We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maureen Kane a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Maureen, appreciate you joining us today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

I hope that people can see that design doesn’t need to just be all high-end, exclusive things. It really is helping people make their ideas a reality, creating a space they can enjoy spending time in, whatever their style is, whatever their budget is. I really do feel like I offer a niche in design, to just let people know that you don’t have to have a huge budget, just the heart to do it and someone with some knowledge to put it together.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I attended Indiana University as an apparel merchandising major with a marketing minor from the Kelley School of Business and really fell in love with design during my studies. After graduating from IU, I went into Corporate America and was there for years. During COVID, I had the opportunity to take a step back to focus on my kids (I’m a mom of three) and explore a calling I felt passionate about.

I think my love of home design, and interior decorating specifically, started when I had my first apartment out of college. It was important for me to have a space that was comfortable, thoughtfully curated, and an outward expression of my husband’s and my personal style. The older I’ve gotten, the more passionate I’ve become about it. Whether it’s picking things up for my own house or somebody else, it’s something that really gives me a lot of drive and momentum, and is something that I just really enjoy doing.

My business partner, Sarah Herrmann, and I officially started Maureen Kane Design a little over a year ago because we saw a white space in the industry. There are a lot of ultra-expensive, high-end designers where I live, but I want to show people that good design can be attained on any budget and incorporate anyone’s individual style. I think that’s where my niche is.

I love working on big projects, but I also love the small projects showing somebody that even if they have a lower budget, I can work with them to pick out things within their budget that they love, so they can come home at the end of the day and enjoy their space. That’s my mission. I also make it a point to incorporate existing pieces or to update them in a way that gives them new life that a client might not have thought of.

One piece I can think of off the top of my head is an old China cabinet that was kind of a deep mahogany wood. It was outdated and didn’t aesthetically match the client’s style, but it was a sentimental piece that they wanted to keep. So we lacquered it, put on different knobs, and instead of the wood front, we put in a mesh screening and wallpapered the back. It gave it a really fun, mid-century modern look that fit in with their style. I’ve taken dining tables, put them into kid’s spaces and turned them into gaming tables. I’ve reupholstered chairs, sprayed mirrors different metallics to better incorporate them into spaces, all kinds of things.

In addition to affordability, there are a couple of other key pillars in my mission statement. One is to support and work local. I have made it a big priority to network and collaborate with local artists, shop owners, and tradesmen.

Another thing that’s been important in starting this business is giving back to different charities that we’re passionate about. My son, Finn, has Down Syndrome. I’ve been really involved with an organization called Misericordia, and for anyone who’s unfamiliar, it’s a place just on the outskirts of Chicago where adults and older children of varying disabilities, people like Finn, can work and live. It is basically non-for-profit, so all the money, the millions of dollars that it takes to keep this place running each year, is generated through donations and fundraising efforts.

I’ve been involved with Misericordia since Finn was born, and he just turned six in April. Each year we have a big fundraising event with an auction, and I’ve put together a design package for them that includes my design services as well as those of all the local tradesmen that I work with. It’s been really rewarding because it shows that I have such a nice working relationship with the team I’ve built, that each year they’re so willing to donate hours for painting, wallpapering, electrical work, etc. It’s been really special to be able to offer my services and talents to a cause that’s so near to my heart. Not to mention how successful the auction is each year!

In addition to interior decorating services, we’ve started to offer different packages for seasonal decorating (both interiors and exteriors).

During COVID, we had a neighborhood competition for Halloween decorating. It was something that we could really get into as a family — it was outdoors and thus COVID-safe, and I could get all my kids involved with decorating. We had so much fun with it, and we won the top prize: the golden pumpkin.

It kind of spiraled from there. I kept thinking, “How could I take this to the next level?” I know a lot of people want to get into the spirit and decorate for holidays, but they don’t have the time or the eye to put it together. I think this is a really marketable service I can provide, helping people make their entryway feel inviting and fun throughout the seasons and holidays. We really thought outside of the box with this, and it’s really taken off.

We’re also getting into the real estate market a little bit with virtual staging. We have been talking to some real estate agents about how we can better equip them to sell spaces, and what we can do to make the property more appealing to the masses. We send out a questionnaire to the real estate agent to request pictures of the space, find out what the client is willing to spend on updates, whether it’s paint colors, light fixtures, whatever it is. It helps give them ideas of what to do and where they can buy everything they need.

Then on the flip side of that, if the real estate agent is happy with our services, they can also gift their clients our services on the buying end. We can come in and help the client with their new home, pick out new fixtures, paint colors, whatever it is.

So we’re kind of trying to do a couple niche things here that separate us from the pack.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

My co-founder, Sarah Herrmann, has been a dear friend of mine for over a decade now. We both have children of similar ages, and we both had to take a step back from corporate America around the same time because we needed more flexibility as a mom, having kids with health issues. We were great support systems for one another during this period and as I talked to her more and more about design, she really gave me the push and the confidence that I needed, “You should actually start a business out of this.”
Sarah’s professional background is in Marketing, so she’s been behind the scenes, running point on a lot of the more operational things so that I’ve been able to focus on the design aspects. It’s been really great. She’s put in so much hard work to really take my creative thoughts and organize them into documents and spreadsheets and has taken my ideas to the next level in terms of her professionalism and organization.

Sarah has stepped back into a more advisory role recently. She’s observed how we’ve taken something that I’ve been passionate about and really turned it into a business, and she wants to take time for herself to reflect on what she’s passionate about and what she wants to do next. But she has promised to come back and help out if any of our niche services really take off.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When we had our third, Finn, we did not know he had down syndrome until he was born, and we went through a big learning curve, a long stay at the NICU, just trying to figure out what this meant for us as a family, what challenges, what health implications. I had to reconsider what my role was going to be at that time as a mom of three and a mom with a special needs son who’s going to need a lot more medical care. Thankfully, I was fortunate enough to have my husband tell me that, “You can take a step back from corporate America and really focus on what you need to do as a mom to be present and what you need to do for all three of our children.” I’ve had to rise to the challenge of getting everyone everywhere they need to be, to therapy appointments and medical appointments, and to wear another hat as a mom.
It’s also helped me realize that, as much as I love being a mother, I still need a piece of me, something that I can do, that I’m passionate about, that’s outside of caring for a family, a dog, a household. I think that is what has really brought me back full circle to design, because it is something that I could stay awake all night thinking about in a passionate way, and still have flexibility when life happens. If I have a sick child or something comes up with my kids, that will always be my number one priority, but having the flexibility to do something that I love, at the end of the day, is something remarkable that I know a lot of people can’t say that they have.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @MaureenKaneDesign
• Facebook: @MaureenKaneDesign

Image Credits

Megan Arndt Photography