The 50 States Project is a series of candid conversations with interior designers across the country about how they’ve built their businesses. This week, Bedford, New Hampshire–based designer Kacey Graham of Boehm Graham Interior Design tells us how coaching has transformed her firm at different stages in the business, what it was like to take over as head of her mother’s company, and why she starts every project by sourcing rugs.
Your mother was a designer, so you had an example of design as a viable career from an early age. How did that shape your perspective?
I remember being 5 years old and my mom saying, “We’re going to go to an antique store.” And I was like, Great. What other 5-year-old knows what a whirligig is? So I had that exposure and experience. Design was her second career—she was a dental hygienist and then went into it later. And I had a similar experience: I was an English major at Providence College, and then I worked for Johnson & Johnson as a pharmaceutical rep. When I wanted to have more [flexibility after having] kids, I started thinking about what would give me the freedom to be less regimented and more creative and have more fun.
My first real exposure to the design business was when I was 16, when my mom and I did our first interior design showhouse together in Manchester, New Hampshire. It was pretty cool—but I really didn’t have any idea what it would turn into. From there, we went on to do 17 different showhouses to benefit a variety of causes.
When did you officially join the business?
In 1999, we did a showhouse in Maine that was featured in Traditional Home. Most projects are client-driven, but here, we got to flex our personal style, and it felt really nice to be recognized. That was when the light bulb went on. I thought, “This is an amazing career opportunity.”
A lot has changed. I am 25 years into the business this year, and what it looked like back in 1999 versus how it looks as we head into 2025 are very different. I mean, not to knock it, but my mom was handwriting the bills—like, “This is what we bought, and here’s my markup.” And it was all word-of-mouth and referral—we would get a client because my mom knew someone in town. But there was no website; people would call on the phone. And no one really asked for a portfolio. They just trusted us.
How did the business start to evolve?
At some point, I said, “Mom, we really do need to have some professional images.” Another time, I had this moment where I was like, “Are we photocopying these bills? How are we reconciling how many hours we’ve spent on these projects? How are we doing a markup?”
I remember someone said to my mom, “I can’t believe you’re charging $75 an hour”—and at the time, that was probably for two of us, right? When she got off the phone, she said, “Well, they think we were charging too much.” And I was like, “You know what? Then they’re not the right client for us.” That began the journey of figuring out: Who is the right client for us? And defining that helped us realize all of the ways we needed to provide value and service—and to clean up our process so that it was repeatable.
You talked about identifying your ideal client and how you wanted to show up for them. Can you tell me where you landed on both of those things?
By the time my mom retired in 2010, it became clear that, generationally, [something had to change]. I was in my 30s, and as a young parent, I wanted a different [kind of system]. My mom’s contemporaries enjoyed the process and camaraderie, and they wanted a much slower pace. But clients of my generation would say, “I’m busy, and I need this done quickly, and I want the whole thing taken care of.” That’s how I started to define the firm’s ideal client: These are busy people who want us to make their lives easy. We have to have the confidence to know what we’re doing, present it to them, get approval and then deliver it—and to communicate with them in between.
I started to gain traction with a lot of wonderful clients, and when it would come time to invoice, I’d think, “Is this fair for everyone?” and I would feel bad. It was like, “Oh, but they’re so nice …” I had to define who wants our service, and to recognize that we are in a luxury, service-based [industry] where we want the experience to be like nothing they’ve ever had before. All of that happened over a long period of time, but everything followed suit after defining our ideal client, what they want from us, and how we can deliver that.
What are the tools you use to make that process replicable?
Software is important in how we keep track of things and manage tasks. I’ve also tried to pick up best practices by purchasing courses—[my team and I have] done that with Kimberley Seldon from Business of Design to look at how we could streamline [our process] to build efficiencies. Most recently, we’ve done Sandra Funk’s the [Interior Design] Standard, and I’m really liking her transparency and her design tips. And I like her energy—like, “Let’s have wine and catch up about what’s working and what’s not.”
What has been the most impactful pivot you’ve made in your business?
Years ago, I worked with business coach Michele Williams from Scarlet Thread Consulting, and she was wonderful. There are so many [moments when we’d be] crying and overwhelmed, and we could get on a call with her and ask, “What do we need to do?” We got actionable, tangible steps in a time when I felt like I was at the end of my rope. As we worked with her for several years, the business side became more clear. I adjusted our hourly rate, learned that we should be buying wholesale—and even that clients don’t really need to sit on everything. That was an aha moment for me. I remember being like, “You’re lying. That’s not true! Who would buy a $12,000 sofa and not sit their bum on it?”
A lot of people, it turns out.
A lot of people, and we’ve never looked back. I started buying through Miko + Boone—they are stocking dealers with 150 [brands], basically all through North Carolina, like Vanguard and Century and Bernhardt. It gave me the ability to give my clients the best product and the best pricing while helping me make the best return.
