Total Landscape Care Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/231798
Bringing the Inside Out How two Kentucky landscapers overcame personal struggles to build a thriving business that creates personalized spaces for their clients I f true beauty lies within, why do so many landscapers focus solely on the outside? Andrea Wilson Mueller and Michael Mueller, Total Landscape Care's 2014 Landscapers of the Year, shaped their Frankfort, Kentucky, business around incorporating elements from in and out, hence their company name: Inside Out Design. While now at the top of their game in the industry, Andrea and Michael's journey has not been an easy one. Changing expectations From stocking shelves to sweeping floors, Andrea got an early start in the industry working at her father's garden center, Wilson Nurseries – the largest PHOTOS AND TEXT BY LAUREN HEARTSILL DOWDLE nursery in Kentucky at the time. "He had pure grit and determination," she says about her father. His passion for the green industry rubbed off on Andrea, and she knew she wanted to make it her career, as well. So, she started off at Georgia Tech in architecture and then went on to earn an interior design degree at the University of Kentucky. Working at her father's nursery not only gave her a love for landscaping, but it's also where she met her now-husband Michael, who started working at the center after attending the University of Maryland where he studied horticulture. Michael had been in the landscape industry since high school, realizing his ardor for the outdoors at an early age. The couple married in 2003, but that newlywed happiness was cut short when Andrea's father was killed in a tragic car accident just six months later. "It was a shock to all of us when he died," Andrea says. "I hadn't considered doing anything else but working with him." At a crossroads, Andrea decided to leave her father's garden center, realizing "I still have to do J A N U A R Y 2014 Tota lLa nd s ca p eCar e.com 15