This is where you normally would read about my aesthetic, my experience, and any awards I’ve received, but I thought it might be more interesting to get to know how I got here today.

I was raised in a home where the thought of having a career in Interior Design was a distant dream as my parents could not imagine that this would be a successful career path. No matter how much success I had with art and design classes, I knew that I would never win over my parents.   

After graduating from Penn State with a BS in Business Logistics I focused on my “safe” career while I continued suppressing my passion for Interior Design.  While raising a family I often found myself helping friends and family members with their homes.  

After completing a kitchen renovation in 2010, which was published by Better Homes & Gardens, I began to hear what others were saying,

“You should quit your job and start your own business”. 

That’s an easy thing to say to someone, the reality was I couldn’t leave my job—we had three kids in college! Suddenly everything changed, my husband was offered a position in a new company and it would involve a relocation.  Since I was about to give up my career at an Ivy League school, it looked like I was going to be able to take that leap of faith after all.  

I called the magazine editor who was on-site the day that the kitchen was photographed for Better Homes & Gardens, and asked her how would I  start a design business, she told me “just to get your next kitchen published and you’ll be on your way”.  She made it sound so easy. But, I did it. I entered that new kitchen into a contest and it won Kitchen of the Year. 

I found myself turning my passion into a full time business.  I attended many training classes and went to as many Industry events as possible, including High Point Market.  I found myself participating in two showcase homes, a year apart from each other. I’ve had  the privilege of having successful designers act as mentors to me. I’ve had some of the best in the business act as my business coaches.  

My business started growing rapidly, I hired a few employees, we had trades that loved to work with us as much as we loved to work with them.  I ran the business like a well oiled machine, with tight systems in place.  Everyone worked great together to reach the same goal of having happy clients and producing beautiful spaces for our clients.

Six years after starting the business, I had to switch gears again.  We were being transferred to North Carolina.  I believed this would be the end of the road for my business, time to hang up the paint swatches. It took a long time to build my A-Team, and now I was moving to a new location and did not have any trades in my stable.  But slowly my business has reemerged and evolved.

I have a new vision.  I have chosen to remain a business of one but give an extraordinary level of service.  

As part of this new vision I am able to assist clients making decisions on their projects without having to be the one acting as a general contractor.  I have partnered with excellent  people who can execute my vision for clients’ kitchens and bathrooms, or who can transform their spaces for me with window treatments, lighting, paint, wallpaper, and so on. I may not be warehousing all the furniture and accessories for a client waiting to have a big “reveal day” executed by my own team, but I have teamed up with companies who will do it for me.

Another change that has been made is I now offer Design Packages rather than charging hourly fees.  I’ve learned clients prefer to know what to expect they will pay for my services upfront.  These packages have been priced based on all the data that has been accumulated over the last 10 years of billing clients hourly.

This is the story of how I got here today. I still remember that little girl who would spend hours in her basement, building homes for Barbie on top of her father’s enormous drafting tables. She loved to build them and decorate them. And she still does today.