Some designers find their way to interiors through architecture or interior design school, or a single transformative project. Kathleen Shawberry found hers the way most lasting things begin - gradually, then completely, through a life spent looking closely at the world.

Born and raised in Worthington, Ohio, Kathleen grew up with an instinct for beauty that expressed itself early - drawn to architecture, art, and the places she encountered while traveling with her family. She did not yet have the vocabulary for what she was doing. She was learning to see.

That instinct carried her through a creative path that most designers have not taken. She spent seven years as a textile designer in fashion - immersed in pattern, color, and the language of surface and texture - before bringing that sensibility into the world of interiors. She explored graphic design, marketing, metalsmithing, jewelry making, ceramics, and painting along the way, not as detours, but as deepening her design eye.

In 2022, she brought all of it together and founded Curate Interiors.

The Way We Design:

Kathleen approaches every project the same way, with genuine curiosity about what belongs, what resonates, and what tells the truth about the people who live there.

She is a student of architecture first. Before any selection is made, she studies the home - its era, its bones, its proportions, the logic of how it was built. That architectural literacy shapes everything that follows. A Usonian home in Rush Creek Village asks for something different than a Tudor in Upper Arlington or a new construction in New Albany. The design direction always begins in conversation with the house itself.

From there, the work is intentional layering. Not filling space, but telling a story. Every window treatment, every piece of furniture, every work of art, and carefully chosen accessory is selected to reflect the life of the client, not the portfolio of the designer. The result is a home that feels collected over time, not assembled for a photo shoot. Warm, layered, specific, and completely ready to live in.

This is what Kathleen means when she says a home should feel collected, not decorated.

Beyond the Studio:

When she is not designing, Kathleen is traveling, antiquing, tending her garden, or adding to her art collection - all of the things that keep her eye fresh and her perspective ever-changing. Her background in painting, jewelry making, metalsmithing, and ceramics means she approaches every project with the hands-on sensibility of someone who has made things, not just selected them.

She lives in Columbus with her family, her dog, and a home that looks exactly like you would expect - layered, personal, and never quite finished in the best possible way.

Curate Interiors serves clients across Worthington, Dublin, Upper Arlington, New Albany, Bexley, Plain City, Granville, and the greater Columbus region - as well as Cincinnati, Cleveland, and select projects nationwide.

Ready to begin your story? We would love to hear about your project.