Testimonials and Reviews

Sally’s testimonials cover her color and space expertise, her paint store and design experience and her special efforts in her personal shopping for each client’s special requirements.  Because she has over 35 years of testimonials both Nationally and International, she feels it best to use only those in this particular part of “Coastal” Florida that are the most recent.

Please remember that Sally makes extensive use of “SKYPE” and “FaceTime” for many clients.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sally Fretwell Clients

Here are just a few of Sally’s clients’ reviews.

Danielle s.

Color and Decor

I interviewed many (!) designers, and when I met Sally I knew she was the one. She is brilliant with an incredible work ethic, and has such a lovely/fun/kind personality. Sally listens to my ideas, but is never hesitant to offer a differing (and most always a decidedly better!) opinion. She has far exceeded my expectations. I would recommend Sally highly for any design project, large or small.

This customer rated you highly for work quality, professionalism, responsiveness, value, and punctuality.

Allie R.

Color Consultant/Interior Design

Sally worked with me 10 years ago and totally nailed the colors for a new house I was building in Charlottesville Virginia. Although I am still loving the colors and could happily live with them for the next 10, I decided a spring project was needed and and fresh painting for the house would be a great one. What I so appreciate about Sally, is her keen eye, not only for color, but assessing rooms for their relationship to light and the feel of energy one wants to manifest. One of the first questions she asked besides the color palette I liked most, was what feel did I want inside the house with its outside metal siding and lots of tall glass doors/windows. By itself it projected a stark and rather cold feeling, especially with all the metal. And although flooring, curtains and other furnishings help customize, I was amazed at how just the right colors worked not only with the interior of the house, but worked with the lay of the land, house positioning, the natural environment etc. The colors we selected seem to blend with the changing light of day and night and bring such a warmth, and inviting, comfortable feel to the house, which I had hoped for and continue to enjoy. Until meeting Sally I never realized how important the ceiling color is for a room. And she has come up with such yummy shades of color that she knows intimately. Almost everyone who comes to my house, comments on how great the colors are and how much they like them. One room in particular has a bold color of green I never would have considered until Sally. The room is still quite alive, and fun and yet blends beautifully with the other colors chosen. So, I’m now in the midst of an exciting new change with my house that I adore and have reconnected with Sally for another consultation. I feel confident in her knowledge, skill, experience and exceptional talent in guiding me to more years of delight with the play of light and color. ( I might just keep the energizing green because I like it so much.) Thank you Sally for your amazing gift. Your expertise is rare and greatly appreciated.

This customer rated you highly for work quality, professionalism, responsiveness, value, and punctuality.

Vivien C.

Sally is very knowledgeable and simply amazing! Professional and personable, she did an excellent job picking the right colors for our home and provided many ideas on how to configure/decorate our rooms and living space. Communication with her was easy and she instantly picked up on what kind of decor and style we liked. Sally sent us a many options that were stylish and affordable. Thank you for helping us make our house a home!

Debbie G.

Sally is amazing! She knew what changes would make the biggest impact on our decor! She shopped for us and picked out the best accents to upscale our outdated living areas. She is honest and has a great spirit!   I highly recommend her.

Melinda C.

I was extremely pleased with my decision to go with Sally in redoing our family room. She has an amazing eye for color, recommending a slight color change in two rooms which completely transformed the look! What was once a dark and depressing room is now a bright and welcoming space. Sally shopped around online for artwork and furniture that she thought would look great in our new space. She is kind, flexible and all around a great person. I highly recommend her, we’ll definitely be utilizing her services again!

Vincent P.

* HIGHLY RECOMMENDED * EXCELLENT VALUE *

Sally is both professional and an exceptionally easy person with whom to work. Our office needed an overhaul, but using what we had on-hand and without doing any structural or painting changes. From simply moving artwork around on a wall to completely changing the traffic flow in our main reception, Sally made effective changes that made sense. Although I was apparently born without any design sense of any type, Sally was able to ask the right questions to help our office achieve the goals for which we were looking.

Pete R.

