Meet the home design company that gives full service interior design for as little as $79
- Havenly provides online interior design services at a flat fee of either $79 or $199.
- The $79 mini-package allows a revision, while the $199 full design package includes two revisions, plus a 3D layout and a floor plan for your room.
- The designer then makes recommendations based on your selections, and creates a design concept with three style ideas.
It's a real conundrum for a growing number of renters and homeowners. With home design shows on networks like HGTV and photo apps like Pinterest and Instagram, home décor is more visible.
"It's been a trend," Lee Mayer, CEO and co-founder of interior design company Havenly told CNBC's On The Money recently. She explained that new Web options are making professionaldesign help more available, and more affordable.
"Basically, at an earlier age, and at a lower demographic segment, we're seeing people be very, very interested in home design." Mayer said in an interview. "I mean, it's your home."
Havenly provides online interior design services at a flat fee of either $79 or $199. The $79 mini-package allows a revision, while the $199 full design package includes two revisions, plus a 3D layout and a floor plan for your room.
How does it work? It's all technological: Meyer explained that for her company, it begins with an algorithm at the Havenly site or app. Competitors like Laurel & Wolf and Decorist offer similar services to virtually decorate your room, without even setting foot in your home.
"You go online, [and] you take a style survey. We use that to match you up with a couple of our designers. You pick the one you like the most," she told CNBC.
"You work with them all online, so you exchange photos or videos online. And you kind of go back and forth with some imagery," she added.
The designer then makes recommendations based on your selections, and creates a design concept with three style ideas. Mayer said the most popular rooms customers are trying to upgrade are living rooms, followed by bedrooms, then kid's rooms or a nursery.
'Couldn't figure out how to get it together'
In 2015, Mayer created Havenly with her sister based on a need from her own experience. After relocating to Colorado, she was having trouble finding not only the time, but a way to find the furniture and furnishings she needed to fill those empty rooms.
"I used to live in New York City and I had all this tiny furniture in this kind of tiny studio apartment," she said. "And then I moved out to Denver in a four-bedroom house. And I was sitting there with tiny furniture."
"I was working all of the time. And honestly it was like I just couldn't figure out how to get it together. And I was constantly bombarded with these images from Pinterest, you know these gorgeous homes with every corner perfectly decorated," Mayer said. "And it just felt like there was an opportunity missing."
She told CNBC she also talked to interior design friends who were finding it hard to find work."I thought I could connect the two."
Some designers work from Havenly's Denver headquarters, but others work remotely. Mayer said they have strict criteria when hiring.
"We test and train our designers. We screen them, only about six percent of people that apply become a designer with Havenly so you match into the style," she said. "Basically we test you. You say you're a mid-century modern designer, we test you for that style to make sure we're getting the right fit for the user as well."
Mayer added most of their customers are "under the age of 45 just because there's an online element so some of them are sort of tech adopters. But they run the gamut."
Their biggest "core segment" is people living in apartments on either coast , but she added that Havenly has "expanded into more homeowners who live in suburbs and other areas."
When a consumer has a room design they like, how do they buy the couch, chairs, tables and other elements?
"You can buy it all online from us," Mayer said. 'We work with 600 vendors. People you would know like West Elm or Wayfair and trade vendors as well."
On the Money airs on CNBC Saturday at 5:30 am ET, or check listings for air times in local markets.