Et Sal Interiors

Et Sal Interiors Los Angeles based holistic interior design firm crafting spaces where old world character meets livable luxury.

Let’s pull back the curtain a little because design fees can feel unnecessarily mysterious.As a general planning tool, f...
09/09/2026

Let’s pull back the curtain a little because design fees can feel unnecessarily mysterious.

As a general planning tool, full service interior design fees often land somewhere around 15–25% of the overall project investment. Sometimes less, sometimes more. The size, scope and complexity of the project matter.
So when we say “it depends” or we won’t know until we proceed with a paid consultation that isn’t a cop out. No two projects are exactly alike in their needs.

At Et Sal, we use two different fee structures within the same project. The design phase is a flat fee and once we move into implementation, our time is billed hourly against a time bank.

We structure ours the way we do because I want the actual design clearly defined from the beginning and after years of doing this I know what our team does to ensure the plan. The actual build or remodel part of the job is the unpredictable part of bringing it to life. The fee structure reflects the amount of work it actually requires.

And because I believe in radical honesty, I think real numbers are helpful. If you’re planning a $1M project and hoping your design fees will be $30,000, we’re not the right studio for you. I’d much rather you know that before you ever fill out our inquiry form.

Some projects will fall below that 15–25% range and some will absolutely fall above it. But if you’re sitting at home trying to figure out what you should realistically set aside to hire a full service interior design studio, it’s a pretty good place to start.

There. One less mysterious thing about hiring an interior designer.



Interior Architecture and Design: Et Sal Interiors-Sophia DeDomenico

Contractor: BUILD D3

Photography: Charlotte Lea Bailey

Photo Stylist: LE MO

Even the bathroom gets to have a moment.One of my favorite little corners at THE LOFT AESTHETICS Ventura Botox • Facials...
09/04/2026

Even the bathroom gets to have a moment.

One of my favorite little corners at THE LOFT AESTHETICS Ventura Botox • Facials | The Loft in Ventura. Dark, a little moody, a little glamorous and probably more dressed up than I’ll be all Labor Day weekend. A slice of NYC refinement set in this coastal Cali beach town.

Hope everyone gets out of the house, stays out a little too late and enjoys the long weekend.

See you Tuesday!



Interior architecture and design: Et Sal Interiors-Sophia DeDomenico

Contractor: Warren Bonney

Photography: Charlotte Lea Bailey

Photo stylist: LE MO

We ask a lot of questions at Et Sal. And honestly, very few of them have anything to do with what you think your “design...
09/03/2026

We ask a lot of questions at Et Sal. And honestly, very few of them have anything to do with what you think your “design style” is.

We want to know how you drink your coffee in the morning. What your house looks like at 7:00 on a Thursday night and 7:40 on a Monday morning. Your favorite vacation and why you loved it so much. Where the ugly stuff goes. Which seat everyone fights over. What I would learn about you if I followed you around your house for a day.

Those things tell us so much more.

We want to know how your family actually lives before we start designing how your home should look. What makes you crazy about your house now. What you’re sentimental about. How you entertain. Where everyone ends up at the end of the day. The things you love that maybe don’t make any sense together yet.

I think this is probably the biggest difference in how we approach design at Et Sal. We’re not coming in with a look and applying it to your house. Of course we have a point of view (can you say moody neutral) but I don’t want you to walk into your finished home and think, “this looks like Et Sal.”

I want you to think, this feels like us. And somewhere in all of our zany questions lies your home. It’s our job to find it.



Photography: Charlotte Lea Bailey

Photo stylist: LE MO

You do not need to know your design style before you hire a designer.In fact, I almost prefer that you don’t.Show me the...
08/31/2026

You do not need to know your design style before you hire a designer.

In fact, I almost prefer that you don’t.

Show me the hotel you still think about. The chair you’ve had saved for three years. Your grandmother’s dining table that you refuse to get rid of. Tell me what you hate, what you love, how you actually live and what you want your house to feel like.

And then bring your spouse into the conversation.

Because you might be showing me a moody English kitchen while they’re showing me a glass house in Palm Springs. Neither of you is wrong. Part of my job is figuring out what the two of you are responding to and finding the common thread between it all.

More than one couple we’ve worked with has jokingly called our discovery phase therapy. And honestly, they’re not entirely wrong. We ask a lot of questions. Sometimes you find out your spouse has very strong feelings about something you didn’t even know they noticed.

That tells me far more than “I think we’re organic modern.”

My job is to take all of those opinions, contradictions, things you’ve saved and things you can’t quite articulate and turn them into a home that feels like both of you.

You don’t need the vocabulary.

You just need opinions. We’ll figure out the rest.



Interior Architecture and Design: Et Sal Interiors-Sophia DeDomenico

Construction: BUILD D3

Photography: Charlotte Lea Bailey

Photostylist: LE MO

I’d work that into the middle because it makes the post much more real. It’s not just about figuring out your style. It’...
08/31/2026

I’d work that into the middle because it makes the post much more real. It’s not just about figuring out your style. It’s often figuring out how two people’s tastes and priorities become one home.

You do not need to know your design style before you hire a designer.

In fact, I almost prefer that you don’t.

Show me the hotel you still think about. The chair you’ve had saved for three years. Your grandmother’s dining table that you refuse to get rid of. Tell me what you hate, what you love, how you actually live and what you want your house to feel like.

And then bring your spouse into the conversation.

