In Business of Home’s series Shop Talk, we chat with owners of home furnishings stores across the country to hear about their hard-won lessons and challenges, big and small. This week, we spoke with Laura Williams, the founder of Living Oak Interior Design and Living Oak Home Decor in Austin.
Williams moved to Texas from New York at just the right time (pre-pandemic), pivoting from marketing to interior design and opening her own firm in a similarly fateful era (early pandemic). The metropolis has transformed in these short years. “People are genuinely happy to live here, and so kind, and that has stayed true,” she says. “But definitely the pace has changed, and the population has grown so much, which from a business perspective has only helped me. I started this business at the most perfect time for it to grow the way it has.”
The designer hasn’t sat still for a second to enjoy the boom, though; she opened a retail shop last fall, started throwing events immediately, and recently completed a rebrand from ATX Interior Design to the Living Oak banner. Ahead, Williams chats about the fire in her belly, the customer sweet spot she has discovered, and how she’s convincing people to go out again.
What was your career like before the shop?
I have a weird career history. I went to school for music. When I graduated, I started working in digital marketing and hospitality. I hosted events. I moved to New York and got a job working for a major beauty brand, doing international e-commerce marketing. My husband and I moved to Florida, where we’re from, and got married there, and I was the director of marketing for a beauty brand in Miami. When we got pregnant, I wanted to make my own hours, so I started a small consulting firm doing beauty marketing [but ultimately wound that down] to focus on being a mom for a few years.
We moved to Austin, and I loved the stay-at-home-mom gig, but I was definitely restless. After designing and remodeling multiple homes of ours—we have some investment properties as well—I realized I have a knack for it, and it’s something I am passionate about. So I decided to take a leap and started an interior design business here in Austin. Luckily, my community really lifted me up. I called it ATX Interior Design. That was four years ago, and I’ve got seven employees now. We opened the shop in November, and I decided it was time to evolve the brand to be a bit more global. We rebranded as Living Oak Interior Design, and the store is Living Oak Home Decor.
On May 21, award-winning nursery and children’s room designer Naomi Coe shares her insights on creating spaces that are not just kid-proof but kid-approved. Click here to learn more and remember, workshops are free for BOH Insiders.
Tell me more about the new name.
I was talking with my team about it—and my husband, because he’s been in it the whole time—and I really wanted it to be something that would evolve and grow with us. These beautiful oak trees feel like such a big piece of Austin. Everything that we procure for the shop and get for our clients is drawn from nature. It’s such an amazing thing in Austin to have these massive, gorgeous oak trees. So it felt like a beautiful name, Living Oak, to keep the brand alive and evolving over time.
What’s the aesthetic of the store?
I like to say that there’s something for everybody because we have a very wide variety of price points. Sometimes when you’re shopping, you’re just looking, and if you can make an impulse buy because something’s not overpriced, I think that’s really nice as a consumer. That’s the type of shopper I am. Unless I’m going to a store to find something specific, I’m not going to spend a ton of money. So I try to make the store very approachable.
But then also we have those high-end, custom items, [and products like ones] made from a local artist whose pottery you can only buy here. Partnerships like that are really special to me. [Ali Bond] is one. We also have custom pillows that we design and make locally. And I honestly think that this color scheme—you walk in and it just feels so cozy and inviting that you can’t help but buy a little something.
Can you say more about the way it’s arranged? It almost looks like someone’s living room, rather than one of those overstuffed decor stores.
We definitely try to style [vignettes] and make sure that people can see how to [use things]. A lot of times, if I were to drop off a beautiful vessel and a coffee table book to a client and didn’t place it perfectly for them, they’d be like, “What do I do with this?” So I try to style the shop in the same way. I call it “styling” the shop versus merchandising. But you still have to have things stacked or lined up so people can easily get the quantity they need. A lot of stores that I’ve gone into do feel really cluttered, and that can feel overwhelming. Having it pared back is something that I appreciate when I am shopping, so I try to bring that into Living Oak.
What is your customer base, and how much of it is the trade?
We’ve been getting some members of the trade more recently, which has been super fun. They find us on Instagram. It’s been primarily people in the neighborhood who live nearby wanting to come in, because they’re excited to have a new shop they can walk to. We do monthly events to stir up some discussion, and we get a lot of people on those nights, but we’ve been getting a lot of online traction as well. We’ve been trying to do some marketing online, and we’ve been getting a really steady flow of sales. It’s been exciting to see that take off.
What is your sourcing process like?
We source all over the place. We have a lot of trade partners that we met through the design realm, going to Market and meeting vendors. We go to Round Top regularly. We have partners out there to get some really cool, unique vintage items. We like to go to auctions monthly for special antiques. Most of our large pieces in the shop, which we actually merchandise on, are from auctions. A few weeks ago, right before our last event, somebody bought the table that had all our [product] on it, and I was like, “Oh, that’s so great, but now I need a table for the event.”
But it’s really cool to source from all of these different avenues, and over time our partners have become more eclectic. We have an artist who does glass and resin art based out of San Antonio. We sell hair bows from a local girl who makes them out of recycled quilts and fabrics. Gift items are just fun and mix it up a little bit.
