You need to first read more materials on how to buy good deals that positively cash flow.Don't make any further moves until you do that!!

What a 3 year thread bump - good topic nonetheless The thing that makes it difficult, if you're not working directly in the Real Estate field is this:- 750 hours needed on real estate activities (fairly easy to accomplish or skirt around)- material participation (this again is easy to accomplish or skirt around if you must)- 51% of time spent being active in real estate.

My question is, being my first investment home, should I bother with hiring some kind of designer to help with the material choices/colors/styles/etc or keep with the contractor and work toward a plan and scope of work that way?

Typically, repair work with 'like' materials does not require a permit. 

This may involve hiring contractors, buying materials, and obtaining any necessary permits.As you renovate the property, it's important to focus on upgrades that will add value to the property and appeal to potential buyers.

Thats the appeal of butcher block countertops (and the cheap material costs, an 8ft long piece of countertop is only $269 at homedepot). 

This is true some times, but in some scenarios, brand new properties end up producing significantly MORE maintenance/repair headaches than older properties.The reasons are:1) Some building techniques/materials are far superior to those used in the past, but some are not, and some are unproven.

Every marketing material.

You did show up out of nowhere in this thread promoting M.I.

If you do allow it, you should have a written agreement that spells out specifically what they are allowed to do, materials used, who pays for it, compensation for labor, what happens if they do a poor job, what happens when they leave, a deadline for completion, etc.