Childhood Family Project
Grows Into Full-Time Career
When it was time to select a college major,
Kathryn LeMaster didn’t know interior design
was anything more than a fun pastime. “I was
looking through the list of degree programs,
and interior design was on there,” LeMaster
shared. “And this was back before the day and
age of Pinterest and HGTV being such a big
that there is today. That struck my interest, and I
thought, huh, I guess I thought that was a hobby.
I didn’t really understand that was a real job.
How interesting.”
than creating entire new structures, while
combining elements of both. She started with
a few other beginner courses to see what it
hoping that it would be — kind of that sweet
spot between decorator and the technical aspect
of an architect of getting to be involved in the
construction process and technical drawings
and all of that, but also, the cherry on top, the
layers of all the colors and soft furnishings and
everything really combined,” LeMaster shared.
And that interest had started years ago, with
a family project. LeMaster’s father, gifted in
construction, decided to build their family home
from the ground up. The family lived in a mobile
of the building materials and then started on
the house a few years later. “I kind of felt like I
grew up on a construction site,” LeMaster said.”
I loved so much of that process of building our
house and being able to be so involved in that
process — hanging doors, helping my mom pick
out wallpaper and paint colors.”
After graduating with her degree
and working for a year and a half at a
designer, LeMaster decided to take a
break. She joined her mother again,
She didn’t intend to start a company.
Then an old family friend approached
her with a kitchen remodel. “I just
thought, ‘What, no, not me. Do you
realize how green and new and young I
am? No, you don’t want me,’” LeMaster
shared. “She talked me into it. ‘Yes, I do,
no, I think you can really do it.’ I made
her a really good deal, very low rate,
because I still was thinking, ‘This is a horrible
mistake.’ I’ve never done a project on my own.
I’ve always had senior designers or someone over
me and just didn’t have a lot of faith in myself,
which is really sad, looking back. I wish I had
fears and was really, really grateful that she had
approached me about that and believed in me.”
A local magazine covered the project a year
later, and her business started to grow. “I think
once you do one project on your own, it gives
go, ‘Oh look, I can do this.’ And you surprise
yourself with what you’re capable of. And I think
a lot of times we don’t know the knowledge that
we have.”
With her initial success, she decided to take
smaller steps as she progressed. She began
with $1,000 cash in an envelope as her business
account. Then she built a website. Then she got
some business insurance. “There never was a
day I could look back and say, ‘Oh, I’m going
to start a business,’” LeMaster shared. “It didn’t
happen like that. It was just this one thing leads
to another, and I guess it’s time to do this and
just little stepping stones which was way less
overwhelming for me. So it ended up working
out really beautifully, looking back. I just couldn’t
really see where it was going at the time, but was
so grateful.”
residential spaces, along with design for four
space around function then story. “I always
asked too, in the beginning, if there is anything
of sentimental value,” LeMaster said. “A lot
of times, it is family heirlooms or things that
people have picked up on their travels or their
children made or something that’s special … I
don’t think it’s ever wise to just have everything
store bought. Even if you could … just go and
buy everything brand-new, I just think that your
home will end up feeling like a showroom, like
you walked into a furniture store. It might be
lovely, but it’s like the heart of the home that
you sense — it’s the unseen things. You create
that by really making sure you’re honoring the
client, honoring that person who’s going to live
there in what you’re putting together. A lot of
or something really special and sentimental that
might even serve as inspiration for the color
scheme.”
LeMaster has found that there’s an intimacy
that comes from opening a home to a stranger.
“It’s very in-depth and it’s very personal,”
LeMaster said. “And that’s why I feel so honored
when people choose to work with me, because
they’re letting me into their lives and homes and
I am usually in the closets digging under shoes to
get measurements along the baseboard to make
sure we’re accounting for every square inch and
so for them to trust me and welcome me in that
way and let me be a part of that personal process
of crafting their home. It’s so rewarding. I just—
I love it so much.”
Want more of Kathryn LeMaster?
Find Kathryn’s work at kathrynjlemaster.com
and on Instagram and Twitter as @kjlemaster
and Facebook as @kathrynjlemaster. Read
the full story and listen to LeMaster’s podcast
episode at hewandweld.com/news.
Want more stories like this?
Sustaining Craft is a weekly podcast hosted by
Elizabeth Silverstein. She interviews those in a
triumphs and advice for others. Companion
articles accompany each episode and are
published at hewandweld.com. Episodes can be
found on iTunes, Spotify or at sustainingcraft.
hewandweld.com.
- Elizabeth Silverstein
5
/kathrynjlemaster.com
/news
/hewandweld.com
/hewandweld.com