Areas Served

Interior Designer in Apex, North Carolina

House of Maevie is a design-led renovation studio serving Apex and the greater Triangle. We design renovations, additions, new construction, and complete furnishings. It’s for Apex homeowners who want a home with genuine character, planned with care from the start.

Designing in Apex

Three house styles, three different projects

Apex has one of the most intact historic downtowns in the Triangle. The National Register district covers roughly 1870 to 1950 and more than 150 contributing structures. A downtown that survives that intact is usually an accident. Apex protected it on purpose.

In practice, that means older Apex homes fall into a few recognizable styles. Each one asks for something different.

Queen Anne

Tall, irregular, generous with detail. The mistake here is simplifying: strip the trim and the proportions stop making sense. These houses usually need their layout rethought, not their character reduced. Done well, it looks like nobody touched the house at all.

Craftsman bungalow

The most common older house we’re asked about in Apex, and the easiest to get wrong. Low ceilings, dark original woodwork and small rooms. People want to paint everything white and knock it through. Sometimes that’s right. But a bungalow that loses all its wood loses the thing that made it worth buying. Usually the better answer is light, layout, and one or two rooms opened rather than all of them.

Colonial Revival

Symmetrical and formal, which makes them the most forgiving to update, and the most punishing if you get proportion wrong. Cabinetry and millwork have to line up with what’s already there or the whole room reads slightly off.

What the historic listing does and doesn’t do

Worth knowing before you worry about it: the Apex Historic District is a National Register district. That listing is largely honorary and doesn’t stop you renovating your own house. Interior work in particular sits outside it entirely.

Apex does maintain a Small Town Character Overlay covering the downtown area. If your project changes anything visible from the street, call the town before you plan around it. Kitchens, baths and layout are almost never the problem.

Everywhere else in Apex

Outside the old center it’s a different town entirely. Apex has grown hard, and most of that housing went up recently. It’s structurally sound and short on character rather than short on space. The work there is layout in the rooms you actually use. Cabinetry to the ceiling. Lighting as part of the design rather than an afterthought.

Both briefs run the same way: layout, scope and budget settled first, because early planning is what keeps the rest calm.

Why House of Maevie

Why Apex clients choose us

Planning before products

We work through the hard parts first: layout, structure, scope, and budget. That’s why you shape your Apex home with clarity, well ahead of construction.

Character, not trends

Interiors that feel collected and personal, built around how you actually live. Not around what’s popular for a season.

Guidance through complexity

Concept through installation, we coordinate the details and the trades. You get to move forward with confidence.

What We Work On

Renovations, new homes, and complete furnishings in Apex

Renovations & Additions

We design whole-home and multi-room renovations and additions across Apex and the Triangle. Early space planning through construction and installation, we’re in all of it. Creative direction, technical drawings, selections, and trade coordination run through our studio.

Investment: single-space renovations start around $40,000 for a bathroom. A kitchen renovation runs to $150,000+, with design fees from $6,000 to $22,500.

New Construction Homes

For new builds we’re at the table early, next to your architect and builder. Layouts, finishes and the full technical drawing set come together before ground breaks. The earlier we’re involved, the more we protect your vision and your budget.

Investment: design fees begin at $15,000 and scale with how big and how complex the home is.

Furnishing & Interiors

Complete furnishing for a whole home or a single room. Both get the same standard as a whole-home project: layouts, custom pieces, sourcing, and styling installed end to end. One room or every room, we design for how you actually live.

Investment: $25,000 per room for full-service furnishing. Design fees from $4,000.

Our Process

Clear at every step

Inquiry

Start by telling us about your project. A short call comes next: your home, your goals, your timeline.

Consultation

A walk-through of your space, and a conversation about priorities, investment and direction. Scope follows.

Concept

The key decisions and the layout happen up front, ahead of detailed design.

Development

We close out selections, drawings and visualizations, so the crew is never waiting on a decision.

Execution

Procurement, coordination, installation. We don’t hand it off at the end.

Frequently Asked

The questions we hear most in Apex

Can I renovate a house in the Apex historic district?

Yes. The Apex Historic District is a National Register district, and that listing is honorary rather than restrictive. It doesn’t stop you changing your own house, and it doesn’t reach your interiors at all.

Apex does have a Small Town Character Overlay covering downtown. Anything visible from the street is worth checking with the town first. Kitchens, baths and layout changes are almost never the issue.

What does an interior design project with House of Maevie cost?

We price every Apex project to its scope, but these are the starting points. Design fees from $3,500. Full-service furnishing from $25,000 per room. A bathroom renovation from $40,000, a kitchen renovation to $150,000 and beyond, design fees $6,000 to $22,500. New construction and whole-home work from $15,000. We put the numbers on the table during the complimentary call.

Should I paint the original woodwork in an Apex bungalow?

Sometimes, but it’s the decision I’d slow down on. Craftsman bungalows carry most of their character in that woodwork. Paint all of it and there’s no practical way back.

Often the problem isn’t the wood at all. It’s that the rooms are dark and small. Fix the light, open one connection rather than three, and lift the surrounding finishes. That usually gets you what you wanted, with the house still recognizably itself.

Where Else We Work

Starting a project in Apex?

Every project begins with a conversation. Tell us about your Apex home and what you’re hoping to create. From there we’ll help you find the right next step.