Now that I live on the other side of the country from my family and friends, I have relied on the internet more and more to communicate. In fact, that’s the entire reason for this blog. As I’ve continued my schooling for Design, more and more friends and family are asking me for design advice of rooms I have never seen.

One of the Directors where I work unscrewed one of her kitchen cabinet doors and brought it to me, along with a sample of her counter top and flooring, the entire catalog of Benjamin Moore paints and a scribbled diagram of her kitchen, and asked me to choose her paint color. She indicated what Benjamin Moore paint numbers were in the adjacent rooms, and said if I could get back to her with a paint selection she’d be grateful. Seriously.

Wow. She said she wasn’t afraid of color, and the room had a tendency to be a little dark, so I selected three paint combinations: One playful option, one sophisticated option, one neutral option that could be spruced up with different colored accents. I have never seen this room, nor do I know her style, but she seemed really excited about the playful option - a twist of lavenders. She has a young daughter who really loves purple, so she seemed super excited about the choice. Hope it works out.

It’s these sorts of instances that have made me wonder just how viable “distance” design is. I had never heard of such a thing before. When I looked around for Design schools, none of the accredited schools offered distance learning for design, so I was beginning to think this sort of practice was frowned on.

This morning, while going through my blogroll, I came across a very interesting article on Decor8 about this very topic. It is apparently picking up in the design world and even has a name: eDecorating.

Apparently, being hired to design a room you’ve never stepped into before is becoming a bigger and bigger phenomenon. It’s a little cheaper than hiring a designer to come in, consult and do it all for you, and for the homeowner it’s a bit more DIY - something that is also growing in popularity.

Depending on who the designer is, the services being offered and the prices all vary. For some of these services, to have one room painted with an eDecorate service is $600. Just to paint a room. I guess it makes sense because the designer would have to call a contractor in the client’s area and hire them, then bill their profit on top of that. No clue if this fee also includes older homes that need decades of wallpaper removed. Let’s hope it does.

Other designers offer flat fees for consultations, three different design boards and themes for a client to choose from, and there are some who can arrange to have it all installed for you - for an incredible fee. Depending on the designer, the client is asked to provide a range of information - photos of the room, dimensions and placements of heaters, air conditioning units and outlets, links to inspiration for the room or links/photos of things that inspire the client, etc.

I don’t know if I am so interested in charging $2500 to put together three color boards (holy crap), but I am definitely curious about how to make something like this work. How would you even present a color board to a distance client? Do you package them up and send them over? Do you put them on a protected client-specific web page for them to look at?

I’m looking at my color board via internet and, although I’ve received all kinds of flattering feedback from friends and family who read this site, it isn’t as nearly as exciting as it is in person. I’m a touch and feel customer - especially when it comes to fabrics.

I can see how this would go very, very wrong for someone, but I can also see how it could go right. I have been interested in this method for helping my mom make design decisions for her house, but sort of shied away from it because I didn’t think it was kosher. Apparently it can be. I’m glad, because I have some ideas on how to make it work.