Becoming a Home Decorating Professional

Home decorating professionals work with clients to beautify their living and working spaces by incorporating style, color and furnishings. They also help their clients make informed decisions about a design project to ensure the outcome meets their specific needs and objectives.

Do you love watching home improvement shows on HGTV and wish you could turn your own house into the perfect retreat? If so, you may be interested in becoming a home decorating professional. Getting started in this career requires a formal education, as well as on-the-job experience with real-life projects and clients. Training programs are available online and at colleges around the country.

An important skill for a home decorating professional to develop is communication skills. This is because home decorators must be able to listen to their clients and translate the client’s vision into a plan that is understandable. It’s also crucial for home decorators to be able to provide a visual of the final outcome to assist their clients in envisioning their projects. Computer aided drafting is an important aspect of the home decorator’s coursework, which helps students learn how to create, modify and optimize designs.

Interior decorators must be able to manage budgets, schedules and work with subcontractors, including painters, floor refinishers and carpenters. They are often responsible for hiring and paying these workers. They also have the responsibility to meet their own profitability goals and ensure a timely completion of the project.

One of the biggest challenges that comes with a home decorating profession is staying current on design trends and materials. It’s not uncommon for home designers to attend trade shows and market seminars to stay informed about new products, services and techniques. Some of these professionals even teach home design classes to help others become more savvy in the industry.

Home staging is a process that many interior decorators specialize in as a way to increase the value of their client’s properties. This can be done by banishing clutter, arranging furniture and accessories in ways that highlight their features and bringing a cohesive look to a room. This branch of home design also encompasses a property’s exterior to help it appeal to prospective buyers.

Whether you want to pursue a career as an interior decorator or home stager depends on your career objectives and skillset. Both branches of this field offer a lucrative income and exciting opportunities to work with people.

It’s important to note that while it is possible to become a home decorating professional without having any formal education, QC Design School encourages you to consider enrolling in an interior designer and/or home staging program to get a full understanding of the industry. A degree is a critical part of building your credibility and ensuring that you can offer your clients all of the home design services they need to transform their living or workspaces into a comfortable place that suits their unique tastes. For example, some of our graduates choose to become certified in both interior design and home staging and find that this combination of credentials offers them greater career options.