A former teacher changed career paths to pursue her lifelong passion of interior design. Kate Mazariegos was raised in Owensboro by her father, who worked in construction, and her mother, who loved to move furniture and style shelves. So it was no surprise that Mazariegos found a love for home renovation as well.
“Growing up, my dad would set me up with a piece of wood and a hammer and a nail and let me do that while he did his work, and I would go on all these thrifting trips with my mom,” Mazariegos said. “It really turned into a passion.”
Mazariegos launched her business, Kate and Waverly Interiors, in July of 2021 and jumped in headfirst to this new adventure. It was a large change from the Spanish classroom she had called her workplace for 10 years, but Mazariegos said she really wanted to see what the world of interior design could offer her.
“I loved teaching, but once I got into the home renovations business, I could stay up until 3 in the morning designing something and I wouldn’t be tired the next day,” Mazariegos said. “I thrive off of it in a way I didn’t think was possible, and so I decided that it was now or never. Before I got so involved in teaching that it didn’t make sense to get out of it, I just needed to try interior design.”
Her passion for her work is evident in the way she speaks about it, as she describes the process of interior design as being similar to “a real life puzzle that you get to work through and put together.”
“I love walking into a space and feeling the inspiration of what it could be, and then I love going through the space and trying to figure out what’s going to work, what isn’t going to work, and what the client wants,” Mazariegos said. “People will tell me that they don’t even want to hang a picture because it is immediately overwhelming. That’s where I come in and feed off of that and figure out where certain things should go.”
One of Mazariegos’ goals with her business is to make home renovation and design a more readily available resource to a wider range of people.
“Growing up very middle class and then being a teacher for 10 years, I didn’t really have the budget to go out and hire an interior designer or anything like that,” she said. “I had to figure it out on my own.”
In an attempt to keep people from having the same experience she did, Mazariegos offers a wide variety of services for her clients.
“I offer DIY services where I’ll put a mood board together and offer up some product inspiration, and then that person goes out and buys the things on their own but with that foundation. Or I can go all the way up to the full service, which is where I’ll find the furniture for you, and home renovations,” Mazariegos said. “I also offer organization services because I don’t think things should just be pretty, I think they also need to be functional.”
Mazariegos recognizes that there will be challenges along the way, but she is prepared to take them on and push her business forward.
“I know running a business is not easy at all,” Mazariegos said. “I’m not expecting this to be an easy street or anything, but I think it’s really important to not look back and say “what if,” especially when you find something you are that passionate about.”
You can find Kate & Waverly Interiors on Instagram and Facebook.
