Stop Doomscrolling for an Interior Designer. There’s a Better Way.
Home Design Guild is changing the way we find our perfect match for a vetted interior designer – and get design inspiration. And it's brilliant! Image: iStock
Let me paint you a familiar picture: you’ve finally decided to do something about that living room. Maybe you’ve been staring at the same dated furniture for five years. Maybe you just moved in, and the blank walls are starting to mock you. You know you want a designer, but then you open Instagram and three hours later you’ve saved 47 posts, followed 17 designers, and you’re more confused than when you started. You might just wait another five years.
That is exactly the problem that Jackie Paulsen set out to solve with Home Design Guild (HDG).
Jackie is an entrepreneur who spent decades leading marketing departments for design brands and listening to both homeowners and interior designers complain about the process. Homeowners agonize over finding the right interior designer, and designers spend enormous energy hunting for the right clients. She fully understood that the mismatch wasn’t due to a lack of talent or interest on either side. It was a process problem.
So, imagine if a dating app, like Hinge or Match.com, existed to match interior designers with homeowners, but instead of selling romance and dinners, it lived on a platform that was basically Pinterest on steroids, with before-and-afters, informative guides, and stellar home design inspiration.
And before you could match with anyone, you had to take a real personality profile — your style, your communication preferences, your project needs, your budget reality. Now imagine that the Home Design Guild team had personally vetted every single designer on that platform, and only the best made the cut.
No need to imagine it; this is exactly what Home Design Guild does! Are you getting it? Because once it clicks, it’s one of those ideas where you wonder why it didn’t exist sooner.
Even if you just want the “Pinterest on steroids” experience without the matching service, that is possible as well. So, yes, all design enthusiasts, you now have another way to feed your obsession!
“It’s truly match.com. Not every designer is for everybody; it’s all about personality. If you get along, you can solve any problem. If you don’t, nothing will work,” says Sande Beck, founder of Sande Beck Design.
Why Your Current Search Process is Working Against You
When most of us look for an interior designer, we scroll Instagram until we find work we love, then hope the designer is taking clients and is within our budget. (And most of us have NO CLUE what our budget should be!)
But this is the part nobody talks about: it’s not only about the designer’s aesthetic that matters. You need to find someone you can work with for six to eighteen months without losing your mind. And believe me, the interior designers worry about us driving them mad as well!
A good designer relationship isn’t just about aesthetic. It’s about communication style, personality, how you both handle conflict, what you consider a “reasonable” budget, and what their minimums are. You’re hiring a creative partner for one of the most personal spaces in your life. Getting that wrong is expensive when it comes to money, time, and stress.
HDG flips the whole process around. Instead of starting with pretty pictures and working backward to compatibility, HDG starts with compatibility and works forward to the work you’ll love.
“It weeds out people who aren’t serious. These are real clients looking for real designers that they value and will trust to take them through an entire process — whether it’s one room or an entire house. I just thought it was amazing,” says Sande.
How Home Design Guild Actually Works
Here’s what I love about this platform: it treats you like an intelligent adult who needs some guidance. This is not a vetted directory to scroll through; this is a matchmaking service!
When you join as a homeowner, you start with an education layer, a course that walks you through what working with an interior designer actually looks like. What does it cost? How long does it take? What should you expect? Jackie built this because she believes homeowners need confidence before they need a connection. And she’s right. Half the fear around hiring a designer comes from not knowing what you’re getting into.
We feel out of depth and intimidated when we don’t know what we’re doing. HDG breaks down those walls. You’re empowered, and the interior designer gets an educated client.
Then you take what Jackie describes as a “personality and style” quiz. Think of this as your design compatibility profile. The platform’s Smart-Guild matching system runs your answers against 40+ data points covering everything from aesthetic preferences and project scope to communication style, personality, and budget range. The result? A curated list of designers who aren’t just talented; they’re matched specifically to you.
“Behind every inspired home design is a great relationship,” Jackie tells me. “The success of a project isn’t just about a beautiful design … it’s about trust, communication, and shared vision. We created Home Design Guild to remove the guesswork and give homeowners confidence from the very beginning.”
Every HDG designer has also earned the Home Design Guild’s ‘Seal of Approval,’ their version of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. These aren’t designers who simply paid to be listed. They’ve been vetted on portfolio, professional experience, references, and business track record. Not everyone who applies makes it in. That matters.
“I partnered with Home Design Guild because it feels like a more intentional way to connect with clients who truly value design. Rather than a broad search, it creates a more curated introduction, where there is already an alignment around quality, investment, and the overall experience,” shares Evan Millárd, founder of Millárd.
Home Design Guild Offers Financing
HDG offers financing options for homeowners. Financing? For interior design? Yes, yes, and yes.
The homeowners using a platform like this aren’t people who can’t afford a designer. They’re smart people who understand cash flow. Jackie makes the point well — a client who has the money doesn’t necessarily want to hand over a massive deposit that sits in someone else’s bank account for a year-long project. That money could be working for them somewhere else.
Zero same-as-cash options, monthly payments, flexible structures … these aren’t desperation tools. They’re smart financial management. And studies show homeowners will invest up to 20% more in their project when financing is available.
It’s a thoughtful detail that signals HDG really understands who their homeowner is.
Atlanta Readers: You’re Up First
Home Design Guild just launched. Its first city is Atlanta, with 15 vetted designers already in the system and more working their way through the vetting process. If you’ve been thinking about a project for your kitchen, a primary bedroom, or a whole-house refresh, this is worth exploring. You can browse designer projects, get inspired, take the quiz, and see your matches.
Atlanta residents, find out more here!
Nashville, Dallas, and the New York area are coming soon. BUT, other cities can launch sooner if the demand is there. The more homeowners in your market who are in the system, the faster the matching network grows there. And it’s free to sign up if you’d like to see HDG in your city.
The three tiers of access offer an option for everyone, no matter your starting point.
- Basic: Explore limited project galleries and limited HDG articles for free. This also lets HDG know that people in your city are interested, which helps bring HDG designer-matching to your city sooner.
- Guild: “Pinterest on steroids.” This level provides full access to HDG’s detailed real-world projects from its vetted designers, along with full access to its educational articles. Create and save idea books. It’s $4.99/month, and right now you get a 7-day free trial – so it’s a perfect time to try it!
- Guild+: Everything from the Guild level, plus the full matchmaking process (which just launched in Atlanta, with more cities coming soon — more on that below), is $149.99 annually.
Built on Trust … and Data
I’ve spent fifteen years building StyleBlueprint around the idea that trusted connections change everything, and that when you find the right person, whether it’s a business, a restaurant, a maker, or yes, a designer, the whole experience is elevated. Home Design Guild is doing that for interior design, and doing it in a way that’s thoughtful, data-driven, and just really smart.
“As both an interior designer and founder of a business education platform for designers, I’ve seen this gap firsthand. Connecting designers with their target clients and homeowners with vetted designers is one of the biggest struggles on both sides. What HDG created is absolutely brilliant. The intentionality behind the algorithm, the vetting process, the marketing … it’s something that’s been necessary and needed for a long time,” says Jameelah Watkins-Mallett, founder of The Case Collective.
Try It Yourself!
Ready to explore? You can try the Guild Membership for 7 days for free! After that, it’s $4.99/month. Browse hundreds of designer projects, build your own Idea Books, and when you’re ready, let the platform match you with designers who truly get your style. Create your account here.
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Love all things interior design? Keep reading our full library of home design articles here.
Liza Graves
As CEO of StyleBlueprint, Liza also regularly writes for SB. Most of her writing is now found in the recipe archives as cooking is her stress relief!