We have some exciting news to share: Envisionary Collective is officially here.
For me, this feels like something that has been building for a long time.
I have spent 25 years designing interior environments, with more than 10 of those years focused specifically on senior living. I’ve worked across independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing, and the reason I continue to love this work is actually pretty simple: it matters.
We have the opportunity to create spaces where people live, gather, celebrate, work and spend an important chapter of their lives. Those spaces should be beautiful, but they also have to work. They need to support residents, families and staff in ways that aren’t always obvious in a rendering or finish palette.
When a space is designed well—when it really serves the people who live and work there—you can feel the difference.
As our interiors work at LB/A continued to grow, so did the vision for what it could become. We saw an opportunity to build a dedicated interiors practice with its own identity, its own voice and an incredibly talented team behind it, while still having the resources and expertise of LB/A supporting us.
That idea became Envisionary Collective.
Meet the Collective
The word Collective was intentional.
Great design doesn’t happen because of one person. It comes from different perspectives, experiences and strengths coming together around a shared goal. And that is very much the story of this team.
Our founding team includes Melissa Keeney, Alicia Nicolay and Jen Sheehan, three incredibly talented designers and planners who each bring more than a decade of senior living experience, including work from their time at Spellman Brady Company in St. Louis.
Together with Delaney Millard and me, formerly the interiors team at LB/iD, our team brings decades of interior design experience to Envisionary Collective, with deep expertise in senior living environments.
But the number of years isn’t really the important part.
What matters is what comes with that experience.
We understand the operational realities of senior living. We know that something can look beautiful and still not work. We know that residents, staff, families and operators can experience the same space very differently. And we know that some of the seemingly small design decisions can have a very big impact on how a community feels and functions.
What I love most about this team is that everyone brings something a little different to the table.
Jen sees possibilities everywhere.
She is constantly bringing us ideas inspired by places she has been or experiences she has had and asking, “Why couldn’t we do this in senior living?” I love that she pushes us to think differently while still keeping the resident experience at the center of the conversation.
Alicia is our strategic thinker.
She has a way of looking at a space and thinking through all the ways it needs to work—not just today, but five or ten years from now. She asks the questions that make the rest of us stop and think, and our projects are better because of it.
Melissa keeps us grounded in the details.
She is always thinking three steps ahead and anticipating the things that could become problems before they ever get there. Her understanding of how a project actually comes together—from design through installation—is invaluable.
Delaney brings a fresh perspective to everything we do.
She has a natural ability to balance how a space feels with how it functions and genuinely enjoys solving the puzzle of a challenging floor plan. She is curious, thoughtful and always keeps the people who will ultimately experience the space at the center of her design decisions.
We all approach design a little differently, and I think that is one of our greatest strengths. We challenge each other, learn from each other and genuinely enjoy working together. The end result is better because it isn’t coming from one person’s perspective—it’s coming from the collective.
What We Believe
Our mission statement is:
“Curiosity leads us. Innovation inspires us. Collectively, we envision and create environments that are vibrant and meaningful.”
We spent a lot of time getting those words right because we wanted them to actually reflect how we work.
CURIOSITY means asking questions before we start designing. How is the space being used today? What isn’t working? Who uses it? What do residents want? What does staff need? What could we do differently?
INNOVATION means continuing to push ourselves. Senior living is changing, and the expectations of the people moving into these communities are changing with it. We don’t want to simply repeat what worked on the last project.
And COLLECTIVELY is probably the most important part.
The best projects happen when designers, architects, operators, developers, staff, residents and project partners are working toward the same goal. Our role isn’t to walk into a room with all the answers. It’s to listen, bring our experience to the table and work together to find the right answer for that particular community.
That is the kind of design practice we want Envisionary Collective to be.
What We Do
Our work spans the full arc of a project, from early programming and space planning through finish selections, FF&E specifications, procurement coordination and branding.
Senior living represents the majority of our work and is certainly an area where our team has deep expertise, but it isn’t the only work we do. Our experience also includes active adult, multifamily, hospitality, commercial, education and healthcare environments.
Envisionary Collective operates as a DBA under LB/A, which gives us something I think is pretty special: the personality and focus of a dedicated interior design studio backed by the resources, infrastructure and architectural expertise of an established full-service firm.
It also gives us the flexibility to meet clients where they are.
Some projects need a full architecture and interiors team. Others need an interiors partner. Some need help with a renovation, repositioning or FF&E package. Others start with us very early in the process and continue all the way through installation.
There isn’t one formula, and we don’t think there should be.
What’s Next?
If you’re reading this, you’ve already found our new website.
Here you’ll be able to see our work, meet our team and learn a little more about how we approach design. We’ll also be using this blog to talk about the things our team is seeing, learning and thinking about—not just finished projects.
We’re also on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook, where we’ll be sharing project updates, team stories, behind-the-scenes moments and probably more conversations about furniture, finishes and senior living design than the average person ever knew they needed.
Right now, our team has more than 50 projects actively in design across the country, ranging from smaller renovations and repositioning projects to new construction and full-service interior design and FF&E.
There is a lot happening, and we’re excited to finally have a place to start sharing more of it.
And if you’re working on a project—whether it’s senior living or another sector—and you’re looking for an interiors team that will listen, ask the right questions and understand that good design has to do more than look good, we’d love to talk.
Reach out to us at hello@envisionary-id.com.
One Last Thing…
Building Envisionary Collective has been exciting, but the part I’m most grateful for is the people who said yes to building it with me.
I’m grateful for this team, for LB/A’s support in giving us the opportunity to create something new, and for the clients, operators, developers, architects and industry partners who have trusted us with their projects over the years.
Senior living may not always get the same attention as the newest luxury hotel or restaurant, but I would argue that the impact of good design can be even greater.
The communities we design aren’t simply projects. They are someone’s home. They are someone else’s workplace. They are places where families visit, friendships are made, meals are shared and everyday life happens.
Those spaces deserve to be beautiful. They deserve to function well. And most importantly, they should feel like places where people genuinely want to be.
That’s what we’re here to create.
Let’s get to work.
— Penny