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Ashley Gilbreath is best known as one of the top interior designers in the Southeast.

The Montgomery resident was the guest speaker at the Selma-Dallas County Public Library on Thursday discussing her debut book, “The Joy of Home.” A capacity crowd attended the “Lunch at the Library” series. Gilbreath autographed books before and after the luncheon.

Gilbreath said it was an adventure writing a book, being married with three kids and juggling an interior design career all at once. She owns and operates Ashley Gilbreath Interior, which opened in 2008. The 85-page book entails how Gilbreath got into interior design.

“I compare writing my first book to child labor,” Gilbreath joked. “It was very stressful. Usually, writing a book takes three years. It took us six months.”

Gilbreath, an Auburn University graduate, said she got the idea for interior design from growing up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

“When my sister and I were little, she’d line up the baby dolls and want to play house, and I’d say, “I’m going to go draw a house plan,”  Gilbreath said. “I’m certain I wasn’t aware of what a designer was or that I could do anything with that. When the time came for college at Auburn, my parents encouraged me to study architecture, probably because they didn’t know what to do with me. I kept on wondering why nobody ever talked about the inside. Those courses may have come later, but by then I’d switched my major to interior design. I also took classes at the New York School of Interior Design and interned for Keith Langham in the summer. Between Auburn and New York, I realized how exciting the decorating world could be.”

Designs by Gilbreath have been featured in Southern Living, Veranda, House Beautiful, LUXE, Southern Home, Coastal Living and Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles.