our story
We are Wanderlust Home Interiors. We are globe-trotting professional interior designers, and we create gorgeous, functional homes because we believe that everyone deserves a beautiful life and to live well...now.
Wanderlust means 'a strong desire to travel'. We travel the world in search of inspiration for our clients’ homes. From sourcing incredible stone in Carrara, Italy to composing color palettes derived from textile mills in Santiago, Chile. We believe that your home should not be a cookie-cutter design that looks like your Pinterest boards, rather it should reflect your life and reveal the stories that make you who you are. You are the author of your story and we become the illustrator, telling your story with beautiful materials, furniture, and accessories.
Our services range from simply styling a room all the way to providing the design concept, materials, and construction drawings for ground-up new construction. We work alongside with talented architects, engineers and contractors to make the impossible possible. We transform homes thus transforming lives.
XO The Wanderlust Gals
What makes us qualified to design your home
Since I was seven years old, I’ve been fascinated with the psychology of transforming interior spaces. I would rearrange my bedroom in Seattle so that the natural light was just right. While other kids were buying candy, I was purchasing decor accessories with my allowance. The instant gratification from ‘drab to fab’ became an addiction. I know now that it was the feeling I got when a space became functional and beautiful. It’s the same feelings you get when you leave the salon with a fresh hairstyle,— light, beautiful, happy and confident.
Interior design was more than making things pretty, there was a serious business side to it, so I earned a business degree from Western Washington University and moved to California. Wanting to make my life’s passion my life’s work, I went back to school to earn a degree in interior design from the CID accredited Design Institute of San Diego. To become a professional designer, I needed to learn all of the ins and outs of the non-so-glam part of design—construction techniques, building codes, fire safety, accessibility, efficiency, functionality, and acoustics.
Armed with a business degree and an interior design degree I was having the time of my life designing hotels and restaurants for a hip hospitality design firm in North Park. (Oh and traveled the world and had two beautiful sons with my amazing husband Mike somewhere in the midst of all that).
Then BAM! Covid 19 forced layoffs all throughout the hospitality industry. After spending three months at home with sons, 3-year-old Leo and 6-month-old Lincoln, I knew that I had to get back to my passion. During the quarantine I transformed kitchens, bathrooms, home offices, kids’ bedrooms, living rooms and other residential spaces for people looking to make their home more functional, unique and beautiful. And the idea struck. San Diego needed a design firm that pushed the boundaries of traditional approaches with beautiful concepts. Thus, Wanderlust Home Interiors Inc. was born.
—Katie Renné- Founder/Lead Designer
“I’m going to make everything around me beautiful, that will be my life.”
OUR TEAM
Katie rennÉ
founder/ lead designer
Globe-trotting, professional interior designer with 20+ years of experience in the design industry. Katie’s design philosophy is simple- your home should tell the story of who you are and be a collection of what you love.
For more of Katie’s qualifications, see above.
Brynn RennÉ
Interior designer
Quality time with family and friends, traveling the world, and creating beautiful environments - especially ones where people gather and create memories…these are a few of Brynn’s favorite things. While Brynn’s love for creating beauty within a space stems from a very young age, thanks to her very stylish Mom, her passion has only grown deeper thanks to her travels! She loves to collect goods from each trip to incorporate into her home. Her favorite international purchase? Hands down, it’s her handpicked Moroccan carpets purchased in Marrakech - the carpet negotiating experience was thrilling and even came with a little Berber Whiskey (Moroccan Mint Tea).
After 15 years in the Visual Merchandising industry and 5 years of running her own Wedding Design company, Interior Design is a natural transition. Making a house a (beautiful and functional) home is where her passion is. Brynn believes that the key elements to living in a home that you love are 1) remember that your house becomes a home over time - go slowly to collect and curate detail décor and artwork that truly resonates with you and helps to tell your story and 2) keep it functional - this is especially true with kids!
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