Sally was great to talk to on the phone. I can tell she is very knowledgeable about her profession. We haven’t gotten together yet and I am very excited when we start working together. I didn’t check work quality only because we haven’t started yet. I am absolutely positive I will be checking that once we finish. NO DOUBT!

Flow P.

In a chaotic world, Sally Fretwell helped me create my own sanctuary. Even though my home is modest, her suggestions had a huge impact. Sally is absolutely correct when she states that we should never underestimate the importance of color. Her color suggestions enabled me to turn the negatives of my home into positives. I am happily at peace.

Renee O.

February 12, 2019      Sally has an incredible eye for color. We followed her recommendations and are home looks incredible.

Kendra J.

Excellent experience!

Ross S.

We called Sally out of the blue. We sort of knew what we wanted to do with our home but needed someone to put it all together – and have opinions to make the place more seamless. She did all this and more. We couldn’t believe what all we accomplished in the very first day – at a completely comfortable cost. We’ve called Sally back multiple times because her eye is so good; her value is amazing; and her understanding of how we live is spot on. Don’t hesitate to call her. She’s that good and your house can be a beautiful home, just like ours is now.

Tania G.

We needed help furnishing and decorating our newly built home. Sally really listened to what we wanted and made great suggestions! I really love everything she put together. It was a really fun & easy process!

This customer rated you highly for work quality, professionalism, responsiveness, value, and punctuality.

Caroline H.

Sally has been fantastic! We are building a new house and she has been exactly what we need to our calm nerves on the countless decisions. On out first meeting she took her time to get to know us and the style that works best for our family. Since then, she had become a key component to making our new home become our dream home. Sally is very easy to work with and more than accommodating to meet our schedule. Her Porter Paint color line is stunning. The colors are rich and warm and give the feeling of elegance and luxury.

This customer rated you highly for work quality, professionalism, responsiveness, value, and punctuality.

Kera H.

We recently purchased a home in Florida and had ABSOLUTELY no furniture- I was so stressed out trying to do it all on my own. Let me just say I am terrible with interior decorating and that’s putting it nicely. After the first meeting with Sally it only took a couple of days to have most of my home furniture ordered and it all looks amazing. I can not wait to see how it all comes together in the end. She does a great job getting to know her customers. She really cares about what they like and what type of style they are aiming for. I would highly recommend her for any of your decorating or painting needs! I promise you will not regret it!!!

This customer rated you highly for professionalism, responsiveness, work quality, value, and punctuality.

Diane S.

Interior Design

Sally is great! She helped me pick the perfect paint color- can’t wait for my project to be completed

This customer rated you highly for work quality, professionalism, responsiveness, value, and punctuality.

Allison K.

Look no further! Sally is incredible! Not only does she have a flair for top notch design but she has her own paint colors. She is unbelievably accommodating and will search to the end to find you the right piece or item that will give you the stage you are looking for when you have guests walk in your home. Work ethic, again, goes well beyond what you would expect. For me being out of town most of the time, that was so key. She’s a real human being that anyone would be delighted to work with. Sally is forever in my book. Thank you Sally for making my place a show stopper!

This customer rated you highly for work quality, professionalism, responsiveness, value, and punctuality.

Shari L.

Interior Design

Sally took her time to help us figure out what we wanted designing our home. She is very professional but makes you feel like you have known her a long time. I can’t wait to see the finished results.

This customer rated you highly for professionalism, punctuality, and responsiveness.

Diane B.

Interior Design

Bill and I are so pleased with the transformation of our home’s interior with the new paint colors.  We would like to pursue selecting an exterior paint for the lanai.
Once the interior was painted Coastal White, it became ever more annoying to look out at the view framed by the “poop brown” lanai.
We can be flexible about the appointment date/time.  Please let me know when you have a time slot available. I don’t anticipate it will take too long.  You may even have had a color in mind when you looked out of the kitchen across the lanai.

This customer rated you highly for punctuality, value, responsiveness, and work quality.

Nikki D.

Sally was extremely helpful with choosing colors for 3 of our rooms. She also had great ideas on how to brighten up our kitchen and patio. All her ideas have made a huge difference. Highly recommend her services.

