Trish Lynn has always had a creative flair and a deep appreciation for art.
The Fairport native (whose maiden name was Gubiotti) started out at the University of Buffalo studying psychology and art but was encouraged to pursue a degree in business instead, which she earned in 2002.
After graduating, she moved to New York City and worked in advertising and for web services company Yahoo. The environments were creative, even if her job in digital sales was less so.
But after getting married and in 2013 giving birth to her first child, “I just sort of decided I wanted to reinvent myself and do something I’d always loved and been good at,” said Lynn, who now lives in Chatham, New Jersey, about 30 miles west of Manhattan.
That something was interior design, and soon her work will grace the pages of one of the country’s most widely circulated magazines, “Better Homes & Gardens.”
For its July/August issue, the publication shot the beach house in Bay Head, New Jersey, where Lynn and her family — husband Rick Lynn and their children, Colette, 11, Cece, 9, and Violet, who is about to turn 7 — vacation.
More than a getaway, the space was a project for Lynn, who founded Colette Interiors in 2016.
“I had small jobs at first,” the 44-year-old said. Most leads were generated by word-of-mouth recommendations (she had done some work for free for relatives and friends) and Instagram.
“I was only doing what I could manage because I had three kids in four years,” she said. “And then with time, with the kids getting older, I was able to take on more and more.”
When COVID hit in 2020, rather than slowing things down, it “catapulted” her venture, she said.
“People had the desire to make their homes more comfortable and beautiful, and the importance of home became more prominent for everybody. I started getting so much business.”
Lynn now has three full-time interior designers on staff and three part-timers who work for a sister business she started, home furnishings and décor shop Collected Living Co.
She describes her signature style as organic modern, “Meaning we use a lot of neutrals, a lot of textures, a lot of natural materials. I like things to be very soft, serene and comfortable.”
And functional. Most of Lynn’s clients have young children or are planning to start families, and many have relocated from urban settings like New York. “They’ve never owned a home before,” she said. “We familiarize them with what suburban living is.”
That often extends beyond interior aesthetics. “I give them my landscaper’s information and my plumber’s information,” she said, sounding like someone who has dealt with a property maintenance issue or two.
Lynn’s journey from Manhattan executive to Chatham creative was a somewhat circuitous one, but she doesn’t regret having spent those initial professional years on something other than her passion. Being part of corporate America “gave me the kind of knowledge that helped me a lot in my ultimate transition,” she said.
Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers general assignments. Send story tips to [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @MarciaGreenwood.
link