BY KADIE VICK
FOR THE OBSERVER
EAST ALABAMA — A local interior design company — L&M Design, Build, Furnish — is helping property owners cultivate spaces that represent their needs and wants.
“Our passion is meeting the design, aesthetic and functional needs of our clients,” said Meghan Murphree, co-founder of L&M. “We’re not trying to push a certain aesthetic and just rehash it over and over and over. We want it to feel like [the client’s] sanctuary.”
Murphree said she finds fulfillment in knowing that a space will serve a client their family.
“I think where design is so important is that it gives people that sense of not just a house, but a real home that they can enjoy,” she said. “The feedback we get from our clients is how much we really change their life because of the way that they move throughout their day in their own home, and that’s where it’s really important.”
In addition to providing design and building, L&M specializes in furnishing services, finding just the right furniture and décor to save clients valuable time and effort.
“We bring products to the Auburn area that are not accessible in a regular store, so customers don’t have to go to Atlanta to shop for high-end furnishings,” Murphree said. “It makes the process a lot less complicated for the client and turns it into something they can enjoy, instead of stressing about going to 50 different stores or multiple cities.”
“Not only do we select the furniture and sell the furniture, we also watch over the delivery process and make sure that every detail is taken care of,” added L&M co-founder Crystal Lashley.
Lashley and Murphree met a couple of decades ago as Auburn University students and enjoyed working on several projects together.
“We always enjoyed working together and just had a joke that one day we would open our own business, and I looked at it as a joke,” said Lashley. “I never once really thought Megan and I were going to open a business.”
Each worked for a couple of years after graduation and passed the qualifying exams to become certified as interior designers.
“We got to know each other as students in the interior design program at Auburn and became friends,” said Murphree. “Around 2005, we were discussing career goals, and we both had aspirations to have our own design firm. So, we decided to go ahead and just start something new. We began one of the very first full-service interior design firms in the area.”
L&M Design, Build, Furnish opened in 2006, and the owners say they owe their success to how well they balance each other.
“We dropped everything we were doing for that moment and started this business with full faith, knowing that this was going to just work out,” Lashley said. “We got here because Megan and I complement each other so well. She’s good at certain things that I’m not good at, and I’m good at certain things she’s not good at. So, it’s been a wonderful partnership over the last 20 years.”
Lashley and Murphree have cultivated a team at L&M that they say makes working with clients seamless and enjoyable and allows them to providing quality services with a personal touch.
“Looking back, I never would have guessed where we would be today,” said Lashley. “We are just so grateful for the people that we work with — they bring laughter into our offices and onto our job sites. Megan and I really just go with what feels right, and we feel like people are put into our lives for a reason.”
As business owners and mothers, seeing L&M grow along with their kids has been empowering for Murphree and Lashley and has assured them that they made the right decision 20 years ago to start this business.
“Between the two of us, we have seven kids, which is a lot,” Murphree said. “Owning your own business, being a female entrepreneur and raising kids — it’s not for the light-hearted, but we are so glad we’ve always persevered.”
Some of their children are getting to the age that they understand all the hard work that their moms have done to build their business, but for the younger ones, mom’s work is playing with pretty colors and patterns.
“Basically, the entire time my kids have been growing up, they just love coming to the office and playing with all the samples,” Lashley said. “That’s what Mommy does, is play with samples all day.”
Perhaps this might inspire they next generation, as Lashley, herself, discovered as a young girl that she loved interior design.
“I have always loved creating things, so what appealed to me most was making a space better after just having that feeling when you walk into a room and realize something is not right, and it’s not functional or it’s not beautiful,” she said. “I wanted to make it better from the start.”
For more information, visit L&M Design, Build, Furnish’s website: lmdesignbuildfurnish.com.
