee. I had to end the job prematurely with him due to extra costs and poor work quality. After paying Karin almost 8k for painting I still had to engage another painter myself to finish the jobs. I was also never consulted on what type of white paint I wanted to used on the substantial amount of woodwork and was shocked when I realised I was footing the bill for premium Little Green white water based paint which was totally unsuitable and is now chipping off all over the house. Despite this I perservered on the project with Karin. I told her multiple times I wanted to look at the big ticket items.....curtains and blinds for my hall and bedroom. She came once to my house for these and we did look at her linen options only for my hall but she had to leave prematurely for an emergency which is fine. In any event none of her linen options really worked for my hall so other options were needed. We never looked at curtains for my bedroom ever. When I got in touch with Karin to try to arrange this, I was met with what I can only describe as utter contempt and all by what's app. As a client who had paid her approx 8k in painters fees, another 2.5k for fabrics and wallpapers and 1k in consulting fees at that point, I don't think it was too much to treat me with a bit of respect and pick up the phone to me. At this point I still owed her €487.50 which was 50% of her remaining consultation fees due on completion. As I had a long list of promised links etc to be sent as well as the curtains/blinds for two rooms still to be chosen, the projects were not complete and this this payment was not yet due in my opinion. However, Karin had decided the projects were finished without as much as speaking to me. At this point, I, as a client stupidly ended up apologising that the projects had run over and had to defend myself......by text. Fast forward and I had to compose a document outlining all the outstanding items which were very substantial. She did reply to me on everything but the quality of her work was not as before with bizarre suggestions such as a Hollywood mirror for my coastal bedroom when I asked her for a desk light. She did with a degree of reluctance agree to meet me once more in a hotel in relation to the curtains but would not come to my house without charge. She ended what was to be her last correspondence to me the day before we met with an underlined instruction to pay the balance due and send evidence of same before she met me the following day. Out of respect for myself, I could not allow myself to be treated with such disdain and contempt so I called her up,cancelled the appointment and paid her her money. I am so annoyed that Karin treated me so disrespectfully and conducted herself unprofessionally. There is now a taint on everything I chose with her in my home which is a pity. She gave too freely of her time without structure. As a client it is not up to me to manage her time. I didn't engage an interior designer to help me pick a lamp from Next or send me a link for a Hollywood mirror. Big ticket items like curtains should be the backbone of her service.

Amazing interior design service with a wonderful personal scandi touch!

Very positive experience.karin is an extremely talented, engaging and pleasant lady to work with. She always delivered on time and communicated every step of the way. Skeptical at first to how this could work remotely I was pleasantly surprised. As well as a floor plan and colors I have a full list of suitable products for my project. Great result at a very reasonable price. I would highly recommend Karin and will defo be back in touch for my next project. Well done iska design xx