Testimonials
Sheleah B. -Susan was great. She helped my every step of the way and gave us personal attention the rooms turned out great. I look forward to using her for the other rooms in my house.
Lisa B. -From initial contact to finished project, Susan was a delight to work with. She brilliantly used what I already owned and made the house shine. We received 2 offers in less than a week on the market, and the feedback from EVERY showing included how well the house presented. Worth every penny!
Tammy P. -Great communication. Understood what we were trying to accomplish.
Christina G. -Susan was great! Very helpful and informative!
William S. -Susan was interested in our kitchen remodeling project and had many ideas, keeping in mind our budget.
Tony D. -Recently completed staging in an investment property we own. Susan came in prior to completion and provided room by room recommendations on color that would work best for our target market. When it was time to stage, Susan and her team did a great job for us. She even threw in a few extras. Susan knows design, she understands what buyers want, and she's affordable. Hope to use her services on the next project.
Michelle M. -Very nice, I'm super excited!!!
Dwayne S. -I have a 2500 sq ft, 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath investment property that I am 'flipping' and the smartest move that I have made during this entire rehab process is hiring Susan Powell. Her design and staging have absolutely transformed this rehabbed property into a showcase home. I believe that hiring InFocus Designs has greatly expedited the amount of time needed to sell my house and I plan on hiring them for every 'flip' that I do in the future.
Brian E. -Really pleasant, really knowledgeable, definitely struck gold here!
Peggy S. -Susan was very personable, professional and helpful. She was very generous with her time and she more than met our expectations and hopes for this initial meeting. We highly recommend Susan to others.
Nikki K. -Susan with InFocus Design, has wonderful design skills, She has a vision like no other designer I have worked with. We use her repeatedly with our different investment properties. She works really well with the contractor. Truly a team player and works in the best interest of her clients.
Roses -Susan is so easy to work with. She has great ideas, is very professional, and you will be very happy with her design ideas. Highly recommend her.
K. S. -I found Susan through an online search for interior decorators in northwest Indiana. Although based in Illinois, she covers this area as well. Her web page gave me an idea of work she had done for others, and it seemed compatible with my own tastes. I received a prompt reply to my initial email and we set up a date for her to come to my house. I was looking specifically for paint color ideas and arrangement of wall art in my great room. She perused my living spaces and talked through what I liked and what I didn't like. She never pushed her own ideas; rather, she offered gentle suggestions to try this here, move that there... When it came to paint colors, she had a very discerning eye. The colors we tentatively settled on were a bit of a departure for me (Sherwin Williams' Khaki, Koi pond and Copper Wire). She ordered large-sized samples from SW (which came within a week) and also left a fan deck with me. Having the large color samples confirmed that the choices she helped me make were good ones. The new look of my great room is so pleasing to my husband and me! I would highly recommend Susan Powell for interior design work.
Heidi E. -Susan was very responsive and did an excellent job getting my home ready for sale. It looked beautiful! And our house sold in 24 hours. Fabulous investment!
Suzanne R. -Susan is capable of staging a Chicago city townhouse to showcase the best features. She also identified and helped us complete all the little items that prepare a house for showing. We received compliments from our realtor, and we believe this staging will make a difference.
Deidra W. -Susan, was so helpful in hearing my thoughts and giving her opinion about my project. She was so knowledgeable about her profession.
Jake H. -Susan was very pleasant to work with. Very professional and has great ideas, which we plan to implement soon.I am hopeful and confident that her suggestions will pay dividends - to be continued…
Jane A. -Very knowledgeable. Susan was great to work with. I would highly recommend her for your staging or design needs.
Patti F. -We are downsizing and have multiple needs such as deciding what will fit in the new place, colors, efficient organization, etc. We tried to work by sending her photos of furniture and artwork but she was concerned that choosing wall colors compatible with the photo images may not work. Instead, she spent an entire day, first visiting our new place and then driving an additional two hours to our current home. We found her to be organized and creative, accomplishing a great deal in that day. She also suggested repurposing a large closet and dressing area not needed for clothing into a project workroom. Took us some time to get used to but we are really excited about it now. Although we've only spent a day together, we anticipate a longer term working relationship with Susan. She is a good fit for our needs!
Jean M. -Susan was wonderful! We made the changes she recommended and already it feels more like home. The color palette she advised us to use is both neurtal and pleasing for those who want more color. So many great ideas!
