I engaged Rebecca Marilyn Design based on a personal recommendation for a complete kitchen renovation. My experience was incredibly unsatisfactory and the services with respect to project management were neither delivered nor refunded.
Having engaged RMD on a fee-for-service basis, I expected the designer to act in my interest - not her own and those of her contractor. After the glitz of the presentation wore off and I studied the proposal, I found it deficient in delivering what I asked for. By all accounts, the budget for my kitchen and laundry renovation was reasonable, however, the RMD presentation was 23% over my budget without even providing all the cabinets I wanted (the RMD presentation left blank walls "to respect my budget"). Yet among the ridiculous design was the inclusion of six designer cushion covers for $480 (plus HST and cushion inserts extra - a misplaced priority I suggest which could have otherwise better spent on providing the storage I asked for) and kitchen lighting fixtures with a fabric shade - over a gas range.
The proposal was obviously recycled and outdated because as I googled the proposed appliances, at least two turned up discontinued. RMD's contractor showed up to look at the job, and spent 20 minutes including time using the bathroom. The contractor's proposal was egregious - work that didn't apply to my situation (remove and reset casement window whereas my kitchen is inside and has no windows, demolish ceramic flooring where the flooring was the old rolled original linoleum, price to paint the kitchen - like what's left after the cupboards and backsplash are installed - was the same as the quote to paint the entire main level of my home, and a clean-up charge more than twice I've paid for move-out cleaning). By comparison, the contractor ultimately doing my reno spent an hour and a half measuring and asking questions.
Finally, RMD's proposal asked me to enter into a firm-price contract for the supply of 280 ft² ceramic flooring and 60 ft² of backsplash. When my kitchen reno was completed only $1,100 over budget (I splurged on lighting and had no idea of how much hardware would actually cost), the actual ceramic flooring was 210 ft² and the backsplash 48ft². How could RMD's estimate be 25-33% over the requirement?
And, I got all the cabinets I wanted for the kitchen and laundry - and they are more expensive-looking than those proposed by RMD. Be warned.