Areas Served

Interior Designer in Cary, North Carolina

House of Maevie is a design-led renovation studio serving Cary and the greater Triangle. We design renovations, additions, new construction, and complete furnishings. It’s for homeowners in Cary building for the long term, who want rooms that feel personal, layered and lasting.

Designing in Cary

Cary's housing stock reads in decades

Cary is easy to read once you know what you’re looking at. The custom homes in Preston, Lochmere, MacGregor Downs and Kildaire Farms went up over several decades. Amberly, Highcroft and Carpenter Village are newer. West Cary is still going up. Each era brings its own set of problems. Knowing which one you’re in tells me a lot before I’ve walked through the door.

The 2015 builder home

This is the most common project I see in Cary right now. Those houses are hitting ten or fifteen years old, and they’re due their first real update.

The bones are usually good. The layout works, the ceilings are high, the windows sit in sensible places. What dates them is all surface. Cabinets that stop a foot short of the ceiling. Granite that’s gone cold, oil-rubbed bronze on every handle, and carpet through the whole upstairs.

You rarely need to gut a house like that. Most of what I’m doing is deciding what’s worth keeping and what has to go, and that’s a much easier call standing in the room than looking at photos. It’s also part of why thoughtful design takes time.

The older neighborhoods

Established Cary homes need a different kind of work. Usually it’s a layout that stopped making sense years ago. Or a kitchen that closed itself off from the house. Or finishes that need refreshing without stripping out the character you bought the place for.

That last one is the balance I spend the most time on. It’s easy to update a house until it looks like every other updated house. Considered custom millwork is often what keeps that from happening, and in an older kitchen, storage that actually works changes more than another coat of paint.

Light, and why paint behaves differently here

Cary keeps a lot of its tree canopy, and that changes how color reads indoors. A north-facing room under mature trees pulls a paint color cooler and darker. The same color on an open lot behaves differently.

It’s why I test paint on your walls, at different times of day, instead of trusting a fan deck. That surprises clients more than almost anything else, and it’s the cheapest mistake to avoid.

Why House of Maevie

Why Cary clients choose us

Planning before products

Layout, structure, scope, budget. We settle all four before anyone orders a thing. You make the choices that shape your Cary home with a clear head, well before construction.

Character, not trends

Rooms that feel collected and personal, and that follow how you live rather than what’s popular this season.

Guidance through complexity

From concept through installation, we keep the details and the trades in step. You always know where the project stands.

What We Work On

Renovations, new homes, and complete furnishings in Cary

Renovations & Additions

We design whole-home and multi-room renovations and additions across Cary and the Triangle. We start at space planning and stay through construction and installation. Creative direction, technical drawings, selections and trade coordination sit with us.

Investment: single-space renovations run from around $40,000 for a bathroom to $150,000+ for a kitchen renovation. Design fees, $6,000 to $22,500.

New Construction Homes

On new builds we come in early, next to your architect and builder. We shape layouts, finishes and the full technical drawing set before ground breaks. The earlier we’re at the table, the more we protect your vision and your budget.

Investment: new-build design fees begin at $15,000. Bigger and more complex homes go up from there.

Furnishing & Interiors

Complete furnishing, for a full home or a single room. Either way, same standard as a whole-home project: layouts, custom pieces, sourcing, and styling installed end to end. One room or every room, we design for the way you actually live.

Investment: think $25,000 per room for full-service furnishing, with design fees from $4,000.

Our Process

Clear at every step

Inquiry

Tell us what you’re planning. A short call first, so we hear about your home, goals and timeline.

Consultation

We walk the space with you and talk through priorities, investment and direction, then outline scope.

Concept

Layouts and the key decisions come first, before anything moves into detailed design.

Development

We finish every selection, drawing and visualization first, so nothing stalls once the build starts.

Execution

We’re still there through procurement, coordination and installation, start to finish.

Frequently Asked

The questions we hear most in Cary

Do I need a permit to renovate in Cary?

Usually, yes. The Town of Cary requires a residential building permit for remodeling, repairs, alterations and additions. It moves faster than most people expect, though. Interior remodels under 1,500 square feet can go through Cary’s SPOT review. That normally comes back in one to four business days, at no extra cost. Standard review usually takes seven days or less.

One thing worth knowing before you set a budget. North Carolina requires a licensed general contractor once a project costs $40,000 or more. That’s about where a single bathroom lands.

What does an interior design project with House of Maevie cost?

Most Cary projects fall into one of three ranges. Design fees begin at $3,500 and scale with scope. Full-service furnishing typically begins at $25,000 per room. A single-space renovation starts at $40,000 for a bathroom. A kitchen renovation reaches $150,000 and up, with design fees from $6,000 to $22,500. New construction and whole-home work begins at $15,000. We discuss investment openly on the complimentary call, so none of it surprises you later.

Why does paint look different in my house than it did at the store?

Light. Cary keeps a lot of mature tree cover, and it has a lot of north-facing rooms. Both pull color cooler than you expect. We test samples on your walls and look at them twice. Morning light, then afternoon light, before you order anything.

It’s a small step that avoids one of the more expensive mistakes, and it is the kind of thing best sorted early rather than late. That is the power of early planning.

Where Else We Work

Starting a project in Cary?

Every project starts with a conversation. Tell us a little about your home and what you want it to become. We’ll point you to the right next step.