about

ashley rachelle stephens

ashley rachelle stephens lives in salt lake, with her husband of 8 years and their 2 year old daughter. her hobbies include: sewing, wogging [walking/jogging], listening to music, not cooking, watching perry mason [as well as period classics], and freestyle rapping [okay, singing] with her daughter’s sheep finger puppet that ashley has aptly named “m.c. lamb-er”.

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ashley is dedicated to and passionate about learning & designing. her mother was an accomplished seamstress and pattern-maker who taught ashley how to sew when she was 8 years old. a fine collection of custom barbie clothes were produced as a result. my were those seams tiny! she also developed a love of reading at a very early age. classic literature was and is among her favorites.

her father briefly studied architecture and went on to work in the commercial construction industry. he, in “partnership” with the new yankee workshop & this old house taught ashley various tricks of the trade as well as joinery methods. biscuit, anyone?

her childhood aspirations went something like this: become a librarian, writer, archaeologist or spy. the life-threatening reality of the latter caused “spy” to be removed from the list…however, her love for suspenseful spy & mystery thrillers still remains.

then, in middle school, she learned that there was a name for someone who liked to rearrange their furniture, paint their walls beautiful colors, and create with lovely textiles. it was settled, she was going to become an interior designer.

years past, she graduated from high school, moved away from her home in the lush pacific northwest and set her sights on college and a career. she was offered a job at her neighborhood bank while there to open a new account (on the second day of her arrival to her new desert habitat). meanwhile, the university she had been accepted to dropped their interior design program. after one summer semester the prospects of a full fall semester’s tuition was too much for the “non-resident”.

so working at the bank full-time became easier and going back to school became harder. eight years and three banks later, ashley had climbed a few rungs in the bank industry. for almost three of those years she was the assistant bank manager as well as business specialist.

through her years of bank experience she learned the value of maintaining precise records, client privacy, service oriented work, and swift problem-solving skills. and while she was good at her job and enjoyed it, she felt a void. it was finally time to pursue her dreams of becoming an interior designer.

after a series of fortuitous events, she learned of the much-respected interior design program at lds business college. two weeks after registering she was accepted into the interior design program where 18-21 credit hour semesters engulfed her life. she couldn’t have been happier. even in school she finished her projects ahead of schedule. ashley focused all her efforts on learning and absorbing as much information as possible. in addition to maintaining a 4.0 gpa during her college career, she participated in several competitions where she either won or placed 2nd.

one of these competitions was the annual international interior design association (iida) event for graduating student portfolios. she competed against students from 2 & 4 year colleges and universities throughout utah & colorado and took 1st place! it was the crowning achievement of her interior design school career and helped build her confidence as a designer.

now, ashley has gone on to create ashley rachelle design & interiors (ardi). an interior design company based in salt lake city, utah which works mostly in custom residential design. she is always excited to meet new people and partner with them to create the space that is uniquely them.