Ann Anderson

Too stressed out from shopping, baking and all the other preparations that go into hosting family and friends during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, a growing number of people have turned to professional designers and decorators to help them beautify their homes for the season.

Some decorators in Connecticut are eager to lend a helping hand to those who don’t have the time, or desire, to deck the halls. Several have been offering special holiday decorating services for a few years, while others are realizing this can be a lucrative market to tap into as more and more time-pressed homeowners are willing to pay hundreds of dollars so someone else can take care of details like trimming a Christmas tree.

Many will do everything from adorning fireplace mantles with fresh greens, to designing festive centerpieces, to stringing glittering lights on outdoor trees and bushes.

Terry Scarborough, who is the president of the Connecticut chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers, said holiday decorating services are becoming more popular.

“I’ve had a couple of people say to me that the holidays are too busy and that they don’t have the time or energy to do [their decorating] themselves,” said Scarborough.

Scarborough, a designer at Kitchens by Deane in New Canaan, has not done any professional holiday decorating for clients. But this year, two of her colleagues volunteered to decorate her home for a big holiday bash that she has been hosting annually for family and friends for about 10 years.

Since Scarborough’s father died about a month ago, she didn’t feel like she had the energy to decorate this year. But Scarborough’s two colleagues decided to help her out. Using garland and ribbons as well as decorations that Scarborough had acquired throughout the years, they decorated her entire house one Sunday afternoon.

During the holiday party, as Scarborough praised her colleagues for their work, another partygoer inquired about whether he could hire someone to decorate his home for Christmas, said Scarborough. “People are definitely talking about it more and doing it more,” she said.

‘Quite Fabulous’

Lisa J. Skelley, an interior redesigner in Avon, has been offering holiday decorating services for five years and had 25 clients this year that sought out her assistance.

Some of the holiday decorating projects she undertakes are quite simple, taking only a few hours to complete, while other jobs are far more intricate and sophisticated, taking three to four days to finish.

Focusing on the home’s interior, Skelley uses decorations that clients have accumulated throughout the years and also purchases any additional accessories that are needed.

As part of her designs, Skelley often mixes fresh and artificial greens. “People are a little apprehensive about artificial trees and greens, but really they’re quite fabulous right now and they’re getting better all the time,” said Skelley, owner of LJS Interior Redesigns.

Skelley, who charges an hourly rate of $95, said the only thing she can’t do is deliver fresh Christmas trees because she doesn’t have the tools or manpower to transport them.

Ann Anderson, owner of Rooms Reborn in Monroe, said she doesn’t get a lot of customer requests for seasonal help. But people who do contact her for decorating services during the holidays typically have been collecting various ornaments and trinkets throughout the years and have an idea of what they want their home to look like. Generally, Anderson tries to involve homeowners in the decorating process.

“What I do is I help them create a vision,” said Anderson, who charges either an hourly rate or a daily decorating rate of $600.

Recently, Anderson helped a client in Easton who had moved into a new home. The client owned decorations from a previous home and had bought a few new accessories.

“She said, ‘I want this winter wonderland but I don’t know how to do this,'” Anderson said.

While most designers want to be contacted in November or earlier for holiday decorating, some said they get clients calling as late as the first week of December.

Anderson said because the month of December tends to be a slower period for her redesign business she can often accommodate clients who call at the last minute.

A designer since 1984, Carol Bastien worked on a major holiday decorating project about three years ago. Bastien, of Carol Bastien Interiors in New Canaan, took about six hours to decorate a large home in New Canaan that had multiple fireplace mantles, a big foyer with a table and Christmas tree, and bookcases.

“It was a great pleasure,” said Bastien, who is part of Design Six, a Stamford-based group of six independent designers. “I’m Jewish so I don’t decorate my own home for the holidays so it was a great vicarious event for me to play with all the holiday embellishments.”

Since then, Bastien said she hasn’t gotten much business for holiday decorating services, but she also hasn’t aggressively advertised the service.

Barbara Chavez, who started her Shelton business Style by Design this year, said she is offering the holiday decorating services because there’s a need for it.

“People don’t have time but they want their homes to look nice,” she said “Some people don’t like to decorate and some people don’t have an eye for it.”

That type of service can be particularly helpful for new mothers or people whose jobs keep them away from home for long periods of time, she said

During the holidays, many people feel pressured and rushed, she said. “It [decorating services] helps take some of the stress off,” she said.