shonna sexton studio

05/28/2026

Designing with Nature in Mind 🌿 Part 2

Meaningful connections to nature in our living environments can become even more of a priority as urban life demands that we fit larger numbers of people into a smaller footprint. In multifamily developments, views come at a premium. Designing for people to experience nature from the indoors has to be deliberate.

The Flats at Taylor Place presented us with an opportunity to transform their Lobby and Clubroom. Overall, the goal was to make the space more inviting and enjoyable for residents. To do this, we sought to celebrate the building’s proximity to the Cumberland River and highlight the surrounding greenway and park. While the space had an abundance of natural light, its industrial elements felt harsh.

Our design aimed to warm up these spaces by introducing lots of lush, visual textures mixed with hues of green. Things like reeding, wood grain, wicker, and grasses were used to balance the harsh red brick of the walls. Additionally, we commissioned large moss wall hangings to be used through the two spaces, blending the outdoors with the interior.

As a result of these changes, the rooms felt more organic and less discordant with the world around them.

Photo Credit: @615.media

05/26/2026

Designing with Nature in Mind 🌿

People spend hours of their lives in workplaces. The environment of a work space can dramatically improve or worsen an individual’s quality of life, mood, and productivity. In this office, executive suites lined the building perimeter and had full access to windows, while administrative staff were placed in the interior core. From a hierarchy standpoint, the layout made sense to leadership. However, it created an environment where many employees spent their entire day without daylight, exterior views, or any meaningful connection to the outdoors. In conversations with both the CEO and administrative staff, a consistent theme emerged: people liked the company and their colleagues, but they did not enjoy coming to work. Visual access to the outdoors helps people stay connected to the natural rhythm of the day. Without those cues, workdays can feel gray, disconnected, and exhausting.

To address these issues, we:
🌿 studied how natural light could move through the space.
🌿 identified ways to preserve privacy while increasing administrative staff access to windows and exterior views.
🌿 removed one office per floor to improve shared access to daylight.
🌿 repurposed underused windowed areas by adding plants and comfortable seating, creating spaces for conversation and informal breaks.
🌿 broke up large workstation areas with ceiling elements that also improved acoustics.
🌿 upgraded the lighting to better mimic natural light.
🌿 introduced more color and natural textures through updated flooring and wall finishes.

Within less than a year, the CEO said that call out rates had dropped by 35% and employee retention and satisfaction had improved. Showing that thoughtful design with the natural world in mind can transform our lives.

05/22/2026

Creating meaningful connections to nature is vital for the wellbeing of people in both living and work environments. That’s why this is an important aspect of how we approach a project. Without a visual or physical connection to nature morale can weaken, productivity can drop, and people can experience more depression and feel less engaged in their day to day life.

While time outside may seem like the solution, it isn’t always accessible for every space. It’s an experience that needs to be brought into the interior.

This can look like:
🌿 Improving access to daylight
🌿 Highlighting surrounding views
🌿 Using natural materials
🌿 Inclusion of living elements
🌿 Changing lighting to better mimic natural light

Over the next week we will be highlighting a couple of projects that showcase this aspect of our design approach.

Thanks to and her garden for the bee video 🐝

05/21/2026

05/10/2026

Thanks so much to and for having us at your Petals and Palettes event this week!

05/08/2026

Thanks so much to .c.mathews for having us at your annual Crawfish Boil last week 🦞 It was extra special to get to also celebrate your 85th anniversary! Congratulations on an incredible 85 years 🎉

05/01/2026

A fantastic evening with friends and fellow industry pros at the beautiful
A definite highlight of our wonderful week!

04/24/2026

A look into a couple of things we’ve been up to lately. We learned about a few new and exciting things from and and also got to soak in the beauty of the showroom! Thanks everyone for having us!

04/17/2026

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us to celebrate The Pearl! It was wonderful getting to share this project with everyone and we loved showing you everything that went into transforming the space 🌷

04/17/2026

Happy birthday Zoe!!!