Interior Design Support for Minnesota Contractors & Trades
Help your clients make confident home remodeling and interior design decisions
and keep your projects moving smoothly—and beautifully.
When homeowners aren’t sure what they want, design decisions can quickly become part of your job, hold up the job, and worse yet, when a client makes "wrong" choice they can be unhappy with the result, no matter how perfectly the job is finished.
That’s where Happy Place Interiors comes in.
We partner with contractors, remodelers and professional painters and trades throughout Minneapolis, St. Paul and the Twin Cities metro to give homeowners expert interior design and paint color guidance—so they can make decisions with confidence and your team can keep the project moving.
How Happy Place Interiors Works
Homeowners (or their contractor) book an interior design consultation—anywhere from 90 minutes to a full day—and we work through design decisions together in real time: paint colors, finishes, layout, fixtures, whatever the project needs.
No retainers, no contracts, no waiting weeks for concepts.
You leave the session with answers, not homework. We also work with house flippers and investment property owners who need fast, confident design decisions to keep a renovation on budget and on schedule.
Our consultation-based interior design model makes it easy for you to bring in a professional designer without worrying about going over budget.
We can help your clients:
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Choose interior and exterior paint colors
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Select tile, flooring, countertops and other finishes
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Narrow down options and make final selections
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Make cabinetry, hardware and fixture decisions
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Think through lighting and placement
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Create a cohesive look from room to room
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Give another perspective ion floor plans, layout and flow
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Solve tricky design challenges
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Feel confident saying, “Yes. Let’s do it.”
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More confident homeowners.
Better decisions.
Smoother projects.
Three Easy Ways Contractors Work With Happy Place Interiors
1
REFER YOUR CLIENT
TO US
Sometimes all your client needs is a trusted place to go when they ask:
“Can you help me figure out what will look good?”
Send them our way.
They can explore our interior design services, choose the option that fits their needs and book directly with us.
We’ll guide them through the design decisions while you continue doing what you do best.
2
BRING US INTO A PROJECT
You can book directly with us on behalf of your client or project.
The homeowner can meet with us independently or the consultation can become a collaborative working session with the homeowner + contractor + designer together.
This can be especially valuable when several decisions need to work together or when having everyone in the same room can eliminate back-and-forth and keep the project moving.
3
CREATE AN ONGOING
PARTNERSHIP
If you regularly work with homeowners who need help with design, or want to add design as a "value-add" to your services,
let’s talk.
We can discuss your typical projects and how Happy Place Interiors could fit naturally into your process.
The goal is to make it easier for you to get your clients the design expertise they need, when they need it.
Interior Design Support—Without Full-Service Design
Not every remodeling or painting project needs a full-service interior designer.
But a lot of homeowners could use a designer for a few hours.
That’s exactly what Happy Place Interiors was built for.
Our consultation-based approach gives homeowners access to professional interior design expertise without requiring them to hand over their project or commit to a large design package.
We collaborate with the homeowner to evaluate options, solve problems and make confident decisions in real time.
We Send Clients Your Way, Too.
This isn't a one-way street.
Every year, hundreds of Happy Place Interiors clients ask us the same question: "Do you know a good contractor for this?"
Homeowners come to us mid-remodel, pre-remodel, and everywhere in between—and many of them need a trusted painter, remodeler or trade to actually execute the plan we help them create. When we have a contractor partner whose work and communication we trust, that's who we recommend.
Partnering with Happy Place Interiors means:
- Design decisions get made faster, so your projects move on schedule
- Homeowners show up to your job more confident and less likely to change their mind mid-project
- You get referred to homeowners who are actively looking for a contractor they can trust
It's a relationship built to work in both directions.
Meet The Team
What Our Clients Say About Working With Us
We are honored to have over 160 five star Google reviews— Read them here.
Happy Place Interiors is amazing and Melanie is wonderful to work with! She listened to my MANY thoughts and ideas and was able to really help me come to some decisions I would never have gotten done on my own.
Due to distance constraints, we were only able to meet virtually, but Melanie was able to offer insights not only for our remodel, but for design in general.
When I think of other spaces in my home, I find myself referring back to the design principles she shared with me and find I'm not so overwhelmed with indecision.
I would not hesitate to book an appointment with Melanie again in the future!!
Suzette, MN
Denise, Minneapolis, MN
Melanie was a tremendous help to us as we work to update our home. During our 3 hour session we discussed flooring, paint color, decor, furnishings, lighting, hardware, and more. Melanie thoughtfully guided us through many options, and explained why a certain product (or color) would work or not work well in our home. She was respectful, courteous, and so fun to work with. We will definitely call upon Melanie for any future design/decor needs.
Our day-long consult with Melanie on our whole-house remodel was incredibly useful.
She helped us clarify our vision, gave us useful tips, tricks and rules of thumb to keep in mind, and helped make our broad, big picture ideas actionable.
