Talk Shop: Stephanie Sabbe // Sabbe Interior Design
Photo by Cameron Jones
About Stephanie Sabbe
Stephanie Sabbe is the founder and principal of Sabbe Interior Design, a full-service interior design firm based in Nashville. A native Nashvillian and alumna of University of Tennessee’s interior design program, Stephanie has spent over 15 years working in residential and commercial interior design, both in her hometown and beyond. Before founding her eponymous interior design firm in 2010, Stephanie got her start in commercial interiors first at Gresham Smith and Partners passing both the NCIDQ and LEED and later Hnedak Bobo Group in Memphis. A move to Boston in 2009 and a short-term contract position with a residential interior designer was the springboard for Stephanie launching her own firm, a business she built while simultaneously teaching at the Boston Architectural College and later moved back home to Nashville in 2015.
In New England, Stephanie honed her fresh approach to historic design, a timeless and original aesthetic that has earned her praise in publications including House Beautiful, Country Living, Business of Home, WSJ, Boston Magazine and others, as well as a contribution to House Beautiful’s 2021 Idea House. In December 2022, Stephanie opened the doors to her home goods concept shop Heirloom Artifacts in Belle Meade, a leafy, residential neighborhood south of the city’s center, where she sells a tightly edited selection of handmade and artisan textiles, antiques, and home accessories (like candle chasers, accent pillows and resorted antique chairs) and offers monthly workshops on creative disciplines ranging from still-life painting to chain stitching.
Describe your style in three words or less:
Timeless, collected, comfortable
What have been the three biggest influences on your aesthetic in your life:
My grandmother’s house and my time in Boston
How did you start your company, and/or what is your favorite thing about what you do:
I started my company in Boston during the 2009 recession. A short-term contract position had just ended and I found myself unemployed and living in a new city so I marched myself down to city hall and got myself a business license. I thought everything would happen for me overnight because that is how my brain works but almost 12 years later I am really proud of the company I have slowly built from literally nothing.
Do you have a mentor in your career, and if so, how have they helped to shape your trajectory:
I have SO many mentors but no one that is in traditional step years beyond me. I just got back from a trip to Paris with 5 girls I have the biggest professional crushes on and it was such a treat to talk shop, life, kids, marriage for five days while we drank wine and froze in the streets of Paris. Our industry has changed so much in the past 15 years with technology and just the world in general that I have found it more beneficial to lean into peers over seeking out a relationship with someone a few decades ahead of me.
What does your home say about you:
It says I have four kids. There is always something on the floor of my home that does not belong. I had the good fortune years ago of having a friend explain the joy she felt when emptying her dishwasher after having children, just taking in all the beautiful colors . I have beautiful turkish rugs in my home and nearby I probably have a pile of naked barbies. That’s home.
Where do you find inspiration:
Everywhere. I love visiting old cities. It’s both a bucket filler and bucket dipper for me (see! Four kids). I always leave SO inspired but then also leave very frustrated. I always exclaim on job sites “they built the Pantheon without modern machinery! What do you mean you can't ______”
Who are your style icons:
Oh gosh, so many: Ben Pentreath, Rita Konig, basically all of the Brits. I have a big crush on Beata Heuman.
What are your key ingredients for entertaining:
We sell candle chasers in the shop and that is my latest must. I love moody lighting. We keep our homes way too bright for entertaining. We designed a restaurant this year and I just kept thinking, why don’t we eat like this at home everyday! And now I try.
Do you collect anything:
I collect everything, vintage copper pots, crocks, candle holders, handmade pottery, antique oil paintings, vintage spode.
Favorite Instagram accounts to follow for inspiration:
I do instagram in my very own, weird, sometimes offensive way. I have found, very simply, that it steals my joy if I use it as it is designed. I cannot scroll through my feed and see politics, pretty interiors, people’s babies, inspiring gardens etc. without feeling wrecked when I decide to shut it off. It’s just too much. So I have folders in my saved section for all of the categories I listed above and more. When I feel like looking at interiors, I look at interiors. When I feel like seeing where my friends are on vacation, I look at my friends feeds. It feels more controlled to me. Instagram should really offer categories as an option. People do get REALLY mad sometimes when they realize I do not follow them in the traditional sense and I hate that because the intention is not to be hurtful. I just have a lot of people depending on me to stay mentally in check and I’m just over here doing my best.
What design “rule” do you always follow, and which is made to be broken:
I always frame openings between rooms. Always. I cannot stand an outside corner. Otherwise I think I’m pretty open. I love people who push the envelope. I’m trying.
What are you working on right now:
We are rolling into phase two for RT Lodge, a 50 key hotel we helped renovate this past year. This phase will include all of the dining spaces. We are working with some long time clients on a new home they just purchased in Demarest, NJ. It’s fun to work near Manhattan without having to work in Manhattan.
Wardrobe staples:
I used to dress really fun before I had kids, I am trying to get back in that groove. It’s by no means a staple but I am really obsessed with the brand Farm Rio right now.
Favorite fabric/wallpaper:
I am working with Waterhouse to pull a collection of archived patterns together to recolor and I am SO excited about that. We will be featuring the collection in the lakehouse I am building for my family.
Best interior advice you ever received:
I have a friend named Katy Braden and she is the most insanely creative person I know and she renovated her house several years ago. I was using her bathroom and noticed her toilet paper holder was a swan and I told her how cool I thought it was and she said something like “yes, I just can’t do standard issue” and that resonated so strongly with me. Like WHY was I using toilet paper holders from Build.com when there were antique brass swans toilet paper holders in the world. I try to think like that with every single thing we do in our office.
Best career advice you ever received:
“You can’t let them see you cry.” I am a crier, which I think most people who know 41 year old me would be surprised by. I used to cry at my desk a lot at my first job. I just care very deeply about basically everything. But architect Anna Roberts pulled me aside when I was 22 years old and said “that’s fine but you need to go to the restroom.”
Types of home purchases you invest in, and save on:
Splurge on the interior architecture, save on kids bedding. Like Marin Morris said “if the bones are good, the rest don’t matter” I like good upholstery and custom drapery, but all of that can be phased in. Get the bones right.
Your greatest extravagance:
Our lakehouse. I have always thought it was dumb, wasteful etc to have two homes and now I do. I just hope it’s something that so many other people can use and find joy in beyond just my little family.
Favorite places to shop for home:
My shop, ha! I love John Derian's stores. I also love Fishs Eddy’s and we are big fans of the local shop, White’s Mercantile.
Most prized possession and why:
I have a fudge recipe my grandmother wrote out for me on a greeting card. My daughter is named after this grandmother and just seeing her writing makes my eyes tear up.
Your interiors motto:
Why would you ever want to do what has already been done
Your life motto:
Go with your gut
Advice for someone looking to define their own interior style:
Lean hard into what YOU love and other people will follow. Try not to brainwash yourself with too much outside, social media type influence. You will start designing things you saw instead of things you dreamed of.
Take Ten: My Favorite…
Food: Anything Greek
Drink: black coffee or red wine
Film: This is SO random but if I do not say it my husband is going to call this whole article a scam. I really love the movie Argo with Ben Afleck
Hotel: I think I would love Blackberry Farm but I have never been there.
City: Nashville or Boston
Bedding: Taylor Linens
Tea or Coffee (and how do you take it): Coffee! Black
Playlist: Early 2000s hip hop or anything you would associate with the Lilith Fair.
Weekend Activity: Sports games with my kids or the Lake if it’s warm
Design Book: Beata Heumans Everything Should Sing, because that is the truth!