Fringe Interior Design

We recently had our master bathroom redone. The overall project turned out good, with a few minor issues that cannot be resolved. The main reason I am giving them 2 stars was due to some of the subcontractors. If it wasn't for some of the workers that went above and beyond to fix mistakes, I am not sure the project would have been completed. Main issues: -We chose Advance Design because we were told all workers are Advance Design workers. They are not subcontracted out. Well, that is not true at all. Would not have been a deal breaker but was a plus for us to choose them. I understand they are covered under their WC or provide their own... but we were told they only work for Advance Design by Carrie. -Prior to choosing Advance Design, we told them a max budget. They came in $20K higher than our budget. While I understand it’s hard to price a project out, we were told we could get everything we wanted for the max budget. We were sadly mistaken. Would have liked Carrie to steer us away from products that would push us over the budget. Instead, we spent hours at their office to just have to come back and change things completely. Also had to remove items and/or purchase outside of Advance Design because we could find comparable products much cheaper. - Scheduling.... I work from home so its easier for workers to come and go which is great! I am in sales, so I do have to leave the house sometimes...... I would ask numerous times to let me know the schedule and I would be blindsided by people coming to my house. Mike would say he sent an email through the builders app, but I would never get them. "he would look into that" this happened more than once.... I would also send emails/text and get no response back until multiple attempts. -Not having a painter they use in house is a bit frustrating...While it was probably for the best. The primer guy put paint all over the cabinets, paint on the tile in numerus spots, missed spots, and left paint running down. It was a mess. They did come back to fix the mistake, which was appreciated. A professional painter should be included with the price of this bathroom... we used outside contacts for that. Overall, the project is done. There is a red mark on our countertops by the sink which of course is not under warranty because it’s not the size of a dime.... Most of the contractors were great specifically Doug. Once project was 99% done we felt like an afterthought since they had our money. It was difficult to schedule the last 1% of fixes/touch ups. Mike and Carrie were pretty much completely absent of the project until we contacted numerous times. We were told they would be in and out of our project and I think they were both here a total of 4 times. Nick ended up working with us to finish the last steps and haven't heard from Mike since. Lou their demo guy was there for the final inspection for St Charles, which was a bit odd since he didn't handle any part of the building process. Thankfully, we passed with no problems. Again felt like we were pushed aside since the project was "done". We have more projects in our house, but I would not recommend using them for your renovation projects. We will be looking elsewhere for our other bathrooms and kitchen renovations. Edit: This is an update from my review on 8/27/2024. The owner, Carrie, and Nick have reached out with a solution to fix the counter tops. We greatly appreciate them coming up with a solution.

Most recently, Ed from Advanced Design Ltd installed two casement windows and on the lower wall with the windows enclosed the west wall of our screened-in porch. We wanted to create a more weatherized wall where most of the inclement weather is a problem. Over the last couple of years Ed also installed stacking, screen/barrier windows on the same porch and completed the stairs and deck outside the screened in porch as well as a side porch and awning. Ed also installed a shower in our basement and Advance Design sent an electrician to install a ceiling fan in the the master bedroom of our 83 year old house. The wires to the ceiling light fixture had never been touched. We are delighted with the results of every project. As this review shows, we keep going back to Advance Design because we know they will get the projects done professionally, timely and beautifully. Our porches (on the North and East side of the house) were getting a lot of abuse from the weather (rain, melting and freezing, and shade), and the material used looks beautiful and will not rot or need any treatments. A friend stopped by today and couldn't believe the porches were not made of wood. We love the stacking windows in our screened in porch. We can easily open the windows almost all the way down (or up )the walls and get a lot of fresh air. Yet, the porch is protected from the elements. The screened-in porch is by far our favorite room in the house! Ed always consults with us as he works through the projects and Katie is great about keeping us informed.

Responsive, On Budget, On-time…and it turned out better than expected Our project started as a do-it yourself endeavor. We quickly realized that we needed professional expertise. Based on several recommendations, we called Lois. First and foremost, we were very impressed with Lois’s responsiveness. She spent considerable time with us, assessing our plans and consulting as the project progressed. She was quick to respond to our inquiries and was available by phone as needed. Our work together was not relegated exclusively to e-mail and texting, thankfully. The furniture and decorative pieces were delivered and installed on-time and done so with care. A quick story illustrates why I enjoyed working with her. Although we had not engaged Lois to work on our sunroom, I asked her in passing for thoughts about how we might arrange the furniture. This may sound like a simple task, but the floorplan was challenging. I had tried configuring the furniture a half-dozen times previously without success. Rather than brushing aside the request, she rolled-up her sleeves. We started moving furniture immediately. The point is that no question or inquiry was too big or too small. She gave our project so much attention that we felt like we were her only client. In the end, our project turned out better than expected. It was on budget and on time. As importantly, the quality of the furniture, rugs and various decorating pieces are first rate. We look forward to working with her again on our next project.

We contracted with Advance Design Studio for our primary bath remodel, after an in-depth research process. We were looking for a partnership with a proven company that had a stellar track record of true craftsmanship, creativity, integrity, and straightforward communication. Advance Design Studio promises and delivers “common sense remodeling”. They employ solid, experienced, and talented professionals and the company is committed to ongoing development and improvement through engagement with trade management consulting firms like Remodelers Advantage. Every industry provides opportunities for improvement and we consider it a bonus that Advance Design Studio prioritizes skills refinement because it displays a commitment to innovation that benefits staff and customers. Advance Design Studio provides consistent expertise and thoughtful, caring recommendations from initial design board layout to finish installation. Our experience has been that each interaction with individual team members was positive this is a unique, considerate and kind group of professionals. We highly recommend Advance Design Studio. In the past, we as homeowners have worked with other contractors on full basement, bathroom, kitchen remodels. Our only regret is that we did not find them sooner! We are delighted with our bathroom remodel, and the care and attention to detail from the team. We 100% endorse Advance Design Studio now and look forward to working with them on future projects.

I enthusiastically recommend Advance Design Studio. Not only is the quality of their work fantastic, but they also have a well-run administrative end that can easily accommodate changing circumstances. We started working with them on a very ambitious full renovation project of our home – the project, as it turns out, was a bit too ambitious for the lender and had to be scaled down. Advance Design Studio quickly drafted a revised, more modest proposal, but still did a tremendous amount of work – and ultimately under budget. Our particular loan vehicle was complicated and required quite a bit of documentation and paperwork from our contractors as the project progressed. ADS was especially helpful during that process, so much so that our loan manager specifically mentioned how easy they were to work with. Ultimately, they replaced a window in our living room, installed a stove, hood, tile, refrigerator, and toe-kick in our kitchen, repaired or installed drywall in various rooms, painted a bedroom, installed some antique light fixtures, and fabricated a custom door for access to our attic. And while we have only scratched the surface of what our house needs done, we expect to return to ADS when we are ready to undertake the next project.