About Nicole
Known for her expressive spaces and her warm, collaborative approach, Nicole Yee brings a rare blend of artistry, structure, and intuition (she has a knack for sensing where design is heading before it trends) to every project.
A former corporate marketing executive, Nicole spent a decade leading complex creative initiatives before founding her Oakland-based studio in 2005. That background sharpened her organizational rigor, strategic eye, and ability to guide clients through ambitious projects with clarity and confidence. But her artist’s soul gives her work its emotional stamp.
Nicole’s clients trust her with the big questions and the smallest decisions. She’s known for marrying precision with play, classicism with quirk, and durability with distinction, blending eras, textures, and proportions with confidence and restraint. If there’s a challenge, she leans in.
A Lauded Expert
Nicole’s work has been recognized nationally: she’s the only West Coast designer to win the Interior Design Society’s Designer of the Year Award more than two dozen times, honored for 30 projects across genres. She has been named Best Interior Designer in the Bay Area by Oakland Magazine, and her homes have captivated clients on both coasts.
What truly defines Nicole, though, is the care she brings to every project—refining relentlessly, guarding her clients’ desires with fierce conviction, and staying invested long after the last detail is in place. Her studio is intentionally small—when you hire Nicole, you work with Nicole—and her philosophy is simple: Listen intently. Design bravely. Honor the architecture. Elevate every day.
About the Studio
Nicole Yee Interiors is a boutique residential design studio crafting exquisite and enduring homes on both coasts.
We prioritize thoughtful, environmentally conscious decisions, heirloom-quality pieces, and materials and finishes that age beautifully. Every project is customized to suit its owners to a T, brought to life through a process that seeks the highest-quality options and pursues craftsmanship with equal parts rigor and passion.
Travel, fashion, and a love of character and craftsmanship inform our perspective, helping us curate layers that feel both personal and storied. The result is a home that honors its architecture, enriches daily living, and feels distinctly yours the moment you walk in.
Working across styles and genres, we pay close attention to color, shape, proportion, and texture, bringing a wildly creative, precision-driven perspective to every project.
