Adoption Highlight: Interior Designer and CEO Jennalee Rogers Creates an Honest Home By Meg Hale Brunton

Founder, CEO, and Creative Director for House of Jenn, Jenalee Rogers is not afraid of going up against great odds. Instead of being daunted, Rogers puts much more importance in living her life with authenticity and honesty.

Born 25 weeks premature, Rogers spent the first three months of her life in the NICU at Mission Hospital in Asheville, NC. The doctors didn’t expect her to ever be able to walk, hear, or speak. “By the grace of God, I’m doing all that now,” she says, smiling. Her parents, Mike and Niki Rogers, adopted her when she was eighteen months old. Niki Rogers had been one of the nurses in the delivery room the night that Rogers was born. Mike Rogers is one of the owner’s of Nature’s Pharmacy in Asheville. “So, the entrepreneurial spirit runs a bit in my family,” Rogers says. “They are both very loving and supportive of my dreams.”

“As a young kid, I wanted to be an actress,” she explains, continuing that she let go of that dream to pursue her passion for design. Rogers says that, for as long as she could remember, she always kept a stack of House Beautiful and Dwell magazines at the foot of her bed, full of tagged pages with the designs she liked. “This was before Pinterest,” she says.

After attending Heritage Hall in Hendersonville, Roger earned her associate’s degree in business, and then enrolled in the Interior Design program at Western Carolina University.

While in school, she took internships, and jobs with other interior design firms in the area.

After graduating in May 2021, Rogers moved to Charleston, SC, despite the fact that she knew no one there. She refers to this move as ‘a leap of faith.’ “I always wanted to move to the Low Country,” Rogers explains. “It’s so beautiful and there is so much to do. I feel like I’m supposed to be here.” On August 1st of that year, she started her own design business called House of Jenn.  

Opening a business during the COVID pandemic, Rogers began House of Jenn, working mostly virtually. Rogers says virtual interior design is not as challenging as one might think, since so much of the actual design work is done with online software, such as AutoCAD and SketchUp. “Right now, I’m trying to expand my reach, and do things more hands-on,” Rogers says. 

She admits that she does prefer getting to do her job in person. “I love meeting new people, getting to know more about them, and getting to explore Charleston,” she says, adding that Charleston has some amazing independent furniture stores that she likes to work with. “I love picking out the furniture and decor.”

House of Jenn works primarily with real estate agents, investors and developers, as well as with contractors and architects on their investment properties. Rogers’ specialty is product-sourcing for interior items, like furniture, appliances, and fixtures. She says she focuses mainly on ‘fix n’ flips', new builds, and especially vacation rentals. “I got that idea because it was a unique niche,” Rogers says, adding that she does work on custom homes and with individuals too. “I enjoy working with both.” Rogers adds that she often has the opportunity to be more creative with rental properties though, since clients aren’t as meticulous if the house is not their home. 

She begins her designing process with an in-depth consultation with her client, including a questionnaire. From there, she tours the space and takes measurements and gets to know her customers’ style, budget, and timeline. Once the designing is underway, she creates a floorplan in Autocad, along with a 3D model of the space itself to see how everything fits.

Rogers says that House of Jenn is definitely not your average interior design studio. “I wanted to make interior design obtainable to anyone on any budget,” she explains, specifying that interior design is so often expected to be expensive. “I care about doing a good job, being honest and not cut-throat. It’s not about the money; it’s about passion.”

Now at 25 years old and on the precipice of House of Jenn’s first anniversary, Rogers sees her business growing. She hopes to hire more designers, and perhaps even on-staff contractors and architects. While she plans to stay in Charleston indefinitely, Roger says she would very much like to expand House of Jenn beyond the greater Charleston area. “I would love to grow,” she muses. “I’d enjoy turning it into a little bit of everything.” She would also love to buy and fix up vacation rentals that she could rent out and manage through House of Jenn. With her love of all things furniture, she also says she might like to, one day, start her own furniture line. 

She prides herself on her professional ethics she employs with House of Jenn, and enjoys that it makes her stand out among other interior designers. “Treat people the way you want to be treated, and conduct business the way you’d like them to conduct it toward you,” she recommends. 

Rogers loves what she does and finds that fact makes her hard work and dedication come naturally. “I enjoy my job, I have fun in what I do,” she remarks. “I hope everyone else finds enjoyment in what they do in life.” She feels, overwhelmingly, that God put the passion for interior design into her heart. “I’m really glad He’s called me to do this.”

For more information on House of Jenn, visit their website: www.houseofjenn.com