Designing Runs in the Family: Young Jupiter Interior Designer Carves Her Path
Written by John Pacenti
Photography by Elizabeth Palace
For 26-year-old Alexis Cox, interior design wasn't just a career choice – it was practically her destiny.
Interior designer Alexis Cox specializes in a coastal living aesthetic, with clean lines, relaxed, natural materials, soft colors, and light-filled spaces.
"My mom's an interior designer, my dad's a graphic designer, and my brother's a fashion designer,” Cox explained.
Cox has made her imprint on northern Palm Beach County and beyond with LexInterior and is one of a group of young professional women in the interior design industry who have banded together to give each other support and advice.
Visit her website or Instagram (lexinterior.com, @lexinterior_), and Cox’s aesthetic becomes clear: coastal living.
“I would say clean lines. Take away the clutter, but still have accessories and still be able to tell a story throughout your house,” she said.
Her expertise shines through. Ask her about how wallpaper has made a comeback, and soon thoughts of redecorating one’s living room come on strong.
“I would say most of the wallpaper I do is either a grass cloth, textured, not a linen, but like a weave that a lot of coastal clients like to use here,” she said. “I would say another one is anything with some sort of pattern. So that would be in replacement of art."
Even as a child, Cox showed early signs of her future profession. "There are even pictures of me with my mom and me having color palettes out with her clients as a 3-year-old,” she said.
Her unique childhood fascination extended beyond color swatches. When she visited other homes, "I had to go to their bathroom because I wanted to see what their bathroom looked like," she recalled.
Cox graduated from the University of Tennessee during the peak of COVID-19, a challenging time for emerging designers. "Right after that, I didn't get any design job. Nobody was hiring,” she said.
Her career trajectory changed when she moved to Jupiter. After working with two designers whose styles didn't resonate with her, Cox's mother stepped in.
"She was just like, 'Just take some of my clients that I have down in South Florida, and you can work with them,’” Cox said.
This family support became the foundation of LexInterior, her design business. "She passed on the clients to me. And then from that, I just got referral after referral from those clients,” she said.
She is ‘an excellent listener who doesn't push her own ideas but instead provides thoughtful choices.’- Tracey Meehan, client
Cox in a kitchen that she designed. She credits her mother for giving her career a kick-start, while her father and brother contribute their expertise.
Cox's design philosophy centers on "livable luxury."
"I feel so many designers here only do very, very high-end. I didn't grow up the wealthiest,” she said. “Money doesn't drive happiness for me. So I love just being able to create spaces for any type of client.”
Her approach is comprehensive. "No project is too small for me,” she said. “Since I'm so new, I have been lucky to get full, brand new, $3 million houses, and I've also done small apartments."
Currently, Cox is designing seven houses in the Avenir in Palm Beach Gardens, a few in Boca Raton and one in Palm City.
One happy client is Tracey Meehan, who wanted her Avenir home to have a different feel than her main residence in New England to “avoid a traditional Boston-style look, as she put it.”
She said Cox is “an excellent listener who doesn't push her own ideas but instead provides thoughtful choices.”
The designer helped Meehan and her husband create a coastal design for their Florida home by having her create a Pinterest board and carefully guiding their design choices.
Cox also has fans among her colleagues. In the competitive world of interior design, she has joined a powerful network of young female professionals under the age of 30 in the design industry.
"I feel like I really learned so much more from our little networking group, because we tell each other stories, and what we're dealing with and what we could help with,” she said.
Family continues to play a crucial role in her business. "My brother does all my apparel and everything for the brand,” she said. “And then my dad does all the graphics, the website, and everything. And then my mom helps me with interior design."
The COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly boosted her industry, she noted.
"People spent so much time in their homes that they realized all the things that they wanted to fix, or they're working from home now and they want to spruce it up a bit,” she said.
With a supportive family, a growing client base, and a passion for creating livable, personalized spaces, Alexis Cox is proving that for some, design truly is in the blood.
