Design Consultation Service
We offer the following consultations as part of our Design Service:
Virtual, Showroom, and Home Design Consultations
We know that refreshing your home is an exciting endeavour, but it can also feel overwhelming, with endless possibilities. We understand the desire to create a space that is both beautiful and harmonious. With our bespoke Design Consultation service, we are here to guide you, ensuring you achieve a cohesive and stunning result that perfectly suits your style. Tania, our experienced interior designer will work closely with you offering thoughtful advice and personalized guidance to bring your vision to life.
There are three ways to work with us:
Please note: All consultations are available on Tuesdays and Thursdays only
1. Virtual Consultation (Free)
If you’re unable to visit us in person or are located too far away, our free Virtual Design Consultation is the perfect solution. During a 30-minute WhatsApp video call, you’ll have the opportunity to show Tania around your home and discuss your preferences for colours, styles, and fabrics. Tania will then curate a selection of fabrics from our showroom, presenting them to you via video. Together, you will craft a beautiful, cohesive design scheme. Following the consultation, we will mail fabric samples to you, allowing you to review them at your convenience in the comfort of your own home! Book your appointment online today. If you cannot find a suitable time available on the online calendar, please phone us and we can try arrange something more convenient.
2. Showroom Design Consultation (Free)
Experience a truly bespoke service with our Showroom Design Consultation. This one-on-one session allows you to explore our entire range of fabrics, soft furnishings, and furniture pieces. Over a cup of tea, Tania will discuss your design needs, including window treatments, furniture choices, soft furnishings and lampshades. Feel free to bring along fabric swatches, paint, wallpaper, and flooring samples, or photos of your room for inspiration. Together, you will create a design that perfectly delivers your vision. Please contact us by phone or email to make an appointment to meet with our consultant, Tania.
3. Home Design Consultation (£100 refundable)
For clients located near Cirencester, Tania offers Home Design Consultations. She will visit your home, bringing along a selection of fabric samples, and collaborate with you to create a design scheme that works in your space. This service allows you to see how colours, textures, and furnishings will look in your actual environment, taking into account lighting, artwork, and existing decor. The fee for a Home Design Consultation is £100, which will be refunded upon placing an order with us following the visit. See below some of our customer testimonials and feedback. Please phone or email us to make an appointment so that Tania may come by on a time and day that works best for you.
Here are tips on decorating with patterns and our tips for decorating with stripes see inspirational photographs of our collections in situ that include the following examples:
Customer Reviews - Virtual Consultations
Nancy
I had a fantastic online consultation with Tania who was incredibly knowledgeable and helped me choose the perfect fabrics for two bedrooms. Tania's eye for pattern and colour made the process easy and enjoyable. I can highly recommend your service!
Sally
Enjoyed the experience - very informal and relaxed and Tanya very helpful and efficient - samples arrived next day!
Anne
Found it very useful & really helped me to decide on fabric for my sofas & curtians.
Mary
Very helpful. I had sent a photo of the room, Tammy had some fabrics ready. It is so good to see a large amount of the design. Tammy was charming. I love your designs and philosophy.
Jacquie
Excellent understanding of my needs and tastes, no hard sell, great design ideas. Everything I had expected from my visit.
Elizabeth
After weeks of confusion, what a relief it was to have a virtual consultation with Tania! She listened to my dilemmas and completely understood the look I'm hoping to achieve. Tania has an expert's eye for what works together (which I definitely don't) and of course knows all the fabrics very well. I will be ordering fabric for curtains, a headboard and some cushions once I decide which of the two beautiful schemes to choose. I can't wait!
Pamela
Very positive consultation, listened to my thoughts and initial ideas and gave many options to think about. Tania was very approachable and took me out of my comfort zone as well, which was brilliant. The samples arrived the following day and now spending time looking in all light conditions. Hopefully will be ordering soon. Many thanks, really enjoyed the whole process. Thank you Tania.
Cathy
Tania was most helpful, very efficient and friendly. It helped too showing me items actually in situ in your store. I now look forward to trying the samples in my lounge. Many thanks!
