For nearly 20 years, Kim Albrightson has been creating healing spaces within homes and honing in on her "gift" to create designs so functional that her clients literally save time by living in them.  In 1994, Kim launched Albrightson Design, now .  Her passion for designing homes is intense and, as you will see, her journey has led her to share her talent and expertise with people who want homes that are unique, functional, and distinctively their own. 

As a young girl, Kim was always rearranging the furniture and inventing things in her parent's home.  She loved doing anything artistic and she credits her mother for teaching her how to do many things to further this love.  Kim's father, with his inventor's mind and undying entrepreneurial spirit, taught her to always strive for excellence. 

Kim attended the University of Minnesota to study art and design for two years before heading to the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where she received a Bachelors Degree in Art with a concentration in Design and Architecture and a minor in Business in 1985.  Upon graduation she interned at the Ellerbe Becket architectural firm in Minneapolis and went on to work at another architectural design contracting firm.  Through this firm, she served as Project Manager for in-house design and project implementation in the facilities departments for companies such as AT&T, Norwest Banks, Pillsbury, and IDS.

When offered a creative home design/project management position within the leasehold division of Ellerbe Becket, Kim accepted and had the rare opportunity to work under Jean Pontzer.  It is to Jean that Kim credits an immeasurable amount of her project management knowledge, her entrepreneurial acumen, and her overall approach as a businesswoman.  While at Ellerbe Becket, Kim also worked with some of the finest designers and architects within creative home design today including Sandra Becker, Ken Wachoviak, and Ken LeDoux.

Though the Ellerbe Becket experience was fulfilling, Kim wanted to try a different path away from the corporate rat race.   She worked as a project manager of leasehold office projects for a small architectural design company.  After a short time there, Kim decided to strike out on her own to research, develop, and market a product she had invented-a children's nightlight.  To supplement her income, she began to draft a few homes on the side.  Through this venture, Kim met Michael Hartman, who enlightened her about the great possibilities in home designing.   Michael commissioned Kim to design a personalized custom home and it is with this initial home that Kim learned of her gift.  She interviewed the homeowners to record their dreams for the new home and how they wanted to live within it.  From a blank piece of paper Kim created a home that functioned efficiently, was aesthetically beautiful, and distinctively met the needs of the client.

With this project and the many that have followed, Kim realized that she has a gift for analyzing what has been done and for visualizing what could be done to ascertain real solutions for clients.  Running a household with three children also impacted how Kim designs-she began to notice the things in her own home that did not function as well, safely, simply, or as comfortably as they could.  To this day Kim maintains a focus on creating homes that are beautifully unique and where form follows function-which is the foundation to her approach.  

Now Kim designs Shukka® homes and shares her knowledge with others including presenting various seminars on topics such as lighting, space planning, designing your home from the inside out, and the impact of color.  One of ' renovation projects was featured on the Before and After Show on the Home and Garden TV Network (HGTV).   The Builders' Association of the Twin Cities recently acclaimed homes designed by Kim and for Best Architecture over the past three years.

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