Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ashley Diehl. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ashley, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
Family and togetherness is central to the Ingrain Home brand. Raised on a grain farm in small-town Oklahoma, after my father passed early in my life, my grandparents and extended family stepped in to help support my mom, brother and me. We were always close but loss created a stronger bond.
As I entered the design industry, this support and togetherness was something I wanted to offer to my clients by cultivating spaces for them that feel and live like home. For me design is emotional, a space can offer feelings of calm and safety, like my family was able to offer me.
The name alludes to the ‘grain’ farm that raised me as well as the promise I make to each and every client to “ingrain”, which literally means to firmly fix a belief or attitude in a person, this sense of “home,” that everyone deserves to dwell within.
Ashley, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
While design school was a part of my education, much like Shea McGee, Amber Lewis and Joanna, my training is predominantly informal and my start, like theirs, came from a couple of folks recognizing my talent and asking for my help.
After working since 2015 with many contractors and clients on predominantly kitchens, bathrooms, interior architecture remodels, and home plans, I extended my business to include full service work, furnishings, and styling in 2021. This ability to think cohesively from foundation to frills provides our clients with a cohesive design that doesn’t need to change hands or interrupt the process at any point.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Offering one single story that illustrates resilience would be seriously underselling the level of resilience it takes to run a business. Stories stack up on everyday that ends in “Y” as anyone who founds their own business would know. Add in that each person encountered has a different nature and you have to often dig deep to finish each project with happy clients and beautiful spaces. But as I like to illustrate to those I work with, a design project, especially one with construction involved has a series of ups and downs, since many of my clients are parents I like to humorously liken the design timeline to having a baby.
Designer offers beautiful design = Woo hoo!! You find out you’re pregnant, and are elated! You can imagine, almost see that little person’s beautiful face.
Waiting to start the project = Uh Oh, a couple weeks later, you get really tired. You move from elation to a low level worry that this is going to be tougher than you thought.
Construction begins, and your house looks worse = Second trimester, super tired, pretty chunky, emotional as all heck. You are becoming fully convinced that you’ve made a terrible mistake.
Construction grows to an end and things are taking shape! = Third trimester, your little baby is SO real and moving and hiccuping in there and you begin to feel like you’re going to make it and it’s going to be great.
House is finished, furniture arrives, and you get to call your house a home = Baby arrives, all the worry, and fear and questioning disappears as you look into that beautiful face and know you’ve done a really wonderful thing.
For some reason this always gets a chuckle but it also is a great reminder to each client that despite having a great plan and knowing exactly where we’re going, each project is a bit of a roller coaster be ready and hold on.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Self sufficiency was deeply part of my early life. Chores were required and responsibility was a privilege that was never taken lightly. This affixed a determination that I could do anything and everything. Over time, the things I didn’t yet know, I realized I could learn with ease.
This ability to do anything is virtuous. But having to do everything is limiting. This required learning. Learning to let go, learning to hire, learning to trust.
This learning is necessary to grow and while I still battle my tendency to take charge, allowing those to grow around me is also my responsibility and being a part of that growth is a privilege.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ingrainhomedesign.com
- Instagram: @ingrainhomedesign
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyfindleydiehl/
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/IngrainHome/_saved/