Carole Frances I.D.S. Interior Design

Carole has been a lifesaver. After 3 years of agonizing over what color to paint our house Carole came over and gave us the perfect choice in about 30 minutes. She has an amazing eye for color and for what works. From then, we moved to some interior work. Carole assisted us with picking out furniture and artwork for our living room, dining room, and entry way. She found us pieces that I would have never been able to find on my own. The prices she found were entirely reasonable. Carole appreciated our feedback and always kept us in the driver seat for decision making. I am so happy with the results and could have never done it without her! I highly recommend Carole to anyone attempting to make a design decision.

Carole Frances is a mindreader! Even when I don’t do a good job of explaining what I want, she comes up with exactly what I had in mind. I have made some bad design choices over the years and I’m sure that Carole has saved me thousands of dollars by always gently steering me in the right direction. Everything Carole has done in our home has been a home run.
I highly recommend Carole. She has great taste and is fun to work with.

Buyer beware — Carol is not an ethical, or competent Interior Designer. I met with Carol last year and purchased several pieces of furniture through her. We had just moved to Livermore, and I was in need of furniture to fit my space. She came in, and instead of asking me what my design preferences were, she criticized the furniture I already had in place. I did purchase a media cabinet and a chair through her. The media cabinet came in several pieces and my husband had to spend a full day screwing it all together. For the price I paid, I expected a piece of furniture of much better quality. When our chair arrived, it was not the right fabric color. The manufactureer noted it was C.O.M (customer own material) on the shipping label. When I confronted Carol about this (I had pictures of my fabric choice), she said it was the fabric I chose — which it was clear from the photo — it was not my fabric choice. I now have a chair I hate, and will have to sell at a discount on Craigs List.

I hired Carole Francis as my interior designer. Her task was to furnish both the living and family room. We are into the modern look and we are extremely happy with the results. We worked with interior designers in the past and feel that Carole exceeds our expectations.
1. She has vision. She was able to create a furniture layout plan that we would never think of. Her thinking was outside the box.
2. She spends lots of time with you without «clock watching».
3. Face to face visits and personal attention.
4. She is patient and really listens to our needs
5. She knows what looks right and what doesn’t look right and isn’t afraid to voice her opinion.
6. Warranty — very important. A piece of furniture was delivered damaged and she immediately got it replaced without hesitation.
If you are looking for someone with over 25 years of experience who will take care of you don’t hesitate to call Carole.

I have to warn about this designer because of a very bad experience and a waste of my time. I was warned by many people that some designers don’t really give you a honest advice, instead they try to sell you their furniture. So I was trying to avoid designers who sell, and was looking only for a consultation. When calling different designers it was the first question I asked: if they sell furniture or just give advice. Carole said she gives advice and then she can also «help me buy furniture». Well, she wasn’t honest, turns out what she is doing is worse than selling her own furniture — she sell furniture that you can easily buy elsewhere but she doubles the price for you. So starting from the very first consultation (for which I paid $ 100) she just criticized the items I was looking at (for being too contemporary for my house…), then all she did was trying to sell me other things (some of them, by the way, actually even more modern looking). Thus she offered a sofa that I had looked at on my own before and thought it was too modern for me. But the biggest problem I have is that she wasn’t honest about the price of the sofa either. And that was true for everything she tried to sell to me — I could find it in 5 minutes online for half the price (and of course she didn’t give me the names, I just know the products and the market, because I was looking at things for a while). And I am not talking about finding similar items — it was all same items (even the photos are the same). So when I confronted her asking why is she trying to sell me a sofa for $ 3350 if that sofa with that same fabric costs $ 1883 elsewhere, and a cocktail table for $ 699 (while it’s actual price is $ 329), she tells me «I didn’t even charge you a consultation fee, go buy this sofa from other place!». As if I should feel bad for her doing her work for me for free. And then she hang up on me, while I am still trying to explain myself. Well, here it is for everyone to review: (1) Selling a $ 1883 sofa for $ 3350, and keeping the rest for yourself would be too much for a consultation fee if your customers don’t have the time or access to internet and trust you completely… (2) If a designer doesn’t have the best interests of his client in mind and his goal is not to choose best items but items he wants/​can sell, then this designer is not trustable (and I am NOT going to buy any of the items, I’d rather pay a real professional for a real advice)… (3) I think even the $ 100 I paid was not worth it — it’s like paying somebody for the time they spend on trying to sell you stuff you don’t need for double the price, given the time I wasted, and my time actually costs more…

My husband and I initially hired Carole 5+ years ago to decorate our family room. We are so pleased with the results and continue to call back Carole every time we tackle another room re-​do. Most recently, Carole came back to help transform our daughter’s room into a teenager oasis. Carole is so fabulous at what she does that we trust her implicitly. We’re certain she has saved us much money over the years because we have avoided many bad purchases/​decisions that we would have made on our own. Carole is always respectful of our budget and helps us get the most for our money. I referred Carole to my neighbor who is, also, thrilled with her results. Carole is fun to work with and has helped us make a lovely home.

Carole and Alisa were the perfect match for our family. We wanted a low key, but professional opinion on interior design ideas for our home. They met with us countless times and were very easy to work with during the entire process. They created multiple floor plans and packets of fabrics for each room. They really wanted our choices to reflect us and the end product is fabulous. We chose all our design options and have slowly ordered room by room, so it has been more affordable for us.
Carole Frances IDS was the only company we called and we were just fortunate that they are so great. We have received many compliments on our home, and gladly refer Carole and Alisa to all who ask.

Carole Francis knows design, period! With her extensive experience in the industry, she brings her keen sense of style, skilled crafts people and abundant resources to undertake small and large projects, alike, on time and within budget. We engaged Carole to help us with renovating our 25 year old home, starting with the kitchen. She provided invaluable input from the get-​go, from the functional design of the kitchen to suggested color schemes that conformed with the California casual architecture of our home (against our less than better judgement — thank goodness). She helped us interview contractors, painters, cabinet makers, painters, etc. And when the wrong cabinets were delivered, she was our strongest advocate in correcting the mistake with the vendor. She operates with the highest level of ethics and customer service, she did not hesitate to correct a set of drapes that just did not hang correctly and did not meet my requirements. Also notable is Carole delivers value — if a $ 12.95 JC Penny’s pillow works, she just ok going that route rather than custom making a $ 100 pillow.
So for those on the fence about engaging a designer, consider Carole. She’ll definitely be an asset in creating something beautiful to meet your style. She’ll save you hours of wandering glassy-​eye through flooring stores, fabric stores, paint stores, etc.