O’More grads open Modern Remains design studio in The Nations

By Hollie Deese
Photography by Quinn Ballard and Allison Elefante

When Evan Millard, Lauren Moore and Betsy Trabue met in their Intro to Interior Design class at O’More, the three bonded during late nights in the studio working on class projects, like reconfiguring Dave’s Barber Shop at the Factory in Franklin into an apartment space for their Basic Drafting class.

“Having classes that small really fostered a great atmosphere where everybody just collaborated and worked together, asked for opinions and design help,” Millard says of their experience at O’More, which was sold to Belmont in 2018. “We could bounce ideas off of each other, and with a wide range of students from just graduating high school all the way to being in their 40s and 50s, there was some really great knowledge.”

Evan Millard, Lauren Moore and Betsy Trabue

After they graduated in 2013, Trabue began working at Alcott Interiors; Moore soon joined her. Millard was hired at Roger Higgins on Blair Boulevard — right across the street. They never really got to all work together too much, but over time they could really see what each of their strong suits was.

“I think we all have really different strengths,” Millard says. “Betsy is very analytical, and she’s a really deep thinker, and she thinks about pushing the boundaries and what can be next. Lauren and I are a little more similar. We love palettes and textures and day-to-day communication with clients.”

But they couldn’t shake an idea they had tossed around in design school — all of them working together. Eventually they made the leap and launched their own full-service interior design studio, Modern Remains.

“Having an idea and then having it come to life, it really is a dream come true,” Moore says.

Collectively they’ve worked on a gamut of homes — a residence for an NFL player, a boutique aesthetician clinic, multi-million-dollar residences in Belle Meade, a 16-million-dollar penthouse on top of the Biltmore Palm Beach and even a yacht on Lake Geneva.

“One of the things that I love about interior design is that each project has its own set of parameters, but also challenges, in what the client is wanting to achieve,” Moore says.

Their Modern Remains showroom in Stocking 51, the 1925-era Belle Meade Hosiery building in The Nations, opened Nov. 16, 2018. They have a space with size, sun and on-site parking! Inside, it’s filled with work from a variety of artists — painted hides, woven leather rugs and, of course, textiles, fabrics and patterns.

“When we first began talking about Modern Remains and what our aesthetic would be as a design studio, and then as a showroom, we settled upon architectural, with contrasting tones and textures,” Millard says. “We are three very different individuals, coming from three very different backgrounds, with design being the key component that ties us all together. And I think that’s what makes us different.”

Plus, they all really love seeing each other every day.

“I walk in every day, and I’m happy to see Betsy and Lauren. And even if the days are challenging, I get to go home fulfilled, knowing I do what I love, where I love, with people I love.”

Modern Remains
1410 51st Ave. N. Suite 106
615-730-9068

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