Client Testimonials
All successful design projects require collaboration and open communication between the client and the designer. I have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of amazing clients in the greater Madison area.
High recommendations for Sarah! Small projects or large. She is easy to work with, willing to help via phone, email or shopping, and hourly rates were clear and reasonable. Well worth the value she brought!
We recently completed a home addition and whole home renovation, and couldn’t be happier with how the house turned out! It is always nice to have a trained eye guiding you, and we could not have done it without Sarah.
Our project was the classic HGTV “tear out this wall, tear-out that wall” approach as we took our house from the 80’s to a beautiful open-concept that works for our family. We did much of the work ourselves, moving some walls and redefining areas so we could get a larger entryway, mudroom, open kitchen with island, an office, den, etc. Sarah shared ideas online, joined us at vendors, and met at our house many times to pick finishes that work for us and completed the whole design.
Sarah is a great interior designer, but for us that didn’t just mean picking out finishes and furniture, it also meant helping us plan the new spaces when it came to moving some walls around. Sarah’s ideas were a little different than our original sketches, and I’m glad she got involved then and made her mark on the design. The final result was much improved by her involvement early.
High recommendations for Sarah! Small projects or large. She is easy to work with, willing to help via phone, email or shopping, and hourly rates were clear and reasonable. Well worth the value she brought!
Choosing furniture, floor coverings, paint colors, window coverings, finishes, or designing spaces – we will go to Sarah again. Thanks!
– Ryan H.
Fitchburg, WI
She's easy to communicate with and is very responsive.
Sarah is amazing to work with. She helped us with room layouts and selecting furniture, rugs and accessories for multiple rooms. We couldn’t be happier with the results. She took time to understand what we were looking for. She’s easy to communicate with and is very responsive. She has been great to work with every step of the way and we look forward to continuing to work with her.
– Sarah L.
Madison, WI
Sarah was the key that resulted in the completion of our remodel...(she) made timely, thoughtful observations and recommendations. I appreciated her no nonsense approach that made the most of her time, as well as my time and budget. I would not hesitate to recommend Sarah and would love to work with her again the next time I need a nudge with a project!
I had the pleasure of working with Sarah on my recent kitchen remodel. I needed help with a few key decisions which kept hanging up my ability to move forward with the project. I am so glad that she was recommended to me. Sarah was the key that resulted in the completion of our remodel.
Sarah walked into my home and made timely, thoughtful observations and recommendations. She followed up with check-in emails that kept me focused and moving forward.
I appreciated her no nonsense approach that made the most of her time, as well as my time and budget. I would not hesitate to recommend Sarah and would love to work with her again the next time I need a nudge with a project!
– Kim M.
Madison, WI
I wanted to work with a professional designer who would listen to our ideas, work with what we already had, prevent us from making costly mistakes and help us pull together an interior space we could live in happily. Sarah is doing exactly that.
Sarah Helf is the perfect designer for our condo remodeling project. Because we are updating our kitchen and master bathroom, selecting new light fixtures and replacing carpet with vinyl plank flooring, I wanted to work with a professional designer who would listen to our ideas, work with what we already had, prevent us from making costly mistakes and help us pull together an interior space we could live in happily. Sarah is doing exactly that. She responds quickly to questions and meets with us as needed; she understands our style and the space. Sarah bills us for her design work as we need it and is willing to work with us as our time and budget permits.
– Chris T.
Madison, WI
She is able to understand the look you want and achieve it. We trust her judgement, love her ideas and highly recommend her.
Sarah is wonderful to work with. She is very professional and her ideas are fantastic. She is able to understand the look you want and achieve it. She listens to your ideas, makes suggestions and then gives you her professional opinion why some things may be better than others. She has the insight to see what it will eventually look like when it is done. She has a good eye for color and texture . We love what she has done with our house.
She responds quickly when you need help even when you are out of town and find something that you want her opinion on. She works with your budget and timeline.
The first time my husband met her he commented that he liked how she thought. He commented that she was practical and knowledgable. He’s a tech ed. teacher so that says a lot.
We trust her judgment, love her ideas and highly recommend her.
– Wendy K.
Lodi, WI
She suggested things I wouldn't have considered myself, but wound up liking very much...She has a great sense for an overall look as well as practical considerations of durability, functionality and creating something you can live in.
Sarah was so helpful when we moved into our new house. We needed to buy furniture for almost every room. Sarah helped us with layouts and created inventories for each room of what we needed to buy. She understood our style and helped us find pieces that worked together and fit our budget. She suggested things I wouldn’t have considered myself, but wound up liking very much. When she suggested something I didn’t like, she took the feedback and came back with additional options. She has a great sense for an overall look as well as practical considerations of durability, functionality and creating something you can live in. We will continue to work with Sarah as we move on to additional steps in our new house.
– Sara C.
Middleton, WI
She was professional and fun to work with at all times.
I found Sarah through Houzz and couldn’t be happier that I did! We wanted to update our living room space to include new furniture and new accessories. We also wanted to change the furniture arrangement to create a more conversational space. New window treatments would complete the look. Sarah did a wonderful job in finding all the right pieces for us to select from. She was professional and fun to work with at all times. The fabricator she works with did a fantastic job on the window treatments. We are very pleased with the results.
– Maureen S.
