Setting up a professional looking portfolio is essential to impressing and obtaining clients as they need to see what type of work you are capable of doing. This is where all the work on your own home and the homes of your friends and family will pay off.

Portfolios can be set up using photo albums or the spiral-bound portfolios found in art or office supply stores. They should be in book form, rather than loose pages.

You should be very creative with your portfolio as it’s your personal “calling card”. It should reflect your talents. For a unique touch you could hand paint or faux finish the background pages and then mount your pictures overtop. Let your imagination run wild. However, don’t lose site of the professional image that you are trying to convey.

If you find that you are lacking in amount of photos available for your portfolio, you could use pictures taken from magazines. However, you need to ensure that you really are able to do the design from the magazine to avoid problems at the end of the job so make sure you practice the finish on foam core boards first.

You can also set up your portfolio online. A great web site to do this is at Picturetrail.com. You can have up to ten albums divided up into categories. You could sort them by types such as: faux finishing, murals, borders, stenciling, One Stroke painting, etc. Another option is to sort the albums by rooms you’ve done such as bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, dens, bathrooms, etc.

Include your Picturetrail web address on your business cards as well as on all your advertising and you have an online portfolio that can be viewed by anyone 24/7 with Internet access.


Setting up a professional portfolio, whether physical or online, will be your calling card so make it as beautiful as possible.