Inspiring Conversations with Megan Reed of Reed Design Builders

Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Reed. 

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Home and the aesthetic of a home have always been important to me. I remember having chickenpox in 2nd grade and being sequestered to my room. I felt horribly itchy and ill, and I just knew that if my room was rearranged, I would feel better. So, I rearranged all my furniture (heavy, wooden 1980’s furniture), alone, sick with chickenpox. My room felt bigger and was much more aesthetically pleasing when I was finished!

I own Reed Design Builders with my husband, Nate. We started RDB 13 years ago, and in that time, I have designed over 500 homes in the Denver Metro Area. We focus on new builds, historical restorations, quality construction, and timeless design. When we started RDB, I didn’t know how much of a role I was needed to fill. I was a stay-at-home mom with a real estate license and had been taking classes through the New York Institute of Art and Design.

I had been a middle school English teacher for eight years prior to having kids, and I wanted a job where being a mom could still be a primary focus. So, when RDB started and our first few projects weren’t cohesive design-wise, I stepped in. My two daughters went to work with me a lot in those first few years. They knew how to be safe on a construction site, how to blue tape a home for touch-ups, and had been shopping and picking out materials at most of the design centers in Denver with me!

After 13 years of designing homes, I’ve seen a lot of fads in home design come and go. My design motto is timeless, elegant, and comfortable. I think if you design with these three things in mind, you’ll hit a home run every time!

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?
No road worth traveling is ever completely smooth. There have been a lot of challenges and a lot of successes. It’s hard to leave your family-owned business at the door when you come home. Work is always the main subject around the house, but over the last year, we’ve tried really hard to have hobbies outside of work. I think that strangely enough, the challenges and obstacles of COVID-19 really showed us that we needed a life outside of work.

Being a woman in a male-dominated industry is also never going to be easy. It’s taken a lot of time and energy to earn my place on job sites, but I have worked hard-putting in long hours and asking questions when I wasn’t sure, relying on expert tradesmen to show me the best ways to do things. I think asking those questions and showing vulnerability has helped me get the respect I have today.

I run the finish trades on our projects, and I have a lot of fun doing so! Going on-site and laying out tile patterns, directing light placements and closet layouts-all the little details that make a house a home-is really the thing that keeps me coming back. I love seeing progress on a construction site!

As you know, we’re big fans of Reed Design Builders. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Reed Design Builders focuses on unique projects that create excellent quality and value to the neighborhood and end user. RDB has been in business for the last 13 years and has completed many historical restorations, including a National Park Service Registered restoration of a prior youth hostel. Most recently, RDB completed the restoration of the Holy Townhomes, a church to 6-unit townhome conversion in the Baker neighborhood. RDB designs everything we build and sell.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite childhood memories always include my large family. My sister and I were very close to our grandparents growing up. We would spend weekends at their house watching old movies. We spent hours on Gramma’s sofa, watching Audrey Hepburn fall in love, Cary Grant dazzle the ladies, and Judy Garland sing her heart out. We ate grilled cheese sandwiches dipped in ketchup, and cried every time we watched “An Affair to Remember.” Grampa was there as well, pretending to be miserable and complaining that he was, “too young to watch this movie,” because it was undoubtedly a love story. Gramma would tell him that he was fine. She only ever picked out movies that had singing, dancing, and a happy ending!

Contact Info:

• Email: megan@reeddes.com
• Website: www.reeddes.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mreed.designs/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reeddesbuild

Image Credits
Simply Love Photography