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“UMI always has great new products coming in and helps keep us on the cutting edge of products out there.” – Juliana Catlin

Meet Juliana Catlin! Juliana was inspired to become an Interior Designer from a young age and has pursued her passion with character, authenticity, and personality for 42 years. Learn more about Juliana’s design tactics, her favorite UMI material, and more below!

Q: Tell us a little about your background.

A: I was blessed with a mother who loved renovating and working on her home and it inspired me to see the positive changes she would accomplish, at times with a nominal budget.  So early on, I knew Interior Design was the Profession that I wanted to pursue. I enrolled in the excellent Program of Interior Design from the University of Florida and received a Bachelor in Design from their College of Architecture.  A great program that taught from a multidisciplinary perspective that has benefited my practice my whole 42- year career.

Q: What style do you like to design the most?

A: One of the most satisfying parts of design is to listen to your client’s desires, practical needs, and the style they are drawn to and to help them accomplish a home that looks exactly like what they were after from the start.  My team works hard to make the project express those tones, styles, and most importantly, give them the spaces they need for their home life or business.

Q: What project are you most proud of?

A: After over 40 years, that is hard to consider!  We were the firm that took a gorgeous historic waterfront mansion of one of the Duponts and turned it into a beautiful and functional Country Club.That project stands out to me because it had to have commercial codes and usage of space, new air conditioning installed, and a myriad of functional concerns with the final goal to showcase the beauty of the historic home. The architect, Ted Pappas, and our firm worked very hard to have the goal of a seamless design.  It was a huge task for the many experts to add the current needs while maintaining the original bones of the significant building and gardens. Finding the right items and experts was like a daily treasure hunt!

The real pride is always seeing the faces of our clients when we reveal the finished project to the family or business. Those images are what keep me going year after year.

Q: Tell us about the photos below.

A: We found an array of projects that show the beauty of the natural, man-made stone.  We love to let the surface add a natural form of beauty in what we do.  It amazes me to see what colors, patterns, and textures are available, and we love featuring that in projects.

Q: What do you enjoy most about UMI Stone?

A: We consider UMI part of our expert team that not only brings in amazing products but also helps with expertise on wearability and finding the right product with the correct application.

So not only are they an immense resource of products, but they also are a partner in helping us complete the project with the right information we need to install and care for the surface after installation.

Q: What is your favorite product UMI carries? And favorite color of that product?

A: Now that is impossible to say – we love the amount of natural stone from limestones, marbles, and granites that show such depth of tones and movement of patterns that our projects each have an individual statement of stones.  We also enjoy the man-made products like porcelain counters, quartz, and glass products that we can add to our projects when we need little to no care once installed.  UMI always has great new products coming in and helps keep us on the cutting edge of products out there.  Which frees our firm to have UMI do the research we can count-on. The UMI team has always steered us straight on the after-care of their products. Then we pass that information along to our clients, and the project looks great for years to come.

Q: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

A: Over the last six years, we are grandparents to three wonderful grandchildren, and doing fun things like baking or doing a craft project feeds my heart and my creative side with them.   Covid has also changed my husband’s and my love of travel.  We look forward to hitting the airways by summer next year. My mother always was on the hunt for a new antique or piece of art, so traveling is the ultimate hunting expedition.  My kind attorney husband has helped me haul home or ship more things home than I could count.

Q: How can people get in touch with you if they would like you to design their home?

A: Feel free to visit our website at www.catlindesign.com, and we have a link to contact us as well as our phone number. We have a total of six designers and four support team members to help create the design work we are blessed to do, as well as clients who trust us to make the project their own. We have designed work all over the world.