We now feel like we have a direction of travel and that our huge project is much more manageable. The Happy Place client resources and partner discounts are an extremely valuable bonus which we’re already taking advantage of.
We would highly recommend consulting Happy Place Interiors for any of your home improvement projects.
Ian, St. Paul, MN
Melanie was excellent and provided just the design advice I needed. In a short amount time, she helped me rethink my house and probably saved me thousands of dollars by stopping me from making poor design choices. She could easily see what I couldn’t. She helped me map out a possible remodel. It was mapped out in a five year plan or an all at once plan, which was so helpful. I would highly recommend her to anyone wanting to find an interior designer who is excellent at visualizing your home while considering both function and design. She recommends using things you already have in your house (instead of trying to sell you more). She is professional, passionate, and somewhat of a design mind reader.
Addendum: (now a year later) We have done a huge main floor (all at once) remodel based Melanie’s advice as to what needed to be done, big picture. She later helped with design details in the plans from our contractor. They were small tweeks that make a huge difference in how we use the space. We couldn’t be happier with the final results. She is now helping me decide what furniture to keep and what I need to buy, where to place that furniture, what art should go where, paint colors, etc. Melanie is my design guru and I couldn’t recommend her more. Her expertise is worth every penny and I know she has saved me tons of time and money. Best of all, I know soon can be done thinking about my house and just live in it as my home, finally. Thank you Melanie!
Rebecca, MN
Your Design Partner—Without a Designer on Staff
Whether you need somewhere to send the occasional client who needs a little extra help or you’re looking for a design partner you can regularly bring into your projects, Happy Place Interiors makes professional interior design expertise easy to access.
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Refer a client.
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Bring us into a project.
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Let's build a partnership.
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Better decisions. More confident homeowners. Smoother projects.
FAQ
01
How does referring my client to Happy Place Interiors work?
Simply send your client to this website. They can explore our design service options and book the session that fits their needs directly with us. We'll guide them through their design decisions while you continue to focus on the build.
02
Who pays for the design consultation—me or my client?
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It depends on how you'd like to work with us. Most often, the homeowner books and pays directly, just like any other Happy Place Interiors client. Some contractors choose to cover the session as a value-add for their client or build it into their project scope. We're happy to work either way, just let us know when you reach out..
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03
Is there a minimum project size to work with you?
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​No. We work with everything from a single room or paint color decision to a whole-house remodel or investment property turnover. Our consultation model is built to be flexible.
04
Do you work with house flips or investment properties?
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Yes. We work with flippers and investment property owners who need fast, confident design decisions to keep a renovation on budget and on schedule. It's the same consultation-based model we use with homeowners, built for speed rather than a long design process.
05
How do I know which of my clients actually needs this?
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A good sign is any homeowner who's stuck between options, second-guessing a decision, or asking you questions that fall outside your scope, like "what color should this be" or "will these two finishes work together." If you're finding yourself giving design opinions, that's usually a good moment to bring us in.
06
Can you join a job site walkthrough or meet with the contractor and homeowner together?
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Yes. Many of our sessions become collaborative working meetings with the homeowner, contractor and designer all in the same room. This is especially useful when multiple decisions need to work together, or when in-person coordination can eliminate back-and-forth and keep the project on schedule.
07
Are you licensed kitchen or bath designers?
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No—we're not licensed kitchen or bath designers, and we don't get into technical details, code requirements, or engineering specs for these spaces. Our focus is aesthetics and overall flow: layout, color, finishes, and how a space feels and functions day to day.
08
Do you provide drawings or renderings?
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We don't produce architectural drawings, construction documents, or photorealistic renderings. What we typically do is mark up existing builder or architect floor plans directly with our recommendations—layout changes,, flow adjustments and more.
For clients who want something more visual, we can create non-buildable concept plans for an additional fee, but these are for illustrating ideas, not for construction.
09
Do you handle ordering and purchasing materials, or does my client (or I) still need to do that?
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No. Our consultations are focused on decisions—what to choose and why—rather than full-service procurement. Either the homeowner or contractor handles ordering and purchasing based on our design recommendations.
10
Can you recommend specific products, materials or vendors, or do you stay neutral?
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We're happy to make specific recommendations—paint brands, tile lines, fixture sources and more—based on what will genuinely work best for the space and the budget. We're not selling products, so our suggestions are about fit, not affiliation.
11
Do I need to commit to an ongoing partnership, or can we start with one referral?
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Start wherever makes sense for you. Plenty of our contractor relationships begin with a single referral or a one-time session on a specific project. If it's a good fit for how you both work, we can talk about building something more ongoing from there.
12
What areas do you serve?
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We serve Minneapolis, St. Paul and the surrounding Twin Cities metro and even further out. If you're unsure whether your project location is in our service area, just ask when you reach out.
13
How quickly can you get involved once a contractor reaches out?
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Because our model is consultation-based rather than full-service, we're often able to schedule a session much faster than a traditional design engagement. Availability varies, so it's best to reach out as soon as you know a project will need design support.