The den was where we kept our fabrics and other samples,” she says.Īfter they outgrew that space and decided to sell that property, LeFevre knew she still needed a location where she could store the unique products she was sourcing. “We each had our own offices upstairs downstairs we had window coverings, sofas where customers could sit, a conference room and dining room. At first, she and several other designers bought a property they would share while they practiced independently. Feedback from her design clients and those who shop her showrooms have validated that she’s gone in the right direction.Īs she was building her successful design business, for example, she knew she needed space. “I had to get right with that to pursue it.”Īnd pursue it, she has. “When you’re a licensed designer, you need to convey that you are focused on the health, safety and welfare of your client,” LeFevre notes. It’s important, she adds, to incorporate more than your job title in your elevator pitch. When she went into design and through to today, her mission has been to help people create environments. The Houston designer’s aesthetic combines luxury and functionality, with an emphasis on quality - in her design projects with clients and her retail showrooms - Design House and Fabric House.

LeFevre shares that while designers need to constantly be learning, they also need to understand what they do goes beyond beautifying spaces. That experience, however, set LeFevre up for a career where she ensures she is open to new ideas, technologies, working styles and the opportunities that come with knowing she needs to pay attention to what’s happening in the community and in the business. And then I’m told if I touch anything, these workers would walk and nothing would get done,” she says. “I had been so careful to dot my i’s and cross my t’s and had everything mapped out. On that project, LeFevre realized she still had some things to learn, as she suddenly found herself dealing with labor union workers, who had a different way of doing things.

Her first project as an interior designer was an office in Philadelphia. Her focus on the arts was just the beginning of her interior design journey. I was so hungry for it and I didn’t mind doing everything.” “That included interiors, graphics and more. “I took everything I could find related to the arts,” LeFevre says. After she had children, she decided to go back to school, but for the subjects that really interested her. Then she met her future husband, got married and moved to Houston. The intent was to study something practical, she says. When she first went to school, LeFevre’s major was business. In her established design business, LeFevre has never been afraid to push the envelope just a little bit more as she recognizes an increased need for the services and selection she offers. Design House, in Houston, TX, may be the first interior design retail showroom that qualified as a finalist for the Showroom of the Year Awards, which focuses attention on lighting retail showrooms. Design House is not your typical interior design showroom, however, as Owner Connie LeFevre has developed the ambitious trajectory of having an interior design business, a retail design showroom - complete with an exceptional lighting assortment - and a retail fabric center where designers and consumers alike can peruse her expertly curated selection of home furnishings textiles.

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