B. W. C. -I'm terrible with color selection and very reluctant to go "beyond beige." Further, I have been looking for the right backsplash for nearly three years. So I decided to get help from a professional. My first time working with an interior designer and I am so thrilled to have found Susan at InFocus. Susan met with me on very short notice. Came out to the house on a Sunday. My house is really a very simple home in a working class neighborhood. The kind of hood that you would not normally see interior designers working in. Susan was so easy to work with. Very easy to talk to and someone I anticipate keeping in touch with as my house undergoes a number of upcoming changes. Within three hours, Susan was able to find a color that worked in my house, took me shopping to a local tile store, and helped me to select a beautiful backsplash. Further, her followup and responsiveness is second to none. During the two days following my appointment with her, she was able to find out that her tile distributor can get me my tile for nearly $8 less per square foot than if I had bought directly from a retail location. This will result in huge savings for me and it will nearly make up for the what I paid to Susan for her help. While I'm absolutely sure Susan is fully competent dealing in the more highend settings, she was perfect for a first-timer like me living a small and humble cape cod on Chicago's southside. She saved me from a lot of fretting and indecisiveness. Further, she saved time for me. She is very professional, knowledgeable, understands color very well, and is incredibly down to earth. I look forward to continuing my relationship with her.
Colleen V. - Susan has presented many programs at the Matteson Public Library over the last 7 years. Sue's specializes in organizing, color, staging, decorating on a shoestring, room redesign. She was able to customize her topics to fit our programming theme. Sue provides libraries with affordable and entertaining programs that last 90 to 120 minutes. She include folders with informational handouts, samples, and stays as long as needed to interact with the audience. Sue is a very talented Interior Stylist who also does cooking and craft programs. Several people still comment on how she got them started on the path to organizing and less hoarding. Sue is great!
Mary S. - Susan Powell/Home Stager-Interior Designer, just staged our condo for sale. She brought in minimal furnishings to appeal to all people and in a style to allow us to still live there. Fascinating how she laid everything out to engage the showings to travel around the whole condo...using a dominant color with neutrals which led them from one area to another..it was like taking them on a journey of our condo. Our realtor said he never had such a great well done staged unit. Our unit had multiple showings and sold in three days..sold for the highest price a 2-bedroom ever got in our building. We began our relationship with Staging/Susan Powell 6 years ago from a Chicago Tribune article. We asked her to do our condo in comfort and style to enjoy until we were ready to sell in future years. Susan created using our furnishings and art that we loved most and made sure she found places for it all. She guided us on pieces/styles, that in future years, we would want to purchase if were replacing something. With her talent of colors and staging, she quickly designed/created a haven for us that we enjoyed for all those years until she came back to stage us for sale.
Allen Y. - Susan did a great job for us and helped us sold our house quickly. Not only she has a great idea on how to design the house to match the house style, but also she use most of the existing furniture and photos/pictures to create a very attractive, comfortable taste. We really enjoy working with her and highly recommend her if you have a need for house staging.
Ellen A. - Susan did a great job staging our vacant condo. I told her what we were looking for and she came in and made everything look perfect, she added every little detail. She also helped give recommendations on paint colors and other small things to help sell our condo.
Kim K. - Susan showed up on time, ready to work. She had resources she brought with her and spent a lot of time going through my house and throwing out ideas for colors, improvements, etc. she works with a lot of the stuff I already have and shuffles things around for better appearance and has lots of ideas for good changes. Highly recommended and affordable.
Karmen M. - Susan was such a pleasure to work with and gave us some really great design ideas. I would definitely recommend her!
Fran S. - If are looking for any kind of help with decorating in your home Susan is the lady! She helps choose paint colors, gives decorating ideas and shares all her tricks and ideas on how to improve your decor without being intimidating. She helps you while listening at the same time. Susan spent 5 hours with me and at no point did I feel rushed at all! For her fee, she is honestly a steal! It does not end here! Susan leaves reminding you that you can call her for any additional advice or questions. What more could one ask for! I would highly recommend her services!
Fran S. - If are looking for any kind of help with decorating in your home Susan is the lady! She helps choose paint colors, gives decorating ideas and shares all her tricks and ideas on how to improve your decor without being intimidating. She helps you while listening at the same time. Susan spent 5 hours with me and at no point did I feel rushed at all! For her fee, she is honestly a steal! It does not end here! Susan leaves reminding you that you can call her for any additional advice or questions. What more could one ask for! I would highly recommend her services!
Kris W. -Susan was fantastic--full of ideas and suggestions on how to pull several rooms of our house together. She knows it all-furniture, lighting, A/V technology, colors etc.-and suggested where to shop for items we need. She was able to bridge the different tastes my husband and I have, and she was able to communicate her suggestions in a very effective way to each of us---not an easy task! She took the time we needed to feel comfortable and "own" the new room designs. All we need to do now is implement our plan. And, Susan said she'd follow through with us by answering questions etc.., so we feel like she's still partnering with us to make our new house a beautiful home.