If I was a young designer doing it over again, I would absolutely invest in getting assistance to develop the business—and for me, it was a business coach. She allowed me to ask questions and analyze things. It was seven or eight years ago now, I remember her saying, “You have been published 25 times nationally, regionally and locally. At this point, you don’t leave the house for less than $500.” It was an aha moment, for sure. For anyone who is like me, where I just felt bad charging [the amount I needed to]—don’t feel bad. It’s a business.
I’ve found that spending the money on that level of education won’t ever be something you regret. You will regret not doing it sooner, though. And once you’ve done it, you’re like, “Dang it, why didn’t I do this a million years ago?” That $4,000 class might feel like a lot of money. But if you knew that investing in yourself would double your income the following year, you’d find a way to do it right now.
And there are different courses and coaches for different seasons of your business. What was your most recent experience like?
Sandra’s program has made us ask, “OK, what if we could give the client an estimate on this project right out of the gate, based on historical data, square footage and the complexity of the build?” We’ve been in business a long time, so we have the numbers and can track what we’ve done. We know what a living room is going to cost us at this level. We’ve defined this client and we know what they want. So maybe we can turn around in 48 hours and say, “This is the furnishing estimate for your project.” It was a total overhaul. As we’ve started to do that, [clients] are like, “This is amazing.”
Has it been amazing for the firm too?
Yeah, it’s really great. And these are not smaller bills, but they are less nickel-and-dimey. We charge 50 percent upfront, so it’s like, “OK, here’s the big chunk of cash to get rolling.” And it’s clear that you’re going to get [a bill for the balance] in two months, at which point you’re also going to know your furnishings estimate, which will translate to an actual number that you pay 100 percent in full. We order the goods, we wait for the goods, and we update you [along the way]. We do painting, wallpapering, plumbing, electrical—and then when that’s over, we have you go out for three to five days while we install your whole house. When they come home, they’re like, “I get to live here?” It’s amazing. And it’s been so refreshing and eye-opening.
I think about all of those times where it just felt like, “What are billable hours, anyway?” Really, what is a billable hour? As a designer, are you billing for yourself or your staff for 40 hours a week? You’re not. So how do you actually look at what you are making per year if everything’s not a billable hour? But if you have this historical data and it’s more of a flat fee, clients can get their head around that number—it’s a known entity, versus one month you get a bill for $3,000; the next month you get a bill for $33,000. Our clients aren’t complaining about what these totals are, but when I’m looking at it, I’m thinking, “This is really inconsistent. How do we make it easier for them?” These people are busy, and they only want to write a few checks, and then they want to know that somebody trustworthy is going to get the job done.
Making this change must have changed your understanding of your cash flow.
Yes, absolutely. I also hired a full-time finance administrator, which helped. Honestly, having an operations person and a finance person has been an absolute game changer. I wish I had done it 15 years ago.
What does your team look like today?
That’s evolved too. Having my finance administrator only work for me is the best gift ever. And then there’s my operations person, who really does a multitude of jobs—our ordering, our follow-through. She plays into a little bit of the junior designer role as well, which I’m absolutely grateful for. I have someone who does marketing who’s more of a subcontractor, but she’s in charge of our whole marketing side of things.
We’ve always had an intern, and then we outsource renderings. In 22 years, nobody asked me for a rendering. I explained it enough, or I was excited enough, or I would show them enough pictures and samples that they were like, “Oh, OK, I get it. That’s great.” So this really is very new. In the last three years [we’ve had to revisit] defining our ideal client. We want to give them a 10 out of 10 service, and what does that look like? And now we have the ability to [show them] where your couch is going to go, the colors, the fabric—basically looking like a photo. And these clients are like, “Oh yeah, that looks awesome. Let’s go.”
I’ve also used this woman for probably 10 years for photo shoots and styling. It’s a whole other arm of the work that’s really important. You get 85 percent of the design [done], and the last 15 percent is really where the magic happens. All of the final details: their artwork, the detail of their flatware and napkin rings. And then I use the same tradespeople for the majority of our projects. My contractor, painter, plumber, electrician are known entities. They show up the same way we do, always wanting to deliver, never leaving someone in the lurch. I am blessed to have some wonderful, great, talented, amazing, hardworking people.
What does your workload look like right now?
Right now we have six active big projects, which is kind of a lot, but all at different stages. If design is happening for two homes at once, that’s good for my brain.
We’re closing a 9,500-square-foot project on a lake, and we’re wrapping up the same client’s primary home in Hollis, and then we’ve got a lake house on deck that they bought a year ago, which will be the fourth project with this client—I’ve [also] done an inn for them. … The new project will be their dream lake home—their legacy property. I haven’t seen the new plans, but it’s probably in the 7,500-square-foot range.
