Hi there!
I’m Maura, a fabric designer and prodigal Pennsylvanian returned home to the greater Philadelphia area after starting life after college on the Eastside of Seattle. I’ve been fine tuning my aesthetic and reintegrating my East Coast design roots since returning to PA after 7 years in a very coastal contemporary Seattle suburb. Motif Motif is also the name of my shop, where I sell my original fabrics and throw pillows, and I’m working on adding in other decor.
I landed my first design gig planning my parents’ kitchen addition at the age of 12 – all while still in the midst of receiving a formal education in interior design from HGTV and spontaneous furniture rearranging with my mom. I knew from an early age that I wanted to work in a creative field and not sit behind a desk all day.
Before taking a break professionally to be a stay-at-home mom of 2, I earned degrees in both marketing and graphic design, discovering a love for branding and web development.
After several years as a freelance web and brand developer and consultant with a side gig in wedding invitation and digital scrapbook paper design, I began envisioning my coordinated scrapbook paper sets as throw pillow collections, and thus made my foray into fabric design with Motif Motif, bootstrapping my work, designing all of my own brands and products and coding all of my websites and shops.
I’m a bit obsessive passionate in deciding what I want my home to feel and look like, and aside from sharing my fabrics and other shop updates here, this blog is my chronicle of what I do in my home, and I share interior design tips & tricks, and things I’ve learned that I hope will be helpful to you.
I believe in buying only what you love (except COVID tests and sunscreen, some things you just can’t get around), high-low design, designing as you go, and love the hunt for secondhand special pieces. Of course, I hope you’ll love (and buy) some things in my shop, but if not that’s okay and I’m hoping you landed here after gaining some helpful insight from this blog.
The look I gravitate toward is layered, collected and classic more more as I develop my personal style, but I can also go for eclectic. My home – over time! – has developed a solid foundation of classic pieces and understanding good design for each room and item brought into it.
Welcome, and thanks for visiting!
– Maura
