We’re a builder, not a designer. That’s what makes this list worth reading — we’re not competing with anyone on it, so we have no reason to put one studio over another. We’ve just been on enough job sites to know the difference a good one makes.
How we chose them
These aren't ranked. A studio that's brilliant at a 1940s bungalow isn't better or worse than one that's brilliant at a modern new build — it's a different job. So each entry says what that studio is known for and the kind of house it suits, and you pick from there.
To be on the list, a studio had to have a deep portfolio of its own photographed work, a point of view you can see across those projects rather than one house repeated, and a real Austin-area base. Everything below — the year a studio started, where it's based, what it's been published in — came off that studio's own website in September 2026.
Disclosure: Prime Construction & Remodeling wrote this list. Nobody paid to be on it and we get nothing for listing anyone. We've worked alongside some of these studios and not others, and we've deliberately left that out — which builder a designer has used tells you almost nothing about how good the designer is.
The twelve
Amity Worrel & Co.
Amity Worrel's studio works on older houses — period renovations and additions that are meant to read as though they were always there. That's a harder thing to do than it sounds, and it's the reason this studio is first on our list. Published on the cover of House Beautiful, and in the Wall Street Journal, Domino, HGTV Magazine and Better Homes & Gardens.
Right for you if you own a house with history and you don't want the remodel to erase it. amityworrel.com
Allison Burke Interior Design
The most decorated studio on this list. An AIA Austin Honor Award in 2018, an ASID Texas/Oklahoma design excellence award in 2014, Luxe's Gold List, and Architectural Digest naming her a top Austin interior designer every year from 2023 through 2026 — plus AD France and AD Italia, Dwell, Milieu and Texas Monthly.
Right for you if the budget is serious and you want a studio with a record that will still hold up in ten years. allison-burke.com
Avery Cox Design
Avery Cox works on historic and architecturally significant houses, and she isn't shy with color — period pieces mixed with modern ones, in rooms that don't look like anyone else's. She takes ground-up builds and hospitality work too. Listed in Architectural Digest's AD PRO Directory, and published in Domino and House Beautiful.
Right for you if you're tired of looking at the same white-and-oak kitchen on every feed. averycoxdesign.com
Laura Roberts Design
More than twenty-five years of work, and the studio says plainly that it takes ground-up homes, extensive remodels and major interior refreshes — which is useful, because plenty of designers quietly prefer not to work inside an existing house. Published in Traditional Home, Luxe, Tribeza and Austin Home, and in the book Texas Made Texas Modern.
Right for you if you're gutting a house and want one person holding the whole scheme together. laurarobertsdesign.com
BANDD/DESIGN
Sara Malek Barney's studio, and one of the few here with a build arm of its own — a sister company, BANDD/DEVELOPMENT, handles renovation and new-construction build-out. Published in Elle Decor, Dwell, Martha Stewart Living and Luxe. Barney has been named to Fortune's Most Powerful Women Next Gen list and Austin Monthly's Women to Watch.
Right for you if you want design and construction managed from close to the same place. bandddesign.com
Claire Zinnecker Design
A small studio that designs custom furniture, lighting and accessories alongside the interiors, which is why her rooms tend to feel specific rather than shopped. Clean and durable rather than trend-led. Published in Architectural Digest, Dwell, House Beautiful, Domino, Dezeen and the Wall Street Journal.
Right for you if you want pieces made for the room rather than ordered for it. clairezinnecker.com
Audrey Scheck Design
The newest studio on this list and one of the most published for its age — Southern Living, Better Homes & Gardens, Martha Stewart, Real Simple and Forbes, plus Best of Houzz in 2024 and Austin Home in 2025. The work layers old and new so rooms look collected rather than bought in one go. Takes renovations, new construction and furnishings.
Right for you if you want a house that looks like it filled up over years, not over a weekend. audreyscheckdesign.com
Annie Downing Interiors
Full residential design across two Texas markets, on both renovations and new builds. The studio also makes its own concrete tile under the ADI Collection label, which shows up in the work and is hard to get anywhere else. Published in Vogue, Homes & Gardens and Domino.
Right for you if you have houses or family in both cities, or you want a material nobody else on your street has. anniedowning.com
Cravotta Interiors
Mark Cravotta has been working in Austin since 1985 — longer than anyone else on this list. Luxury homes and boutique hospitality, with a heavy emphasis on furniture designed for the project rather than chosen for it.
Right for you if you want the longest track record in the city and a room built around one-off pieces. cravottainteriors.com
Blueberry Jones Design
Lindsie Davis's studio, based southwest of Austin and working across the region. Playful and eclectic, and unusually clear that function comes before the look. The studio takes both new construction and renovations. Published in the Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, Austin Home, Modern Luxury and Tribeza.
