Meet Autumn

Hi, I'm Autumn — and I'll be honest, I never set out to become an interior designer. I set out to be an artist. The interiors part found me later, and once it did, it never let go.

My career actually started in hospitality design, which turned out to be the best possible training ground. When you're designing a hotel lobby or a restaurant, you learn fast that a beautiful space means nothing if it doesn't work — if the flow is wrong, if the lighting fights the mood, if form gets all the attention and function gets none. From there I moved into commercial design, then into the residential work I love most today: helping real people fall in love with the rooms they actually live in.

I started Designed By Autumn in 2016, and over a decade (and more paint swatches than I can count) later, I still believe the same thing I believed on day one: you should never have to choose between beautiful and functional. A gorgeous room that doesn't work for your life isn't finished. A perfectly functional room with no soul isn't finished either. The goal is always both.

Emotive Design

I call my approach Emotive Design — because a space should make you feel something the moment you walk into it. Not just "this looks nice," but something closer to relief, or joy, or that deep exhale you get when a place finally feels like you. Emotive Design starts with how you want to feel in a room, then works backward from there — layering in color, texture, light, and yes, art, until the emotion and the function meet in the middle.

The Artist in the Designer

I'm still an artist at heart, and it shows up in everything I do. More often than not, I design a room around a piece of art rather than shopping for art to fill an empty wall at the end. There's a real joy in finding — or creating — the exact right piece for a space: the mural that makes a lobby unforgettable, the moss wall that turns a hallway into a moment, the floral installation that makes people stop and take a photo before they even sit down. If I can't find the perfect piece, my team and I will build it. That's how the art fabrication side of this business was born, and it's some of my favorite work to this day.

Beyond the Business

When I'm not elbow-deep in fabric swatches or up a ladder hanging a mural, you'll find me in my kitchen dreaming up a new recipe (I cook gluten-free and pescatarian, and yes, I make it delicious), biking Lakeshore Drive with my family, or hunting down Chicago's next great taco joint. A good girls' night out is non-negotiable too — half the time, that's exactly where my next design idea sneaks up on me. You might also spot me at East Bank Club getting my workout in, because a great design career runs on energy.

I'm a Chicago girl through and through, and Designed By Autumn is proudly based right here. But great design doesn't stop at city limits — we've taken on projects across Florida, Indiana, Arizona, Texas, Wisconsin, and beyond, and we'll go anywhere in the world when a project is the right fit.

Let's Design Something You'll Feel

Whether you're furnishing a single room or reimagining an entire commercial space, I'd love to help you build something that looks incredible and works exactly the way you need it to.