Designing from the Heart

Interior designer Leigh Olive Mowry blends beauty, function, and meaning-one home at a time.

Words by Jenny Lynn Davis | Images by Emily Followill and Holland Mowry

The first time Leigh Olive Mowry felt the pull of design, she was standing in a home that belonged to a friend of her father’s. She was only eight, small in the doorway of a grand antebellum house with ceilings that seemed to stretch forever. In one bedroom, fabric poured from all four corners of the ceiling to the center, where a canopy bed stood like something out of a fairytale.

“I just had an immediate emotional connection to the room,” she remembers, “I didn’t even know what interior design was, but I knew I wanted to live in and create spaces that made me, and others feel this way.

That moment of wonder never really left her. If anything, it lit the path.

Today, Leigh is the founder and principal designer of Olive Interiors, a thriving design firm based in Atlanta. She transforms blank slates and tired rooms into layered, meaningful spaces. Her work reflects her ability to translate her clients’ lives into homes that feel personal and uniquely like them.

But long before she was working with architects and thoughtfully designing homes that meet her clients’ needs, she was a young girl growing up in Walker County, rearranging furniture, drawing, envisioning, and creating.

“I lived in Jasper until I was 13,” she says. “That’s where all my earliest memories are. Going to church, being out and about in town, and knowing everyone. There was always this deep sense of community. I still feel it when I go back. It just feels like home.”

When her family moved to Birmingham, that creative streak continued, but things clicked when she got to Auburn University. She started out majoring in public relations, drawn to the idea of connecting with people. While she and her mom were decorating her first apartment, her mom posed a simple question: “This has always been a passion of yours. Have you ever thought about interior design?”

It was one of those moments where everything locked into place. Leigh changed majors, enrolled in Auburn’s interior design program, and never looked back.

“If you’re wired for design, you already innately understand proportion and scale,” she says. “School teaches you how to hone and push those instincts further. Auburn sharpened what I already knew and felt.”

She hit the ground running after graduation. Her first job was with a hospitality design firm, designing hotels, country clubs, and other spaces that blended comfort and function. That led to a position with a high end residential firm in Atlanta, where she began managing clients and learning the business side of design. Then came an unexpected call from a property development group, offering her contract work on one condition.

“They required that I start my own business in order to contract with them,” she says. “So, that is what I did.”

That was the beginning of Olive Interiors. She named the firm after her maiden name, a nod to the roots that shaped her. Olive Interiors’ style reflects that sense of warmth and character that’s never sterile but never fussy.

“I love mixing contemporary and antique pieces, uniquely combining artwork and textiles, and bringing my clients stories and life experiences in to the design. I might frame a child’s painting and hang it next to a valuable piece of art my client has invested in. Both matter—just in different ways.”

Her projects now stretch far beyond Georgia. She’s designed homes in Palm Beach, Florida, Pasadena, California, Washington, D.C., and across the country. Many of her favorite projects begin from the ground up.

“I love working with architects and builders to bring an architectural plan to life,” she says. “It’s a long process, but it's incredibly rewarding when you finally walk through the finished spaces and can actually inhabit your vision.”

Though her firm has grown, Leigh stays hands-on with every project. She works closely with assistants and logistics teams, but never loses sight of the personal connection.

“There’s a great design community in Atlanta,” she says. “It’s more collaborative than competitive. Every project that I have been blessed to be a part of has come to me from referrals.”

That trust comes from how deeply she gets to know the people she works with.

“Love is at the heart of what I do,” she says. “Design isn’t about achieving one specific look. It’s about making someone feel seen and understood in their own home.”

That instinct to listen, to pay attention, and to create with care goes back to her upbringing. “My mom had such a good eye. Our homes were always beautiful, full of color and personality. Growing up in a place like Jasper, where originality and hard work matter, encouraged my creativity in a very real way.”

Leigh and her husband, Bryan, have been married for 26 years. Their daughter, Holland, graduated from the University of Georgia and works in sports journalism and production. Their son, Robert, begins college at Auburn University this fall. As she approaches the next season of life, Leigh finds herself thinking about what’s next.

“I am so happy to have reconnected with Auburn’s interior design school,” she says. “I recently had the honor of reviewing student work and speaking to some classes. I am so excited about getting involved and giving back to the school that gave so much to me.”

Wherever things go from here, she knows she’ll keep doing what she’s always done: using design to tell stories, connect, and make people feel at home.

Leigh has no plans to slow down. She’s most energized by the day-to-day rhythm of listening, creating, and problem-solving, making room for people to feel comfortable, known, and at peace.

It’s less about the look of a space and more about the life that unfolds inside it, and that’s where Leigh finds her purpose.

Design is life,” she says. “We’re all shaping something—our homes, our routines, our choices. I happen to design interiors. However, everything we create helps build the life we want.” 78