Instant/Space: Mail Order Decorating

I got my home decorator fix this morning with the February issue of Domino magazine. I love flipping through their articles for inspiration and take Editor Deborah Needleman's philosophy to heart:

"[Homes are] the foundation of our lives - the better they look and function, the happier the lives we carry on inside them. Ideally, our homes are a souce of strength for dealing with the world outside, and a huge relief from it as well."

And here's good news for home owners/renters who'd like some professional decorator advice, but want to get it on a budget:

Designer Betsy Burnham has launched a program called Instant/Space, a mail-order home decorating service where you simply send in photographs of your room(s), along with some design direction (inspirational tear-sheets, favorite colors or periods, etc.) and in return she'll send a box containing a floor plan, furniture suggestions, fabric swatches, paint palettes, and a concept board showing how it might look. She also provides a list of actual items and places to shop, to help you pull it all together.

Burnham's design ideas take about 6 weeks to develop, and prices range from $750 to $1,250 per room; for more information see BurnhamDesign.com.