Because you might be showing me a moody English kitchen while they’re showing me a glass house in Palm Springs. Neither of you is wrong. Part of my job is figuring out what the two of you are responding to and finding the common thread between it all.

More than one couple we’ve worked with has jokingly called our discovery phase therapy. And honestly, they’re not entirely wrong. We ask a lot of questions. Sometimes you find out your spouse has very strong feelings about something you didn’t even know they noticed.

That tells me far more than “I think we’re organic modern.”

My job is to take all of those opinions, contradictions, things you’ve saved and things you can’t quite articulate and turn them into a home that feels like both of you.

You don’t need the vocabulary.

You just need opinions. We’ll figure out the rest.



Interior Architecture and Design: Et Sal Interiors-Sophia DeDomenico

Construction: BUILD D3

Photography: Charlotte Lea Bailey

Photo Stylist: LE MO

Slide one is what you see.Slide two and three are some of the decision it took to get there.A kitchen is never just cabi...
08/28/2026

Slide one is what you see.

Slide two and three are some of the decision it took to get there.

A kitchen is never just cabinetry, countertops and hardware. There are dozens of decisions behind every finished room. Some are aesthetic. Many are technical. Most are things you will never notice if they are done right.

It’s not enough to rely on just picking the aesthetic. Even a “pretty” tile requires decisions well before demo starts: where the layout begins, how the pattern runs, how it aligns with cabinetry and adjacent materials, what happens at corners and openings, how much tile is needed, where cuts will fall, what the grout width and color should be, how the tile meets the floor or countertop, and how the edges will be finished.

Those decisions affect the framing, substrate, electrical locations, plumbing, cabinetry dimensions and installation sequence. They cannot always be solved once the tile is already being installed.

And this is before the furniture and decor gets thrown into the mix.

That is the job.

And I’ll say the quiet part out loud: if your “designer” isn’t drawing and specifying these details from the beginning, they aren’t fully designing the room. They’re leaving you and the contractor to make important decisions on the fly, which is stressful, expensive and often results in details that feel rushed, inconsistent or simply unresolved.

Choosing finishes without resolving how they work together is not the same as designing the space. It can set the project up for failure before those gorgeous pieces ever arrive.

Design happens long before the finished picture.



Interior Architecture and Design: Et Sal Interiors-Sophia DeDomenico

Construction: BUILD D3

Photography: Charlotte Lea Bailey

Photo stylist: LE MO

One thing I’m always thinking about when I design a room is what’s happening outside of it.What do you see through the d...
08/27/2026

One thing I’m always thinking about when I design a room is what’s happening outside of it.

What do you see through the doorway? What catches your eye at the end of the hall? Can you see two light fixtures at the same time and do they actually work together? Does the flooring transition make sense? Does the next room feel connected without feeling like we copied and pasted it?

We don’t experience our homes standing still in the middle of one room. We’re constantly moving through them and seeing one space from another.

So I always consider the peripheral.

It’s one of those little things you may never notice when it’s right, but you definitely feel when it’s wrong.



Interior architecture and design: Et Sal Interiors-Sophia DeDomenico

Construction: BUILD D3

Photography: Charlotte Lea Bailey

Photo Stylist: LE MO

There are a thousand decisions between “I know what I like” and a finished home.Most of our clients have great taste. Th...
08/24/2026

There are a thousand decisions between “I know what I like” and a finished home.

Most of our clients have great taste. They know what they’re drawn to. They could probably spend the hours finding the sofa, comparing stone, figuring out the right rug size, questioning the paint color, tracking down the light fixture and making sure all of it actually works together.

But they don’t want to.

And honestly, that’s kind of the point of hiring us.

You get to have opinions about the things you care about. We take care of the other 997 decisions.

And it isn’t just homes. Mane & Co Salon hired us for exactly this reason. They knew how they wanted their studio to feel. Our job was to take that vision and work through every decision required to actually make it happen.

You don’t hire a designer because you can’t design your home. You hire one because you don’t want designing your home to become your second job.

Salon: Mane & Co Salon

Interior Architecture and Design: Et Sal Interiors-Sophia DeDomenico

Construction: Warren Bonney

Photography: Charlotte Lea Bailey

Photo Stylist: LE MO

I want your house to feel like the exhale at the end of a really long day.Not precious. Not perfectly styled. Not a coll...
08/21/2026

I want your house to feel like the exhale at the end of a really long day.

Not precious. Not perfectly styled. Not a collection of things you were told you should buy.

Beautiful, yes. But comfortable enough for bare feet, kids on the sofa, friends staying too late and actual life happening in it.

That’s luxury to me.

Interior architecture and design: Et Sal Interiors-Sophia DeDomenico
Photography: Charlotte Lea Bailey
Photo stylist: LE MO

A few things designers know that no one really wants to say out loud.Bigger does not automatically mean better. New does...
08/19/2026

A few things designers know that no one really wants to say out loud.

Bigger does not automatically mean better. New does not automatically mean improved. Expensive rooms are, unfortunately, usually expensive. And someone whose job is to sell you furniture may not be the person who tells you that your room does not need another piece of furniture.

There is so much design advice telling you what your house should have. A giant island. An enormous bathroom. An open floor plan. Whatever we have collectively decided is “timeless” this year.

I’m much more interested in whether any of it actually makes sense for your house.

Sometimes good design is adding something. Sometimes it is spending more than you expected. And sometimes it is having someone tell you, actually, no. Don’t do that.

Which one did I say a little too loud?

Photography: Charlotte Lea Bailey

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Thousand Oaks, CA

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