Why I Started Olive & Wilde (and Why I’ll Never Design Beige)

I started Olive & Wilde as a side hustle back in 2019.

At the time, I was working full-time as a bespoke cabinet designer—specialising in storage solutions. It was technical. Specific. Focused on helping people fit their lives into drawers and cupboards.

But I wanted more. I didn’t just want to organise people’s stuff. I wanted to explore how entire spaces made people feel. What a room could say, even when no one was in it.

Around the same time, I launched my own holiday let. That changed everything.

What I realised almost immediately was this:

Design isn’t just about beauty. It’s about business.

When a space is intentionally designed;

It books faster.

It photographs better.

It attracts better guests.

It earns more.

It feels memorable.

That’s what Olive & Wilde was built to do—to bridge the emotional and the commercial. To create spaces that make people pause, feel, connect… and book.

And then there’s the personal layer. The bit that comes from deep in my bones.

I’ve always loved interiors. I just didn’t know it could be a “real” job when I was younger. I was the kid who rearranged her bedroom for fun. Who painted her window frames lilac. Who created reading nooks and display corners and curated her space like it meant something. (And it did.)

Where Olive & Wilde began: Lilac Woodwork and Early Interior Design Instincts

Design has always been my language—long before I learned how to speak it professionally.

Today, Olive & Wilde is an interior design studio for holiday lets, boutique stays, and homes that need to work hard. I design flexible spaces that feel effortless—places where every detail earns its keep, where zoning creates flow, and where a room can shift from morning coffee spot to cosy night in nook without missing a beat.

But more than that, it’s my way of doing things differently. Not beige. Not boring. Not for the algorithm.

Every space I design is rooted in the guest experience, aligned with your goals as a host or property owner, and created to connect—to place, to memory, to feeling.

I’m not interested in trends. I’m interested in truth. The feeling you get when you walk into a space and think: Yes. I want to stay here.

That’s the moment I design for.

And that’s why I started Olive & Wilde.

Loved this? Come say hi on Instagram @oliveandwildeinteriors—especially if you too had an inflatable chair, a lava lamp and strong feelings about Groovy Chick. Bold colours, STR design and 90s icons welcome.

Laura Creative Director at Olive and Wilde