Partners In Design

We are absolutely over the moon with Partners in Design. Having bought our cute little cottage on something of a whim, we soon realised it was completely unsuitable for day-to-day living. We were confronted with a lack of space, a peculiar layout and some questionable home improvements from the 1970s. We were completely out of our depth. If we were going to turn it into the perfect little bolthole in Dorset, we needed inspiration and we needed help. Enter Barbara and the team. From the first time Barbara entered the tiny cottage, she immediately saw the potential. Right from the start she gave us a vision, creative ideas and helped us see the potential too. She took on the whole project - from start to finish; managing the planning, the building work and the interior design. Working with her and Jess to put together the right look for the interior was an absolute pleasure. A wonderful morning was spent in their studio discussing and choosing all the colours, fabrics, wallpapers and soft-furnishings. As the project progressed and ideas evolved or needed to be adapted, Barbara was constantly looking for solutions and giving us even better alternative ideas to consider. Fast forward to the completed cottage. We absolutely love it. Everyone who has walked in has said how beautiful it is, and the comment ‘you really have thought of everything’ has been repeated a number of times. Barbara, thank you for thinking of everything and for creating such a wonderful little cottage for us.

I commissioned Barbara and her team to redecorate my home. The property had had one previous owner who had not invested in anything, including decent decoration. To be honest I did not like the house - but my husband loved it so much that I agreed we should buy it. The start of the process was a presentation of a series of options for each room. This challenged us to consider designs we might not have thought of, and allowed the team to better understand our taste. We looked at everything - colours, wallpaper, lighting placement, lighting fixtures, furniture, flooring and built in cupboards. We redecorated the house from top to bottom. The team quickly took on board our design preferences, and came up with bold and beautiful options that truly blew us away. The result has a definite “wow” factor whilst also being classy and comfortable. Our home is absolutely transformed and we are thrilled with the result. What a difference beautiful decor can make - I now love my new home. The team organised all trades for us and we have been very happy with everyone we have worked with. There is no way we could have had this wonderful outcome without the imagination, creativity and vision of Barbara and her team. I highly recommend them.

Working with Partners in Design in 2022 was the best decision we made, having bought a new build house. Barbara and her team, Diane and Sarah, helped us create a wonderful home. Their creativity and customer service was excellent and they are delightful people to work with. Barbara thoughtfully listened to what we were trying to create(and sometimes we didn't really know ourselves!) and came back with creative options... many of which we simply would never have been able to come up with ourselves. She persuaded us to be open to alternatives and the result is the home we love so much now. Highly recommend Partners in Design

Setting out on a substantial house renovation project we were keen to have a professional team to manage and deliver our vision. Happily Barbara and her team at Partners in Design did just that - and more. Firstly, we greatly appreciated the very careful and hands-on project management. It has been reassuring to have such a reliable and professional approach overseeing an excellent team of trades and craftsmen that Partners in Design we’re able to bring together. The result has been the very efficient delivery of a complex project and true to Barbara’s word we finished exactly on time for Christmas! Even more gratifying has been the way in which the team completely understood our initial thoughts and ideas about the project and converted them, through an iterative design process, into reality. The focus on design quality has been excellent and exciting - all along our aspirations were kept high by Barbara and her colleagues with brilliant advice about colours, materials, furnishings and finishes. Ideas and energy from the team have ‘pushed’ us in design terms to achieve some really wonderful results and we are particularly grateful to have benefitted from that. Thanks in no small measure to Barbara and her team, we now have a home that is a joy to live in. We have greatly enjoyed working together - it has been a pleasure and fun! We are now looking forward to the next phase.

