Penny Waller Interiors

I hired Penny based on a recommendation from a friend and after reading reviews to design my new kitchen and front hall area. Penny managed a little bit of the project which was not my initial intent, and not the entire project because I became unhappy with her work.

To be clear, the actual aesthetic design of the kitchen is lovely. I really enjoy where the appliances were placed as well as the sink. Overall there's a lot of functionality. However, in the drawings the sink was placed at the wrong size and so I had to lose my garbage and recycling bin that were supposed to be under the sink and a cupboard. Otherwise we would have had to rip out all of the cupboarding. In addition, the floor was laid in two directions, something I expressly did not want and repeatedly said. Penny went around me and made the decision to laid in two directions as that was what was normal in houses. As the person who paid for the renovation. I don't really care what's normal in houses. I care about the aesthetic I enjoy. Penny assured me that after a short period of time I would not notice at all, she was incorrect and I noticed it everyday and it upsets me. I'm not pleased about being upset about a $20,000 choice.

In the front hallway I had asked for a system of Cubbies so that my kids had a place to hang their coats and put their shoes. Penny convinced me that I should put closed doors on the Cubbies to hide the mess. In theory. This is actually a great decision and I allowed it to happen, however, the reality of the space is it creates far too narrow space as then we had to put in a bench and now only one person can be in the cubby area and no one can access the front door if someone is in the hallway.

I do not have a home organization center or place to put my mail. Something that was at the top of my want list. It just simply got left off the designs as well as a cupboard in which to place a broom and mop etc. Something that I expressly stated I wanted.

Overall I am mildly disappointed with the things left out of the kitchen. Really upset with my flooring. And really annoyed by my front hallway which we're going to need to redo less than 2 years after the renovation.

I understand that part of the mistakes in this situation were me not holding firm to exactly what I wanted and allowing a designer to sway me. But also part of the reason I hired a designer was to envision a space better than I can. Through their experience. I refuse to believe that Penny's experience told her to create a hallway so narrow that two people cannot be in it.