Our story
Made in Nashville. Rooted in the South.
The Refined Magnolia began the way most honest things do — not with a business plan, but with a conviction. A conviction that the most beautiful spaces are the ones that feel permanent. That flowers shouldn't wilt. That a room should feel as though it has always been exactly as it is.
Our founder, Caroline Ashby, grew up in Franklin, Tennessee, in a house where the garden was tended with the same care as the parlor. She studied fine art and textile design before spending a decade working with some of Nashville's most respected event designers — learning, alongside them, what it means to build an environment that moves people.
The Refined Magnolia was founded in 2018 with a single premise: that silk florals, done with genuine craft, could be as beautiful as fresh flowers — and far more enduring. What began as a small studio practice has grown into a full-service design house, working with private clients, wedding planners, and hospitality properties across Nashville and beyond.
We remain a small, intentional studio. We take on a limited number of commissions each season, and we give each one our full attention. That is not a marketing line. It is simply how we work.
“I want every room we touch to feel like it has a history — even if we just built it yesterday.”
Caroline Ashby
Founder & Creative Director
What we believe
Permanence over novelty
We are not interested in trends. We are interested in rooms that will still feel right in twenty years.
Restraint as a discipline
The hardest thing in design is knowing what to leave out. We practice that discipline on every project.
Southern character, not Southern cliché
Nashville has a design identity that is genuinely its own. We draw from it honestly — without pastiche.
Craft over convenience
Every arrangement is hand-assembled. Every installation is done by our team. We do not outsource the work that matters.
Nashville roots
A city worth designing for.
Nashville has changed enormously in the past decade. But beneath the new construction and the national attention, there is still a city with genuine character — old money and new ambition, front porches and grand estates, a culture that takes hospitality seriously. That is the Nashville we design for. The one that has always been here.
