Today, Lisa McDaniel owns a successful construction company and home design service, but it all started at a charity run. The Baton Rouge native was working in Memphis as an accountant, when she met her now husband, Beau McDaniel, at a race.
They were engaged within three weeks, and married after six months. Now living in Breaux Bridge, the couple has three children and two businesses: C. Mac Construction and Antiquity, a design service and home retail store. Think Chip and Joanna Gaines from HGTV’s hit show “Fixer Upper.”
McDaniel started out as the accountant for C. Mac, but her role evolved.
“Beau decided our clients should have a truly special and completely customized experience when working with C. Mac Construction. He wanted to provide a manner of concierge design service,” she says. “And for some wild reason he pegged me as the concierge. I initially laughed at the idea.”
McDaniel draws inspiration from the history and architecture of Southern Louisiana, while also exploring the clients’ interests and tastes. And her accounting background still plays a part, too — after all, she usually has a strict budget to stick to.
But McDaniel found she had an eye for home interiors. As she worked, the ideas started flowing.
“To some, that might sound flaky or a bit woo woo,” she says. “But the truth is that as I sought to help clients express themselves through the design of their homes, I found this incredible sense of peace. It settled over me as this inexplicable, but very genuine joy. That’s how I knew, and continue to know, that I’m tapped into something special.”
