Bonnie Ammon has always been in love with design. Even as a little girl, she says, she could be found rearranging her room. After a 20-year detour through the world of finance, she returned to her first passion: creating homes where owners feel “safe, calm, rejuvenated and wowed” as soon as they walk in the door.

Her finance experience, however, still figures into her design briefs, where cost effectiveness, functionality and aesthetics are all assigned equal value. “I really understand how to make a room sing without blowing the bank,” she notes. “It’s important to guide clients on where to spend their hard-earned money.”

The same holds true for bigger projects like new-home construction, where Ammon’s knowledge of architecture and materials enables her to work seamlessly with builders and help clients avoid unpleasant budgetary surprises.

After 10 years of working for high-end firms, in 2016 Ammon opened her own studio. She and her team take pride in meeting every project with a fresh perspective and a design process focused on the clients’ dreams, desires and style. But once again practicality and numbers reign: “It’s imperative as a designer to source the appropriate materials,” she explains. “If a client wants that white sofa, then a beautiful performance fabric should be selected to maintain years of enjoyment. That is one of my specialties—knowing the right product for the job.”