Ugh - Design selection

[Eric Lahoda]

How do you find and compensate a good designer for overall material choices and color selections? I think I'm pretty good with most aspects of rehabbing. But I am very slow at designing choices. I know what I do or don't like when I see it.  But designing feels like it requires a different part of the brain. I hate cookie-cutter designing and copying everyone else's designs. I see so many rehabs that look like last year's styles copied and copied and copied. (gray, gray, gray, etc) or other old trends. Many rehabs look like the other guys "contractor specials" - no heart, no joy.

So how do you find a designer who will commit to creating and selecting a scheme for an overall project? What or how would you compensate that person? I don't want to design, I want to say, "Yeah, I like that"