Owner Spotlight: Arlene Crooks-Best

Arlene Best Interiors |

Owner Spotlight: Arlene Crooks-Best

I’m Arlene Crooks-Best, proud owner of Arlene Best Interiors.

I look forward to sharing this, my story, with you and hope that you will enjoy getting to know me better.

I was born and grew up in Windsor, Ontario.

I’ve had a passion for interior decorating since I was a child and I love color and textures. I have been placing furniture in different configurations since I was 13, starting with my own bedroom. Later in life I was asked by a personal friend to help her pull together her first home. Being in the fashion industry for several years led me to opening my own interior decorating business.

I have now been in the interior decorating business for twenty-five years. Previously, I worked in the fashion and modeling business. I spent six years with International Top Models in Toronto and New York City. Later, I opened and ran my own talent agency in Toronto. It was called Directions Talent Management and we represented actors and actresses  for television and film work.

I soon married actor Wayne Best and we had our first daughter Mattie and then twins Wyatt and Nell. When the twins were two years old, I started decorating for friends and family.

My first decor business was named Ar Works and I painted faux finishes, floor cloths, and murals. This led me to produce a Decorators Showcase for the lung association in Stratford, Ontario. Later, as I worked more and more with interior decor, I decided to change the name of my company to Arlene Best Interiors.

Since then, I have been decorating anything from single rooms to whole house renovations, as well as commercial projects.

The most enjoyable part of the work is pulling a whole look together for clients who have dificulty visualizing a complete project.

While I love decorating, my responsibilities also include: contacts with all new clients, sourcing out materials and tradespeople for clients, as well as all invoicing and budget planning. As project manager, I coordinate trades, staging, billing, and decor.

As owner, I am focused on promoting my business, working with diverse client needs, as well as keeping tradespeople on time and within budget.

While I feel that my mother has had the most impact on my leadership style, I believe that hard work and talent have helped me towards success.  I am highly organized and am very good at visualizing. In addition, I love working with people.

On Fridays and Saturdays, I am the Interior Decorator for Goettler's Furniture. I help customers select furniture for their new homes or help customers with space planning so they know what new pieces of furniture will fit and to purchase. I help them with fabric and color selections plus work with their existing or new floor plans. At the store, I also train with our manufacturer’s representatives on new products to keep up with the latest trends in furnishings. I admire Goettler's Furniture and am proud to work there. They are a well-run business, friendly, organized, efficient and caring.

When I am not at work, I love to entertain and spend time with my family. I also love to swim, dance and paint canvasses and furniture.

I have enjoyed sharing with you the things that matter to me and how they influence the way I do business.

If you or someone you know could benefit from our expertise in interior decoration, I invite you to get in touch. Please visit my website at www.arlenebestinteriors.ca.

 

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