Meet Kate Seymour, Sabai Design Challenge Winner

Ask our interior design community to design a dream living room sanctuary, and they will deliver. In our latest design challenge with Sabai, we saw a handful of creative designs following this prompt. One designer in particular, Kate Seymour, really shined through with her work.

Kate is a self-taught designer who believes in chasing your dreams, even when the universe might be telling you otherwise. We spoke to her about how she got back into design after falling out of it for a bit and heard more about what inspired her winning design.

Let’s give it up for Kate!

Hi, Kate! Tell us about yourself and what three emojis you would use to describe you best.

Hey, fellow design lovers! I'm Kate, a self-taught interior designer with a lifelong passion for creating stunning yet logical spaces. Currently crafting my family home, I'm all about lime wash paint, texture, color, and natural finishes. Oh, and dogs; they're my sidekicks! Over seven years, I've learned the magic of combining the right textures and color palettes to create welcoming, cozy layouts. Beyond my project, I've transformed a walk-in closet into a magical children's room and helped turn an old barn into a farmhouse-style vacation rental. Let's team up if you're into playful designs with colors, textures, and natural finishes! 

If I had to choose three emojis to describe myself, I’d pick 🤗🤪🎨 — but can anyone really be contained in emojis?

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What was the vision for your winning design in this challenge?

I was inspired by the previous Daily Play prompt in Spoak to design a room using chartreuse! You might be able to tell, but I’m a little obsessed with shades of green, and when I saw the yellow/green Sabai couch, I knew exactly how I would stage it.

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What does your relationship with design look like?

When I was young, I loved anything creative. I wanted to design rooms, buildings, clothing, and CD covers. I loved to bead and sing and play music. As young people, we hold a lot of creativity in our hearts, but as we get older, we’re told those dreams are unrealistic and we should find something that can pay the bills. So, as many of us do, I moved away from those dreams. Still, I couldn't resist mentally rearranging furniture whenever I entered a room.

Then, about seven years ago, life handed us a piece of land. And boom! I was back in the game, obsessing over designing our dream home. Champagne taste on a Bud Light budget? Challenge accepted.

I found my thing: turning spaces into magic without spending a fortune. Making them practical and enchanting at the same time? That's my jam. I'm all about digging into spaces, making them shine on a budget, and living the creative dream I thought I'd left behind. 

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What’s your most prized possession at home? 

My first thought was to answer “the dogs”...but they aren’t really possessions are they? That said, I’d have to go with my collection of about 400 books, mostly fantasy and sci-fi. We’ve lived a pretty minimal lifestyle and don’t have many possessions! Come back to me a couple of years after we’ve built our home and have places to put things. 😉

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What do you do on your time off to recharge creatively?

I get on Pinterest or Spoak, haha! Or sing some karaoke on Smule.

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What’s something you’re looking forward to right now?

Well, I'm eagerly looking forward to having a place to call my own again — that's a big dream in the making. On top of that, this thrilling client project is on the horizon: converting a barn into a rental space, with construction set to kick off in October. I can't wait to see my vision take shape! What adds to the excitement? My partner is leading the construction, which means we get to collaborate – a sneak peek into this type of teamwork before diving into our framing project.