They say it takes a village to raise a child, but what does it take to launch an interior design business? For Cindy Eyl, the answer was her tight-knit Arlington neighborhood. “I’ve always loved design,” she shares. “But growing up in Manassas, people didn’t really hire designers so it didn’t seem like a viable pathway.” Opting for a career in education, she spent 15 years teaching high school social studies. Buoyed by the encouragement of friends and neighbors on her street, she decided to pursue her passion and earned a degree from the New York School of Interior Design. As a tribute, she christened her firm Jefferson Street Designs.

With a constant curiosity and an appreciation for all things aesthetic, Eyl describes her design style as layered, eclectic and most of all, inviting. “I don’t ever want a room to feel stuffy,” she says. She finds inspiration everywhere, including hotels, restaurants and in her travels to places like Vietnam (she’s part Vietnamese), where she first spied the antique conical hats that now grace her living room wall.

Today, her boutique design firm employs two other designers and counts many of those original supporters as repeat clients. “They pushed me to start this journey,” she says. “It’s not just the street I live on; it’s a community.”

Interior Design: Cindy Eyl, Jefferson Street Designs, Arlington, Virginia. Architecture: Fotiu Architects (36th Street). Contractor: Marks-Woods Construction Services (36th Street). Stylist: Kristi Hunter (36th Street). Photography: Jenn Verrier; Angela Newton Roy (36th Street).