Some History

​Ian D Laidlow Decorating Services was first established in 1989 by [me] Ian David Laidlow, at age 19, after moving from mid-Kent to mid-Sussex. The mainstay of appointments was Haywards Heath and all surrounding areas, although projects a little further afield were often undertaken; including: Lewes, Brighton, Crawley, and various spots in-between.

After approximately three years, I had built great trust within the community, and a reputation for quality and reliability. That in turn put me in the very comfortable position of regularly having a whole year’s diary full at any one time; this was of course great for the business, but could be disappointing for clients when they were informed it’ll be a long wait.

For a plethora of reasons, perhaps even largely due to having started the business at quite an early age, towards the end of the 90’s there was an overwhelming urge to break-out to pastures new. So in the summer of 2000 trading stopped and I left the UK with a multi-continent flight ticket in hand for what was to be a one year soul-searching expedition; the reality being though, it turned out to be an incredible 14-year adventure!

Despite the weather, I have now repatriated to the UK and am gradually building the business up again, with the added bonus of still being trusted and respected by many locally; clearly the reputation built before will contribute to a bright future.

The focus is still to remain a small & friendly quality decorating firm [predominantly] for private & domestic properties, with no desire to join the mercenary world of cost-driven commercial works.

Things here have changed somewhat in my absence and I’ve no doubt the early years will involve a number of learning curves; this of course is one, who’d have thought when I left [the country] that even a local Decorator would be dependent upon having a website to build his business!?

So should you be currently considering any decorating projects in your home and needing a high-level professional service I’d be delighted if you would contact me for a detailed estimate.

For anybody new to the brand, plenty of long-standing and newly acquired client references are available upon request. In the meantime though, you may wish to view some of the genuine Testimonials on this site.