SARATOGA SPRINGS — Local business owner Dawn DiLorenzo woke up one day with an epiphany. Three days later, armed with freshly printed business cards, DiLorenzo dove right into the launch of her new home decorating, staging and color consultation business Locust Grove Designs.
“I was doing (design) work for free all the time for my friends and I thought, ‘What am I doing? I could actually make some money with this,’ ” DiLorenzo said of why she chose to start a home design company.
DiLorenzo moved to the area 10 years ago to pursue a job in sales management and earned her bachelor’s degree in management and business from Skidmore College in 2005. After graduation, DiLorenzo met her husband in Saratoga Springs and once the two got married, DiLorenzo decided to pursue her passion for home décor.
“I don’t have a deep background in design other than my two personal historical preservation projects,” DiLorenzo said about how she first got involved with interior decorating.
DiLorenzo worked to renovate a small Victorian house in Saratoga and is currently working on a historic preservation project on a 211-year-old farmhouse in Charlton, where she resides with her husband and two little boys. Although she runs Locust Grove Designs from home, DiLorenzo said she mostly works in Saratoga Springs and tries to stay within Saratoga County for projects that range from staging (sprucing up a house before it’s sold) to color and redesign consultations.
“I’ve mostly been working on redesign projects,” DiLorenzo said. “I think because of the economy, people don’t have the money to go out and buy new furniture or remodel their kitchen. I’d say 90 percent of what I’ve done is going in and working with what they have to create their space within their budget.”
DiLorenzo loves to make clients feel good and uses a creative eye to make what’s old become new again. After a successful first few months, a notice in the Charlton town newsletter about the Return the Favor program caught DiLorenzo’s eye.
“I thought that it seems like a great thing to do to help our servicemen and their families,” DiLorenzo said about signing on with Return the Favor, a program run by the Saratoga County Veteran’s Discount Program that works with local businesses to provide discounts on goods and services to military veterans and their families.
“I feel like I have a gift and I want to help people with it if I can — if I can help someone sell their home and make them a lot of money, that’s something I’d feel good about,” DiLorenzo said of why she chose to partner with Return the Favor. The partnership allows veterans a 20 percent discount on all of Locust Grove Designs’ consultation and design services Continued...
Source http://saratogian.com
No comments:
Post a Comment