By: Lindsay Jeffords
A well-designed space can influence how people experience the routines, relationships, and moments that unfold within it. That idea sits at the center of Krystal Tolin’s work as founder and lead designer of Tolin Designs. Through the Northeast Ohio design-build firm, she brings together creativity, construction, and human connection to create residential and commercial spaces shaped around the people who use them.
Understanding the Meaning of Home Early
Some people discover the importance of home after building one of their own. Krystal understood it much earlier. Moving ten times before age 12 and losing her father to cancer at nine shaped her understanding of security and stability from an early age. Home, in her understanding, became connected not only to a physical place, but also to what a space could provide emotionally.
That perspective developed alongside an equally important lesson in resourcefulness. Her grandmother and mother rarely treated limited means as the end of an idea. Through secondhand discoveries, wallpaper, paint and constant reinvention, they showed Krystal how attention and imagination could change an environment. The lesson extended beyond design: limitations could be worked with, questioned and sometimes transformed.
Finding a Deeper Meaning in Home
Frequent moves gave Krystal an understanding of home that extended beyond its physical definition. She learned early that the qualities people remember most about a place are often intangible: security, familiarity, comfort and the freedom to feel settled.
Those lessons remained relevant as she became her family’s first college graduate and later its first successful entrepreneur. Each milestone pushed Krystal further from uncertainty toward a life built with greater intention, while shaping a professional philosophy in which creating a space also means considering how people will experience and live within it.
Turning Creativity Into Entrepreneurship
Krystal founded Tolin Designs to create a more connected remodeling experience, giving clients consistent guidance from the earliest idea through construction. What began with her passion for design has since developed into a multimillion-dollar design-build firm serving residential and commercial clients throughout Northeast Ohio.
Tolin Designs combines creative decisions with the practical realities of execution, bringing design, sourcing, project management, and construction coordination together. Its projects range from individual rooms to whole homes and commercial environments, with Krystal maintaining a strong focus on the people behind each project.
Transforming a Historic Church
A historic church became one of the clearest expressions of Krystal’s approach to design. Working alongside her husband, she transformed the building into their family home and Tolin Designs’ headquarters, carefully balancing preservation and reinvention. The challenge involved renovating the structure while also considering how it could serve an entirely new purpose.
Its appearance on HGTV’s House Hunters: Outside the Box introduced the transformation to a larger audience. The project also reflects an idea that has remained important throughout Krystal’s career: existing circumstances do not have to limit what something can eventually become. It is a fitting real-world expression of the company’s message, “Make Space for Transformation.”
Designing Around the People Who Use the Space
For Krystal, high-end design includes careful consideration of materials, finishes and visual impact while remaining closely connected to the people who will use the space. She starts with the people who will inhabit each environment and the lives they hope to create there. A family renovating a forever home, an entrepreneur opening a business and a couple entering a new stage of life all require something different from their surroundings.
“I wanted to create more than beautiful interiors. I wanted to create environments where families could gather, businesses could thrive, and people could experience peace and belonging,” Krystal says. That approach has informed hundreds of reported residential and commercial renovations and the development of a team centered on craftsmanship, communication and client care. As the company has expanded, her own role has grown from creative work into leadership, team development and operational responsibility.
Growing Recognition in the Design Industry
Krystal’s growing profile has brought Tolin Designs additional visibility within the design industry. The firm has appeared multiple times on FOX 8’s Design Showcase, while a 2026 feature highlighted Krystal among interior designers working across style, functionality and purpose-driven design.
Industry recognition has followed the company’s growth. According to Tolin Designs, the company was recognized as a Best Interior Design Company by Best of Business Ratings for two consecutive years, while the Daughters of the American Revolution acknowledged the team’s contribution to community-centered remodeling. Together, the recognitions reflect the company’s work across both professional design and community service.
Extending Design Into the Community
For Krystal, creating a sense of home carries particular weight when stability itself is uncertain. That perspective has influenced Tolin Designs’ work beyond its commercial projects, including its support of churches, nonprofits, and local initiatives. One especially personal example is Chasing Hope House, which helps young people affected by foster care and housing instability move toward greater independence.
The company helped prepare a residence for young women by contributing labor, flooring, carpeting, wall treatments, décor, and styling. Given Krystal’s own experience with frequent moves during childhood, the project carries particular significance. It reflects her belief that thoughtful spaces can offer comfort, dignity, stability and a sense of belonging alongside visual appeal.
Expanding Her Work Beyond Interior Design
The future Krystal Tolin envisions combines business expansion with a broader leadership platform. Alongside developing Tolin Designs’ commercial portfolio, she plans to pursue speaking and educational opportunities and eventually write a book drawing on her experiences with entrepreneurship, resilience, faith and leadership.
“At its heart, my story is not about remodeling. It’s about hope,” Krystal says. “As a child, I searched for a place that truly felt like home. Today, I have the privilege of helping others create that feeling for themselves.” Her experience connects her early understanding of home with the work she now does for clients and communities. She also shares a message she hopes other women will carry forward: “Where you begin does not determine where you can go.” For Krystal, transformation means recognizing the circumstances that shaped the past while remaining open to what can be created next.