Right for you if your house is out in the hill country and you want some personality in it. blueberryjones.com
Urbane Design
Jessica Love's studio, and one of the more visible design practices in the city. Love is Allied ASID and has been profiled by Austin Woman and named among EASTside magazine's leading women. The studio works across full-service residential interiors rather than decoration alone.
Right for you if you want a designer with a public body of work and a point of view you can see before you hire. urbanedesignstudios.com
Kelley Barnett Interior Design
Kelley King Barnett's studio, and one of the few on this list that leads with renovation rather than furnishing — kitchens and bathrooms are the front of her own website, not a sub-page. That matters if your project is a remodel, because a designer who works in renovation daily is already thinking about what is behind the wall.
Right for you if your project is a kitchen or a primary bath and you want a designer who specializes in exactly that. kelleybarnett.com
Founding years, locations and press credits above were taken from each studio's own website in September 2026. If we've got something wrong about your studio, tell us and we'll fix it the same week.
How designer fees work
This is the part that confuses most homeowners, and there are four common structures.
- Flat fee per project or per room. Predictable, and the easiest to compare between studios. Confirm exactly what’s included — drawings, selections, procurement, site visits.
- Hourly. Suits a small scope or advice-only engagements. Ask for an estimated total, and ask what happens when it’s exceeded.
- Percentage of project cost. Common on larger work, typically a stated percentage of construction value. Worth understanding that it rises with your budget.
- Cost plus on furnishings. The designer buys at trade and adds a percentage. Ask plainly whether they’re keeping the trade discount, adding to it, or passing it through.
None of these is wrong. All of them should be written down before you start.
What a designer is actually for
The common assumption is that a designer picks finishes. That’s the smallest part of it.
The valuable part is spatial: how the room works, where the light comes from, what the circulation is, whether the island should be 10 feet or 12. Those decisions are made before anything is ordered, and they’re the ones that can’t be corrected later.
The second valuable part is that someone is holding the whole scheme in their head. A kitchen chosen in isolation and a bathroom chosen in isolation produce a house that feels like a collection of rooms. That’s the difference people feel and can’t name.
How to work with a designer and a builder at the same time
- Bring the builder in during design, not after. A set that has never been priced is a set that gets value-engineered in a hurry later.
- Let them talk to each other directly. If every question routes through you, you become the project manager, and you’re paying two people not to be.
- Get allowances set against the actual selections. This is the single most common source of a budget blowing up — the designer specifies, the builder allowed for something cheaper, and nobody compared them.
- Decide who owns procurement, in writing, before anything is ordered.
We work with designers regularly and it usually makes the project better. How we work with designers →
Already working with a designer?
Send us the scope and the selections at any stage. We price it at no charge and tell you honestly whether it sits inside the number.
Working with a designer, answered
How do designer fees actually work?
Usually one of three ways — hourly, a flat fee per room or project, or a percentage of the project cost. Some studios also work on cost-plus for furnishings, where you pay trade cost plus a markup. None of these is inherently better; what matters is knowing which one you are on and what it covers before you start.
Ask specifically whether construction-phase support is included, because that is the part that saves money.
Is a designer worth it on a remodel?
On layout and material selection, usually yes. On a same-footprint refresh, often not. Where a designer earns the fee is flowing floor plans, a color palette that holds together across rooms, and choices that still look right in fifteen years.
If the layout is fixed and you know what you like, you may only need them for selections.
Do you work with our designer, or only your own?
Yours, ours, or none — whichever you prefer. We build what designers draw and we are comfortable being one voice in that room. If you do not have one, we can introduce you to studios whose work suits your house.
We never require a designer to be hired through us.
Already working with a designer?
Send us the scope and the selections at any stage. We price it at no charge and tell you honestly whether it sits inside the number.
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- The 10 Best Interior Designers in Austin, TX (2026) (51)
- Meta
- Twelve Austin interior design studios and what each one is known for, written by the builder who works alongside them — plus how designer fees really work. (152)
- Schema
- Article + ItemList
- The real play
- A partner-acquisition page in the shape of a guide. On publish day, email all twelve studios to say they’re listed and offer the correction line. That email is what turns this into ten backlinks and a referral pipeline — do not skip it.
- Also
- Ranking for "best interior designers austin" puts you in front of people about to spend money on a project a designer will need a builder for
- Verification
- All ten studios verified September 2026 from their own sites. No ranking, no ratings — deliberate; this page is a partner asset, and ranking designers against each other would cost it every relationship it’s meant to build.