I just finished (or almost finished) a gut remodel of my condo in a high rise building. I didn't move any walls but I did change the flow and functionality of rooms. My main decision was whether to close off the den area to make it a legal second bedroom or to keep a semi-open living area. My choices were not made in terms of resale. The first thing you need to do is speak to the manager of your building to find out what the construction rules are. I would second the advice of asking either the manager who has finished a recent remodel and get recommendations from those people and/or the manager. Doing a remodel in an apartment building is a skill set that many GC do not have as there are going to be rules in place that will make the process more time-consuming, difficult and expensive. If there is a GC who has navigated successfully and knows what they are getting into, you're well ahead of the game - and down the line the tradespeople they use will also be familiar with working in condos - and hopefully your specific building. I used a designer who had actually done the lobby in my condo building as well as several other buildings in the area. She was extremely knowledgeable about construction; Code requirements; working in a condo/high rise situation and so she and the GC were a great team. I used the GC recommended by her - she had worked with him on several projects and he had also done some work in my building. I took a look at two projects in high end condos that he was currently doing. So my "designer" was really a designer and an interior decorator. The interior decorating stuff she provided based on my inspiration is more than I could have dreamed of - but the hard core design stuff is really what was important - as the saying goes, you don't know what you don't know and I certainly didn't know anything about construction or Codes (especially in high rise buildings which have different construction requirements). While I provided a lot of input regarding how I wanted my space to function - i.e. I wanted to age in place in terms of creating a walk in shower where the crappy tub/shower combo had been - I didn't have to sweat the issues of where grab bars should be located or how high the shower heads had to be - I got to concentrate on the fun stuff like deciding what fixtures I wanted :-). Because of who I had hired, I really was quite "relaxed" about there being major flake out issues because I knew both she and the GC had delivered and I have been quite pleased in terms of the process - in essence she acted as my project manager and has been very on top of issues that I might not even have spotted in terms of results. And when there have been the normal snafus, both she and the GC have worked to solve the problem rather than making excuses and passing the buck. So again I stress, really try to find a designer and GC who - to the best of your ability in terms of vetting - you can work with. And also, both the designer and my GC are really nice people. As posted, I didn't feel the need for an architect but my designer was able to provide technical design plans that were submitted to the City for my permits and which provided the basis for the bids by the GC's when they happened. There is so much work being doing in my city (Los Angeles) that only one of the GC's actually provided a bid for my project. I could have scrabbled to find some others to provide a bid but in the end I asked my designer what her recommendation was and she said that she doubted that any other bid would be less and that since she had worked with the GC on several projects, she knew his strengths and weaknesses and how to get the best out of him :-). In terms of budget, I think you need to decide what your budget is and present it to whoever you choose to do the initial design. They can tell you whether it is realistic and/or what adjustments have to be made in terms of the scope of the project. I chuckle when I think of the initial figure I provided her as I think the amount probably has tripled if not more. I did have some expensive surprises but the reality is that remodeling in a condo - especially a high rise is more expensive than single family homes - and add in a high cost of living area like DC or LA. Things that drive up cost - limited working areas; length of time it takes for demo since all the stuff has to be taken down in the elevator; hallways have to be covered each day so flooring in common areas is protected (that was a $2000 line item) and so on.

http://www.gilmerkitchens.com/  Most designers do not work on an on call basis. They will create whole cloth design plans for you.

I like Karin's Florist. They deliver to these DC zip codes: 20001, 20002, 20003, 20004, 20005, 20006, 20007, 20008, 20009, 20010, 20011, 20012, 20015, 20016, 20017, 20018, 20019, 20020, 20024, 20032, 20036, 20037, 20052, 20317 They stand behind their flowers. I had gotten a lovely gift of plants. There were some bugs among the leaves, so I called the florist and they delivered a new planter right away. The amazing thing is that the plants are still alive today, and I had gotten them in 2015.

I enjoyed the video. I loved that she loved the design, and probably didn't give enough though to whether I liked the design (considering this thread is on a design website). There were elements I loved, and elements I loved individually but not in combination (like the burlwood and the mural you can see in the still for the video; I feel like they compete for attention in away that detracts from both). I really dislike the Cambria quartz pattern she has in her kitchen; something about the combination of over-the-top bold and super fake looking (relative to marble or any natural stone) just leaves me cold. Her pointing out the balloon on the ceiling amused me, and I enjoyed her storytelling in general. I really liked the laundry room, especially the artwork. I would probably never think to wallpaper a laundry room because of humidity, but papering everything was a nice effect.