Heidi has been in the interior design industry since 1989, nearly four decades. She founded Heidi Semler Interior Design in 1997 and has been serving Portland and beyond ever since. Her background in graphic design and early training in materials and tile give her a rare eye for proportion, texture, and the way a space comes together as a whole. When you work with our firm, you're drawing on that depth of experience at every step.

We approach design with a holistic vision, focusing on how the interior elements, like bespoke furniture, rich textiles, custom millwork, and built-ins, can completely transform the feel of a home. We are collaborative by nature and deeply respect your time and investment. Our goal is to make the process smooth and enjoyable, bringing you a beautiful, custom-tailored space with dramatic impact while taking the stress of managing a major project completely off your plate.

Our ideal clients are busy, discerning people who love great design but know they want professionals to handle the execution. They value high-quality craftsmanship, appreciate our vision, and trust our team to manage the details. They're also ready to enjoy the creative process and have some fun along the way!

We do. Interior design is an incredibly personal and collaborative process; you are letting us into your life and your home! Because we spend so much time together, it's important that we are a great fit for each other. We thrive on projects where there is a strong foundation of mutual trust, shared aesthetic goals, and a lot of mutual respect.

The first step is an initial in-home consultation at $600, where we assess your space, get to know your goals, and determine whether we're the right fit for each other. From there, if we're aligned, we formalize the project with a signed client agreement and a $5,000 initiation deposit. Our design services are billed at $225 per hour, with detailed monthly invoices so you always know exactly where your investment is going.

We bill hourly for our interior design and project management time, and you will receive detailed invoices on a monthly basis. We will walk you through exactly how this works right at the start of the process, and our Client Agreement clearly outlines what is billable so everything is transparent from day one.

Design focuses on the layout, flow, and permanent features of a space, like custom millwork, built-ins, and how a room functions day-to-day. Decoration involves the gorgeous layers that bring it to life, like furniture, fabrics, art, and lighting. While we love coming onto a project strictly for decoration to elevate an already beautiful room, our favorite approach is holistic. We love designing a space from the ground up, ensuring the custom interior details and the fine furnishings work together as one seamless, high-impact concept.

We actually prefer to start with what you have. Before recommending a single new purchase, we take a careful inventory of your existing furniture, art, and pieces that hold meaning to you. The best interiors feel layered and personal, not assembled from a catalog. Our process is about honoring what you already love while identifying exactly what's needed to elevate the whole. Clients are often surprised by how much of what they already own belongs in the final design.

Our clients usually find the most value in letting us handle the entire package. Sourcing through our firm gives you access to custom artisans and trade-only resources that you won't find at retail stores. It also means we handle the ordering, tracking, inspecting, and white-glove installation. While we love incorporating your favorite heirloom pieces or personal art collections, we take care of the new procurement to ensure the design is executed flawlessly.

We completely understand wanting input from people you trust, and of course your partner or co-decision-maker is always welcome and encouraged. We simply find the process flows best when we work directly with the people who will be living in the home. Outside opinions, even from friends with fantastic taste, can sometimes cloud the original vision and slow down the timeline. We want your home to be a true reflection of your lifestyle, so we prefer to keep our design meetings between our team and the primary decision-makers.

As early as possible! The most incredible homes are created when the "triumvirate," the architect, builder, and interior designer, work collaboratively from the start. Getting everyone on the same page early prevents costly design revisions later on and ensures the entire project moves forward with a unified vision.

While we can certainly jump in after blueprints are drawn, the absolute best way to ensure your home works for you is to have us involved in tandem with your architect and builder. We look at plans through a lifestyle and interior lens, focusing on how furniture layouts, custom built-ins, and daily flow will actually work in the space. We also translate those plans into 3D renderings early on, which often uncovers opportunities or adjustments that might be missed on a flat blueprint. If you don't have a builder or architect yet, we have a wonderful network of trusted professionals we'd be happy to recommend.

Yes, we do. 3D rendering is an invaluable tool for both our team and our clients. It bridges the gap between technical drawings and reality, allowing you to visually walk through your home and feel completely confident in every material and layout decision before construction even begins. It saves a tremendous amount of time and guesswork.

Because every custom project is unique, the total investment varies. However, a great benchmark for comprehensive interior design is typically between 8% and 13% of the overall construction cost. The majority of this design time, about 70%, happens right at the beginning during Phase One, where we handle the heavy lifting of spatial planning and architectural specifications. The rest is distributed through project management and final installation.

A great design plan is like a puzzle: one decision completely informs the next. Changing even a single item, like a light fixture or a tile choice, can cause a domino effect that alters the scale or palette of the entire room. If you trust us to execute the plan we agreed on, you can always add those personal finishing touches later without accidentally disrupting the harmony of the space.

To deliver the level of quality our clients expect, we work exclusively with a curated team of licensed, professional builders and artisans. Managing a luxury build or renovation requires expert trade coordination. Leaving the execution to the pros protects your investment, saves time, and ensures the final result is exactly what we envisioned.