Advice

Before you book a decorator: 7 questions to ask

What to ask so you know what you're paying for.

Written by

Tom Hartley

A decorator and a homeowner talking over colour cards at a kitchen table

Ask how they prepare surfaces, how many coats, what paint they use, how they protect your home, who will be on site, whether the quote is fixed, and what the guarantee covers. A good decorator will be happy to answer all of them.

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Advice

Before you book a decorator: 7 questions to ask

Fresh paint every week on Instagram @dustsheet.decorators

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  • A tall Georgian drawing room in soft grey-green with a marble fireplace, a decorator cutting in by the skirting
  • A family kitchen with hand-painted deep green cabinets, brass handles and warm white walls
  • The same hallway after: plaster pink above the dado rail, off-black below, crisp white spindles
  • A Bath stone Georgian front door painted deep grey-green, with a fanlight and black iron railings
  • A café interior with terracotta walls, a forest green counter and bentwood chairs
  • The bedroom after: a botanical fern wallpaper behind the bed, soft grey-green walls either side
  • A 17th-century cottage room in warm ochre limewash with dark oak beams, a decorator at work
  • A Victorian bay-fronted Bath stone house with a mustard-yellow front door and grey-white bay

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