On this Friday’s episode of The Chaise Lounge, Charlotte-based designer Lauren Clement who grew up watching her mother make a living decorating. When she found herself at a crossroads after a serious car accident, grad school or follow her passion into interior design. She chose the latter, and currently runs Lauren Nicole Designs where she and her mother Linda work on a dozen projects at a time with only the help of a bookkeeper.

Clement is a designer who didn’t study design formally. Before her accident, she got her undergraduate degree in psychology. Everything she knows and implements today, she learned on the job or from her mother between her childhood and support once her business was already up and running. In this interview, she talks about how she values design education but doesn’t believe it to be strictly necessary to succeed. And she demonstrates that’s the case.

Taking work home

Lauren Nicole Designs started in northern Virginia and Clement developed her craft and clientele there for years, but she wanted to return to North Carolina where she grew up. When her kids were not yet in school, she and her husband packed up and scooted down the coast where they could build the life they wanted for their kids and where Clement would have to rebuild her business.

Custom colors

Clement has a deal with Benjamin Moore, which sponsors the Chaise Lounge, where they have developed a line of colors to meet specifications she envisioned, and those colors are available for purchase and use.

To see all the work Lauren Clement does, visit Lauren Nicole Designs at LaurenNicoleInc.com and on Instagram @LaurenNicoleInc.