the story

kaci mcallister, owner

March 2020. A tumultuous time for everyone, myself included.

Overnight, I went from traveling two to three weeks a month for my corporate job in hospitality to staring at the same four walls, day in and day out. Faced with a restless energy and some extra time on my hands, I began making changes. I started small. Rearranging the furniture in the living room to create a more intimate layout. Adding a small coffee table and some yellow throw pillows to warm up the room. When my friend decided to ride out the pandemic winter with family in Florida, I became a foster mom to several dozen different houseplants—everything from orchids to a rubber tree to an unwieldy, sprawling aloe vera plant that I inexplicably began referring to as Alexander (mostly in my head). 

The dynamic in our home began to shift. It felt cozier, softer, more feminine, more welcoming. I moved from room to room, eventually taking on bigger projects: painting furniture, replacing light fixtures, trying my hand at peel-and-stick wallpaper. The few friends who saw the transformation take place starting coming to me for advice, and I discovered that while I find this process energizing and enjoyable, most of them were overwhelmed and paralyzed by it in their own homes. When I posted my laundry room before and after photos in a local Facebook group, suddenly I was receiving messages from perfect strangers asking for help. And so Sunflower Bee Interiors was born.

Almost immediately, I found that not everyone needs 3-D renderings and construction documents and rare Italian marble slabs. Some of us just need a friend with an eye for this sort of thing, someone who is willing to research 27 different chandelier options for them so they don’t go insane, or suggest a few different rug patterns that might fit in the playroom, or hunt down that perfect console table that won’t break the bank. 

The best part of all is that I love it. Helping someone achieve happiness and peace in their space is a passion of mine. Reimagining a room or an entire house in a new way is a creative outlet I may never have discovered if not for the screeching halt of a standstill that was all of 2020. As the world continues to open back up again, I feel anchored and steadied by my home, this beautiful place I feel proud to share with my loved ones. And even more than that, I have found a greater purpose in helping others create that same feeling in their own homes, too.

the laundry room that started it all