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Kelsey Simmons

The magic.

Simple, yet elegant.

Kelsey and younger brother Jake.

Kelsey Simmons glows.

When the former South Whidbey High School tennis and soccer star talks about her passion for interior design, the room lights up.

Well, the room always lights up when Simmons unleashes her transcendent smile, but talk of pillow cases and window coverings brings out something extra in her.

From the days when she used to throw away Barbie and keep the Dream House so she could decorate the rooms, to now, when she can get downright giddy at the thought of spending an afternoon frolicking through the lumber section at Home Depot — the smell of fresh wood takes her back to childhood memories of watching her father build things — she’s hooked on the world of design.

Which is why it’s a great thing she has an outlet through which she can pass on her boundless ideas and sleek fashion sense to the world.

Her business, Kelsey Simmons Design, caters to customers big and small, with an emphasis on mid-to-high end jobs.

The University of Washington grad, a world traveler with a degree in Art History and a background in architecture, who refined her subtle mixture of culture and style while studying abroad in Italy, is a star on the cusp of breaking into the big time.

When she gets there — and it’s a question of when, not if — it will be because of boundless hard work, genuine talent and, above all, a deep, abiding love for the joy she is able to bring to others.

“I have a passion for people’s homes,” Simmons said. “I’m very interested in creating functional homes where people can enjoy themselves, where they can come home and relax, yet run a busy life from it.

“I’m not big on sterile houses,” she added. “You have to be able to enjoy your home and be comfortable, no matter how beautiful it looks.”

A big devotee of design giants Kelly Hoppen and Holly Hunt, Simmons, a Clinton native who started her business in California before returning to the Island, has strong opinions on design, yet is able to merge those with her clients’ wishes.

“I enjoy being able to listen to their ideas and then bring out what they want, keeping it personal and letting them guide where we go,” Simmons said.

She describes her customary style as “Northwest Contemporary,” but has worked with clients around the country. If you have a house waiting to be brightened up, softened and enhanced, she is the woman with the magic in her brain.

And she can do it all, whether it be a small fix or a complete job. Paint, fixtures, window treatments, furniture — she has designed and created brand new pieces while also putting on her Sherlock Holmes hat and tracking down elusive gems for clients — there is no design issue too big or too small for the detail-orientated maestro to master.

Simmons, who worked at her family’s restaurant as a teen, before spending time overseas, in Seattle and Laguna Beach (and one year in Portland that, if nothing else, convinced her not to live in Portland), combines classy intelligence with a warm laugh that puts her clients at ease.

The ability to work with each new person is a family trait she shares with her younger brother, Jake.

Born completely deaf, he has not only adapted, but flourished, and she is quietly, fiercely proud when she describes how he adapts his sign language skills to match the person he’s talking to, so as not to put them ill at ease over their ability to match him.

“He’ll talk to different people — me, my parents, our grandparents or his friends — and go slower or faster, use different styles of signing, choosing how he responds, based on what that person can handle,” Simmons said.

Eighteen months apart, the duo are close and their joy for being around each other is captured in a photo in which they’re together on a ski lift, making faces at the camera as they rise into the sky.

More than anything else, more than the undeniable talent, the impeccable taste, the wealth of experience cultivated by a young woman clearly on the rise, it is that trait — joy — that defines Simmons.

In good times and bad, it is that which makes her truly special, that which makes her stand out in a crowd. The dazzling smile reaches you first — how could it not? — but then you find there are layers upon layers, skills and talents bubbling in a brain always doing 100 MPH.

She will change the world, one window covering at a time.

Whether she stays completely with design work, or one day opens the little hardware store/espresso stand of her dreams on the side, there will be a moment when someone asks Kelly Hoppen, “Who do you like?” and the South African-born design guru will nod, smile and say, “There’s this young woman in the Pacific Northwest…”

And the world will be a happier place for it.

To see Kelsey’s work, head over to http://kelseysimmonsdesign.com/Kelsey_Simmons_Design/Home.html

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