Why surprising? There's a few million of us in and around Philly! It's not like the city's some kind of style-less wasteland, even if NYC *is* next door.

Why in the world would I hire an interior designer - particularly one with such a narrow focus - who didn't provide any examples of their work outside of "testimonials?"

"hey, do our job for us! For barely any money!"

Iroh - Take a look at craigslist some time; NYC real estate prices are many multiples of what the same square footage would cost anywhere else in the country. As for liveability, it's all relative;...

"Although plants improve air quality, they compete with you at night for oxygen." Um... plants should never be using oxygen, only outputting it as waste from eating up your waste CO2. ...

Hmmm... you can cheat, though, and get a good-enough approximation. A rug can obscure most of a power cable, which you can then run up a leg - against the side least seen, most likely....