Disclaimer, and what we are not

Everything published on bumfuzzledjane.com, and everything said in a consultation, is advice. Specific advice, checked and costed, but still advice that you should test against your own building, your own budget and, where a utility or the structure is involved, a licensed professional in your state.

The short version

• We design and specify. We do not build, install, inspect, certify or permit anything.
• Anything structural, electrical, plumbing, gas or hazardous goes to a licensed trade, and no plan from us overrides that.
• Every dollar figure here other than our own fees is a dated Portland-market estimate.
• We take no commission, affiliate margin or referral fee from anybody.
• Journal articles are general information. They have never seen your house.

Advice, not construction

A consultant works out what should happen in a space, writes it down in a form a trade can build from, and sets the order of operations so money is not spent twice. A consultant does not build it, inspect it, certify it, or take responsibility for the structure holding it up. Those are separate professions with separate licenses and insurance. We are enthusiastic about that division of labor: nobody here is bidding for the construction work, so there is nothing to protect by being vague.

What Jane is, and what Jane is not

Jane Halloway is an interior design consultant, an allied member of ASID and a member of the NKBA, in independent practice since 2014. She is not, and does not hold herself out to be:

• a licensed general contractor (in Oregon, a CCB licensee)
• a registered architect, or a licensed structural, civil or mechanical engineer
• a licensed electrician, plumber, gas fitter or HVAC technician
• a certified lead or asbestos abatement supervisor
• a home inspector, appraiser, land surveyor or real estate agent
• an attorney, an accountant or an insurance adviser

Worth knowing before you hire anyone: “interior designer” is not a protected title in Oregon or most US states, and anybody may use it. Memberships, references and a written scope are how you tell the difference, and the about page covers what each is worth.

Work that must go to a licensed trade

Nothing we produce substitutes for a licensed professional, a stamped drawing or a permit. The following must be designed, carried out and signed off by licensed people regardless of what a plan from us shows:

• Structural. Removing or altering walls, posts, beams, headers, joists or roof framing. Anything described as “opening it up”.
• Electrical. New circuits, panel work, service upgrades, relocated outlets and switches, hardwired fixtures.
• Plumbing. Moving drains, vents and supply lines, and anything touching the stack.
• Gas. Ranges, fireplaces, water heaters and every line that feeds them.
• HVAC. Ducting, returns, combustion air, range hood exhaust routing.
• Lead and asbestos. Pre-1978 paint, floor tile, pipe insulation, textured ceilings. Work disturbing lead paint falls under the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule and must be done by a certified firm.
• Life safety. Egress windows, stairs, guards, handrails, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
• Seismic. Foundation anchoring, cripple wall bracing, and whatever else your jurisdiction requires.

If a plan we wrote shows a wall coming out, read it as this is the wall to investigate, not this wall may be removed. The engineer decides that on site, with the framing exposed.

Permits, codes and inspections

Codes are local and they change. Your city permitting office and the Oregon Residential Specialty Code, or your state equivalent, are the authority for your project. A website is not. We are not the applicant, designer of record or permit holder on any project and we do not submit drawings for approval — your contractor or architect does. Un-permitted work surfaces at sale or at insurance-claim time, so the cheap version rarely stays cheap.

Pricing figures are estimates

Every dollar figure published here, other than our own fees, is an estimate.

• Ranges in the journal reflect what we have seen quoted in the Portland metro area in 2025 and 2026. The same scope in San Francisco or rural Idaho can land 25 to 40 percent either side.
• Construction pricing moves with labor, materials, tariffs and season. A number from eighteen months ago is history, not a quote.
• Estimates assume ordinary conditions. Knob-and-tube wiring, a rotten subfloor or a cast-iron stack behind the drywall all change the figure, and all are found after demolition.

Our own fees are the exception and do not move: $295 for a direction call, from $1,450 for a room plan, from $4,800 for a whole-home concept, from $2,200 a month for advisory, quoted flat before work begins. The list is on the services page and payment terms in the terms of service. Only a licensed contractor who has walked your house can price your job; use our numbers to sanity-check theirs, not to replace them.

Product availability, prices and lead times

Model numbers, finishes, prices and lead times in a schedule are correct on the day it is issued and decay immediately. Furniture gets discontinued, tile runs out and the next batch is a shade off, and a six-week lead time quietly becomes fourteen. Check before ordering, buy ten to fifteen percent more tile than the math says, and confirm dimensions against the room rather than the listing. We do not sell, stock, ship or install anything, and we control no vendor’s stock, pricing or delivery promises.

No affiliate links, no commission

This is the disclosure most design sites bury, so here it is in the open: nobody pays us to recommend anything. No affiliate links, no trade discount resold at retail, no contractor referral fees, no manufacturer specification fees, no showroom arrangements — not in the journal, not in a schedule, not in a conversation. The effect is that pages here are shorter and far less shoppable than they could be. A product appears because it is the right product at the right price, and if the right answer is to keep the sofa you own and buy nothing, that is what a plan will say. The about page explains how payment shapes advice.

External links

We link out to organizations we consider useful, including ASID, the NKBA, the EPA and Energy Star. We do not control those sites, do not endorse everything on them, and receive nothing for the link. Retailer links in a schedule are there so you can find the item, not because anyone paid for placement.

Journal articles are general information

The journal is written for a general reader. It does not know your ceiling height, daylight, climate, budget or how your building was framed. Reading an article about measuring a room is not the same as having someone measure yours. Where an article gives a rule of thumb — light at three heights, ten percent tile overage, thirty-six inches of walkway — treat it as a starting point that a real condition may overrule. Having the rule applied to your room is what a direction call is for.

Photographs and project images

Project photographs on the projects page show real completed work, published with each client’s written permission. They are also shot in good light on a tidy day, as all interiors photography is, and furniture may have moved for the frame. A similar plan in a different house, with windows facing a different direction, will look different. That is normal.

Results vary

Outcomes depend on your budget, your building, your trades, your decisions and your willingness to finish what you started. Testimonials here describe individual experiences, not typical or guaranteed results, and nothing on this site promises a particular cost, timeline, resale value or feeling when you walk through the door. To the fullest extent permitted by law the information here is provided as-is, without warranty of any kind, and liability limits are set out in the terms of service.

How to reach us

If anything here changes whether you want to work with us, ask before you book. Every message reaches Jane Halloway directly, fees are on the services page, data handling is in the privacy policy, and the accessibility statement covers getting any of this in another format.