1 of 5
Corbet’s daughter decorated Corbet’s bedroom wall with dripping paint strips. The wall is accented with a funky wingback armchair and an antique wooden ladder from Corbet’s husband’s grandfather, which Corbet uses to display her scarves.
2 of 5
The designer creatively displays her collection of child-sized antique chairs on the living room wall.
3 of 5
The winding stairwell leading to Corbet’s apartment is decorated with her daughter’s artwork. “It’s all old brick, and her colorful artwork is a nice surprise,” says the designer.
4 of 5
Corbet created this bourbon bar using two vintage crates and an antique leather suitcase. “I built a stand for it and then put glass on top. It just rounds out my whole bar.”
5 of 5
Corbet created a bar on her rooftop deck from her husband’s grandfather’s 10-foot-long Flexible Flyer sled. “We love to sit and overlook the railroad tracks and the James River.”
Kathy Corbet is drawn to the unique and unusual. At Kathy Corbet Interiors, she and her team create custom spaces — both residential and commercial — tailored to the client’s vision.
Whether she’s designing a child’s playroom, a rooftop lounge or a brewery taproom, Corbet aims to take on projects that have a “fun factor” in terms of the space itself and the client’s willingness to step outside of the box. “I work well with clients who respect my creativity, are open to my ideas and are willing to take the plunge,” she says.
Kathy Corbet transformed the wall of her entertainment space with an abstract wallpaper, Damask in Distress, created by award-winning Australian designer Kerrie Brown.
A graduate of the University of Vermont and the Fashion Institute of Technology, Corbet got her start in design in New York City’s Garment District, where she worked for 14 years. She started her interior design company in 1997 while living in New Hampshire.
“I was jobless at the time,” Corbet says. “A friend of mine in Boston had just started her own business, and she was looking for someone to help her [design the space]. She had seen what I did with my house, and she said, ‘I need you to do that for me,’ but only if it was a business-to-business [relationship]. So that’s how the business got started.”
When Corbet moved to Richmond with her family four years later, she brought her company with her. “Richmond is very different,” she says. “There is huge demand here, whereas in New Hampshire, I had trouble getting referrals because no one wants to say they used a designer.”
In addition to higher demand in Richmond, Corbet says she is grateful to have access to an array of skilled local craftspeople. “A huge part of my business is working with talented artists and vendors to pull off what I want,” she says. “Pretty much anything I design can be made.”
Corbet’s current projects include a rustic Quonset hut and an art-filled Shockoe Bottom town house. Her own home — a Shockoe Bottom apartment housed in a former tobacco warehouse — is an eclectic mix of eye-catching visuals and uniquely repurposed materials, a reflection of her commitment to going above and beyond in all aspects of her designs.
“People are very, very passionate about their homes,” she says. “It’s an investment involving both heart and money. I want to give people confidence in the decisions they’re making.”
