I charge up to $25,000 to decorate homes for Christmas. It's exhausting work but I love creating beautiful environments for people to celebrate the holidays.

• Courtney Warren, 44, is a Dallas-based interior designer that specializes in Christmas decor.
• Warren offers a spectrum of decorating services and supplies, with prices ranging from $350 to $25,000.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Courtney Warren, 44, the owner and founder of interior design business Courtney Warren Home. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I graduated from college with a degree in social work, but I've always been very creative and good at design.

In 2012, I responded to an ad that said "Do you live in Dallas and love your home?" It ended up being a casting call for a show that was filming in the Dallas area called "Four Houses." I was chosen for an episode.

After my home was featured on the show, people started saying, "Hey, we saw you on TV! Can you help us with our house?" After months of helping people decorate their houses, I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is a business."

Lots of my residential design clients become Christmas decorating clients

At first, I started working out of my home. I didn't need an office because I would typically visit clients in their space. I spent $500 on normal startup costs like marketing, website hosting, and bookkeeping. My bookkeeper was the first person I hired, then an assistant.

I design for every holiday but Christmas is what everybody wants. It's usually, "We want to do Christmas really big this year" or "We're having a party and we want our home to look really nice."

I've always had a lot of Christmas stuff, so it was just natural to me that the clients I helped during the year also wanted me to up their Christmas game.

While I would love to do it year round, I don't know how that would make sense logistically. The demand for Christmas, at least around here, starts in October and ends in early December, if not sooner. It's actually a very small window.

I have a certain design style. I like vintage and antique pieces, and I mix them with new items to keep the home fresh.

I've had a couple of magazine spreads and I'm active on social media. My business also spreads by word of mouth and I have a lot of repeat clients. During the Christmas holiday season, I get about 50 to 60 emails and phone calls.

Some years, I've had 20 clients and then others, I've had five — it just depends on how big the projects are. For some people, I design just one room and then for some, I'll do the entire house.

I'm picky about the Christmas decorating projects I take on

I typically use decorations that my clients have, but for those that start early enough, I will design their tree and purchase items on their behalf. That is really fun because they're basically getting a custom tree.

I'm picky about my clients because I want my decorating experience to be great.

For the past four to five years, I offered a $375 pop-in service that helped people prepare for parties or events, but few people took advantage of it. Now it is kinda all or nothing.

If they are going to hire me, they want to get the most bang for their buck, and for 99% of people, that means a decorated Christmas tree. So, this year, I streamlined it into the most popular services, and it's seemed to work well.

I would say the most popular service is when my team and I decorate three rooms and a tree.

I don't want my designs to just be for people that are affluent — I really want everyday people to be able to afford this.

My cheapest combination of services and supplies I offer would be $350 to $400, and most expensive, about $20,000 to $25,000.

The house we just did last week, a woman and her family moved here from New York and they are going to have their first Texas Christmas. I feel like I'm the Texas ambassador and I wanted them to have a really great experience.

The husband does these Dickens Christmas dinner parties where everyone rents old-timey costumes and he and his wife serve historical dishes. When I heard that, I was like, "Oh my gosh, we've got to make her guests love Texas and make this so magical."

We made their tree look great. The couple were so elated and couldn't believe how good it looked.

Every work day is different but just as exhausting

I work within an hour of the Dallas metroplex. I haven't traveled yet, but I think it'd be so fun.

Every work day is different. For an install day, we probably get there at 8:30 or 8:45. My car has already been loaded up with all the supplies I need: a bag of zip ties, wire-cutter scissors, Christmas ornaments, hooks, and double-sided tape.

When my team and I get to the home, we talk through plans with the owner. Then I get everybody in their zone and hopefully we're done by the end of the day. After that I come home and absolutely crash because it's a lot of physical work.

I have a small team. I'm a single mom and I really love working with other moms because I feel like sometimes when you have kids you get lost in the minutia of raising them. I think women are so capable.

This is the perfect job for me

Being a holiday decorator is perfect for me because I have a little joyful kid inside me. I truly get excited when somebody loves Christmas and wants to create the wow factor at their home. I put 100% of my heart and soul into my job.

This world is hard, and when you turn on the news, it's so depressing. I think the holidays bring hope and optimism that there is something to celebrate, and that's significant. It's also a time when a lot of people reflect and I want that to be in a beautiful atmosphere.