Jan
Perfect support with knowing how to make my old family pouffe turn into something beautiful and bespoke using the new fabric at Vanessa Arbuthnott. Thank you. I’m looking forward to receive my fabric samples.
Liz
Tania was extremely helpful, looking for solutions to a tricky window layout. She seemed to understand my personal design preferences and her advice on fabric choice was spot on.
Kelly
I had an excellent experience with Tania at Vanessa Arbuthnott Fabrics. The fabric choices were brilliant, and the designs and ideas exceeded my expectations. Although I'm in Canada, never did I expect to have that level of service. The remote assistance provided was invaluable, and the time spent ensuring everything was perfect was greatly appreciated. I am looking forward to featuring these designs in my French cottage renovation. Highly recommend!
Rita
It was great to have the opportunity to talk plans through with someone so knowledgeable and who could help me understand themes and how to make the fabrics work together. Look forward to finalising a design in due course. Thank you.
Geva
I have had brilliant service from all the team at Vanessa Arbuthnott - from sending samples, changing orders and now help with paint colours. The whole team have been incredibly helpful.
Karen
Very helpful virtual consultation to discuss fabric options for a curtain and blind. Samples arrived in under 24 hours!
Natalie
Such a great help in assisting me with a colour scheme, putting all the colours together, and showing me how they all went together.
Alison
I enjoyed my consultation as much as I thought I would. Clair, (our previous consultant), really understood the look I want to achieve, I am looking forward to receiving the samples and suggestions and look forward to working together. Cannot recommend highly enough.
Liz
I was very pleased with the way Clair, (our previous consultant), took on board what could and could not be changed instantly. She worked with what I had with helpful suggestions as to what might "lift" my room and make the area cohesive.
Jane
I just wanted to thank Clair, (our previous consultant), for all her support in helping us choose new curtains and cushions. The design service is excellent. I was able to show our lounge to her, talk through ideas and address the room as a whole, not just curtains. Clair has also recommended some paints for the walls which has been so great. I love the designs, service, quality, friendliness and enjoy the whole process. Many thanks.
Gemma
Fantastic service. It really opened my eyes to options I had not considered before. I highly recommend this.
Antonia
Clair, (our previous consultant), was just lovely. She had an array of fab ideas for my kitchen, was really considerate, warm and friendly and took the time to listen to my requirements. I am excited to see the samples arriving in the post in the next few days and looking forward to getting my order finalised. Thank you Clair!
Elizabeth
Clair, (our previous consultant), was extremely professional, making many sensible suggestions and offering a further consultation to talk through the various options presented to me. This is the second time I have made use of this service and I would highly recommend it.
Hannah
Exceeded expectations. Clair, (our previous consultant), was knowledgeable, friendly and exactly what I was hoping for! She blended listening and offering her expertise perfectly - a Wonder Woman!
Deirdre
Clair, (our previous consultant), was very helpful and listened to what I wanted. She has made very interesting suggestions for fabric choices and curtain blind designs that I wouldn't have considered without her ideas. She is very good and the consultation was fun.
Alicia
Really great service and the free consultation was extremely helpful. Love the colours and patterns, so can't wait for the final curtains.
Fiona
Extremely helpful, professional service. Clair, (our previous consultant), was friendly and quickly put me at ease, she was clearly knowledgeable and very quickly understood what was missing and the look that I was hoping to achieve.
Cherry
The consultation helped me to sort out my dilemmas over my curtains. Clair, (our previous consultant), was extremely helpful and gave me excellent advice. An incredibly prompt quote and replies to queries.
Karen
I had a lovely consultation with Clair, (our previous consultant). She very quickly understood what I was wanting and was very helpful and thoughtful with advice on curtain/blind style and showing me fabric that would suit my living room/dining room in the colours I was wanting. She sent me samples of different fabrics which arrived the very next morning in the post. I am having a think about them and will be back in touch with Clair soon. It was great to be able to have a WhatsApp video call as I am not near to Cirencester. Thank you!
Angela
Clair, (our previous consultant), had ideas which I had not thought about. Loved her thoughts on colour and patterns for me to use in my projects relating to what I already have. Very pleased with the call. She was extremely helpful. Thank you.
