wellington | designer
Ashland Farms’ Emily Smith Brings Her Eye For Design To The Wellington Community By Emily Riden
Pick any weekend during the Winter Equestrian Festival season, and you are likely to find Emily Smith standing ringside, looking right at home helping coach a horse or rider to success in the show ring. But pick an afternoon in April, and you are just as likely to find Smith studying fixtures, poring over fabric samples or reviewing design plans.
(Above) Emily Smith takes a minute to enjoy her recently completed project at the home of Mason Phelps and Ron Neal. PHOTO BY EMILY RIDEN (Below) For the home, Emily Smith incorporated both new pieces and already owned artwork and furniture. PHOTO COURTESY MASON PHELPS
The talented, Wellington-based riding instructor has adeptly transformed what started as a passion and love for interior design into a second career. Today, she seamlessly juggles life as a trainer — alongside her husband, Ken Smith, at their successful Ashland Farms — with life as the lead interior designer of her own Ashland Designs. “I’m a horse person, but I’ve always helped friends decorate,” Emily said. “I officially started out with interior design about five years ago. I had a partner from Europe, and we bought a house in Wellington and totally gutted it and redid it. That was my first real project. That was the beginning of wellington the magazine | june 2016
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