Kristina Larson, Allied ASID, is the founder and principal of Kristina Larson LLC, a property design company based in New Canaan, Conn. She has spent more than 30 years creating holistic, inclusive, and sustainable solutions that improve the quality of life for clients and communities, and benefit our planet.

Kristina brings a unique interdisciplinary approach to each project. She combines her many technical skills–sourcing, space planning, color theory, landscaping, and environmental sensitivity, to name just a few–with her innate ability to correct imbalances and keep the soul of a place. You want to gather in Kristina's spaces and connect.

She is a passionate upcycler, enhancing existing elements of a home and featuring treasured belongings to evoke memories and facilitate togetherness. Kristina also maintains an extensive inventory of found items and an encyclopedic knowledge of who can best be served by each placement. It's not unusual to get a text from her with a photo of a light fixture, a fireplace mantel with built-in bookshelves, or even an entire kitchen, ideal for your project and ready to be rehomed.

In the last two and a half years alone, homes that she’s been involved in renovating and constructing have sold for more than $29.5 million.

She may be the kindest person you'll ever come across in the design-build industry, too. Armed with buckets and with the help of her sons, Kristina relocated hundreds of frogs living in an algae-ridden pool before it was demolished. So that a family's autistic child didn't have to experience a typical lengthy renovation, Kristina deconstructed her kitchen and then modified and installed it in the family's home in one month. When a foreman changed his career and abandoned his team just before the pandemic, Kristina took on his crew and has provided work for them every day since.

Kristina collaborates with a global community of expert craftspeople. She is fluent in the following disciplines to most effectively lead teams and design exceptional spaces for her clients: architectural drawings, carpentry, drainage, drywall, electricity, engineering, excavation, fabrics, foundation, HVAC, insulation, landscaping, masonry, metalworking, millwork, painting, plumbing, roofing, stone and tile, timber framing, upholstery, wallcovering, and wallpapering.

Some of Kristina's most fulfilling ventures have been those spent with her sons by her side, teaching them her trade. As featured in the New Canaanite, Kristina joined forces with Renard Thompson of Bring Back Barns to rebuild the family's 1910 dilapidated barn using salvageable pieces as well as dead and dying trees from their property. Kristina also restored the family's first house, a mid-century modern bungalow, using reclaimed materials. Her sons did the heavy lifting when Kristina and a friend designed front door planters for local real estate agents to better showcase for sale listings. Other formative experiences in her design journey include serving as a part-time renderer for a landscape contractor, working for the lead onsite designer of the D&D Building, and helping organize the homes and offices for a high-profile client in New York City.

Previously, Kristina worked for six years on Wall Street. She was the office manager for Zoologic, Inc., a startup founded by ex-Bankers Trust employees who created educational software for risk management. Kristina was responsible for generating 30% of company sales during her tenure and designed and implemented the firm's HR benefits. As a fixed income senior sales assistant in the Short Duration Group at UBS Securities LLC, Kristina managed repo accounts, including for Prudential, MetLife, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and Fidelity Management and Research. She was ranked as one of the top 5 sales assistants and held Series 7 and 63 licenses.

Kristina earned her B.F.A. in Design and Applied Arts from Brigham Young University, a rigorous five-year program that produced fifteen graduates each year. Kristina graduated a semester early and at the top of her class. She was a two-time recipient of the Talent Award Scholarship for Excellence in Design Studies, and served as the senior vice president and publicity chairperson of the American Society of Interior Designers, BYU Chapter. During her sophomore summer, Kristina completed the Far East Design Study program based in Tokyo. She toured and met with furniture, gardening, and textiles designers in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

While a student at BYU, Kristina was an assistant designer of Facilities Planning & Design - Campus Projects. She was selected by professors and hired as the biennial design team intern, responsible for developing and implementing design and space solutions for BYU buildings, from replacing carpeting and keyboards to remodeling dorm rooms.

Kristina also served as a landlord and manager while a full-time student. She remodeled and renovated a three-story apartment building on her own and managed the contracts and upkeep of two buildings with 19 tenants.

Growing up in the suburbs of Dallas, Kristina's favorite hobby was building forts. While she constructed plenty of structures inside, she created even more outside - hidden in hedges, high up in trees, and along the banks of her neighborhood creeks. Kristina's ever-changing mix of materials, from couch cushions to cedar elm branches, meant that no two projects ever looked the same. Hinting at her career to come, Kristina was endlessly fascinated by connecting found objects to channel a space's energy. 

Kristina and her husband, Michael, have three sons, Sam, Gus, and William. Together they enjoy beekeeping, tending their chickens, cultivating pollinator colonies, foraging, gardening, and caring for their dog, Dukes. Kristina is a member of the Allied American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), a licensed contractor in Connecticut, and holds sailing certifications in keelboat and powerboat handling as a member of the Darien Sail & Power Squadron. 

Membership, License, & Certifications

• Member, Allied American Society of Interior Designers (ASID)
• Home Improvement Contractor License, Connecticut
• Sailing Certifications, Keelboat and Powerboat Handling