Homepolish Redefines Interior Design

Forget spring cleaning and consider a spring makeover. The possibilities for affordable interior design are endless with Homepolish, a national curated network of more than 500 interior designers that is reinventing the industry paradigm.

According to the American Society of Interior Designers, industry sales soared past $8.6 billion last year, but Homepolish is ensuring that its clients don't get priced out. Working with an hourly business model instead of a flat fee, and passing along store discounts instead of pushing high-ticket items, the company (which launched in 2012) has made an impact in more than 10,000 homes, apartments and businesses nationwide, ranging from detailing small studios for renters to renovating $15 million penthouses.

Perhaps even more impressive than Homepolish's fast growth and cultlike following is its humble beginnings and spirited cofounders, Noa Santos and Will Nathan. At 24 years old, Santos was a recent Stanford grad with a B.S. in Architecture and Business. He started his career working for a high-end New York residential interior design firm on multimillion dollar projects for upscale clients. He realized that he had a desire to cater to a different clientele.

Putting the Plan Into Action

"I wanted to work with upwardly mobile professionals who didn't all have six-figure design budgets," says Santos. He met his soon-to-be partner, Will Nathan, when he was sent to Nathan's property as one of his first clients. Nathan was a coder for the viral millennial website BuzzFeed. The interior design firm was charging Nathan $30,000 to decorate a small 450-square-foot apartment in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood.

Nathan and Santos at once began talking about the challenges of finding an interior design firm that would take on small projects, rather than whole homes and businesses. With this discussion, the two became business partners and matched a shortlist of interior designers with clients like Nathan at a reasonable $130 an hour.

"We wanted to make our service accessible," says Santos. Nathan handled the tech side of the business, spearheading Homepolish's web programming, while Santos vetted designers. When the company was realized in late 2012, they self-funded the $1,000 startup costs. As of January 2016, the business has raised $20 million in venture capital.

And while beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Homepolish's innovative 21st-century infrastructure enables clients to engage in the design process. The website's Shopping List features a Pinterest-like portal that taps into the company's broad range of retail partners and can track inspiration by room, cost and even direct purchase. The brand's social media presence is also through the roof, with nearly 800,000 Instagram followers infatuated with the myriad projects posted to the feed.

Learn more at www.homepolish.com.