You can hire someone to decorate your house for Christmas, and our studio in Northwest Raleigh does that work. The calendar fills earlier than people tend to guess. Most of our clients reach out somewhere between spring and late August. Our Christmas décor page says that "by mid-October we’re typically full."
Find this later in the fall and the same page has a line written for you: "If you’re reading this in November, still get in touch. We may have availability depending on project size." So tell us up front how much of the house you have in mind. A front door and a mantel is a smaller thing to fit in than the porch, the staircase, the mantel and the dining table all at once. Say which spaces matter most to you and which you could live without this year.
The work starts with a wreath on the front door and runs from there to garland down the staircase, the mantel and the table for holiday dinners, then out to the porch, the entryway and the yard. If it's mainly the outside you want done, that last stretch is the part to ask for. We design it for your rooms, build it in our studio, bring it out and set it up, and come back to take it down when you're ready. Among Christmas decorators in Raleigh, NC, ours is a florist's take on the job, with fresh-cut material and a color palette worked out for your house. We don't do exterior roofline lighting. A lit archway, a wreath with integrated lights or illuminated garland on a porch, we'll handle.
What to have ready before you pick up the phone
The consultation form asks for the property type (residential, commercial, office or other), the spaces you want decorated, a budget and any notes. Budget is one of the required fields, so settle on a range before you sit down with the form. We quote every project on its own, with no packages to pick from, and a range lets the first conversation get specific fast. That's how we answer what a Christmas decorating service costs. The number depends on your house, and we give it once we understand the space.
Then get out the tape measure. The page's own example is a six-foot mantel next to a twelve-foot one, which need different approaches, and it points out that a wrought-iron railing and a wood banister each get garland built for them. Measure across the mantel and along the stair rail and write the numbers in the notes. The first call goes further with them.
Photos help most. Stand in the front hall and photograph the view to the stairs. The mantel is best shot straight on. For the front door, walk back to the end of the path and take it from there. Send whatever you have been saving, too. Pinterest boards and magazine pages both count, and so does the neighbor's house you slow down for every December. The page asks for these because they help us understand your vision "before we ever step through the door."
If you picture anything artificial, say a large statement piece or an archway, mention it in your first message, because the page says artificial materials "need to be pre-ordered well in advance." And if you have no picture in mind at all, that's fine. Some clients arrive with a board full of ideas, and others just say “I want my house to feel like Christmas” and let us take it from there.
How a project runs, from the first call to the takedown
The whole process is laid out on our Christmas décor page. You send the form and we get on the phone to talk through what you want. Larger projects, and anything that needs precise measurements, get an in-home visit, where we walk the space with you, measure, and talk through materials and color palettes. A custom quote with no surprises follows.
Once you approve it, we source the materials, build everything in our studio and schedule your installation. On the day, each piece goes where it belongs, and we step back with you to make sure it's right. When the season is over and you're ready, we come back, take it all down carefully and leave the space the way it was.
Offices, lobbies and restaurants go through the same steps. An office manager can use the consultation form and pick Office or Commercial. We cover Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Durham, Chapel Hill and the surrounding Triangle, and if you'd like to see past work before you call, it's in our gallery.
A wreath in her children's own colors
The best brief a client can hand us is a clear sense of color. Pamela Avaltroni sends her children a wreath every year, and she put it in one sentence on our reviews page:
Each year I like to send my children a fresh wreath with their special holiday colors and the words, "Let the Holidays begin"....this year's wreath created by you exceeded my daughter and my expectations
Look at what she gave us to work with. Her children have holiday colors of their own, and she knew them. She also had the words she wanted to go with it. A whole house works the same way. The design starts from something true about the family.
So before you call, look at what comes out of the attic every year, the ornaments and the stockings, and notice which colors your house keeps going back to. It might be deep red and brass, or something only your family would recognize. Tell us on the phone. Color palettes come up at the in-home visit anyway, and a starting point makes that talk shorter.
When the calendar is full for your dates
Some years the full installation won't fit the dates you want. An arrangement is a different kind of order, placed from our Christmas flowers. It's made when you order, and you get a photo of it before one of our drivers takes it out. Enter your ZIP for the current delivery charge.
Sundays are not a delivery day, so plan a holiday table piece for a Saturday or a Monday. If it's going to someone else, the card holds up to 300 characters in your own words. Sign your name, since the card prints only what you write.
As the décor page puts it, "The earlier you reach out, the more flexibility we have with scheduling." If you already know you want the house done, send the consultation form from the Christmas décor page with your photos and measurements, and put your budget range in the box for it.
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