Areas Served

Interior Designer in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

House of Maevie is a design-led renovation studio serving Chapel Hill and the greater Triangle. We design renovations, additions, new construction, and complete furnishings. It’s for homeowners who want a home that feels collected and personal, rooted in the way they live.

Designing in Chapel Hill

The strictest town we work in, and not in the way you expect

Chapel Hill regulates more of what you do to your own house than anywhere else we work. Almost nobody is surprised that there are rules. The surprise is how much they cover.

Three local districts, and they go further than most

Franklin-Rosemary, Gimghoul and Cameron-McCauley are local historic districts. Additions and renovations there need approval from the Historic District Commission. That part people expect.

What they don’t expect is how far it reaches. In these districts the standards can cover paint colors, fences, decks, walkways and landscaping. In Raleigh or Wake Forest the review is mostly about structure and street-facing fabric. Here it extends to choices most people assume are entirely theirs.

Gimghoul is the clearest example of why. It’s 37 houses, built in the 1920s and 30s as university faculty housing, mostly Colonial Revival. The exteriors have barely changed since. That consistency is the whole point of the district, and the town guards it accordingly.

The trees are regulated too

Chapel Hill’s tree protection standards apply to private property. The town’s stated priority is keeping canopy on the site rather than replacing it elsewhere. An addition, a new drive or significant site work all run into that, before any design question comes up.

It also changes the interior. Heavy canopy plus north-facing rooms makes paint read cooler and darker than the fan deck suggests. So I test color on your walls at a few different times of day before we choose anything.

Where the real freedom is

Interior work. Almost none of the above applies inside, so kitchens, baths, layout and millwork are where a Chapel Hill house can genuinely change. That’s worth knowing early, because it means the ambitious version of your project is usually the interior one.

Outside the historic districts none of this applies, and Chapel Hill has plenty of later housing where the brief looks like anywhere else. Either way we settle scope and budget first, since early planning is what keeps a project calm.

Why House of Maevie

Why Chapel Hill clients choose us

Planning before products

We work the hard decisions out first: layout, structure, scope, and budget. That way the choices that shape your Chapel Hill home happen with clarity, well before construction begins.

Character, not trends

Homes that feel collected and personal, and that follow the way you live. Not the trend of the season.

Guidance through complexity

We coordinate the details and the trades, concept through installation. You move forward with confidence instead of chasing updates.

What We Work On

Renovations, new homes, and complete furnishings in Chapel Hill

Renovations & Additions

We design whole-home and multi-room renovations and additions across Chapel Hill and the Triangle. Our studio stays involved from early space planning through construction and installation. That covers creative direction, technical drawings, selections, and trade coordination.

Investment: single-space renovations start around $40,000 for a bathroom and reach $150,000+ for a kitchen. Design fees go from $6,000 to $22,500.

New Construction Homes

On a new build we join early, alongside your architect and builder. We shape layouts, finishes and the full technical drawing set before ground breaks. The earlier we’re at that table, the more of your vision and your budget we protect.

Investment: $15,000 is where new construction design fees open. Size and complexity move it up from there.

Furnishing & Interiors

Complete furnishing for a full home or one room at a time. Same standard as a whole-home project either way: layouts, custom pieces, sourcing, and styling installed end to end. One room or every room, we design for how you actually live.

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

Our Process

Clear at every step

Inquiry

Tell us about your project. We start with a short call about your home, your goals and your timeline.

Consultation

We walk your space and talk through priorities, investment and direction. Scope comes after that.

Concept

Layouts and the key decisions come early, before we move into detailed design.

Development

Selections, drawings, visualizations: all of it done before construction starts, so the build runs calmly.

Execution

We’re there for procurement, coordination and installation, right to the last delivery.

Frequently Asked

The questions we hear most in Chapel Hill

What actually needs approval in a Chapel Hill historic district?

More than most people assume. Franklin-Rosemary, Gimghoul and Cameron-McCauley are the three local districts. In all three, the Historic District Commission reviews additions and renovations. The standards can extend to paint colors, fences, decks, walkways and landscaping.

Interior work is the exception, and it generally escapes all of this. Say your house sits in one of the National Register districts rather than a local one. That listing is honorary and doesn’t carry the same requirements. Confirming which one you’re in is the first thing to do.

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

Design fees start at $3,500 and grow with the scope of the work. Full furnishing generally begins at $25,000 per room. For renovations, a bathroom starts at $40,000. A kitchen renovation can reach $150,000 or more, with design fees of $6,000 to $22,500. Whole-home and new construction projects begin at $15,000. Chapel Hill homes vary a great deal, so the honest number comes out of the complimentary call.

Can I take down a tree to make room for an addition?

Not automatically. Chapel Hill’s tree protection standards apply to private property. The town’s priority is keeping canopy on the site, not removing it and mitigating elsewhere.

Sort it out before the design rather than after. It can change where an addition goes, or whether an addition makes sense at all. It affects the inside too: heavy canopy makes rooms read cooler and darker, which changes paint and lighting decisions.

Where Else We Work

Starting a project in Chapel Hill?

Every project starts with a conversation. Share a little about your Chapel Hill home and where you’d like it to go. We’ll help you find the right next step.