2025 at CFD: A Year of Design in Review
It feels unbelievable that we’re almost at the close of 2025, but it’s here! We couldn’t possibly have packed an ounce more of design goodness into the last 12 months, so without further ado, here is our CFD Design Life Year in Review-our highlights of the big, beautiful, bustling CFD design journey of this year. Here in the studio, we’re reflecting on this year with a lot of wonder (“How did we DO all of that?), so much passion and drive for the new year to come, and most of all, a tremendous amount of gratitude for each of our incredible clients. Our work is about connection and serving our clients in ways that make their daily lives better. The word "grateful" doesn’t begin to capture how honored we are to be part of our clients’ lives and to do this work.
Speaking of our incredible clients, some of the most exciting moments from the past year were photographing several beautiful homes we designed and delivered. Crafting a unique, deeply personalized home that is curated specifically to each client takes steady work over the course of months and sometimes years. We always say “great design takes time”. The result is an incredible, collected home full of high-quality custom pieces and meaningful details, designed to be as comfortable as it is beautiful. It’s a process, and the depth of our commitment to doing it right means the finish line is that much sweeter. One of our favorite ways to celebrate handing over a turn-key home to our clients is to take professional photographs. Clients love these to commemorate the transformation of their home and highlight the most special aspects of their unique design. You can see some of the work we photographed this year, recently published in the Nov/Dec issue of Home Design & Decor Magazine.
The cityscape inspired dining room design makes a stunning introduction to this beautiful feature of our Chapel Hill townhome design, published in the fall issue of Home Design & Decor Magazine.
A huge thank you to our amazing photographer, Michael Blevins!
This year also saw the much-anticipated photographing of the sweet historic Chapel Hill home renovation with it’s famous blue door (and there’s still more to show you coming soon!), AND, a huge project that you’ll be seeing in all it’s glory this coming summer (ya’ll, we can’t wait to show you. It’s a good one!).
We’re also grateful for the ways we were able to give back over the year. Fundraising events for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the Chatham Arts Council, the Arts Center in Carrboro, Habitat for Humanity of Orange County, and the Chapel Hill Women of Achievement event were some moments that gave us the opportunity to support our community.
Cat took the podium to honor women leaders in the Chapel Hill community at the 2025 Women of Achievement Celebration.
As a small, woman-owned business we try to mindfully and consistently support other local business, fellow female leaders in the community, as well as the arts in our area. We were also grateful for the opportunity to uplift two local artists by featuring them in our projects and photography- Sarah Graham and Katie Porterfield.
This gorgeous painting is an original by Chatham County artist Sarah Graham.
This original by Chapel Hill artist Katie Porterfield brings a hint of modern into this historic home bedroom.
And without a doubt. one of our favorite moments of 2025 was this joyful groundbreaking ceremony. Designing and building custom homes is such an incredible process, and what a privilege to get to be part of someone’s dream and vision coming to reality. Building a home is often the culmination of decades of planning and dreaming, and a major life milestone. Creating a place where a family’s life and memories will be held is an incredible privilege. Commemorating this special day with our wonderful client was meaningful and memorable- for both of us. As construction has progressed this year and we get closer to completion (coming 2026, stay tuned!), we look back on the day that it all began and we could not be more grateful.
Cat and Master Builder Chad Collins, standing by a wonderful client as he breaks ground on his dream home.
When we think back on this year we also think about how much we love our clients, and how amazing it is to connect with them and create something as special as their home. Our studio has been the center of SO much design vision this year- Spaghetti Days, measure and document days, building out a million drawings (thank you Julian!), searching, sourcing, testing, inspecting, installing, adjusting, finishing, layering in every last personal detail, and giving each client’s space all the love and attention we know it deserves. Your home is personal and meaningful, and the design should be, too. Getting to know each client and crafting a home that beautifully reflects them is our passion, and every year we get to do it is a reason to be so incredibly grateful.
Julian, Ryan, and Krista at the 2025 Women of Achievement celebration, held at the Carolina Inn.
We’re so glad you came over to hang out with us on the CFD blog today. We love what we do, and we love sharing it with you. Curious about our process? Check out more about our full-home design here. Learn about our decades of design experience and how we make your home one-of-a-kind here.
Have questions about designing your own dream space? We’d love to help. Start here at our contact page. Or, feel free to just give us a holler anytime at hello@catfrenchdesign.com.
And, if you’d like to follow along for more in-the-moment happenings and goings-on of this bustling design team, you can also find us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest!
