After Getting Laid Off, I Built My Business to $168K: Abigail Morris

This as-told-to story is based on a conversation with Abigail Morris, founder of Chicago-based full-service interior design studio Abigail Morris Interiors. In 2022, Morris started her interior design business on the side, building it as she continued her full-time career in corporate tech. After being laid off at the end of 2024, Morris went all-in on her business. The piece has been edited for length and clarity.

 I’ve been doing interior design in some form or other my entire life without really realizing it. Mostly in giving unsolicited advice growing up — I always had strong opinions on colors and fabrics and things like that. But it wasn’t until much later that I realized I could pursue it as a career, which sounds silly. My family, with the best of intentions, encouraged me to go to business school and start a career that felt safe. So I worked in corporate tech for about 10 years. 

Starting an interior design Instagram account

Then, like many people during the pandemic, I had time to reevaluate. Am I really happy with what I’m doing? What’s next for me? I decided to follow that original passion for design. It felt like a now or never moment. So I took interior design classes at The Art Institute of Chicago. I got a certificate there, then started an interior design Instagram. I wanted people to know I was open for business. But I continued working full-time in corporate tech because I was still a little afraid to go all-in. I had a very comfortable job; I had the golden handcuffs. 

Then, near the end of 2024, I got laid off. It was such a blessing in disguise — the universe setting me free to go all-in on my business. It was around that point that I also shifted focus to restoring historic residential and commercial properties. I have such a reverence and a passion for historic homes. They were just made with so much more attention to detail and craftsmanship. 

Adding historic designs to my Instagram portfolio

My husband and I moved into our 1889 row home here in Chicago. Before I was laid off, I did a bunch of updates to our home and had it photographed. That helped me add to my portfolio on Instagram. The first few clients that reached out to me had also had historic homes and were attracted to me because I had that in my portfolio. The business snowballed from there. I get a lot of requests to work on historic homes here in the city and have started fielding some requests from further out in the Midwest and even on the West Coast. In the past couple months, I’ve gotten more requests for people who have newer builds who want that feeling of a more historic, character-rich home. 

Earlier this year, I worked on the St. Elmo Hotel in Ouray, Colorado. I was connected with the owner, who also has a passion for preserving historic buildings. So he and his hospitality group had already done one project in Montrose, Colorado and were looking for a designer to work on a building that had a lot of original features. The goal was to celebrate those characteristics but also bring the design into the 21st century with more modern comforts. Because I already had experience working on a hotel on the National Register of Historic Places, they pulled me in.

Designing for historic properties takes discipline

Designing for historic properties requires discipline. A lot of times, when you go into a space and you’re redesigning, you’re starting from scratch and reimagining everything. But that’s not the case with historic properties. We have to think about what we can preserve. For example, in the St. Elmo Hotel, we kept as much wallpaper on the walls as we could. We didn’t remove any of the wainscoting or things like that and did a lot of repairs to bring things back to their original glory. So it’s about having an eye for editing before making any big design decisions. 

During the first year in business, I was still getting my sea legs. I was still working full-time; it was really trial by fire. So my take-home pay was around $48,000 the first year. And I reinvested into the business significantly. Project photography is always a big investment. I also worked with a stylist and videographer. This past year, I’m on track for about $168,000 for the year. And my take-home pay will probably be around $100,000. The rest I’ll reinvest into the business — PR, project photography, etc. I’ve also brought on someone to help me edit social media reels because that’s a full time job in and of itself. 

Eyeing strategic hires to scale the business

Next, I plan to make some more strategic hires to help me scale. Right now, I’m wearing too many hats. I don’t have enough time to do the design work and scale the business and client experience the way I want to. I do have a CPA and a bookkeeper, and I had an intern over the summer. But it would be great to have more support for procurement, technical drawings and other assistant tasks. I’m actually actively interviewing people this week. 

In addition to hiring and scaling the business, one of the biggest challenges and opportunities ahead is the impact of AI. Currently, I use Claude and ChatGPT to help with some back-office tasks, like organizing the notes I take on my iPad while on a job site. But I’m seeing a lot of clients come in with designs they’ve made with AI, asking how to translate that to their rooms. On one hand, that’s great — I want people to have access to these tools. But these tools also require education. People have to understand that just because AI generates this picture, that doesn’t mean it’s structurally possible to implement. Or maybe it includes a specific chair that doesn’t exist.  

AI and the arts and crafts renaissance

In our current era, with AI and technology moving at the speed of light, I think people are really going to start to value craftsmanship. I think we’re going to have an arts and crafts renaissance. And I’m looking forward to how that plays out. The original arts and crafts revival in the U.S. was a result of the Industrial Revolution. Everybody was like, “We’re tired of having all this mass-produced, not well-made stuff.” We’re absolutely seeing that now. People crave a little bit of that imperfection in their home. They gravitate toward items that look like somebody actually made them with their hands versus in a machine across the ocean. 

The world is getting wilder and wilder, and people definitely want to have respite in their home. They want that layered, cozy vibe. I’m really excited to be part of that. 

This as-told-to story is based on a conversation with Abigail Morris, founder of Chicago-based full-service interior design studio Abigail Morris Interiors. In 2022, Morris started her interior design business on the side, building it as she continued her full-time career in corporate tech. After being laid off at the end of 2024, Morris went all-in on her business. The piece has been edited for length and clarity.

 I’ve been doing interior design in some form or other my entire life without really realizing it. Mostly in giving unsolicited advice growing up — I always had strong opinions on colors and fabrics and things like that. But it wasn’t until much later that I realized I could pursue it as a career, which sounds silly. My family, with the best of intentions, encouraged me to go to business school and start a career that felt safe. So I worked in corporate tech for about 10 years. 

Starting an interior design Instagram account

Then, like many people during the pandemic, I had time to reevaluate. Am I really happy with what I’m doing? What’s next for me? I decided to follow that original passion for design. It felt like a now or never moment. So I took interior design classes at The Art Institute of Chicago. I got a certificate there, then started an interior design Instagram. I wanted people to know I was open for business. But I continued working full-time in corporate tech because I was still a little afraid to go all-in. I had a very comfortable job; I had the golden handcuffs.