Our Designers

Tess came into the store to browse and fell in love with a white ceramic marble table for her dining room. Understandable – it is a stunning table. The problem was… she was not re-doing the dining room right now. But, a perfect piece changes everything. Tess’s priorities included. As we discussed her West Des [...]

The first rule when it comes to decorating & furnishing your home is…

A new group on BY DESIGN floor shows a vivid, colorful Eclectic collector look.

Absolutely. It can be healthy. At BY DESIGN we truly care about our customers. We take the time to ensure your experience is exceptional. When starting with By Design I was thrilled to learn that all of our upholstery companies are GREEN! I’m excited to share this with all of you as it is something [...]

TOAST & TEA renews the beige era of interior design in a whole new way The Back Story Carolyn Hipple (Norwalk’s president) and Dixon Bartlett have collaborated for years to observe and identify design and color trends in the furniture and interior design world. They travel the U.S. and the world observing, sifting, noting and [...]

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY increases the influence of Maximalism in interior design The Back Story Carolyn Hipple (Norwalk’s president) and Dixon Bartlett have collaborated for years to observe and identify design and color trends in the furniture and interior design world. They travel the U.S. and the world observing, sifting, noting and soaking up inspiration. The result [...]

Exposing a Furniture Industry Lie

  Incredible comfort.   Great style.   Incredible comfort. Unsurpassed quality. Wait… did we mention incredible comfort? It is worth risking redundancy to talk about the comfort of the Kaden. We’ve loved the Kaden in every color of leather (and occasionally fabric) that we’ve tried it in. Every. Single. One. We’ve done deep red. We’ve done [...]

Mary and I first met in 2003 when I designed her great room the first time. Although she loved that design, as years went by a new remodel of the first floor started the ball rolling on new furniture too. We went from Shabby Chic to a timeless transitional look for her West Des Moines [...]

A colorful sunroom for returning clients

John and Beth have been loyal clients since the Woodstock days – even though they live over an hour away! These are the kind of clients that we appreciate so much at by Design – we get to know them over the years and we can put together a special look for them based on [...]

Five simple rules to get your project off to a good start.

Well, it’s officially fall! If you’re like me, the season brings thoughts of cool, crisp air, warm sweaters and cozying up at home with a big blanket and a good book or movie. With cooler weather coming, we’ll all inevitably be spending more time at home soon as winter approaches, so why not do some [...]

As I’m sure many of you design aficionados are already aware, Sherwin Williams announced their 2019 color of the year last week. If you’re like me, you immediately began thinking of ways to play around with the color and options to coordinate with it. Here are some ideas that I love at By Design. Hopefully, [...]

Laura is a Senior Designer at by Design, having worked here since 1992.  She graduated from Iowa State with degree in Interior Design. “I’ve made so many friends in the years that I’ve been at by Design.  I suppose that is a natural consequence of working so closely with a client on something that is [...]

Design has been a passion of mine in some form or another my whole life. When I was a kid, I was always rearranging my bedroom and making things to decorate the house. My passion continued to grow as I went on to study interior design at Iowa State University. While there I studied abroad [...]

Bonita is the owner and Sales Manager at by Design. 

I LOVE THEM>

This confident and contemporary client worked with Laura to create an ultra modern space that works so well. Furnishings to finishes it is lovely.

I was so excited to work with my client Wendy on designing her new West Des Moines home…I had helped her furnish her last home so we already had a design relationship established when they built this new custom home. With a new, brighter, larger layout, the old furniture looked under-scaled and heavy feeling. With [...]

Josh and Jaycie took on a large project of tearing down a wall and opening up their Ankeny home. They quickly realized that it created some challenges for seating arrangements. That’s when I got involved to help make it a new space they would use & LOVE!   <div   Before Photos   After finding [...]

Amy came to me looking for a sectional that would accommodate a large space in her lower level. She wanted to maximize seating and not feel like she’s cutting off her room with it. I have worked with her on many projects before, so she already trusted me to nail her style! We decided on [...]

My latest design installation proves that furniture doesn’t have to be boring!