Michael F.

Interior Design

I cannot say enough good things about working with Sally. We had no prior experience working with an interior designer, so we were a bit intimidated going into the project. Sally was fantastic from start to finish. She contacted us and listened to our ideas, afterwards providing a recommended path forward. Then she came to our house and worked with us on paint recommendations, as well as provided furniture and accessory recommendations from various web sites. Her knowledge on paint is thoroughly impressive (you can buy her books on Amazon!), and she is very fun. Essentially, you pay for her time, with no hidden fees or product commissions to bias her judgment. And she has a network of skilled trades to get the job done efficiently. We give Sally our highest recommendation and will not hesitate to contact her for our next project. Neither should you ;)

This customer rated you highly for work quality, professionalism, value, punctuality, and responsiveness.

Tracey M.

Sally is Wonderful! Down to Earth, talented, and quick.  I needed some help getting my small cottage ready to sell.  Sally quickly and easily had really good suggestions that I wouldn’t have thought of on my own.  She immediately got to work rearranging my rooms during our initial consultation.  She even shopped for art and brought it back over within 2 hours of our initial consultation!!  It all worked and helped brighten and complete my living and dining areas.  She then shopped online for me and sent options for a chair and dining nook she suggested. Her prices are fair and I’m so happy with my initial results that I’ve asked her to come back and help me add some other finishing touches before I put my house up for sale. Do not hesitate to call Sally for design advice no matter how basic! She will save you time and money if you are indecisive about what to do.  She’s confident, positive, and a great communicator who answered my texts very quickly. I highly recommend hiring Sally and will be recommending her to all my friends.  Realtor LOVED what I did to the house. She kept saying, “It looks so much bigger than I remember”, and “so open”.  Thank you! Send me some cards please.  She knows lots of people.  Especially in “Safety Harbor”.

Diane R.
Interior Design

Sally was a joy to work with! Her knowledge of color, lighting, etc. is phenomenal and she was able to guide me with the right choices for my condo. Sally also made several suggestions regarding furniture placement and positioning of accessories which worked very well and helped reassure me regarding some of my previous choices. She also helped with ordering paint and recommending some home furnishings. I am extremely happy that I contacted Sally and would recommend her without reservations to anyone wanting assistance with design or decorating!
This customer rated you highly for work quality, professionalism, responsiveness, value, and punctuality.

Jennifer F.

I called Sally to help me figure out paint color and to design my new house. She responded right away and came full of ideas that really helped me. She was tuned in to my budget and really help me make decisions that helped my budget too. She has great energy and is great at tuning into people so the things she recommends are a “good” fit. She recommended so many things I would have NOT picked out myself and I am so glad I called her.. My house feels so good and I will be calling her again.

Jane H.

Remove popcorn ceiling, put in knockdown ceiling and paint ceiling.

Paint whole interior house.

Buy new furniture for formal living and master bedroom.

Remodel Florida room take down cedar wood walls and put up drywall.

Put in archways where there were French door openings.

All the paint colors Sally picked out for my house are perfect and beautiful. We love the ceiling color and the walls. We are super happy with the paint colors.

And the quality of paint used, PPG Porter paints are the best

All the furniture Sally picked out for our house is perfect too.

We are so happy with our experience with Sally. Everyone should use her.

She was very professional and in touch with our project and what we wanted to accomplish.

Sally responded to all my questions during the whole process.

I highly recommend Sally for your design needs.

Madge

A good friend had Sally tour her home and loved her recommendations for wall color throughout. I did the same and had an equal experience. Sally looks at your home and décor and makes great recommendations as to what is the best color that suits your style and furniture – with emphasis on daylight, flooring and even ceiling color. Can’t wait to start on repainting!

This customer rated you highly for professionalism, responsiveness, value, and punctuality.

Sharon M.

Interior Design

I am having a great experience with Sally. She has an unbelievable eye for color. She makes it possible for people like me with a limited budget to reap the rewards of working with a professional decorator. You tell her your vision for your home and she will make it a reality.

