Hallie Henley Sims’ mother was a teacher, but she loved home projects – her own as well as those of friends, and a young Hallie tagged along when she shopped for treasures for the home.
It was inevitable that when Hallie was in fifth grade was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up she would write: interior designer.
When she was a freshman at Oklahoma University, Hallie met her now-husband Will Sims, who works in the oil and gas industry. She earned her bachelor’s degree in interior design there, then a master’s degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design. After working for Duncan Miller Ullmann’s hospitality division in Dallas and then Courtney Hill Interiors in Houston, Hallie opened her own firm, Hallie Henley Design.
Her style is traditional, classic and refined with updated modern touches, and her projects are filled with rich color, pattern and textures.
“Throughout all of our projects is a love of color and pattern,” said the 41-year-old mother of two. “It’s funny coming from a background in hospitality design, you wanted to create things that are super trendy because they redesign every couple of years to stay current. In home design, you don’t want the client to redo everything in five years. That’s something that’s really important to me.”
She loves vintage and antique pieces she sources at antiques stores and on visits to antique shows in Round Top, but also appreciates new things available through improved technology. One example: large-scale wallpaper murals that used to be hand painted but can be done more effectively with digital printing.
Hallie and her family vacation in Telluride every summer so one dream project is to design a home there, and another big dream – after designing many bespoke pieces for clients – is to someday launch her own furniture collection.