What To Look For In A Home Decorator
When it is time to hire a decorator for your home, there are certain qualities that you want to look for. There’s nothing worse than hiring a home decorator who has an outstanding resume, but doesn’t do any better than you would when it comes to making your home décor look attractive.
You can begin by asking your family and friends for a reference, as someone may know a home decorator personally and can give an excellent reference. If this is not an option, do some research online or in the yellow pages to check out the various home decorators in your local area.
If you are not fortunate enough to have a good selection of local home decorators, you can always look into hiring an online home decorator. Should you go the online route, there are certain things that you should check out before hiring anyone. Here are several:
Adequate contact information. Does the potential home decorator have a physical location and a phone number? If not, it’s probably a good idea to stay away from them. If a home decorator only wants to contact you via email, he or she could be a scam artist. Professionals will have a phone number and at the very least a mailing address on their website.
Referrals. Most professional online home decorators will have photos online of their work. Ask them for referrals and actually make several calls to find out if the home decorator is worth the money. Be sure to ask all sorts of questions regarding the job completed and whether they were satisfied with the work. It’s alright to ask the tough questions; you want your money to be going to good use, so the more questions, the better.
Stay within your budget. Before you even contact a home decorator, have a budget in mind that you are willing to work with. Some decorators will do their best to get you to go above your budget and get you all hyped up about how amazing the home will look. Don’t fall for it. Your home can still look great at your budget and you won’t have to stress about money if you stand firm.
Have quotes in writing. Once you have chosen your decorator, get any quotes in writing. This is important in case any issue comes up along the way regarding price or details.
Do not pay until the job is complete. You may have to pay a deposit, but do not pay the entire amount upfront. Many people have run into problems when they paid for everything upfront, such as the decorator not finishing the project as planned, not showing up at all, or decorating completely different than what was discussed. Professional decorators who are confident in their work should be fine with waiting until the project is finished before collecting payment.
With the wonderful world of Skype, you can talk to home decorators face to face via the computer. This is great for initial consults and any questions later in the process. When hiring anyone, be sure to check them out on the Better Business Bureau website and don’t be afraid to do a Google search to see if there are any reviews on their work. The more research you do up front, the better your experience should be. Have fun with your home decorating project!
Photo: Pexels