This customer rated you highly for responsiveness, value, punctuality, and professionalism.

Bunky J.

Dianne and I would like to thank you for bringing out the beauty in our home. The colors you selected make our home so warm and inviting. I also must add how relaxing each room feels. All our friends and neighbors just raved about the color selections. It is amazing how color can affect our mood and spirit. I truly enjoy our sun room now, the “Burano Bridge” color just made the room pop with our furniture etc. Every room turned out gorgeous. Your paint colors truly added beauty and value to our home. I will highly recommend your paints and your consulting service to anyone considering painting their home.
Faded Stucco, Foyer, Living room, Dinning room, Utility room, our Master bedroom.
Terrace green in Guest Bathroom
Mandarin Wheat, in Kitchen
Burano Canal in our Office
Grape field in Guest bedroom
Poppy Pastel in our Bathroom

D.S.

First encounter was very positive

Can’t wait to continue with her

Bruce L.

Color Consulting

On behalf of the entire Gulf Harbors Yacht Club Family, especially me, Donna, John & Ed, we thank you for your generous donation of time, talents and equipment. The Club has never looked so good, and we’re not even done yet! The feedback from our members has been terrific.. we so appreciate all you have done.

Tom E.

Interior Design

Sally is amazing! She was so easy to work with. We had a vastly different experience with her than with other designers we tried. She doesn’t try to spend more than you paid for your house to redecorate it. Doesn’t give you long questionnaires, which you’ve already answered in an overly long interview. She makes it easy and I couldn’t be happier. I only hope she doesn’t get too busy to keep working with us!

David M.

We had a new restaurant/bar that we were trying to take from upscale to more “Beachy Casual” and we couldn’t get it right, despite repeated attempts at color and décor. So I called Sally and she was there the next day walking around and putting ideas together. She suggested paint colors to warm up the place and décor to tie it all together. She even ordered the paint and set us up with the handyman to do the work. It all came together in no time and the place looks great and customers are already commenting on how warm and inviting the space is now. She was great to work with and if we open another restaurant she will be involved from the start.

This customer rated you highly for work quality, professionalism, responsiveness, value, and punctuality.

Colleen M.

Interior Design

Sally is absolutely amazing and I can’t rate her high enough! I have been working with her in my new condo for several months and am just thrilled with everything that she has recommended from artwork, tile, paint, etc. Thanks to Sally my home will be absolutely beautiful! And besides being an expert in her field, she is so incredibly sweet and such a joy to be around!

This customer rated you highly for work quality, professionalism, and responsiveness.

LAKSHMI M.

Interior Design

Had excellent service from sally and used her service multiple times. The best investment if you are considering changing paint color at home or anywhere else. SHE ALSO FOLLOWS A FENG SHUI APPROACH Which I loved She charges by the hour but is very efficient in how she uses your time not wasting any and got to work right away. The colors she chose for us were perfect for each room. She was so confident of the colors and it took her only a few minutes to help us make the right decision. She knows exactly what the space needs She helped with layout of the furniture in an odd room and it was perfect. Also helped with choosing lighting, fixtures, art, accessories, and over all design needs. She is so easy to work with and communicate She also does personal shopping for home items and saves a lot of time and money. She can also help with general remodel projects, like Kitchens and Bathrooms. Please check her out. I have had nothing but great experience

This customer rated you highly for responsiveness, value, work quality, professionalism, and punctuality.

Alicia S.

I read Sally’s Feng Shui book Back to Balance a long time ago before I moved to Florida so when we moved into a new house on the water and I was searching interior decorators I couldn’t believe she was here in Florida and working with clients in my area! I was so excited to meet her and thrilled to work with her. Within the first few minutes of meeting Sally, I knew she was the one for us! She is professional, fun, insightful, honest and doesn’t make it all about breaking the bank instead she really listens to what you want and like and brings it to life all while making sure she’s within your budget! She’s always making herself available even though I know she is swamped with other clients as well but she always makes me feel like I’m her only concern. She and Bill her husband who is remodeling our kitchen are the most detailed hard-working people we’ve ever had the pleasure of working with and I can’t wait to continue remodeling our home with them because so far the results have been amazing! I would recommend her to anyone and everyone. I’m a Real Estate agent and do not normally refer vendors as sometimes it doesn’t work out but I will recommend Sally confidently and in a heartbeat! I already have a referral in mind for her!

