IN MARY KATE’S WORDS
It started with
my mom.
I grew up in Wellsville, a little town in New York, with parents who saw the world very differently. My dad was quiet, precise, and a perfectionist—a pharmacist who loved his banjo and a round of golf. My mom was creative, whimsical, and full of heart. Around town, she was “Nurse Dawn.”
Mom collected things: rocks, feathers, books, prisms, and thrift-store treasures. If something had a story or reminded her of someone she loved, it came home with her.
Our house could be crowded with all that life. We cleared the dining room table before dinner, and sometimes I felt embarrassed to have friends over. Now I see something I couldn’t see then: she was making room for beauty while balancing work, family, and everything else.
Some of my favorite memories are of Saturday mornings spent together in antique stores and salvage yards. We talked about houses, furniture, paint colors, and art, imagining the homes we might create one day.
A different path.
The same love of home.
I took a practical route and became an optician. I married Chris, my Jersey boy, and we moved to Blacksburg to help grow his family’s business and, eventually, raise a family of our own.
Years later, my sister-in-law and I were expecting our first babies on the same due date. That date was also the anniversary of Mom’s cancer diagnosis. She never got to meet her granddaughter or grandson.
I still see her in my children every day: her creativity and quick wit in my daughter, her gentle heart and wonder in my son. That connection means more to me than I can put into words.
Why this work
matters to me.
Losing my mom changed the way I think about home. It’s where birthdays happen, children grow up, and an ordinary Tuesday evening becomes a memory you carry for years.
That is what I design for. The places where people gather. The details that make daily life easier. The feeling of walking through your own front door and being able to exhale.
The name In Focus Interiors is a nod to my years as an optician. The heart behind it will always be my mom—and her instinct to find beauty in the things and people she loved.
When we finish your home, I want you to feel cared for, comfortable, and completely yourself.
“This feels like us.”
That’s the feeling I’m working toward.
