Robin Rains is one of those designers who is never not looking—at the world, certainly, wherever she is, but also at where a client lives, what they see out their windows, how those people see their own homes. For instance, on one of her frequent shopping/scouting trips to France, seeking out antiques, she was wandering the stalls of a Paris flea market when she eyed a 1950s-era, multi-armed chandelier hovering in mid-air.

“I walked into the booth and there it was,” recalls Rains from her Nashville office, “and I knew the moment I looked at it that it was perfect for this couple’s bedroom. It was a new–old vintage piece meant for their home. I knew, too, that these homeowners would love it.” And because Rains is such a seasoned designer, she has an instinctive sense of scale and proportion, so much so that she felt confident in purchasing the lighting source knowing, without measurements on hand, that it would clear the iron canopy bed she already had in mind for the couple’s bedroom. Nevertheless, despite her trained eye and gift of good memory, she admits to carrying an actual list of things she wants to find for her clients.

Rains knows these clients well, having worked on prior homes of theirs. She recalls the process of their purchasing this residence, with its direct access to beaches along Florida’s dreamily beautiful coastal Highway 30A. As she tells it, the couple had seen this house years earlier and were determined to buy it right away when, suddenly, it went to other buyers prior to their offer. But like anyone who falls in love with a house, that love, not unlike the true romantic version, doesn’t dissipate. “They bought a far larger house that we came to call ‘Mont Blanc,’ given its scale and color,” says Rains, “but then this house suddenly came back on the market and they snapped it up. Because we, at our firm, always like to name houses that we work on, we called this one ‘Little Blanc,’ since it was smaller in size, but still had a big, lovely effect.”

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INTERIOR DESIGN BY ROBIN RAINS

ARCHITECTURE BY KEITH SUMMEROUR

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRETT WOOD

WRITTEN BY DAVID MASELLO

This story appeared in the Spring 2026 issue of MILIEU.