Fitchburg, WI
Her sense for colors, textures, and fabrics, along with her knowledge of local and web-based vendors at various price points was impressive. My project was on a tight schedule and Sarah was extremely accommodating in providing thoughtful plans and proposals in a timely fashion.
Sarah worked with me on my living room and did a great job. Her sense for colors, textures, and fabrics, along with her knowledge of local and web-based vendors at various price points was impressive. My project was on a tight schedule and Sarah was extremely accommodating in providing thoughtful plans and proposals in a timely fashion. I found Sarah to be really professional and would highly recommend her.
– David A.
Madison, WI
Sarah mixed together the style of our old school house with function. I am proud to have family and friends visit-our old house is the best its been in the 40 years we're lived here. Thank you, Sarah!
Sarah has been wonderful to work with. I live a couple hours away, and one day Sarah combined stopping out for a first hand look with a family gathering this direction. Sarah listens and works within your budget, desires and pieces you’d like to keep. When I sent an email, Sarah responded within hours or less. Sarah mixed together the style of our old school house with function. I am proud to have family and friends visit-our old house is the best its been in the 40 years we’re lived here. Thank you, Sarah!
– Jayne Z.
East Troy, WI
We have been very satisfied with her guidance in choosing electrical and plumbing fixtures, paint colors, flooring, tile selection, furniture arrangement and more! She quickly completes any task while incorporating our suggestions and feedback. I just couldn't be happier to have found such a great designer.
Sarah has been amazing to work with! She quickly understood our design aesthetic and the direction we wanted to go in. She is very efficient with her time, which in turn has saved us an enormous amount of time on our farmhouse remodel/addition. We have been very satisfied with her guidance in choosing electrical and plumbing fixtures, paint colors, flooring, tile selection, furniture arrangement and more! She quickly completes any task while incorporating our suggestions and feedback. I just couldn’t be happier to have found such a great designer.
– Tina M.
Milton, WI
She asked tons of questions at our initial visit, which was great because it was clear she wanted to design our home for us. She offered a more formal design process or a more casual bounce-ideas-back-and-forth approach - whichever we were more comfortable with.
I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Sarah. She is responsive, flexible and has great energy. We hired her to help us with a difficult layout in the living room and included her on plans that we would like to someday complete.
She asked tons of questions at our initial visit, which was great because it was clear she wanted to design our home for us. She offered a more formal design process or a more casual bounce-ideas-back-and-forth approach – whichever we were more comfortable with. We have two preschool boys and she totally excelled at consulting in our sometimes very noisy, interruption-heavy environment.
Even though we didn’t have the budget to do everything we would like to eventually tackle, she took our big picture plans into account from day one and helped create a phased strategy that would maximize impact as we have budget to execute. We plan to use Sarah quite a bit in the years that come!
– Debbie F.
Middleton, WI
Sarah did a great job of listening to our wishes and needs, and then creating a vision that worked with the architecture, finishes and celebrated the family pieces we wanted to work into the plan...Sarah has a creative mind and remained really flexible as we worked through the process. She's a pleasure to work with, and I'm happy to highly recommend her!
Sarah recently helped us transform the main living space in our home, which includes the living room, dining area and solarium. The home is new to us, has a very unique layout, and is a style that is quite different from our old home…so definitely a challenge to incorporate the pieces we wanted to keep with the new space. Sarah did a great job of listening to our wishes and needs, and then creating a vision that worked with the architecture, finishes and celebrated the family pieces we wanted to work into the plan. Sarah helped us with layout recommendations, furniture, rug and fabric selection and guidance in designing a custom dining room storage piece. Sarah has a creative mind and remained really flexible as we worked through the process. She’s a pleasure to work with, and I’m happy to highly recommend her!
– Anne I.
Middleton, WI
She understood our casual style and designed a comfortable yet stylish space. It feels fresh but not too trendy so it will stand the test of time, and we loved how creative she was with inexpensive elements...Working with Sarah is like hanging out with your super stylish friend.
I love working with Sarah! She helped us with a total remodel of our basement family room and my daughter’s bedroom.. She understood our casual style and designed a comfortable yet stylish space. It feels fresh but not too trendy so it will stand the test of time, and we loved how creative she was with inexpensive elements.
Working with Sarah is like hanging out with your super stylish friend. She guides you toward things that will work and away from design mistakes without making you feel like a design idiot.
– Michelle L.
Middleton, WI
Sarah is always available on email for those last minute decisions I'm just not comfortable making on my own. She comes prepared and is not afraid to tell us her honest opinion.
Sarah has helped us with a large mudroom and kitchen remodel and definitely nailed exactly what we were looking for. From her original designs to the helping us with the final touches, the rooms came out better than we expected.
We hired Sarah again to help us with a bathroom remodel and now that she definitely knows our style and tastes it’s going even more smoothly and quickly than the last remodel.
Sarah is always available on email for those last minute decisions I’m just not comfortable making on my own. She comes prepared and is not afraid to tell us her honest opinion.
– Stefanie K.
Middleton, WI
I feel she is a designer that listens to her clients wishes and guides them professionally through the process.
I first contacted Sarah through Houzz for help with paint color selection in my entire home. She was very professional and asked me questions about what my vision was for the finished “look”. She provided a wonderful palette of colors for my home. They turned out beautiful. I have recently called on her again to help me with a room layout and furnishings. I feel she is a designer that listens to her clients wishes and guides them professionally through the process. She also respects any budget you may have.
– Sharon O.
Madison, WI