SIBLING HARMONY
By Maria Masters; Photography by Catherine Wilborne
This article appeared in the May/June 2026 issue of Home Design & Decor’s Triangle edition.
Designer Nichole Blough blends traditional Southern design with her signature colorful, tailored aesthetic.
It was the land that first drew Mitch and Morgan Turner to their home in Holly Springs—a 1970s-era single-story ranch set on two quiet acres.
The couple knew the house would eventually need a refresh, but there was no urgency. Even with Mitch’s sister, interior designer Nichole Blough, in the family, the Turners took their time, slowly layering in furniture pieces they were only halfheartedly collecting. “Besides, Nichole was so busy, we weren’t even on her radar,” Morgan says with a laugh. That changed in February 2025, when the couple learned they were expecting their first child. Suddenly, the timeline shifted—and the very first call they made was to Blough, asking her to design the nursery.
Blough, for her part, was genuinely thrilled to take on the project. “I think everyone wanted to redesign my brother’s home,” she laughs. As a mother to three boys, Blough was thrilled to design a baby girl’s room, and she couldn’t resist the opportunity to create something special for her niece. As the nursery—a bright, girly, whimsical space with botanical wallpaper in sweet shades of pink and green—came to life, the couple was so thrilled with the result they didn’t want her stop.
“We asked Nichole to update the bathroom, then we asked her to spruce up our bedroom, and then we thought the kitchen could use some new cabinets,” says Morgan. “And she just ended up redesigning the whole house.”
As the project evolved organically, Blough focused on ensuring each room felt connected to the next while still expressing its own distinct personality. Drawing on her signature love of color and pattern, she infused the home with joyful, layered moments throughout. Cherry-red plaid curtains enliven the owner’s bedroom, while the game room is wrapped entirely in a lively green-patterned wallpaper that climbs from walls to ceiling. In the dining room, lime-green chairs and sunny yellow curtains pop against a custom cerulean-blue bar. “Every room is so different, and every room is so bright and happy,” Morgan says. “It all came together, and it just looks amazing.”
Blough was able to take full design rein of the home, but she also credits the homeowners with trusting her process and vision. “It requires a level of trust that other people may not have,” she says. “I was able to design in ways that I normally don’t get to.” It helps, of course, that the homeowners are intimately familiar with Blough’s fun, playful aesthetic, having spent many hours at her own colorful, fancifully styled home. In fact, throughout the design process, Morgan requested some of the same decor that she saw in Blough’s home—from an orchid arrangement in the entryway to the rose medallion plates on the bookshelves. The result is a home that feels bright and fun, but also carefully curated, with thoughtful details.
In the end, the design was completed in less than a year—just in time to welcome Blough’s niece in the fall of 2025. The finished product was well worth the wait. “I’ve always loved Nichole’s style, but I couldn’t replicate it on my own,” says Morgan. “Now, my house looks like her house, and I love everything about it.”