Rafiq B. -What more can I say I would hire her again. & I would love to work with you again!
Janet C. -Susan is fabulous! She deserves more than 5 stars. Her professional expertise with decorating, choosing paint colors, tile design, baluster configuration and much much more were greatly appreciated. Susan is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about design. She took her time with me and answered my many questions. In addition to her decorating design, she will share with you various places where to purchase items you are looking for at the most reasonable price. Susan also will use current pieces you have in your home if she feels it will be more beneficial in another area of your home. I could not have asked for anything more from Susan she is WONDERFUL.
Francene N. -If you are looking for an experienced, helpful decorator, Susan is the one! Not only is she excellent, but Susan will go above and beyond to help you until you are comfortable with your choices. Her services are so reasonable that it would have been foolish of me not to use her expertise to help me choose my paint colors. Susan is a good listener and she can work with all kinds of personal tastes and requests. Mine being transitional and a mixture of all my worldly travels. As we speak the painters are almost done and the end result is wonderful! Thanks Susan!
L. -Susan did an outstanding job helping to clean and stage a home that was being put up for sale. She gave great suggestions, and brought in a few extra items to make the home look warm and inviting. She did such a great job that we got an offer within 8 days of listing the home with a realtor.
B. T. S. -Susan came over and talked to me about my likes, interests, hobbies,etc. Than she looked at the furniture I had already and the colors I tend to use in my home. Based on this she came us with a wonderful design plan for both furniture layout, color scheme and adding accessories where needed. She even found places both online and stores that I could buy merchandise really inexpensively. She even helped move furniture and hung pictures with me. She is a very friendly and easy to work with. Her enthusiasm for her job and for helping me was very evident. She even incorporated things I had in my storage closet and pulled them out and suggested they be used all the time. Our home was on a Housewalk and we received compliments on how everything was pulled together nicely and looked very professional, but yet very homey and inviting. I highly recommend Susan to do any decorating or organizing job, whether big or small.
Patricia V. -When my husband and I decided to look for a bigger house and after we contracted with a real estate, I contacted InFocus Design for advice on colors and decor. Susan's knowledge of the area was invaluable in making our final decision on which house to purchase. She then helped me choose colors to replace all the white walls and suggested a painter and handyman to do the small fixes that needed doing. These tasks were completed efficiently before we moved in. After our furniture was in I realized I needed to replace some furniture (old couches) and add some other necessary pieces (dining room table and entertainment center). Susan took me shopping at several different stores and made suggestions how each piece could fit into my new decor. As a result thanks to Susan, I found just the style I was looking for. Even my husband was pleased with the new look for our new place. Susan was always available to answer any question I had and offer suggestions and solutions to any problems that occurred. I wouldn't hesitate to use Susan's services in the future or recommend her to friends, family and perfect strangers.
Felicia G. -Susan is a true design expert. Her knowledge and creativity enabled me to create an amazing living room Her guidance allowed me to overcome my fear of using color. My space went from bland to wow. I now have a room that's colorful and sophisticated. I found my style. Thanks InFocus Design for a wonderful experience.
Laurie F. -Susan Powell is a complete professional and does amazing design work. She transformed one of my listings into a beautiful showcase house which helped it to sell in a very difficult housing market. The new owners love their pretty home! Susan is delightful to work with and is willing to do the work to get a project done from beginning to end. I very highly recommend her for your design project. You will be very satisfied and happy with her and will love your home's new look.
Rosemary M. -Susan was great in helping me design my new home. She listened to the colors and theme that I like in my home. She took what I had in my old home (furniture and accessories) and incorporated them into a new style idea in my new home. She brought color swatches and came up with decorating ideas I would not have thought of. I have received lots of compliments on my design and color choices in my new home. I would use Susan again. She made my new home feel very comfortable.
L. L. -Susan did a fantastic job of supervising a complete gut rehab and redesign of a lovely property in Wilmette. The home could have been sold to a builder but it had good "bones" in an excellent neighborhood. Susan directed the entire project from hiring construction crews to staging the home for sale. Susan has a great sense of color and design. She has vision to see what can be done to enhance a home and make it a real beauty. The home was entirely transformed and sold quickly to a delightful young family. I would recommend Susan for your home remodeling or staging project. She is tireless, organized, creative and is a pleasure to work with.