Introducing Caitlin Mabry! Caitlin is a local mom of three and interior designer/ & founder of Marley James Designs. Read all about mom life and her dream job as an interior designer. Follow her on instagram @marleyjamesdesigns
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family! Where did you grow up? How long have you lived in the area?
A Baltimore native, I am from the Timonium area and currently live just a few miles from the house I grew up in! While I may live close by now, I actually left Baltimore after I graduated college and didn’t move back until after I had kids several years ago. Most of my adult life was spent living in Boston, NYC & CT. I moved back to Baltimore three years ago to raise my three young children closer to friends and family. My daughter Lucy just turned 6 and started Kindergarten at the same elementary school I attended. I also have a 4 year old daughter named Marley and my son Walker is 3. Fun Fact; Marley and Walker are only ten months apart and were born in the same calendar year! If this makes you question my sanity and overall credibility, I totally understand.
What do you love about Baltimore County and what made you consider raising a family here?
The things I love most about living in Baltimore today are the same things that made me leave for several years after college! While it’s geographically a large market, it has very small town elements to it, in that everyone knows everyone and you can’t go to the grocery store without seeing someone from high school or another mom from your kids school! I have yet to visit another part of the country where someone asks “Where did you go to school?” and they are referring to where you attended high school, not college. Only in Smalltimore, Hon! Now that I’m older and have children, I love having such a close knit community in which to raise my kids.
What is your favorite thing to do locally as a family?
Some of my favorite things to do locally with my kids also happen to be a lot of the same things I did with my parents growing up. You can find us at the pool all summer long, getting snowballs at snowasis, and hitting up the Cockeysville library! You will always find us at Maria’s pizza on Sunday or Monday nights for half price pizzas. Webers farm will also always be a favorite spot of ours this time of year!
Tell us about Marley James Designs! When did you start?
Marley James Designs initially began as my hobby in 2021, when I was on maternity leave with Marley and also pregnant with Walker. I had always loved interior design but at the time, I had a successful career in Medical Sales and was not willing to rock the boat. I had a change of heart after Walker was born when I quickly realized that having three children under the age of two and a half was not conducive to my demanding career in spine and therefore I needed a career path that provided autonomy & flexibility. This is an area where I know a lot of working mothers can relate. How do we pursue our individual passions and provide for our families financially, while also being physically present for our children? For me, that meant leaving my career in Medical Sales to pursue my interior design business full time. Getting to do what I love every single day while calling it work, has been the greatest gift & I’ve never looked back!
What got you into interior design?
My mom had an amazing eye for design and I remember spending many Saturday’s with her at Papier (IYKYK) & Alexander Blanks, browsing fabric samples and wallpaper books for whatever project she was working on at the time! I absolutely inherited my love for design from her. Sadly, she passed away two years ago from Alzheimer’s and I think she would get the biggest kick out of the fact that this eventually became my chosen career path.
When designing a room, where do you begin? Wallpaper/paint, furniture?
I love this question because I believe every designer out there would answer this differently. For me, I will build an entire room around a specific item I have deemed a “must have” for that space. Sometimes it starts with a specific fabric I have fallen in love with and I will coordinate everything else around that print. Often times it’s a rug. It can even be a statement light fixture. Once I find the must have item, I am able to easily build the rest of the room around that and everything else falls into place.
What are your top 3 design tips?
1. Unless you have an unlimited budget, it’s smart to become well versed in where you should splurge vs save. Some things are absolutely worth spurging on but you can also achieve a high-end, elevated look for your home without breaking the bank. Areas where I recommend making the investment are on quality window treatments, good wallpaper & custom pillows. I also recommend “using what you have”. I love scouring Facebook Marketplace or secondhand shops to find good, quality pieces I can repurpose into something beautiful. Adding a coat of paint to an old dresser or reupholstering your grandmother’s chair can give it a whole new life while keeping the price down.
2. Don’t buy furniture that is too small! A big misconception about furnishing a room is that an oversized couch, chair, rug, ect., will make the room look smaller. Quite the opposite! Your area rug should not look like a postage stamp under your coffee table. Don’t be afraid to size up!
3. I also caution clients to not get too caught up in a paint color. It is the easiest thing to adjust! I would absolutely not start designing a room around a specific color paint. Once you have the rest of the room set, the paint color is the easiest thing to select as there are SO many options to choose from. If a brand doesn’t have the specific shade you want, you can also lighten or darken it by 50% to get the exact shade you desire. Also, be very careful color matching your paint to a different brand. If you have your heart set on a specific Benjamin Moore color, but your painter only uses Sherwin Williams, you are better off selecting a similar color from SW than having your painter color match the one from Benjamin Moore! I have seen this go badly SO many times!
How do you find a balance between being a mother and work?
If anyone has this figured out, can you please let me know the secret? I think every working mom out there is constantly trying to find this balance, being hard on themselves and feeling like they are failing at both home and work. I have a unique perspective on this as I am also navigating being a single working mother. I divorced my husband when my son was four months old and all my kids were under the age of three. I have learned to lower my professional expectations for myself tremendously and give myself an unlimited amount of grace. Raising three small children on your own, while building a business is no joke and I’ve had to be very patient with myself. My number one priority is being physically present for my children but it’s also incredibly important to me that they see mommy working and understand that I do more than just pack lunches and clean up after them! It’s important to me that my children develop a strong work ethic, understand the significance of being financially independent and cultivate resilience so they can handle life’s challenges with strength and grace. There are two pieces of advice I heard over the last few years that have really resonated with me. The first is — life is about juggling many balls. Some are made of glass and some are made of plastic. The plastic ones will bounce if you drop them, but the glass ones will shatter. The key is learning which of your responsibilities are glass and must be protected, which ones are plastic and can be dropped temporarily without much damage. I’ve learned that I can’t do everything at 100%, every moment of every day…and that’s ok! The second piece of advice is — if you’ve ever wondered if you are a good mom…that means you already are 🙂 So be kind to yourself, you are doing a lot better than you think you are.
What is a recent favorite project of yours?
My favorite project I have worked on thus far is actually The Playhouse I renovated and decorated for my kids in our backyard. About a year and a half ago, I went to someone’s house who had this run down, framed-out tiny house on their property. As soon as I saw that tiny house, I knew I needed it! They weren’t using it for anything so I asked if I could have it! I had the house transported to my backyard and spent the next six months renovating it with help from my dad. That involved painting the exterior, putting up drywall inside and adding trim, molding and flooring. All of the materials used on the interior of the playhouse were all leftover remnants from previous projects I have worked on. I joke that I think I had more fun working on it than my kids enjoy playing in it! I love a good DIY project and creating this playhouse for my kids allowed me to do my favorite thing for my very favorite people!
We strive to support local businesses! What is your favorite place in the Baltimore County area to:
● Grab coffee: Stone Mill
● Go on a date night: Petit Louis is always a favorite!
● Get dinner with your family: Marias Pizza
● Have fun as a family: Nothing beats hanging together in our backyard 🙂
● Engage in self care: Hydrafacials at Meg Fox
● Shop for your kids: Obviously Wee Chic
● Local charity: I am a huge fan of the work The One Love Foundation is doing to educate young people about relationship abuse. Understanding and identifying the signs of unhealthy relationship behavior is critical, while also giving young people the tools they need to recognize red flags early and choose healthier paths forward.
How can we contact you for more information about your services?
Instagram: @marleyjamesdesigns
Email: [email protected]
Photo Credit: Lauren Daue Photography