Designing Her Dreams: How LSU Alumna Olivia Westbrooks Is Helping Others Find Home and Joy

“Push through your fear and shoot for the stars,” advises Olivia Westbrooks, interior designer and LSU alumna.

Her own stars are high: Westbrooks, designer/artist and television personality, is the co-host of “Home is Where the Heart Is,” the new home design show streaming now on Hallmark+. She stars alongside Hallmark actor and woodworker Luke Macfarlane.

Olivia’s mission is to help people connect with themselves and cultivate joy by creating environments that nurture and inspire, allowing them to truly feel at home and empowered to pursue their dreams. Through her work in interior design, mentorship, and public speaking, she helps fellow designers reconnect with their passion for the craft and rediscover joy in their careers.

She has created her own independent journey for as long as she can remember. But it hasn’t always been easy.

“I’m the type of person that wants to go left when other people go right,” she says. She has charted an unconventional path that has led her to the career of her dreams.

Originally from Lafayette, La., Olivia graduated from LSU with her Bachelor of Interior Design in 2004. From a young age, she had dreamed of being an interior designer.

She was always artistic and naturally creative, but as a child, she hadn’t yet heard of interior design. Her father was a painter and wallpaper installer, and her grandfather was a craftsman who had a knack for making furniture.

“So, it’s in the blood,” she says. “In high school, I discovered Christopher Lowell on the Discovery Channel. Watching him transform spaces was the first time I realized that interior design could be a career. I remember thinking, ‘How do I get to do that for a living?’”

And years later, she’s doing the same: transforming spaces – and lives – on and off screen.

Olivia loves the design process, but also connecting with her clients. “The creative process and bringing people together, it lights me up and brings me so much joy,” she says. “You meet people, understand their story, the history of the home, even their dreams and aspirations. Using that information to craft spaces that bring them a sense of belonging and joy, and hearing them say, ‘I love my house.’ – is the best feeling.”

“ When I’m inspired by my environment, I feel creative and empowered, like I can take on anything, and I aim to create that same feeling for others. My mission on Earth is to help others through my gift of transforming spaces. ”

Tiger Beginnings

“So many kids growing up in Louisiana dream of going to LSU,” she says.

Olivia began her time on campus as a graphic design major, but later realized her passion all along was interior design. At the time, the Interior Design program only accepted 36 students per year.

“One day, I realized at about 1:30 p.m. that my application was due that day at 4 p.m. I ran back to my dorm room at the Pentagon and quickly pulled together my portfolio. I submitted it just in the nick of time,” she says. “I was so excited when I learned that I was accepted into the program. That moment was the start of my design career.”

It wasn’t always easy, however.

“I was the only person of color in my entire class at the time. I remember wondering, ‘Do I belong here? Will people relate to my POV?’ But even then, I knew I was helping to chart a new path, making the field more accessible and inclusive for others. All of our perspectives are needed; that’s what makes this industry so rich. Our clients come from all walks of life, so we need designers from many different backgrounds and cultures to tell those stories. In 2021, I was invited to speak to a class of interior design students, and I was moved to see how much more diverse the group was.”

Olivia has many memories of her time at LSU: long nights working in the studio, staying up late to finish design projects, even sleeping in the studio, and forming what would become lifelong friendships with her classmates in the tight-knit design program.

She had opportunities to explore woodworking, metalworking, and form the foundation for craftsmanship that has served her later in her career. She recalls moments in the Quad, going to football games, and incredible experiences with her interior design class.

“I will never forget our trip to New York City,” she shares. “It was my first time there, and we got lost on the subway. My classmates and I got on the wrong train heading for Queens, and we finally had to ask for directions to get back. We were these Southern girls in New York City, clearly fish out of water. You don’t realize it at the time, but those are the experiences that you will always remember.”

An Unconventional Path

After graduating from LSU, Olivia moved to Atlanta and worked for an architect’s office and then a high-end residential interior design company, where she had opportunities to work with noteworthy clients. Luxury interior design was an amazing experience for a junior designer, she says. She traveled to clients in the U.S. and abroad, such as New York City, Canada, and Turks and Caicos. Over the next few years, she got married, started a family, started her first design business, and then eventually went to work for construction companies, where she earned new skill sets. “I got to see everything from the site development to the foundation getting poured, framing, electrical going in, all the way to trim and finishing – every step of the process.”

In 2021, during the pandemic, she asked herself: What do I want out of this next chapter of my life? It was a season of reflection and realignment. “I remember during that time journaling about things I wanted to invite into my life, and it’s incredible to see how many of those manifestations are now unfolding.”

Olivia took the leap into her second chance at entrepreneurship and created Olivia Westbrooks Interiors. She aims to “tap into the moments that have brought my clients joy, and weave them into their spaces, creating homes with soul that tell their story.”

 

In 2024, she was contacted by a major network that was looking for an interior designer for an unscripted renovation series. Oliva knew she’d be paired with an actor and craftsman, but wasn’t told the name of the co-host. “It was vague enough to pique my interest.”

“All I knew about the show was that people had either purchased their childhood home or inherited a family home, and it was in need of a refresh. The concept gave me goosebumps. I felt instantly connected because a few months prior, we had to sell my own family home, and it was devastating – it’s the home that my siblings and I grew up in. I once heard a wise man say, if there’s something you want in your life, give it to others and watch it come back to you. It’s the cycle of giving and receiving. Now I’m able to give this gift to somebody else, the experience of coming home. It’s been an honor.”

Olivia auditioned and eventually met the mystery co-host, Luke Macfarlane, and hit it off. “A few days later, I got a call: ‘You’re the one we want for the show,’ and I just started crying,” she says. “Actually, I wasn’t expecting to cry so much on the show either. It’s just been such a meaningful experience.”

Designing for TV

In the home design show “Home Is Where the Heart Is,” streaming now on Hallmark+, Luke and Olivia take audiences inside a house that has been inherited or holds special familial meaning, and is overdue for a facelift.  They update the home with a nod to the past, according to Hallmark.

Together they create spaces that honor heritage and realize dreams.

Though the long filming hours are tiring, and the design planning process is expedited for TV, Olivia says it was a challenge that stretched her creativity and showed her what she’s capable of. As an unscripted show, all the friendly banter is genuine, she said. And the designs are colorful, joyful, whimsical and fun. They got the opportunity to lean into family stories, the history of the house, and build their design around those stories.

“ The science of aesthetics and emotional responses to beauty is fascinating. We know how unsettling uncertainty can be. Beauty can provide a sense of certainty. So, I believe that what we do is hugely important to people’s well-being. ”

For future designers, Olivia advises embracing the uncertainty that comes with pursuing a creative path. “Uncertainty is guaranteed,” she says. “None of us has it all figured out, even if it looks like we do.” She reminds young designers that feeling unsure or afraid doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong path. It often means you’re growing. “If you can envision a career path and you get so giddy about it, that’s your soul telling you this is the direction in which you should move. You don’t have to tackle it all at once. You’ve just got to do the next right thing. Don’t let those feelings of fear hold you back. That’s how you build confidence, by moving through it instead of waiting for it to disappear.”

Olivia says that “my journey has taken many steps forward and backward and sideways, that’s the way life goes. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Just keep doing the next right thing.”

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