Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Larissa Anderson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Larissa, thanks for joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

When I was growing up, our house never felt like a safe place. We weren’t abused, but emotionally, our house was volatile, scary and incredibly lonely. Perhaps due to that in part, I was always trying to make my room feel like mine. I made art, I moved my furniture around, I painted…basically anything that didn’t cost money or require help from anyone else. I also received a purple record player, and was obsessed with music ever after.

Moving on to my college and adult years, I continued to love expressing myself through the design and elements in my home. We didn’t have much money growing up, so I came to love dumpster diving and thrifting as a means of finding and fixing up things that I knew had potential, but were garbage to others.

Design never felt like an actual career based on my experiences, and so I went to school for business and marketing, which allowed me to be creative in some ways, but feel like it was a stable, safe choice. During and after having children, I continued to find and repair all manner of furniture, and use inexpensive means to create safe, beautiful spaces for myself and my family, eventually helping other friends as well. I continued to take on bigger home repair projects and realized that I loved the physical and mental act of tiling, painting, building. It allowed my brain rest in a way that just about nothing else did. My husband and friends always pushed me to consider design as a career, and in 2019, I finally stepped out in faith. I created my LLC, and named it Haven Design Studio.

The word Haven was the first thing that came to my mind when I was considering what I would want a home to feel like. It was the opposite of my home growing up. A respite from the world, a safe place containing things that mean the most to me, and allowing me to create memories with the people I love. Hence, Haven was born.

In 2020, during Covid, and then in 2021, when I was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer, I experienced the reality of feeling safe in my haven even more deeply. Not only did design allow me to continue working through both Covid and cancer, it also made a huge difference in my healing. My bedroom became my world during treatment, especially during chemotherapy, when I would be too sick to get out of bed for days each week. My room was my office, my homeschooling base, my retreat. Staying in visually restful places, with the ability to see the sun, to have photos of my family surrounding me was paramount as my body and my mind were pushed to their limits.

I know what it means to have a Haven, and it truly drives each project I work on. My goal is to hear my clients well, get to know what they need, and imagine spaces that are even better than they could picture both aesthetically and functionally. I love helping clients find their Haven.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I founded Haven Design Studio in 2019, focusing mostly on residential interior (and exterior) design. We are a heart-driven company that prioritizes long-term relationships with clients. We pride ourselves on making welcoming, highly curated spaces that feel like a respite from the stress that’s present in most of our everyday lives. We provide full-service design, as well as furnishings/decor and e-design. We’re based in Madison, WI, but work regionally and nationally as well.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I love helping people bring their ideas to life. Not everyone has the gift to verbalize, or visualize what they love and what makes them feel happy and safe. I believe that interpersonal skills are just as important in my design firm as design skills. Meeting clients and discovering who they are, as well as encouraging people to be part of the design/creative process is my favorite. Everyone is creative in their own way, and it’s just a matter of figuring out how to bring out that side of them.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Project management software changed my life. I was so careful at the beginning of Haven to keep my overhead low, that I was wasting time manually recreating my process and documents over and over. It took an excellent business coach to explain to me how in the long run, I’d actually be helping myself and saving money. I haven’t looked back, and have realized the value of services and software that save me time and are way more organized than my brain:)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.havendesignmsn.com
• Instagram: @havendesignmsn
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/havendesignmsn
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/havendesignstudio
• Other: My breast cancer journey on TikTok: @larissanoel11

Image Credits

@ep.studio_

@madelineharperphoto