Photos by Danny Fulgencio
Meredith Grabham sits in her studio on a white powder-puff stool, wearing a simple white shirt, cut-off jean shorts, knockout designer shoes and chunky jewelry. Owner of Meredith Grabham Designs, she launched the boutique in 2017, specializing in painting unusual patterns and turning them into textiles, wallpaper, tabletop linens and pillows.
She sits on the stool in a sweet-smelling studio and recounts growing up in Palestine, Texas. She treasures a photo her mother took of her when she was little. In the photo, she paints while wearing short-cropped hair, a robe and high heels.
“And that is still pretty accurate,” she says.
After her daughter was born, Grabham says, she needed something else to do. “I was painting, and friends started asking for help and I said, ‘Of course.’ “That turned into three businesses in one — the art business, the textile and wallpaper business and the interior design business.”
Her projects are mostly local and residential, but she has jobs in Atlanta, Chicago, California and one in New York.
“The most difficult part is balancing being a creative person and pleasing the client,” she says. “It’s for their personal space, so it needs to be reflective of them.”
Grabham jumps from topic to topic. Korean manicures. How travel inspires her art. Her mother, her daughter and she just returned from a girls’ trip to Paris (they bought a lot of cute sundresses). Her sons played too much Fortnite over the summer. Her youngest boy went to Scotland with her parents. (“They just sent me a video of him as a street performer.”)
In addition to running her business, she does carpool, helps with homework and after-school activities (her daughter goes to Hockaday and her sons go to Good Shepherd Episcopal School). She sometimes stays up until 4 a.m. to finish business emails.
She’s most excited about an upcoming collaboration with Judy Aldridge, who is known for her Atlantis home collection, popularized on her blog and Instagram. “She has tons of followers, and she has a boho, eclectic vibe,” Grabham says. “We’re doing a collection for a local furniture manufacturer that I’m excited about. And, oh, I’m doing caftan and handbag projects.
“Normal is so boring.”
