”If the thought of hiring a pricey interior designer gives you the hives, consider an online design service.”

That’s the suggestion included in a recent Denver Post article headlined: “Online Design a Push in the Right Direction.”

The article, by a nationally-syndicated columnist, extolls the price, pace and budget benefits of a service called designerathome.com.

“You pick a room you want to decorate, answer a short online questionnaire…, and send in room measurements, photos and $250,” columnist Marni Jameson writes. “Two weeks later, you get a design scheme like paint-by-numbers for your room. You take it from there.”

The article describes online design as an affordable alternative to hiring designers.

“Interior designers are bad for my marriage,” Jameson notes. “Mention interior designer, and my husband turns into Steve Martin in ‘Father of the Bride.’ He hyperventilates, then freezes the bank accounts.”

Jameson applauds the “exceptional credentials” of the designerathome.com team, and salutes the service for letting users go at their own pace, for using furniture the users already have, and for saving users money because of its relationship with a leading designer fabric house.

But designerathome.com does have its downside,  she points out. Like the fact that details, headaches and risks are up to the user. Then, too, she adds, the service “doesn’t provide the custom touches that designers…can.”