Like a Cross Between an Interior Designer & Your Uncle That Knows How Stuff is Built
Truth be told Design Q&A is a one man operation founded, owned, and operated by Paul Livdahl. Partnerships with builders, independent designers, and occasional tech assistants as well as his wife, kids, dog, and cat are where the ‘we’ comes from.
Paul’s big idea for Design Q&A was to fill the remodeling ‘gap’ between architects and interior designers with straight forward Independent design service unbeholden to builders, stores, or old models of business. Design Q&A keeps overhead low so it can deliver affordable design to everyone, especially the 95% who wouldn’t normally hire a designer. He believes good design should pay for itself so he charges no hidden fees or percentages off the top. Being Independent, he has no incentive to sell up and encourage his clients to spend more on building, fixtures, and materials.
Paul is most proud of his objectivity, problem solving, and penchant for enjoying the company of almost anyone (not bad for an introvert.) Those three qualities are vehicles for getting to the heart of his client’s issues and delivering unmatched taste, creativity, construction knowledge, customer service, and occasional dad jokes. He’s the opposite of a Prima Donna and has never worn a French beret, good ideas are good ideas no matter whose they are.
Oh And We're AWARD WINNING
Design Q&A has won the ANGIE"S LIST SUPER SERVICE AWARD 8 years in a row. Only 5% of Angie's List service providers win this award and we imagine it's because we love our clients and they feel our service is super.
35 YEARS is a long time
Paul earned his way through college working for museums and restoring homes. The building background helped Paul understand how homes are built but the designer was born in the process. More of a designer than a builder, Paul moved to Chicago, worked for more museums, and began a career designing home furnishings. His designs have sold at Crate and Barrel, Target, JC Penney, and even see them on movie sets and copied by the likes of Ikea. Later Paul moved to Minneapolis where went to work for Room & Board.
Paul earned his MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design with the intention of teaching furniture design. However he hatched the idea of starting Design Q&A when he saw so many expensive remodeling projects that went awry somewhere and thought “why didn’t they just ask someone?” He decided he should be the go to source for homeowner and founded Design Q&A in 2005.
Don't Let history throw you off though. Paul makes use of technology to keep up with what his customers want. He is a pioneer in using 3D as a design tool. You'll love it for your project.
