Kelly Marley Interiors: Refresh Your Home, Nurture Your Soul
Bringing a sense of peace and harmony to your home is what Kelly Marley does best. Based in Dunedin, Kelly Marley Interiors works with clients doing just that.
“I feel very nurtured in my own space, oftentimes to where I don’t even want to go out,” Kelly said. “And that’s the feeling I want to create for other people. When you walk through the door in the evening, no matter how hectic your lifestyle is, you have a sense of peace and harmony within your home.”
The desire to nurture the soul likely came from Kelly’s long career in nursing. Having earned a Master’s Degree in Nursing she eventually moved into health administration and worked for a Fortune 500 company in healthcare technology, which gave her a lot of business insight, and also brought her to Florida.
Kelly has lived in three homes since moving to Florida, and she now lives in Dunedin, which is where she always wanted to be. With every one of her moves, she worked with Williams Window Treatments here in town. They’ve come to her homes many times and always commented that she had such incredible taste and talent for pulling her homes together in such a beautiful way, and that she should think about doing this as a career. Kelly politely thanked them each time. She had recently left the healthcare industry, and was traveling and enjoying her other passion: photography. Then the pandemic shut that down.
Kelly said: “So, when Pam Williams, owner of Williams Window Treatments, called and said, ‘We’re serious. Are you interested in doing this? …I’m in people’s homes all the time, and they’re always asking me for interior decorating help; and I can refer you.’”
After a couple of months of investigation and encouragement from friends and family, she launched her business.
“So being restless, and being a bit of a high achiever, I still feel like I have a lot more to offer. I have never lived anywhere like Dunedin. The support in this community for small business is incredible. I honestly don’t know that I could do what I’m doing now outside of this community.”
Kelly Marley Interiors is a home-based business focused on consultation and purchasing goods and furnishings. She enjoys working with people who are in transition, so with roughly 150 people a day moving into the Tampa Bay area, that represents a lot of transition.
“They usually want a new look and feel,” Kelly said. “They want that coastal lifestyle. They’re coming from all parts of the country. Or maybe they’re newly single, or their kids have left home, and they want to refresh their home and transform their space. I love to work with these people.”
When she originally moved here from Pennsylvania with her big, dark furniture, Kelly quickly realized she didn’t like it. So, she got rid of it and opted for a lighter and more coastal feel in her colors and furnishings. With every one of her moves she has developed a style. Which is not to say she can’t translate other styles. “Not everyone likes coastal colors,” she said. “Maybe they prefer a more traditional look, so I’ll work with the palate they want. You can’t force a certain look on somebody, because it’s their home and they have to be comfortable and feel nurtured in their space.”
Kelly typically starts with a consultation. She comes to your home, and goes room by room, discussing what you like and what you’d like to change. Her goal is to create a cohesive feel throughout the home, accomplishing this through 10 steps she likes to call “The Art of the Refresh.”
Color • Lighting • Art • Rugs • Décor
Pillows & Throws • Scent • Declutter
Windows • Furnishings
She makes recommendations for each of these areas, and provides a “Pinterest-style” mood board specific to your space. She even makes recommendations of where to purchase the items. Kelly describes mood boards as “a rendition of the desired ‘look and feel’ for a space. They are intended to capture the color scheme, overall sense of the space, and are conceptual in nature. If the mood board is appealing, furnishings and decor can be purchased that are similar in nature to the rendition.”
Sample Mood Board-Living Room
“Coastal Breeze Meets Sultry” features a living area with dark blue-grey walls, soft grey sofa and soft pink accent chairs, white wood coffee table, white curtains and aqua rug. Unique lighting, artwork and tropical plant add to the coastal feel of this space.
Sample Mood Board-Bathroom
“Spa Day” features a bathroom with peach painted walls, and accent wall featuring floral print wallpaper, a weathered grey vanity with white countertop, oversized tub and teak-wood shelving. Accents like matching towels, baskets and soaps tie the space together.
Sample Mood Board-Den/Game Room
“Masculine Living” features a living area with dark teal walls, brown leather furniture and dark brown bookcase. Lighting and accent tables are featured in black. The rug has shades of cream and grey and brown bringing a sense of cohesion to this masculine space.
Some clients are happy using the mood board suggestions to purchase items on their own; however, at your request, Kelly can provide personal shopper service. One advantage of working with a designer is tapping into his or her network for goods and furnishings. Kelly has trade partnerships with many vendors, so she can pass along savings for items you may not be able to purchase otherwise. She also has access to markets only open to designers. This is a great option for clients who are short on time. She can even arrange for larger items to be stored and delivered, with white-glove service, at a later time.
“The most important thing to me is that they absolutely love their home.”
When asked how homeowners can quickly refresh their homes Kelly doesn’t hesitate: “The biggest thing that makes an impact in anyone’s home is paint; and wallpaper is coming back huge. Accent walls with wallpaper. Paint and wallpaper are the easiest and least expensive way to make an impact.”
When selecting colors, Kelly recommends using colors from the same palate throughout your home to create a sense of cohesion. “If you have a totally different look and color palate in each room it can feel unsettling, which affects your emotional well-being,” Kelly said.
She also said folks don’t have to spend a fortune on furnishings. “You should spend your money on a few key pieces, like your sofa,” Kelly said. “But maybe save money on furniture for a guest bedroom that hardly gets used.”
Shortages are affecting many items; however, you can still refresh your space by changing out pillows, throws and rugs or adding small decor items as shown above. If you are in the market for new furniture, consider items on the showroom floor as they are typically in the vendor’s warehouse. When you get into changing colors and fabrics, you run a greater chance of the items being backordered.
Though Kelly has been working with clients, she is set to officially launch Kelly Marley Interiors within the next month. She looks forward to helping folks in Dunedin and throughout the Tampa Bay area. She would also love the opportunity to work with Air B&Bs on refreshing their spaces and helping decorate model homes for builders of new communities.
Follow Kelly Marley Interiors on social media. She’ll be doing a fun “Mood Board Mondays” post on Instagram: @kellymarleyinteriors.
I bring a lot of discipline and professionalism. I’m in people’s homes, which is the heart and soul of their life. I want to bring peace and harmony and balance so that people enjoy the lifestyle here.
-Kelly Marley
Kelly Marley Interiors • 717-495-5715 • info@kellymarleyinteriors.com • @kellymarleyinteriors