This customer rated you highly for work quality, professionalism, value, responsiveness, and punctuality.

Catherine S.

Sally’s approach to our 6 Condominium Buildings paint project was fabulous. Myself and the Home Owner’s Association Board were very impressed with her knowledge and style.

Abby G.

It is with great pleasure that I write this testimonial for Coastal Design by Sally Fretwell. I am the owner of Rejuvenate Salon and Spas. We are a salon and spa management company specializing in Senior Living. I hired Sally Fretwell, to redesign one of our salon’s in a senior living community in Palm Harbor, FL. Sally provided invaluable guidance in regard to color schemes, furniture selection, painting, lighting, and accessories. The best was when we opened and all of the residents and staff members couldn’t get over the wonderful transformation. They all said that the salon had a serene and calming feel. Rejuvenates mission is to create an experience with every service. It was a pleasure to work with Sally, she Listens to the client, and works hard to understand the needs of the client. She is a great person and very comfortable to work with. I would highly recommend Sally Fretwell to handle your interior decor project!

This customer rated you highly for work quality, responsiveness, punctuality, professionalism, and value.

Donna L.

Sally was very responsive and offered creative ideas at a reasonable price. Great experience!

Sally Fretwell of Interior Coastal Designs, came highly recommended, and that she was! The Gulf Harbors Yacht Club was in dire need of interior renovation and decor updating to improve the ambiance of our Club.  Sally was always timely and in a professional manner, available with great thoughts and ideas which were applied to enhance the Club’s interior decor.  All comments by members have been positive and the overall results greatly appreciated.

Lisa C.

I came across several books by Sally Fretwell about using beautiful color combinations and I loved her warm and vibrant color choices. Sally helped us choose paint colors for our house and they look wonderful. I never would have had the guts to choose such bold colors without Sally telling me they would look great. She was right!

Barbara S.

Sally has an amazing sense of color; we had cabinets already installed (pure white), she worked around the colors for back slash and colors for walls ceiling and did an amazing job. I would highly recommend her for any interior design job.

Rachael B.

I have worked with Sally for 20 years. Every home we have lived him as felt better for her touch. Her knowledge of Feng Shui and her understanding of people is phenomenal! All Feng Shui means when you get down to it, is the ability to take advantage of optimum space planning. The understanding of how to open up a space to provide for maximum living area. In one of Rachael’s homes we added a new front door with glass. We opened the walls to add only a few feet, existing space, but just needing to be used properly. The goal was to create a true defined entrance. The whole house was transformed by this small change. She went from having a dark, tiny, closed in area, where you could barely get into the house with groceries. To an open light filled entrance that feels grand and reflects the architecture of the rest of the home.

Carolyn H.

We started working with Sally nearly 18 years ago. She has an easy, generous personality, professional manner and a great eye for every component of your design project. Her color choices are spot on and take into account room layout, goals, people’s personalities and more.   She’s helped us design rooms from the ground up to simple changes of paint and accessories. Wouldn’t be without her.

John A.

Sally was everything we were looking for. She quickly analyzed our style and found great colors for our house. We were more than happy with what she was able to do in a short amount of time. We definitely recommend her if you are looking for someone to help you with your paint project!

Gladys N.

Sally was wonderful to work with. We have been having an impossible time choosing new interior paint colors. She immediately saw what we were working with and had terrific suggestions. Can’t wait to finish this project. Will call Sally for help in the future and definitely recommend her.
This customer rated you highly for work quality, responsiveness, value, punctuality, and professionalism.

Rennee O.

2/21/19

2cd Review for Additional Work

Sally has a incredible for color. We couldn’t be happier with the colors she suggested for the interior of our house. They look fantastic. If you’re ever struggling to decide on paint colors – call Sally!
This customer rated Sally highly for work quality, professionalism, value, responsiveness, and punctuality.