We’ve got another project in Hollis where we’re doing the theater, pool house and gym, and then the second phase will be the whole house, which is over 8,500 square feet. So these are good-sized projects, and there are two other ones that I’m interviewing [for]. Mixed in with that, I’ve got a couple little jobs for older clients where they just need a couple things picked out. I don’t normally do onesie-twosies, but in my mind, they’re grandfathered in.
I know you work with an outside sourcing specialist. How has that changed your business?
The biggest benefit is that they have someone to follow up on deficiencies. Life is messy, and my philosophy has always been that it’s how you clean it up that counts. Things come in damaged and broken all the time, and [dealing with that is] part of the service they provide. I just send pictures when my delivery company drops things off—whether it’s “This has a scratch,” or “This has a white front, and it was supposed to be mahogany”—and they take care of all of it.
Do you tap any local resources as well?
The springboard for my designs is always my rug company, Persian Rug Gallery in Nashua, New Hampshire. I’ve worked with them for years. And what’s exciting is that we start with that so the client can come. We meet at the rug gallery and I always say, “There are no expectations. Don’t worry about where it goes, or about the colors. Just let yourself fall in love.” Once they pick a rug, I will pull other rugs that coordinate while we’re there together for an hour or two—I call them the sister rugs. We walk away with seven rugs that work well together, and now I’ve just created the springboard for seven rooms, and it never unravels the design, because the client started it. They picked what they loved, and the room supports it.
How do clients find you today?
We live in a relatively small town—it’s 21,000 people—and there’s word-of-mouth. But then this new client [recently] called and said, “I found you on Google.” I hadn’t heard that before. We’re also in the process of redoing my website right now, rolling out new images and a new way of thinking to capture people’s attention. We started by asking ourselves, “If someone’s looking for a designer, what are things that make them go, ‘That’s the company for us!’”
What about social media?
Instagram is obviously something people pay attention to, and it’s validation. Do I think that’s necessarily why someone would call me? I’m not sure, but I think that’s how they come to feel you are [legitimate]—whether it’s, “Oh, she’s been doing this a long time,” or, “I like their funny posts.” They see that we’re always busy doing something cool, and there’s a narrative of fun and trust and creativity, which is what I think people are looking for in a designer.
How do you approach photographing your work, or what you decide to photograph?
It’s tough. We were just talking about this yesterday when I was sending the photos to your team. I said out loud in my office: “It’s a wonder I’ve worked for 25 years. Where’s the rest of the work?”
Is being published an important driver for the business?
Not necessarily, but it does feel awesome—just like back in 1999 with that first publication, where we were like, “This feels good.” It can feel like you’re spinning your wheels, and it’s easy to get in your own head like, “I think this is great, but is this objectively a well-designed, well-executed and well-edited home?” It is subjective, but to have those publications [validate the work] is very flattering.
There are so many projects where we’ve enjoyed the process and we like the client, but we decide not to photograph it. A great photographer is at least $2,500, and if you have 10 projects going on, are you shooting all of them? And then what are you hoping to do with it? I like when there’s a narrative to support the project. [Recently we’ve only been taking on] first floors or whole homes—we’re not looking at just one room—which is amazing. But in the past, that was a challenge: We may have done three or four spaces in a house, but maybe they’re not adjoining. Or I’d wait to finish a space, and then the winter comes and we don’t want to do the shoot because it’s white outside.
Are showhouses still an important part of your approach?
I wish there were more of them in New England, because I think it’s so important to flex your creativity when you’re not client-driven. I mean, the client is the joy that gets me up every day—I love these projects and these people, and I want to crush it for them. But a showhouse is an opportunity to also work alongside other designers—it’s also a bonding moment in the industry, and you’re all doing it for a great cause.
When you look at the industry today, where do you see the most change?
One thing that’s been on my mind is the development of visualization tools. I mean, there’s so much—especially now with AI—that people can experience or see.
But the biggest change I’ve seen so far is people’s interest in seeing their spaces as a true reflection of themselves. Their homes are so much more important than they once were. Maybe it was a status symbol, but now it’s really a reflection of the family. And now, with these tools, we’re able to show them that.
What does success look like for you?
Success is having the confidence to know my worth. I love saying yes, and I’m a cheerleader at heart, but success is also the confidence to say no to a project that doesn’t feel right. I really treasure the relationships that we have—success is working hard and knowing that your efforts are appreciated, both financially and verbally.
But the end all, be all is the client’s satisfaction. You know when clients literally open the doors during the big reveal and they’re grasping their chest going, “I can’t believe I get to live here,” as their eyes fill up with tears? That’s what you do it all for. Publications are great, but that moment is really what your blood, sweat and tears were for—it’s your partnership with your clients and seeing them thrilled that you knocked it out of the park for them. That’s the true win.
To learn more about Kacey Graham, visit her website or find her on Instagram.
