Matlock decorator wins industry award after helping Bakewell family hit by cowboy builder

Nicola Lewis, who set up Mrs Lewis’ Decorating Company in 2017, took the award for ‘adding colour to people’s lives’ at the Dulux Select Decorator gala dinner in Coventry last month.

She said: “Being able to offer my decorating skills and my time to someone in need and to make a difference in their lives is a wonderful feeling and to receive this award is a real honour.

“After a challenging year for everyone it was wonderful to be able to look back on 2021 and feel proud of the work I had done.”

Judges were particularly impressed with Nicola’s kindness and commitment to offering her services, free of charge, to help a Bakewell family with an autistic son as they struggled with the costs of remedying unsafe building work.

She said: “There was water leaking everywhere and the electrics were dangerous. I’d decorated other parts of their house but I could tell they’d had to put their own bedroom to the bottom of the list. It tugged on my heartstrings.”

Nicola called in favours from the Dulux Decorator Centre in Chesterfield and Graham & Brown wallpaper manufacturers in Blackburn who kindly donated materials for the project worth around £700, and then gave up a week to complete the job.

She said: “The family were overwhelmed and really grateful. To be able to do something like that to help them is worth far more to me than money.”

Dulux Select is a training and quality assurance programme which produces some of the UK’s best decorating professionals.

It is the second time mum-of-two Nicola has picked up one of its awards, after winning a wallpaper design challenge in 2019.

Vickie Mather, who leads the scheme, said: “I was honoured to present this award to deserving winner Nicola. Her work on this project has really helped change someone’s life for the better.”

“The past year has been challenging for the trade, so to see someone like Nicola still going the extra mile to help people in her community is really wonderful and a cause for celebration.”

For more information on Nicola’s services, see www.mrslewisdecorating.co.uk.