Designing Our Own Homes: The Most Personal Project
Reflections from the Regina Andrew Fireside Chat Series at High Point Market
There is something uniquely vulnerable about designing your own home when your profession is creating homes for others.
At High Point Market this spring, Nicole Roe of R. Nickson Interiors joined Antonio DeLoatch of Antonio DeLoatch Designs and Rasheeda Gray of Gray Space Interiors for an intimate fireside conversation hosted by Regina Andrew. Together, the panel explored what happens when designers become both the creative lead and the client, navigating emotional attachment, evolving identity, business visibility, and the pressure to create spaces that feel deeply personal while existing in a very public industry.
The conversation moved beyond aesthetics. It became an honest discussion about life, growth, family, business, and the emotional complexity of creating a home that reflects who you truly are.
When the Designer Becomes the Client
One of the most recurring themes throughout the discussion was the tension between designing for yourself and designing for how the world might perceive your work.
For Nicole Roe, renovating her family home in Central Florida was less about perfection and more about creating a space capable of supporting real life. With four boys, pets, and a home constantly in motion, durability and functionality became foundational priorities.
But practicality alone was never enough.
The home still needed to feel elevated, intentional, and inspiring. It needed to reflect the refined, layered aesthetic that defines R. Nickson Interiors while also supporting the realities of family life, overstimulation, schedules, and everyday wear.
As Nicole shared during the panel, designing her own home forced her to think differently about how environments affect emotional regulation and daily routines. Spaces needed to feel calm, organized, and visually grounding, especially for a busy household navigating constant movement and activity.
That balance between beauty and functionality became one of the defining lessons of the renovation.
The Pressure Designers Place on Themselves
The conversation also touched on something rarely discussed openly in the design industry: the pressure designers feel when creating homes for themselves.
Unlike client projects, personal homes often carry emotional weight that is difficult to separate from professional identity. Designers know their homes may eventually become marketing material, portfolio work, press opportunities, or examples clients reference for years to come.
That pressure can slow decisions, increase perfectionism, and make even experienced designers second-guess themselves.
For Nicole, timing became one of the hardest parts of the process. Managing active client projects while simultaneously renovating her own home meant her family often came second to project schedules and subcontractor timelines.
The panel openly discussed the realities many homeowners never see:
Living through construction
Decision fatigue
Budget pressure
Delays
Constant trade-offs
The emotional exhaustion of managing details while maintaining daily life
It was a reminder that even designers experience overwhelm during renovation projects.
And perhaps that shared experience is exactly what strengthens trust between designers and clients.
Designing Homes That Reflect Real Life
Throughout the discussion, the panelists emphasized that the most meaningful homes are not necessarily the trendiest or most photographed.
They are the homes that genuinely support the people living inside them.
For Nicole, that meant prioritizing materials and layouts capable of surviving the realities of four active boys, muddy boots, pets, and everyday family life.
It also meant making thoughtful decisions about longevity.
Rather than designing purely around trends or resale value, the conversation shifted toward creating homes that evolve alongside the families who inhabit them. Homes that feel collected over time. Homes that leave room for growth, memory-making, and change.
That philosophy aligns deeply with the R. Nickson Interiors approach: creating spaces that feel elevated yet livable, refined yet deeply personal.
Vulnerability as Part of the Brand Story
Another powerful takeaway from the fireside chat was the role vulnerability can play in building meaningful connection.
In today’s digital landscape, audiences increasingly crave honesty over perfection. The panelists discussed how openly sharing renovation challenges, delays, budget conversations, and decision-making processes often resonates more deeply than polished reveal photos alone.
Nicole spoke candidly about sharing parts of her renovation journey publicly, allowing followers and future clients to see the realities behind the final images.
That transparency creates something valuable:
trust.
Clients begin to feel understood because they realize their designer has personally experienced the same frustrations, uncertainty, and emotional highs and lows that come with transforming a home.
Homes That Grow With Us
Perhaps the most meaningful thread woven throughout the conversation was the understanding that homes are not static.
They evolve as we evolve.
The spaces we create at 25 may not reflect who we become at 40. Families grow. Priorities shift. Careers expand. Personal style deepens. And our homes begin telling the story of those transitions.
For designers especially, creating a personal home can become an exercise in self-awareness. It asks difficult questions:
What truly matters?
What feels timeless versus trendy?
What supports daily life?
What creates peace?
What feels authentically like home?
The panel reminded everyone in attendance that the most successful homes are not necessarily the most perfect.
They are the ones that feel honest.
Final Thoughts
The Regina Andrew Fireside Chat Series created space for a conversation that felt refreshingly human within the design industry.
Rather than focusing solely on aesthetics or trends, the discussion explored the emotional realities of creating personal spaces while balancing business, creativity, family life, and visibility.
For Nicole Roe and R. Nickson Interiors, the experience reinforced something central to the firm’s philosophy:
A well-designed home should not only look beautiful.
It should support the life unfolding inside it.
