Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Ice – Burris.
Hi Karen, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Ice Interior Design LLC was founded in 2007 by Karen Ice-Burris, a native Texan with a lifelong passion for design. After earning her degree in Interior Design and gaining international experience through studying and living abroad, Karen eventually settled in Austin, where she’s lived for over 21 years with her husband and two sons.
In 2007, with two young boys at home and a desire for better work-life balance, Karen made the decision to leave the local design firm where she was working and launch her own business. To support the transition, her family downsized, allowing Karen to build Ice Interior Design from the ground up.
By 2015, Karen made a conscious decision to scale the business, incorporating the company and hiring her first part-time team member to help manage a growing client roster. Continued growth led to Ice Interior Design moving out of the home studio into its first dedicated brick-and-mortar space: a warehouse with a private office and receiving facility.
Today, Ice Interior Design focuses on three core project types: custom home builds (collaborating closely with builders, architects, and clients), full-scale renovations and remodels, and comprehensive home furnishing projects. With our own warehouse and access to premier vendors, we are uniquely positioned to bring exceptional value and service to every project.
At Ice Interior Design, our mission is simple: to create spaces where your soul meets design — blending beauty, function, and personal connection to craft homes that truly feel like you.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Absolutely not! The longer you’re in business, the more ups and downs you experience, that’s just the reality. When my boys were little, the biggest struggle was juggling work and home life, a challenge so many moms can relate to. Now that they’re adults, the growing pains have shifted to the business itself.
When you go to school for interior design, you learn how to design beautiful spaces, draw floor plans, work with codes, but no one teaches you how to run a business. I’ve learned mostly through trial and error, making so many mistakes and figuring things out as I go. No one tells you how much you’ll pay in taxes, or that you can even owe property taxes when you’re renting a building! There are so many unexpected challenges in business ownership, and just as many lessons.
One of the most important things I’ve learned is the value of having strong peer groups where other business owners share openly about struggles, wins, and how they actually run their businesses. Having a good coach has also been invaluable for me, not just for strategy, but for motivation and keeping perspective. What you don’t often see on social media is how hard, and sometimes lonely, this journey can be. Having a support system makes all the difference.
A recent example, I made the difficult decision to intentionally scale my business back. I had become so focused on growing a team that it became my measure of success. I found myself spending more time managing people and payroll than actually designing, the part that really excites me. Refocusing has allowed me to get back to why I started this in the first place: to design spaces that are deeply personal, functional, and inspiring for the people who live in them.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I love to imagine and create spaces, not just to solve a problem or make floor plan function better, but to find a way to make it personal, perhaps whimsical, or whatever truly reflects of the people who live there. I’m always looking for that something extra that is beyond the client’s expectations.
I’m incredibly proud of how I started my business, from my own home, juggling a young family, and figuring it out as I went. One of the things that made a huge difference early on was building strong relationships with vendors. I was able to do things others couldn’t, like having 18-wheelers delivering major shipments to my garage from large, well-known brands (I won’t name names!). Those early relationships helped me grow the business in ways that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise, and they’re still the backbone of how we work today.
Over the years, I’ve realized that interior design is really about relationships, with our clients, our vendors, and our team. We’re stepping into people’s personal spaces and designing for how they live and connect with others. It’s deeply personal work.
At the end of the day, I believe that connection, and a real understanding of the people we’re designing for, is the true secret to our success.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Interior Design like all industries is evolving quickly. I think people are learning and accepting that while trends are fun, they want their spaces to reflect their own personal aesthetic, and the trends really don’t matter.
Technology is continuing to play a bigger role, both behind the scenes with project management tools and upfront with things like 3D visualizations and virtual walk-throughs becoming more common.
Sustainability and ethical sourcing are also becoming even more important. Clients are asking more questions about where materials come from, how products are made, and whether the brands we work with align with their values.
Overall, I believe the future of design that will continue to be in demand is centered around personalization and relationships. We have more tools than ever now, but at the end of the day, it’s still about connecting. That’s where I believe the heart of great design will stay, no matter how much the tools and trends change.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://iceinteriordesign.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iceinteriordesign/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IceInteriorDesign/
- Other: https://www.houzz.com/professionals/interior-designers-and-decorators/ice-interior-design-llc-pfvwus-pf~688034547?
Image Credits
Ice Interior Design LLC
Michael Hunter Photography
