He is right. You'll never reach a consensus by consulting everyone.
On the other hand, if you wish to have a more "open" process, consider establishing a "renovation committee" with a board member as the head.

Thank you, vp, for your insight. I'll suggest it to the Board! Incidentally, we agreed with him too, but I don't think we should do it without the shareholders having any input at all. Maybe after we have made preliminary choices, bring them into it....

I see the designers point; a committee will most likely never get done. If you want a committee with residents and one board member, I'd advise that the board member be in charge and is a very strong leader with a great follow-through skills. The person that is least liked, if you will, a business person, an architect, engineer or a project leader would probably be most likely to actually get a committee to agree on something. I've seen buildings argue about hallway colors for over a decade, despite already paying the designers 2/3 of their full fees.

Just to clarify: The committee's only purpose is to make recommendations to the board, which will have the final say (a vote).
I suggest you set some parameters before moving forward, and only allow the committee to work within those guidelines. Things can easily turn into a time consuming circus.

I like in a coop and the hall was renovated and it cost almost 2 million. The job was cheap; no receipts were shown. Be transparent to the shareholders; you owe a fiduciary duty to them. Make sure nobody on the board is getting any benefit from this contractor. Please check COOPABUSE. COM to see all the corruptions in coop. Or email me at ROSA,NAZAR@GMAIL.COM. We are working together to protect the coop home.

Thank you, Rosa! Our concern about our fiduciary duty and transparency are why I wrote, and I appreciate your note. We got the name of this contractor from our management company (as well as other names) and have checked him out. Our budget is far lower than that - I think we'll be fine in that regard. Thank you again.

why not do this: narrow it down to 2 versions and post those in the lobby (carpet sample, paint swatch, wallpaper sample, photo of couch) and let people vote on ONLY those 2.

fgh - Thank you for your suggestion also! This Board Talk has been helpful, and I appreciate everyone's input!

We learned the hard way and Transparacy is a must! A small committee, one Board member and two Shareholders who are very well known interior designers came up with two choices and the Shareholders voted. Even those who did not like the final choice, agreed that this was fair.
HOWEVER -- years ago two Board members redesigned the halls -- to their personal taste. The horrible black doors that cant be maintained (one Board member wanted an artistic look) suck up the light in the halls, and the pink wall paper make the halls look like a cheap bordello -- we also learned that one of the Board members used the left over wall-paper for the bed rooms in her country house.
Our last "decorating commettee" was two board members who installed cheap linoleum in our wood planeled elevator -- looked cheap and within three months had to be replaced. -- So, being a Board member does NOT make you a designer or a person with good taste.