Meet our design team
Lush Living Designs NC is an interior design studio in Apex, North Carolina, co-owned by Tania and Nichole. We own short-term rentals ourselves, and we design commercial spaces for small businesses.
Tania Fitzgerald
Co-owner · Design + Guest Experience
Tania brings the human lens. She holds an MSW from UNC Chapel Hill and worked as a public health researcher and a boutique owner before turning to design full time. She designs spaces that serve the people in them.
A North Carolina native, she lives in Apex with her husband, son and dog. Off the clock you'll find her in a fantasy novel, painting, playing card games or watching sci-fi, often with a glass of wine. That mix of whimsy and practicality shows up in every room she designs.
Nichole DiPippo
Co-owner · Finance + Operations
Nichole brings the financial lens. She comes from finance and founded Cozy Quarters, a short-term rental management company, so every design decision runs through an ROI filter. She runs the numbers so the design makes business sense.
Originally from Key Largo, Florida, she lives in Chapel Hill with her husband and two sons. When she isn't designing, she's reading, singing along to Taylor Swift or planning the next adventure, coffee or wine in hand.
Our design approach
We became short-term rental designers because we are short-term rental owners first. We've answered the 2am guest messages. Our own listings taught us that a room has to do more than look good. It has to book.
Nichole runs every decision through a return-on-investment filter. Tania makes sure the space works for the people in it. Beautiful without strategy is just pretty, and strategy without beauty is just profitable. We want both.
So we design with the numbers in view. Before we pick a sofa or a paint color, we look at the market the space competes in.
- Occupancy. Which rooms and features get a listing booked more nights.
- Nightly rate. Where design lets an owner charge more than nearby listings.
- Guest behavior. What guests notice in photos, mention in reviews and use every stay.
The goal is a space that guests and clients remember, and one that helps the business behind it grow.
Have a rental or an office that should work harder?