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The demand for interior decorating work is stable, but there are not enough interior decorators trained. Studying a two-semester interior decorating course at a local community college can help you find a job with an hourly salary of $20 and eventually an hourly salary of up to $70.
“At least every other week I get a call from a company saying that they are looking for someone to hire,” said Kathleen Smith, special program coordinator at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, Texas. “They are calling from all over the United States, not just Texas.”
She listened to the opinions of various employers, far beyond the traditional furniture and upholstery shop. The medical supply company called for someone to decorate the examination table. The auto repair shop called someone to repair the seat.
The bosses of furniture and decorating companies across the country said that their customers need to wait for months or even years to complete their work because they do not have enough well-trained professional interior decorators.
We talked with business people in the field. This is their advice on how to learn upholstery and meet lucrative unmet needs.
“I will start making sofas next week, and the owner has been waiting for two years,” John said
Levey owns Zim’s Catalina upholstery business on Catalina Island, California. He is ready to hire a qualified employee on the spot for $30 an hour.
Chris Scirica, co-owner of Caribe Interiors Upholstery & Furniture Refinishing in St. Petersburg, Florida, said: “I have too many jobs and I don’t know how to deal with it. The reason for the high demand is that there are few such good people. I can’t even find them. Teach others.”
How to learn to redecorate
For people who want to use interior decoration as a professional or part-time job, there are multiple resources—virtual and face-to-face.
Take courses at a technical school or community college
Schools across the country are teaching students how to redecorate at different levels. Some are more suitable for “weekend warriors” who want to retrieve the restaurant chairs they found in garage auctions, or even stab the skirted sofas. Others provide continuing education certificates and teach certificates that can be used in the existing interior decoration business or start their own skills.
Smith said that, for example, when students complete a year of study at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, they are ready to work in the interior decoration industry.
Here is how the program works:
Tarrant’s first semester covers the basics of interior decoration, while the second semester covers intermediate interior decoration. Each requires 96 hours of instruction. The summer course teaches car and ship interiors in 108 hours. The course is twice a week, from 9 am to 12 pm or 6 pm to 9 pm. The course fee is $300 per semester, and many students are eligible for financial aid. Upon completion, students will receive a certificate certifying that they are qualified to work in the decoration industry.
Please consult your local technical school or community college to find out what types of courses are available.
The National Interior Decoration Association also has table of Contents Courses taught by interior decorating masters and other professionals.
Take an online interior decorating course
During the year of 1996, Kim Chagnon participated in interior decoration courses twice a week. She started doing interior decorating for friends and family as a part-time job, and then became her full-time job.After establishing a thriving business in Greenfield, Massachusetts.In 2010, she began to publish YouTube tutorials to share her knowledge for audiences who want to pursue interior decoration. Since then, she and her husband Bill have published more than 200 posts, have 75,000 subscribers and more than 8 million views.
Their business, Kim’s Upholstery, now offers courses through their courses website Through more in-depth training. For US$25 per month or US$240 per year, students have unlimited access to training videos available 24/7. Subscribers talk to each other regularly to help each other, and Chagnon is also easy to approach.
Subscribers can learn the re-decoration of all types of furniture, including chaise longues, trough-back chairs, skirt sofas, any type of cushions, tufted footstools, Queen Anne chairs, curved headboards, and more. Chagnon also taught sliding sleeves for roll-arm double seats, replacing zigzag bending springs, matching patterned fabrics and measuring fabric yardage.
Kim’s Upholstery also offers face-to-face three-day Workshop For those who want to learn interior decoration in a project, it only costs $600. Two of Pennsylvania and Colorado are coming soon.
Pursuing an interior decorating apprentice
Many interior decorators have learned their skills in the family business.
Because the demand for trained employees is so high, Smith said she has talked with employers who will take someone in as an apprentice and pay them as they improve their skills.
“If they can find someone who knows at least half of what they are doing and they can use commercial and industrial sewing machines, they will be interested,” she said.
Scirica of Caribe Interiors said: “I learned all the aspects needed to complete the job.” His father, a master craftsman from Sicily, Italy, passed on his wealth of knowledge to Scirica and his brothers. Scirica believes that many local community college courses are more suitable for do-it-yourself applications that don’t need to learn complex interior decorating skills.
“They don’t teach how to make diamond tufts or horsehair stuff,” he said. “The best way to enter such a business is to find individuals and apprentices.”
How to start an interior decoration business
No matter how you learn interior decorating skills, if you want to start your own business, you will need to invest approximately US$1,500 to US$2,000 in equipment.
According to Smith, the average cost of a good industrial sewing machine is $1,500. A box of basic upholstery tools is another $500.
Chagnon gave a strong evaluation LS-1 basic walking pedal sewing machine, The price is 795 US dollars. It comes with a 3-hour video to teach users everything they need to know about the machine.
Once you prove yourself to friends and family, start building the network. Contact antique dealers, antique shop owners, and real estate sales managers who can issue your card when selling a piece of furniture that needs repair. Real estate agents also met many people who wanted to beautify their houses and rearrange their furniture. Of course, you can also contact an interior designer.
Profitability is uneven. Although the demand for upholstery work is stable, Scirica says his business is far from a cash cow.
“This is a labor of love,” he said. For example, an upholsterer might work on a high-back wing chair for 10 hours and charge a customer $700. Relying on that chair to earn $70 an hour must also pay for electricity, insurance, and rent for the work space.
Smith said that there will definitely be more profit margins for doing business in your own home.
Myles Denny is the owner of Diversified Upholstery Service in Knoxville, Tennessee, and he is engaged in the lucrative business of providing repairs and upholstery to warranty companies covering furniture. He is a one-person shop and often goes to customers’ homes to repair furniture.
“I charge $90 for a service call and $70 per hour thereafter,” Danny said, explaining that the warranty company paid him, not the furniture owner. “I’ve always liked working with my hands. I’m doing very well on this.”
Katherine Snow Smith is a contributing writer for The Penny Hoarder.
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