Caroline
I found Clair's, (our previous consultant), decisiveness a relief in the face of so much choice. She pointed out things I hadn't thought of - in terms of visually linking pieces of furniture with accent colours. Talking to her really clarified what I wanted and she is sending me samples and larger pieces to try in the post. Hope to place my order soon :)
Jinny
I thought Clair, (our previous consultant), the designer, had a very open manner & was easy to speak with. She asked relevant questions to ascertain my ideas for the bedroom, listened well and then advised, checking her recommendations were within the remit. The whole experience was incredibly useful & enjoyable. Thank you!
Jane
The WhatsApp design appointment with Clair, (our previous consultant), was excellent. She had read my brief fully and came up with several great fabric combinations for my scheme. I liked them all! But was able to pin point a favourite and samples arrived within a couple of days. Great service and very helpful in my project planning. I can highly recommend to anyone looking for some guidance on the best colour combinations to choose.
Customer Testimonials - Home Design Consultations
Alison and Stephen
It was amazing to have all the fabric samples in our home so we could consider all the various colour and pattern combinations. It’s a bit like bring the shop into our home. We have always love the Vanessa Arbuthnott fabric designs and had them in our various homes over the last twenty five years. We are now looking forward to continuing this tradition. Once again, thank you so much for your advice.
Sarah
Thank you SO much for being so helpful. I so enjoyed your call and the suggestions you made. It all makes much sense through your eyes. My husband was listening in from his office, (!) and was immediately enthused and raced down the stairs with tape measure in hand! Thank you to for the Merrick and Day link which I will explore and for ordering the samples which I look forward too. Then I had better get busy. No excuses. Huge thanks again.
Carole & David
We have been so happy with the results of the Arbuthnott design consultation. We were struggling to find the right look for our 1930's stone house that we were in the process of renovating. Clair, (our previous consultant), talked us through the different aspects of design and styles that she felt would both suit the house and our preferences. She was very patient when we were indecisive with colour and patterns, and gave us large enough samples to picture the finished curtains, and time to make the right choices.
When it came to ordering, she measured the curtains and blinds taking all the stress from us making an expensive mistake. We are so pleased with the finished room; it finally looks dressed and fits in with our relaxed life style. We will be using the design service and her expertise to help with the rest of our house.
Sue
I had visited the shop several times trying to narrow down which styles and colour schemes would be suitable for my new orangery and an upstairs bedroom. As the orangery was half built at the time, I found it hard to picture how it could be and was unsure where to start with a new and empty space. I liked the range of materials within a colourway and was inspired by the catalogue to put different materials from the same range together in the room and I decided to start the design of the room with the materials but was unsure of my choices. Clair, (our previous consultant), came out to have a look at the two spaces and was a huge help. In the bedroom she considered the way the light entered the room and had the excellent idea to have a roman blind on a smaller window to make the space look bigger. She advised on the size and shape of the lampshades to fit the space and knew which materials from a slightly different range went well with my original choice. She competently measured the windows which I always find stressful, and gave good advice about linings etc.
She gave me confidence in my choices for the orangery, a great relief to me, and had very useful suggestions for which blinds to go for and how and where they would be operated from. With her measurements and advice on overlaps for the large windows I felt much more confident buying the long window poles required and had a better idea in my head as to how they would sit when drawn back.
I am delighted with the finished results; I feel that the rooms have an overall harmony while at the same time provide a range of designs that make it more interesting for the eye. The Home Design Consultation was invaluable to me as it gave me confidence in my choices and took away the worry of the technical details. She kept in touch with information as to how the order was progressing and was friendly and reassuring throughout.
Karyn
I really enjoyed my consultation with Clair, (our previous consultant), she was helpful, friendly and knowledgeable. I am very much looking forward to receiving samples to look at and excited about my new bedroom. I am already planning another session to find some blinds for my kitchen, a project I have put off for too long due to a lack of confidence in choosing the fabric myself. Thank you!
View our testimonials that we have gathered, and click the Reviews tab below to read more from our happy customers.
