For years, Ahmad Freeman and Steve Lemley built successful design careers on their own terms, each under his own name in two different cities. Freeman established Ahmad Freeman Interiors in Nashville before expanding his residential work to Chicago, while Lemley spent 25 years building Lemley Architecture + Design into a respected architecture practice in Chicago.
Now, the two have combined their expertise in architecture and interiors to launch Freeman Lemley Design Studio. Based in both Chicago and Nashville, the pair are quickly becoming known — together — for offering a blend of technical precision, elegance, and completely customizable solutions to personal home piccadillos.
Freeman met Lemley after moving to Chicago in 2021, and the two soon began dating. Despite working in the same industry and having mutual respect for work, they initially avoided combining the professional side of their lives, wary of adding any unnecessary stress to their relationship.
“I think a lot of people feel that way,” Freeman said. “I was still trying to build the same brand that I had in Nashville. But I saw the skill level that Steve had in architecture and thought it could be a good fit for the company I had.”
They first connected professionally in the summer of 2023, when Freeman had several demanding projects stacked up. He asked Lemley to assist with the interior architecture for a project in Potomac, Maryland. That project never progressed, but the next one did—and then the next. Working together, they discovered they were able to deliver a more tailored environment for each client’s specific needs and wants.
Lemley said it’s almost cliché how well they work together.
“I’m the technical one,” he said. “We’ll space plan collaboratively, but I make sure everything is covered by code while Amhad puts his magic into all the finishes. I’m the guy who will wear the same color pants and shirt, while Amhad brings eight different tones of one color. And boom, together we have something magical.”
Eventually, it made more sense to market themselves as a team rather than two separate companies with two separate contracts, and Freeman Lemley Design Studio became their shared focus.
The couple married in September 2025, around the same time they made their professional partnership official.
“We knew we were gonna be stuck together forever anyway,” Freeman jokes.
They are currently working on a number of projects in Chicago and Nashville, ranging from a 15,000-square-foot event space to a single bathroom renovation. As their partnership evolves, the biggest adjustments have come from learning to let go of the things they have always handled themselves.
“It’s a double-edged sword,” Lemley said. “When you’ve worked by yourself for so long and been in charge of your own business, it’s nice to suddenly have someone there who has your back and knows what is needed. At the same time, now you have someone else saying, ‘Oh, I don’t think so,’ about something you’ve done for 15 years.”
In the end, they’ve learned to step back where the other excels, allowing each partner to lean into their strengths.
“To be married to my business partner is the perfect combination to me, because you both are motivated to do your best work,” Freeman said. “If he is the architect on record, I just get out of the way and let him handle that, because he’s going to be doing most of the drawings. Let me adapt to the way he does things, because it’s going to be beautifully done. It’s just done in a different way.”
