By Emily Williams-Robertshaw
The colorful storefront of Ruby Ansley Interiors – adorned with yellow, green and red valances – is a staple in the landscape of Mountain Brook Village.
Founded in 1963, the interior design firm has a storied history and has remained a successful, female-owned business over the course of its existence.
Current owner Sallie Aman first joined the staff in 1965 just after graduating from the University of Alabama with her degree in interior design.
“In college, you learn the facts and you learn how to do floor plans and renderings,” Aman said. “They don’t teach you as much about business as they should because they aren’t focused on that.”
Ansley took Aman under her wing and taught her protege what it takes to run a successful business in interior design.
“When I first started, I was doing design work and helping her,” Aman said. “Then I began figuring jobs, doing estimates and doing the actual bookkeeping.”
Bookkeeping turned out to be something that Aman thoroughly enjoyed, and she still has a hand in it. She is also supported by a staff that includes longtime manager and head of installation Craig Britnell and interior designer Virginia Grisham.
“One thing we have been really proud of is that a woman has owned the shop since the beginning and we want to keep it that way,” she said.
Aman took over ownership of Ruby Ansley Interiors in 2012 determined to maintain its mission to provide quality and timeless design created through a marriage of traditional and contemporary styles.
Investment Pieces
The use of traditional pieces has been a standard for Ruby Ansley Interiors. By foregoing devotion to trends and instead mixing pieces that will last a lifetime with contemporary touches, there is more value to be had in the long term.
“Our main theory here is and has always been from the start, no matter how much money you want to spend, we will show you how to spend it wisely,” Aman said.
“If you can only do one thing each year, just do one good thing,” she added. Purchase a higher-quality chair that will be comfortable for years. If you tire of the fabric, simply recover it and allow it to grow with you.
Unfortunately, the growing trend of low-cost fast furniture – think IKEA or Wayfair.com – comes with a lower-quality design.
Aman prefers to spend money on the things that can grow with you.
“I can recall working in homes that Ruby Ansley designed herself,” Aman said. “I would take those homeowners and move them into a retirement home with the same furniture.”
Longstanding client relationships are an aspect of the industry that she treasures.
“An aspect of the interior design profession is that we are closed mouthed,” Aman said. “Like a doctor or lawyer, we don’t talk about your business to someone else. We keep it all in-house and, more often than not, we end up being really good friends.”
Those friendships have taken Aman to work across the country, as well as internationally – a rare opportunity Aman treasures.
“I had the opportunity to work on a house in England,” she said. “They ended up owning a children’s shop, so we went back over there and designed that, too.”
Her work with clients also can go generations deep.
“We’re working on a job currently in Houston for the daughters of some really nice clients,” she said. “They wanted to come to us because they liked what we did for their parents.”
For Aman, seeing a job complete and a client happy is the best product of her work.
Finding Her Calling
Aman wasn’t always certain that she would become an interior designer, though she did show a proclivity for changing her living space.
“In high school, my parents would let me paint my room whatever color I wanted,” she said.
After beginning her studies in liberal arts at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, she found her way to interior design and transferred to the University of Alabama.
Working with Ruby Ansley solidified her excitement for the industry.
She was able to travel on buying trips a couple of times each year in New York City.
“It was so exciting just to be there and with someone who had experience,” Aman said. “We would just walk for the whole day – in high heels.”
Some of her favorite experiences in the beginning of her career were trips to market, then held in Chicago, where she would familiarize herself with furnishings, textiles and other design materials.
She also was inspired by the installations designed to showcase products.
“At that time, things were mostly traditional,” Aman said. “There was a lot of modern furniture as well … which has come back into style.”
Reputable designers such as Knoll and Herman Miller were among the modern designers, and their individual work now is mostly known as mid-century modern. Traditional and antique furniture, which has experienced a resurgence, is popularly known as “brown furniture,” Aman said.
“I think we will see that there is much more color,” she added. “All white design is going to be ‘beiged out’ as they say.”
Pop the Color
Current and forthcoming trends are bright for Aman, who loves to begin her designs with neutrals and add in pops of print and color.
“I think we are really seeing prints coming back into style,” Aman said, specifically colored prints of the English Chintz variety.
“So many companies are pulling things out of their archives and recoloring it a bit,” she said.
Wallpapers also have been a big hit, offering a lot in the way of design for just a little bit of money by making a big splash in small amounts. One could use a bold print in a powder room or as an accent wall.
“I could spend all day looking at wallpapers,” Aman said. “It can be expensive, but it isn’t as expensive as buying a lot of furniture.”
In her own forecast, she hopes to see a resurgence of traditional, English-style porcelain rather than the current pottery trend.
When the pandemic hit, the interior design industry felt the shutdown across the board.
“Business just stopped,” Aman said. “We were fortunate that we were working on some jobs that we could continue to complete once we reopened.”
Many businesses shifted to focus on virtual sales, which Aman notes has distinct limitations when it comes to design.
“You can’t really feel a chenille sofa online,” she said. “It makes a difference.”
Luckily, Aman and her staff are seeing business begin to rebound. People spent a lot of time in their homes, using their furniture, and are beginning to find time to recover that old chair or reimagine their living spaces to provide more function.