Imagine standing at the top of Mount Baldy after a long day hike, taking in the views that stretch across Southern California. For Long Beach designer and avid hiker Melissa Polson, exploring trails like this is one of her favorite pastimes.
Her pull to explore the outside goes back to her childhood. She grew up with a family that loved to hike and camp, spending summers in Jackson Hole.
Now she hikes local mountain peaks including Mount Baldy and San Jacinto, and is organizing a three-week trek for next summer on the John Muir Trail between Mount Whitney and Yosemite with friends and relatives. She also rows with the Long Beach Rowing Association and walks regularly in her Park Estates neighborhood.
Her design company, Inside Out Design, grew out of that same love of being outdoors and the backyard she redesigned at home.
“A good friend of mine down the street is an interior designer, and when she saw the way I remodeled my backyard she said, ‘This is what you need to do,’” Melissa said. “She told me it looked like a boutique hotel and that it felt so curated.”
She built the business after working at Hyundai for about two decades, starting with small landscape projects before taking on full yard remodels.
“My sweet spot is exterior — bringing the indoors outside,” she said. “We live in California, why wouldn’t we want to spend more time outdoors?”
In a recent Park Estates project, a home purchased in 2024 came with a dated backyard. The goal was to create a space where the owner can easily step from the living room and kitchen into a functional outdoor area.
Her plan calls for a pergola with seating and a television, pavers set with grass between them, and flowers, a potting area, a fountain and a fire pit.
She leans on bold colors when designing spaces, favoring blues, mustard yellows and chartreuse over all-gray or beige palettes to make a yard feel more alive.
Melissa also looks for ways to bring that feeling back inside. She often recommends opening up wall space with a pocket or accordion door, enlarging windows or adding plants so rooms feel more connected to the yard.
”You don’t need a large space to work with. You can bring the outdoors in by adding more light,” she said. “Lighting is everything. For a space to feel more outdoor when you’re inside, lighting is really important.”
When she takes on a new project, Melissa usually meets with clients a few times and walks the space with a contractor. She describes the work as a somewhat intimate process because she needs to understand what people like, how they live and what they want their home to feel like.
“The client is the most important part of the process because it’s their home and their sanctuary,” she said. “But they’ve also hired me to bring something they wouldn’t have thought of themselves.”
Beyond work and time spent outdoors, she volunteers with Precious Lamb Preschool, an early-education nonprofit for homeless children, and serves on her homeowners association board.
“At the end of the day, a home should feel grounding — effortless, calm and entirely at ease”. Melissa said.
Her goal is to make stepping outside feel as cozy as walking into a favorite room at home.