What is your own favorite category?
We have these Linnea candles that smell like luxury. They’re the best candles I’ve ever smelled in my entire life. I found them at Dallas Market, and we have an assortment of scents. They’re a bestseller too. We sell multiple candles a day. I also love our coffee table books. I style with those religiously, so it’s really nice to have them in the shop. It’s a dream of mine to create a book like this one day, so I’ll look at them and be in dream world. One day it’ll happen.
What’s your approach to e-commerce?
I mean, e-comm is just the way it is: the future. People don’t like to go places. Right now, our online shop is functioning well. It’s visually and aesthetically appealing, but we are in the process of reworking it so that it can have all the details and be more comprehensive. It just takes time.
That all comes with the evolution of our branding, especially since we just kicked it off six months ago. The personality has grown even more since we received the branding suite from the team we worked with. It’s fun to let it have some legs and grow and change as we do. Making the website as detailed and easy to use as possible is the most important thing.
To flip that around, I think it’s interesting that you’re working on promoting the store through word-of-mouth rather than digital channels. Can you tell me more about those efforts?
I am so passionate about the human connection, and how that relates to what you bring into your home. I love Austin. I love being a part of the pulse here. Our next event is actually a wellness event where I’m bringing in a local person who does breath work and cold plunges, and we’re doing it in our backyard. So it’s “Living Well With Living Oak,” on an early Saturday morning, then come in and shop. The Beauty Way, an organic, all-natural skin care line in Austin, is donating products to go into a goodie bag. We’re giving Living Oak swag. During Covid, people got really comfortable socializing less in person. I think it’s important to be human and interact. If we can be a host to these fun events, I mean, dream come true for me.
What other events have you had?
Our first-ever was a sip and shop in December. [Jyoti Lohman] from The Beauty Way came and gave demonstrations with her skin care line. January was a “post holiday” [event]; February was “Besties and Blooms,” a floral making; March was a “market”; and in April it was charm necklaces with August x Addyson. It’s really cool that the same people come for every event, and then we get new people at every single one too. The people waiting at the door are pumped: “I’ve been following you for months. I’m so excited to be here.” The market was amazing because we had a guitar player doing Taylor Swift covers, and Rambler donated sparkling water and GoodPop donated popsicles. It was the first hot day in Austin, and everyone was so appreciative. We reached out to the community, and people are happy to support because they’re excited we’re doing things in person and going that extra mile.
People do want to go out! They’re yearning for it! They just need a little push, maybe.
And I think that the generation of late twenties, early thirties, because of Covid, really missed their opportunity to experience going out in their early twenties, before your responsibilities get too heavy. They’re starting to realize, I missed the boat, but I can do this now. That’s actually been a huge market for us, as far as who is coming to events and shopping—it’s people in their late twenties, early thirties. Men and women. Some customers came to the floral event, made their flowers, left after 45 minutes. Others were there for three or four hours, because they wanted to chat.
I know you just opened, but do you think about scaling? What are your dreams for the business?
Kaitlin, I’m a dreamer. I am a big goal-setter, and I feel like the sky is the limit. I see big things for this business—like Magnolia-size. Given we’ve just opened the store in the last five months, I probably sound like a crazy person. But honestly, I see it happening. My team fuels that energy, and they’re excited too. I mean, seven people is small but mighty. Everybody I bring on gets that fire in their belly.
Do the seven people work entirely for the firm or the store, or across both?
Everybody wears multiple hats. I don’t have anybody who is purely a retail associate just yet. For instance, Ariel is a procurement manager, so she is sourcing for my clients, but she’s also responsible for all the purchasing for the shop. I’ve got Ali, my first-ever designer hire, and she is there helping me source every step of the way. We are at Round Top together; she's searching the antique world. While I wish one day we will have a dedicated store team and people who are focused only on that, it’s still a small business. So as we grow, we hire.
What are the challenges of Austin, and what’s the design scene like?
I love our location [in the Brentwood neighborhood] because it’s very up-and-coming, and for the walkability of the shops. I think it’s been a bit difficult for people to realize that we are not just a [design firm], that you can come in and shop. We’re learning along the way, like putting out a sign that says, “We are open, come in!” We’re lucky to be across from the vintage shop Honey Hill Market. They’ve got amazing foot traffic. We’re down the street from Alexander Marchant, and [Collected by] Blackbirds is right down the way. We’ve been talking to our buddies that we should really be “Design Row.” We’re trying to coin this, and if I talk about it more and more, maybe it will come into fruition.
What’s your favorite day in the shop?
Event days, because there is just so much buzz leading up to them that it’s like Christmas morning excitement when they arrive. I’m the type of person who loves to host parties at my house, so it’s a very similar feeling. It feels like a celebration of the event and the shop itself. Someday I hope that every day is event day. I think we will get there. It’s a place I’ve poured so much of myself into, and that my team has poured so much of themselves into. It just feels great. It’s very gratifying.
