What happens when the place that’s supposed to support you starts feeling like part of the problem?

In this conversation, interior designer Laura McCall returns to the show to share the personal experience behind her work. Before founding Collected Interiors and helping families create grounded, supportive spaces, Laura walked through a season of unexplained symptoms, environmental uncertainty, and the slow process of realizing her home might be involved.

Mold was part of the story. But it wasn’t the whole story.

This episode is about what it feels like to lose trust in your environment, how people make decisions without perfect answers, and what it looks like to rebuild a home that feels safe to live in again.

• what Laura first noticed when something in her environment didn’t feel right
• how mold exposure became part of the picture
• the emotional side of not feeling well in your own home
• making decisions without certainty or clear guidance
• rebuilding confidence in your living space
• how her experience shaped the way she now works with clients
• why creating a healthy home is rarely about just one factor

This episode continues our earlier conversation in Episode 55:
Designing Homes That Support Mental Health and a Rested Nervous System

Together, these episodes explore both the design perspective and the lived experience behind creating homes that truly support the people inside them.

Learn more about Laura McCall and Collected Interiors

Your home should help you heal—not hold you back.
If you’re ready to explore how your environment could be impacting your energy, mood, sleep, and overall wellness, you’re in the right place. The Health Starts at Home Podcast is here to help you rethink health from the inside out—starting with where you live.

Curious about your symptoms or feeling “off” at home?
My free Body Wisdom Journal is still available and now includes prompts to help you track not just food and mood—but also your environment. Because sometimes, it’s not you... it’s your house.
→ Download Your Free Body Wisdom Journal Here

Connect with me on Instagram @hollyjean.healthandhome for real life, red flags, and wellness real estate tips you won’t hear anywhere else.

New episodes drop regularly - subscribe, share, and leave a review if this show speaks to you.

Because health starts at home—and yes, that includes yours.

© 2024 Holly Jean Mullen

What if the way your home is designed is low-key shaping how safe, calm, and regulated your body feels every day?

In this episode, Holly Jean Mullen sits down with interior designer Laura McCall of Collected Interiors to explore how trauma-informed interior design helps create spaces that support mental health, reduce stress, and allow the nervous system to settle. Together, they unpack how lighting, layout, materials, sound, and visual environment influence sleep quality, emotional regulation, and daily energy inside the home.

Because wellness doesn’t just happen through routines and habits, it’s happening in the spaces we live in all day long.

In This Episode You’ll learn:

• what trauma-informed interior design means in real homes
• why some spaces immediately feel calming while others feel overwhelming
• how lighting, layout, and sensory inputs affect nervous system regulation
• the connection between home environment and mental health
• simple ways to create bedrooms that support deeper rest
• what buyers are often sensing when a house “just feels right”
• where to begin if your home currently feels stressful or chaotic

Why This Conversation Matters

Most health conversations focus on what we eat, how we move, or the supplements we take. But one of the biggest inputs shaping our physiology every day is our environment. Your home is constantly sending signals to your nervous system. It can either support recovery and calm… or quietly add to your stress load. Understanding how design affects the body helps you make small, intentional changes that improve how your space actually feels to live in, not just how it looks.

About Laura McCall: Laura McCall is the founder of Collected Interiors, a design studio focused on creating homes that reflect the stories, values, and lived experience of the people inside them. Her work emphasizes environments that feel welcoming, personal, and supportive of daily life, spaces designed not just for aesthetics, but for wellbeing and nervous system comfort.

Learn more about Laura’s work at Collected Interiors and follow on Instagram

Your home should help you heal—not hold you back.
If you’re ready to explore how your environment could be impacting your energy, mood, sleep, and overall wellness, you’re in the right place. The Health Starts at Home Podcast is here to help you rethink health from the inside out—starting with where you live.

Curious about your symptoms or feeling “off” at home?
My free Body Wisdom Journal is still available and now includes prompts to help you track not just food and mood—but also your environment. Because sometimes, it’s not you... it’s your house.
→ Download Your Free Body Wisdom Journal Here

Connect with me on Instagram @hollyjean.healthandhome for real life, red flags, and wellness real estate tips you won’t hear anywhere else.

New episodes drop regularly - subscribe, share, and leave a review if this show speaks to you.

Because health starts at home—and yes, that includes yours.

© 2024 Holly Jean Mullen

Not all homes are created equal.

In this episode, I take you with me on a recent jobsite visit with Hiwassee Healthy Homes in Oklahoma City, where we walked through one of their largest hemp block construction projects to date and talked about what it looks like to build differently from the ground up.

We discuss why some builders are moving toward vapor-open wall systems, lime-based materials, mold-resistant assemblies, and natural flooring options like earthen floors, and how these approaches are becoming more practical for everyday homeowners, not just niche custom builds.

I also share insights from a second builder I met at the Home & Garden Show working with mineral-based rockwool insulation, another example of the growing shift toward durable, lower-toxicity building strategies.

This conversation isn’t about one “right” way to build a house. It’s about learning to ask better questions about the environments we live in every day, and understanding how construction choices affect long-term health, comfort, and resilience.

Links:

Hiwassee Healthy Homes

Your home should help you heal—not hold you back.
If you’re ready to explore how your environment could be impacting your energy, mood, sleep, and overall wellness, you’re in the right place. The Health Starts at Home Podcast is here to help you rethink health from the inside out—starting with where you live.

Curious about your symptoms or feeling “off” at home?
My free Body Wisdom Journal is still available and now includes prompts to help you track not just food and mood—but also your environment. Because sometimes, it’s not you... it’s your house.
→ Download Your Free Body Wisdom Journal Here

Connect with me on Instagram @hollyjean.healthandhome for real life, red flags, and wellness real estate tips you won’t hear anywhere else.

New episodes drop regularly - subscribe, share, and leave a review if this show speaks to you.

Because health starts at home—and yes, that includes yours.

© 2024 Holly Jean Mullen