We faced the tricky task of needing to enhance the interior of our cottage to improve its appeal on the property market, while not wanting to break the bank making changes that would not, ultimately, be for our benefit. It would therefore have been easy to walk straight by Partners in Design in Sherborne and either persevere with the same tired décor and schemes, or blindly try to refresh a few things ourselves. Luckily, a spur of the moment meeting with Barbara in the shop was reassurance enough that she could manage our particular project quickly and to budget, with the key aim being to sell the house rather than transform our forever home. After casting an expert eye around, Barbara swiftly pinpointed the essential changes that would not involve a huge upheaval or escalating costs, but would still have a significant impact on that 'wow factor' for potential buyers. She devised an ingenious way to make a slightly cosy third bedroom into a much more open space with a minimal amount of building work that had not occurred to us. Feature wallpaper that we love, but would never have selected, and some much-needed window dressing were just some of the small upgrades that have combined to ensure our entire upstairs space now looks so much more appealing. In line with our express wishes from the start, the work did not all come with a huge price tag – moving a light fitting and painting bed posts and pine wardrobes are examples of the little touches that helped to create a coordinated overall finish to all three bedrooms. Aside from the expertise and contacts at her fingertips to select and source the perfect paint and wallpaper colours and other materials, Barbara's management of first-class tradesmen was another huge benefit as all the work slotted into place seamlessly without us tearing our hair out trying to schedule painting, building and carpet fitting. The only problem we have now is that we are enjoying our new-look upstairs so much, we are in no rush to move!

Overall we were delighted with the result achieved by Partners in Design. We particularly liked the computer simulations used to demonstrate colour schemes, potential furniture and picture placement and cabinetry designs. Our bespoke cabinetry and colour schemes (including curtains) have transformed our new-build house into a well-planned and eye-catching space with plenty of storage and mood-enhancing lighting effects. Attention to detail was very strong. We did spend considerably more than we had planned but only because we had not expected such a comprehensive and attractive range of choices which we could not resist.

Barbara's input was invaluable. She gave me the confidence to try ideas that I would never have come up with on my own. I am very very pleased with the result. The important thing was having a plan to work from - this included her help with the electric fittings, the painting plan and linking this in with the curtains and blinds. We have also used her expertise to update many of the furnishings and will continue with this task as and when we can afford it. I love it all, thank you.

It was a pleasure working with Suzy on our little project. From the start she was professional and friendly and her organisation meant that all the work flowed smoothly. With her design knowledge we have transformed our north facing room into a light and airy space and we are really pleased with the finished look. Would not hesitate to use Partners in Design again

Initially I wondered if a project designer was a little grand for my modest house; How wrong I was. Barbara and Jess transformed my dull and boring 1990s terrace into a bright airy modern home. Barbara kept me on track and steered me back when I wondered off to the "country cottage" look instead of modern seaside "villa". She suggested colours and fabrics but not too much to confuse me and I eventually had a scheme that I would not have dreamed of using but is quite perfect. She managed her team of tradespeople with skill and kept me informed every step of the way. The whole project took about 10 weeks (on time) and unbelievably it was great fun, We laughed a lot and I shall miss them both. C. Scriven, Charmouth

Some of the best aspects of our experience in having our apartment completely refurbished by Barbara and her team were: We were offered a complete holistic review , that gave us choices but not so many as to baffle. As this was not our main residence, we had total confidence and comfort leaving our keys knowing that the work was carried out in our absence, in a professional coordinated manner. The colours, furnishings and lighting transformed an apartment into a home, which you could walk straight into, being one of the tidiest and cleanest in our experience. Our only misgiving is that we did not have the bathrooms done at the same time, however after establishing the excellent work carried out so far, we will be leaning on Barbara and Chris to help us out in the new year

Our cafe required a major refurbishment as we took over as new owners. Based on our name and desire for a fresh new look, Barbara and the team designed an outstanding layout that made efficient use of the space; provided a bright, colourful ambience, and looks just the part. We are delighted with the result and have had many favourable comments from our customers.

We had thought about using an interior designer in the past and eventually we bit the bullet and selected Partners in Design. I would thoroughly recommend using their service, Barbara is great fun to work with, has great vision and she has exceeded all our expectations at a fraction of the cost if we had tried to do it ourselves; We can't praise Partners in Design highly enough. Our apartment simply looks amazing. We had planned to make changes for years but never seemed to get around to making the required decisions. We needed guidance, and where others offered advice for bits and pieces, Barbara simply took responsibility for everything, organising all the trades as well as offering great practical advice on the design and colour schemes. It was this one stop shop approach that made this a fun experience and I would highly recommend her services to anyone thinking of updating their home