Riya N.

Sally is an incredible decorator. I was starting my clinic and I hired her to help me out. She understood my vision for my clinic and did a phenomenal job incorporating that into my clinic. Since mine was a start-up business, she was was very aware of the various factors including limited time and budgeted resources. She worked on my clinic very promptly and found me amazing art pieces at great value. I absolutely love the custom paint color that she made for my clinic! Besides that, I admire her punctuality and strong work ethic. She would do incredible even for business owners!! I look forward to working with her in future for my home interior decoration needs as well.

Swetha K.

Interior Design

First met her for the paint consultation in April 2018. I have made the best decision. She has so much experience and knowledge about colors and paints. Not only paints she gave a lot of ideas for decors and decorations around the house. One of the best designers in this area, who will go by the customer’s vision. I told her what I wanted and she arrived with a lot of options. After picking the colors our painter started painting. I had my doubts but she reassured me and it turned out to be very nice and got the output I expected. Even at the short notice, she squeezed me in for the same day appointment, one of the best interior designers with down to earth personality and in the future if I need any design services will get in touch with her.

This customer rated you highly for professionalism, responsiveness, value, punctuality, and work quality.

Kirsten D.

I highly recommend Sally. She has been helping me decorate my new home, and I have been very pleased with her work. She is personable, easy to work with, and always professional. She provided helpful recommendations about paint color and lighting (sizing, style, & color) that were consistent with my taste and budget. Sally guided me to chose beautiful colors for the interior of my home, for which I regularly get compliments.

This customer rated you highly for work quality, professionalism, responsiveness, value, and punctuality.

Karen B.

Sally has the ability to pull many ideas together to come up with a plan for that suits the client while not imposing her tastes. Sally is professional, energetic, personable, and a true color expert!

This customer rated you highly for work quality, professionalism, and responsiveness.

Robert D.

Interior Design

Sally was absolutely amazing from start to finish! I was having trouble picking an exterior paint color for my house and found Sally online based off of her reviews. Right from the start, she was very personable, helpful, and had a great sense of humor. She came out right away for the consult and brought large painted boards to help visualize the colors. She had great input and had suggested what she thought was best (which is what we went with in the end!) within the first few minutes of the consult. She worked with any ideas I had in mind and was very patient/engaged from start to finish. After our consult was finished, I started having doubts and was worried the colors might not be the best fit. She was so understanding and did not hesitate to come back out just to put my mind at ease. We ended up not changing our mind and sticking with the first choice and I am so happy we did! Overall, Sally is incredibly talented and will make you feel like you have known her for years. We cannot thank her enough for all of her help throughout this process and will definitely use her again in the future. Thanks so much again for everything, Sally! (The pictures show the new color is creme/white and the old color was greenish/grey)

This customer rated you highly for work quality, responsiveness, and value.

Annie O.

She helped us narrow down choices and make decisions more quickly and effectively. She was super sweet and has a fantastic eye for style, color and scale.

This customer rated you highly for work quality, responsiveness, and value.

Caroline F.

Interior Design

My best “find” in years!!! We built our home 22 years ago when we had little kids, now we are empty nesters and it was time for a refreshing and updated look. I didn’t know where to turn for guidance. I asked all my friends who they had used and no one was totally happy with their decorator. I turned to the internet and just happened upon Sally through Thumbtack. I can highly recommend her with NO reservations! We love our house and she has worked with what we have and love. She’s brought new life into “tired” areas through paint colors for the walls and some accent pieces of furniture. She guided a 90’s kitchen into a warm but fresh look without changing the cabinets but changing the countertops and light fixtures. Sally is fun to work with and always has ideas. She is very reasonable and WELL worth every penny… she knows all kinds of ways to save money on purchases. Obviously, I can’t say enough wonderful things about Sally!!!

This customer rated you highly for work quality, responsiveness, and value.

Sally can help you with any project!

THROUGH CREATIVE IDEAS AND INNOVATION

WITH OVER 38 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

IN COLOR AND SPACE