A Well-Designed Life: How One Alexandria Entrepreneur Turned Heritage and Heart Into a Thriving Career

Alexandria, VA – For more than three decades, Claire Schwab has fashioned a career that looks less like work and more like a calling. As the founder of Claire Schwab Interior Design, she says, “I really do have a dream job.” Every day brings new people, new spaces, and new opportunities to make a home feel beautiful and deeply personal. Many clients have become longtime friends, and some have hired her repeatedly. That loyalty, she says, “means everything.”

Schwab’s love and appreciation for design and craftsmanship began in childhood. Her grandfather, E.R. Wilkerson Sr., was a furniture maker, antique dealer, and interior design studio owner in Buckhead, Atlanta. Schwab loved wandering his shop, soaking up the scent of wood and seed oil.

Though Schwab’s father became an eye surgeon, he inherited his father’s appreciation for antiques and curated interiors. The family’s furniture, often sourced from Savannah and Charleston, left a lasting mark and shaped her aesthetic.

Today, Schwab is known for weaving together inherited or “acquired” pieces with painted and contemporary elements to create layered, curated rooms. “I don’t like everything looking brand-new or staged. I love that southern comfort of meaningful, acquired pieces mixed together in a way you can’t replicate from a catalog.”

The early years

Schwab’s path to design wasn’t obvious at first. She learned how to sew in middle school and progressed from clothes to pillows, purse covers, and gifts. Friends and family received them as Christmas presents, and she sold a few before she even knew what a cottage industry was.

After studying English and communications at Vanderbilt, Schwab headed to London with a job at Laura Ashley. She discovered the store’s home furnishings section, and that steered her sewing craft to creating draperies, slipcovers, and home décor. “That’s where I realized not only did I love this work, but I could actually do it,” she says. “That exposure changed everything.”

When she returned home, she began sewing for clients and also pursued formal training and a second degree, this time in interior design. She then passed the certification exam and joined the professional trade association. Schwab chose residential design as it offered creativity, autonomy, and flexibility to build a business while raising a family.

In the 1990s, Schwab hung her first shingle with Old Town Window Treatments, specializing in custom drapery and soft furnishings. After a few years, marriage, and children, she closed the storefront, opened her home studio, and launched her website.

Why hire a professional designer?

As trained design professionals, Schwab’s team brings resources and knowledge the DIY client just doesn’t have access to. “We know what works and, maybe more importantly, what doesn’t work,” she explains. “If a client loves an expensive fabric, we can find clever ways to use it without blowing the budget. We have solutions to make things beautiful and affordable.”

Clients’ needs vary: they might want a refresh, a recover, or a repurpose. For example, remember those big entertainment centers people bought for bulky TVs? As TVs got thinner, Schwab’s team took the doors off, painted the cabinets, changed hardware, added mirrors or wallpaper inside, and even turned some into home bars.

Not only does that save money and honor a beloved piece, it keeps furniture out of landfills. Sustainability is imperative, and the trade association requires designers to stay current on best practices through continuing education and industry seminars; another benefit of hiring a licensed professional.

Giving back and looking forward

Community involvement is woven into Schwab’s work. Over the years, she has donated her time and design expertise to the Campagna Center’s Scottish Walk, chaired Junior Friends, and championed organizations close to her heart, including the National Breast Center Foundation, the Alexandria Symphony, St. Paul’s, and St. Mary’s. “Whatever support you can bring to your community comes back to you tenfold,” she says.

Now 36 years into her career, Schwab isn’t slowing down. “I think I’ll work as long as I can hold a measuring tape or carry a paint deck,” she laughs. She’s actually living the advice her father offered years ago: “If you find a job you truly love, you will never work a day in your life.”

And by that definition, she hasn’t.