Designing the Cape Fear: Local designer brings coastal elegance, purpose to spaces across The Cape Fear

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Long before Nicole Cook built a career creating beautiful spaces, she was searching for a profession that combined her creativity, passion, and independence.

Growing up in West Virginia, Cook knew she wanted to make a living doing something she loved. She just had to discover what that something was.

“I was trying to find something that I was passionate about, good at, and where I could make a living as well and rely on myself,” Cook said.

Competitive tennis eventually brought Cook to Wilmington and the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where she studied recreational marketing.

But her love for creating and connecting with people ultimately led her in a different direction: interior design.

“I love creating something from the ground up or from scratch and making it beautiful,” Cook said.

Cook went on to study textiles, drafting, and design before launching her own business in 2014.

More than a decade later, she says the greatest reward of her work is not simply seeing a finished space. It is seeing how people experience something she created.

“I love seeing satisfaction on a client’s face,” Cook said. “Or going into a restaurant I’ve designed and hearing camaraderie and laughter, people getting together and loving where they are. It gives me a sense of purpose.”

That purpose is reflected in a design philosophy Cook describes with three words: vision, flow, and feel.

“I kind of design with three words: vision, flow and feel,” Cook said. “What’s my vision? How is it going to be functional? How is it going to flow?”

That philosophy is now taking shape in one of Cook’s largest commercial projects, The Club at Midtown in Wilmington.

With spaces designed for recreation, dining, entertainment, and family gatherings, Cook was tasked with creating individual areas that still feel connected as part of one larger experience.

For inspiration, she looked to something distinctly Cape Fear: the natural landscape surrounding the property.

“The green palette just screamed my name,” Cook said. “I felt like we needed to bring earth tones and the greens inside as well because when you look, all you see is the pines and what Wilmington is known for.”

The result reflects a style Cook describes as “coastal elegance with modern tendencies.”

But her interpretation of coastal design moves away from some of the more traditional themes often associated with homes near the water.

“I’m not about seashells everywhere or a bunch of coastal artwork,” Cook said. “I like the feeling of neutrals and monochromatics and then bringing in hints of greens and blues.”

At The Club at Midtown, natural tones, detailed moldings, warm metals, custom furnishings, and carefully planned lighting help bring that vision together.

Cook says lighting, in particular, can have a major impact on the way any room looks and feels.

“You can make it a beautiful space, but if you don’t have the correct lighting, it ruins it,” Cook said.

And homeowners do not need to take on a major renovation to apply some of the same principles in their own spaces.

Cook recommends starting with something that brings you joy and allowing the rest of the room to develop around it.

“You don’t have to start new and literally tear down everything to feel like you have changed a space in your home,” Cook said. “Focus on something that makes you happy.”

More than a decade after turning her creativity into a career, Cook says the true measure of good design is not simply how a space looks.

For her, it is seeing people gather, connect, and feel at home in something she created for them.

To find out how you can work with this designer click here.