Housewife and House Hubs Decoraters

Housewife decor as seen in The New York Times

House hubs home decor as seen in The New York Times

A classic by Dorothy Draper, still very useful and inspiring HERE

A collage from Rate My Space on line site for home decoraters

As long as I can remember housewives have been a cottage industry in home decorating and interior design. Visions of a decorating den mom on the run in a station wagon filled with kids, bolts of fabric, and odd lamps and accent furniture have always been endearing. Now it's SUVs of course, and very savvy shoppers and visual vamps. The girls were always trying to crack the "to the trade only" code, and always managed to do so. Somebody always had, and shared the "I can get it for your wholesale" source. Sometimes one of these moms actually got someone to pay her for doing a decorating job, and sometimes a real business grew out of this.
Dorothy Draper wrote "Decorating is Fun" in 1939. Reissued in the past couple of years, it still gives moms and wannabe pros alike good solid information HERE.
HGTV's on line Rate My Space HERE has alot of hideous rooms, but they have far more good ones that get actual editorial space on the HGTV web site, and will also be featured soon on the Rate My Space TV HERE show starting on June 15, also HERE
The New York Times has a current cute article about home decorators HERE
Of course getting things "to the trade only" is cool, but with so many regular retail sources at so many great price points out there, one hardly needs to bother.
And I love all the home decoraters, past and present. They have given the "trade" a huge shot of energy. Professionals will always be needed, so no need to worry.