By Sadie Fowler

Andy and Danielle Holmes are the dynamic husband-wife team behind Holmes By Design and together, they aim to provide customers with a one-stop-shop kind of service from selling their home, to building a new one, to better yet even furnishing the new one.

Andy is a custom home builder and owns Holmes By Design while Danielle is a real estate agent at Parks and owns Velvet + Oak, which offers interior design services and pop up furniture and decor markets — adding the perfect supplement to her husband’s business.

Both Andy and Danielle moved to Murfreesboro in elementary school and have been there ever since. They got married in 2005 and had two awesome little boys, Asher and Abel. 

As one would expect, life is business for the Holmes family as each plays their part in the family plan. Also like every normal family with children, Andy and Danielle tend to divide and conquer with the duties of parenting, chores and of course the business aspect of their lives. 

“Our days are pretty hectic between work, school, and sports, but the weekends are always filled with friends and fun,” Danielle said. “We love to entertain.”

Taking a closer look at the start of this dynamic duo, Andy’s background in the business is a direct result of the early training he received from his dad, who is a master trim carpenter. “He literally cut his teeth on a job site following around his dad,” Danielle said. “He went on to work for Ole South as a Project Manager and lead their custom home division. In 2013, he founded Holmes By Design.”

Danielle’s background is in marketing — she’s worked 14 years in various capacities of the corporate aspect of her field. In 2012, she took a position to develop a marketing department for a global Ed Tech company, and while it was a great opportunity for her, she says working from home was not the right fit for her. 

“I was looking for a way to connect with more people — especially in the community — and we decided real estate would go perfectly well with our family business,” she said. “I’ve had my license for 18 months with Parks and I love it!”

Danielle got a really good first-hand account of what it takes to excel in her role assisting Andy’s business when the couple built their house in 2017. 

“I spent a lot of time at the Atlanta Market selecting furniture and décor for our home,” she said. “In 2018, I launched Velvet + Oak, with my best friend Colleen, so we could offer interior design services to our custom clients. We also do a couple of pop up furniture and décor markets throughout the year.”

Like one would expect, there are pros and cons to working together as a husband-wife team. Though Danielle admits she once thought it would be difficult for the two to work together, as it turned out they have made an awesome team.

“Because we spend a lot of time together I always know where we are on certain projects (and vice-versa) so we can better inform our customers,” she said.

Pointing to an obvious “con” of working together, Danielle laughs as she says, “We talk about work … A lot.”

Their dynamics also require a pretty good effort in the planning aspects of their days as there are often times where both of them have to be present for meetings that are either later in the evening or early in the morning.

“This takes some extra planning with the boys … or they just get to tag along,” she laughed. Both Danielle and Andy truly love their work and aim to please with their full-service real estate/custom building/remodeling triple threat kind of arrangement — they love making Pinterest of Houzz-inspired details a reality. 

Looking ahead, Danielle and Andy hope to continue to grow all three of their businesses both with new customers and repeat customers. Many of the people they’ve worked with have become great friends, adding icing to the cake.

PICTURES TELL A THOUSAND WORDS

As the photos within this feature depict, Andy’s creativity and vision for a home certainly shows, especially in their current home. When they built it, the Holmes knew they wanted to push the bar a bit, well, Danielle says at least that was Andy’s goal. 

Both agree the most unique areas of the home are their front exterior, which includes a diamond window, their wine/bourbon room, a wine cork backsplash that includes dates from special occasions, funky wallpaper in the hall that’s paired with mirrored tie inspired by the Saint Anejo restaurant in Nashville, and their courtyard inspired backyard. 

“We definitely went with some trends that I was a little unsure of at first, like floating shelves, but I’m glad we did,” she said. “We just kept saying if we don’t like it, we’ll fix it.”

Andy and Danielle love to bring the outdoors in and the indoors out, and they designed this house to do just that … The outdoor living area is used like most use their living room or bonus. All of the finish work was done by Andy himself, which demonstrates his background that included working with his father.  

The “adult cave” is their home is a fun space. Danielle says they love to collect wine and bourbon and this room creates a good atmosphere to sit and relax and listen to good music on vinyl. The back yard is their version of an English garden, and they are continuing to try and create another relaxing spot to hang out. 

Considered basically a new American-style home, the exterior on the home has rubbed/whitewashed brick, lots of cedar accents, and tons of windows. They also have a Charleston door, which is unique to the area. Build in October of 2017, they have lived there now for just about two years.

Their home sets in the popular Puckett Station community, and in fact, the Holmes’ home is the second one they’ve built in the neighborhood. What they like the most about Puckett Station is that it feels like a community. 

“Some of our very best friends live in our neighborhood, our sons always have a big group of kids to play with, and the neighborhood has a lot of life,” she said. “People are always outside, kids are everywhere, there are always fun events like a Fourth of July parade, Saturday night football watch parties, our annual Witches Brew Halloween party. It’s just so much fun.”

Outside of Puckett Station, Andy and Danielle say Murfreesboro is the perfect fit for them. Andy had moved here from Illinois and Danielle from Toronto, Canada when they were both in elementary school. They met in Murfreesboro, got married in Murfreesboro and have loved raising their family in Murfreesboro. 

“There is so much growth in this area it’s also perfect for a homebuilder,” she said.  As masters of their trade, the Holmes can provide some pretty easy and basic bits of advice that would serve beneficial to any first-time home buyer or builder. Most of all, they advise not to live above your means.

“A small house with tons of character is way better than a big house with empty rooms,” she said. “Sit down with your significant other and make a list of your individual priorities for the home, then compare to see what you both want and then talk through each other’s nonnegotiable list.” 

Again, speaking to their own experience, Danielle loves that their home is flexible — It’s perfect for when they want to entertain, but it’s also cozy and relaxing when it’s just the four of them. 

“For us, what matters most is seeing our boys happy,” Danielle said. “And having a place we want to be at and enjoy. We want a space where everyone can thrive, our own retreat.  We love to create fun memories for our family and friends in our home.”

Truly demonstrating their love for their craft, it’s unbelievable that the Holmes have already lived in six homes in their 14-year marriage. 

“We love the building process so we already know we’ll do it again,” Danielle said.