Best interior designer
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Designing Women
MARY LYNN COX AND JENNIFER SCOTT COX ON THEIR FAMILY DYNAMIC AND AESTHETICS
Getting Their Start Mary Lynn: “I always did design but I had a lady that hired me, who was my mentor. Her name was Julia and she taught me everything that you don’t learn in school. She passed away and left me the business, which I then changed to M.L. Designs. The biggest thing that I learned is that you cannot just do interior design – you need a mentor. You’ve got to have someone that takes you by the hand and teaches you. You don’t want to learn everything the hard way and if you do that, it’s at the expense of a customer.”
that point, she had been with me a good bit and said, ‘Well, what do you think?’ The entryway that they did in that third house was beautiful yellow and white stripes. She was already building a huge amount of confidence in her ability to make great choices.”
Work Perks Jennifer: “In the beginning, I would say that the best part of working with family was that Mary Lynn Cox and Jennifer Scott Cox. she’s very understanding of my children’s schedule, and I’m allowed to put family first. Now that ... my kids are getting older, I have more time to give and she’s traveling more. I think [flex] time has definitely been one of the biggest Jennifer: “I was always interested in design. Growing up in Chapel benefits [as well as] learning from her. She’s been a wonderful mentor Hill, we would go over to [Mary Lynn’s] house and play in the fabric – she did it before me so she’s shared all the [lessons].” room because her studio used to be out of her house. Growing up, we would even go over there and pretend to do design stuff. It’s Mixing Business with Pleasure always been something I was interested in. Now, I am married to Jennifer: “I would lie and tell you that we would never talk about her oldest son – I went to Chapel Hill High and he went to Durham [work], but that’s not true. Generally [on vacation], when we first get Academy. I went to school for public relations, and I started working together, we go over it all and discuss it. And then we take the rest of with her several years after our kids were born. We’ve been working the vacation and do not talk about [work].” together for going on 16 years.” Reaping the Rewards Mary Lynn: “That’s been one of the most wonderful things – to see First House her develop from a good designer [into] a quality person with her Mary Lynn: “She was a new daughter-in-law to me, so I walked softly clients [with] a great reputation. That’s been very rewarding.” [when working on that first house for Jennifer and my son]. Then –Jessica Stringer they built a house. Then they built and designed a third house. At 86
chapelhillmagazine.com July/August 2017