Homeowners can be hesitant to hire an interior designer. Perhaps they fear the services are purely aesthetic and frivolous. Or they might feel concerned the process will take too long and cost too much. A designer might completely take over with their own style and preferences. Not to mention, home design television shows often reveal drama and frustration in designing, or redesigning, a home. These concerns can create anxiety for a homeowner seeking design expertise.
Amy Slaughter and Slaughter Design Studio (SDS) put these fears to rest. The elegantly renovated century-old limestone cottage on Llano Street provides a workspace ensuring clients feel welcome and at home. It is clear from the first interaction with the design team, SDS is at another level.
Discovering Design
Growing up in a military family meant frequent moves, which fostered Slaughter’s ability to adapt. Slaughter’s mom sold real estate while she attended high school. She recalls sitting at open houses, looking around the spaces and dreaming up ways to make it better. Slaughter shares, “That’s kind of how I got started, and I’ve just loved it ever since. It’s fun for me to see how similarly we all live, but then the differences that make us unique.”
During college at Utah State University, she dabbled in art and furniture history, which solidified her draw to interior design. After college, Slaughter worked for 12 years in Utah gaining valuable design experience and honing her project management skills while traveling across the country to help clients.
After visiting dear friends in Fredericksburg, her family felt drawn to the quaint Hill Country town.
“We wanted a place that was smaller, where we could be involved in our kids’ upbringing, that still had kind of a tourist economy,” Slaughter said. “We felt like that was familiar and kind of the basis of my career. I felt I could start on my own with that.” So, in 2005, Fredericksburg felt like the perfect hometown.
Design in Fredericksburg
It has been 20 years since that move and the start of SDS from a desk in the Slaughter home. Her business growth included a studio space she rented from a friend, then a move to an office space in the Chase Bank building downtown. Ultimately, she settled into a country-style home and began refurbishing the structure to create a welcoming place to encourage creativity for Slaughter and her staff.
A visitor to the SDS business location will find themselves entering a Hill Country historic home beautifully converted into a cozy and welcoming space, where the SDS team is ready to visit about each client’s specific needs.
The limestone structure underwent several additions, including a Victorian front, complete with an entrance lintel dated 1865. Over the years, the home was turned into the offices for KTBC-TV, which was the radio and cable television company owned by Lyndon B. Johnson’s family in the mid-1900s.
Eventually, ownership changed and the historic building housed a couple of communication businesses. It then sat vacant for several years and Slaughter recalls, “It was really, really in dire need of a remodel…and I loved the idea that I could kind of put my style and my name on this and redo it myself.”
Her personal touches are now seen throughout the home. During renovations, a large cottonwood tree was damaging the limestone wall corner and the tree had to come down. Slaughter creatively had a beautiful conference table made from the tree, and this is where her clients now sit to discuss their own design needs.
Slaughter’s approach to design includes a multi-step process which she explains, “It’s broken down into research, design development, procurement and installation. Everyone will go through a kind of relationship-building process where we really get to know you and what you want out of your project.”
With over 32 years working in design, Slaughter has discovered the best way to help her clients is listening. SDS asks clients, for example, to share photos of inspiration, what is important to them - a special piece of art, a collection, a prized possession or a piece of furniture.
These images can reveal a pattern of taste and then shape the project's vision. A style type is never assumed. Customization is the key. The team creates a tactile presentation to show the client how the feel of the space is interpreted. This can include a printed floor plan, a fabric swatch, a tile square, photos of fixtures, sketches and more.
While it is hugely beneficial to engage a designer at the early stages of building a new home, SDS can also improve existing spaces to better suit a way of life. And sometimes, a designer can improve just a small area or room that just isn’t quite perfect. One current project tasked the team with converting a large pantry into a beautiful coffee bar where the clients could share their mornings together.
Whatever the client is trying to accomplish in their space, Slaughter says, “We really do try to handle all the details so that our clients can go back to their day-to-day life and not have to worry about their project.”
Amy Slaughter can’t imagine a better hometown, where she can support local businesses by working with craftsmen and artisans to build custom furniture, cabinetry, fixtures or even create a special piece of art.
Her further involvement in the community also includes volunteering on Fredericksburg's Historic Review Board, animal rescue, and Arcadia Recovery Collaboration, an organization helping victims of the recent devastating Hill Country floods.
When asked what makes Fredericksburg home for her family, Slaughter reflected, “We love all the boutique businesses. We love that it’s quiet at night. We love the sense of community. And we love how understated people like to live. I feel like people move here because they can kind of exhale. It’s not high-pressure living.”
These are some of the same reasons we all call Fredericksburg Home.
Slaughter Design Studio is located at 711 N. Llano Street. Visit SDS online at slaughterdesignstudio.com. Call SDS at 830-307-3397.
"It’s fun for me to see how similarly we all live, but then the differences that make us unique.” - Amy Slaughter
"Everyone will go through a kind of relationship-building process where we really get to know you and what you want out of your project.” - Amy Slaughter