How Colts Neck interior designer started by creating the best-looking dorm rooms

COLTS NECK - Growing up in Yorktown in New York's Westchester County, Maureen Ursino loved the art of designing. And today, as the owner of Ursino Interiors in Colts Neck, she’s able to share her passion for beautiful interiors with homeowners across the Northeast.

“As a kid, designing was always my thing,” said Ursino, 37, a Holmdel resident. “My mom’s side of the family has a strong creative gene and I had an innate interest in the home and in curating and arranging things like toys, clothing, etc. It really started to surface in college when I did my dorm room,” she noted. “Friends were asking me to decorate their dorm rooms and their first apartments after college.”

After graduating from the University of Maryland with a degree in economics, Ursino spent the next decade working at high-profile management consultant firms in Washington, D.C., but ultimately found that something was missing.

“At the last consulting firm I was with, I hit a pivotal moment,” she recalled. “I’d recently gotten married, was about to start a family, and felt like I needed a creative outlet.”

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Ursino responded by going back to design school and graduated from Corcoran's Interior Architecture Program at George Washington University in 2016.

Moving to New Jersey after graduation to be near her husband’s family as they awaited the arrival of their first child, “I ended up working for a local commercial architectural and engineering firm for about 18 months, but I didn’t feel as much of a personal connection in commercial work, so I left there when my daughter was a year old and said ‘It’s now or never.’”

Intent on starting her own venture, Ursino launched Ursino Interiors, a residential interior design firm, from her home in 2018.

“Back then it was just me," she said. "I was doing everything from business development to curating, procuring and installing furnishings in client homes and took any work that came my way in order to build a portfolio. My very first client was a friend and I was lucky with the timing; they had a need for my services just as I went out on my own, which enabled me to amass a lot of good experience.”

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Working as an 'interior architect'

Nearly five years later, “we specialize in high-end residential interior work, primarily on projects where we’re doing all or most of a home in the form of a significant renovation or a new build, and we design both the interior architecture and furnishings,” she said. “From the floor plan and kitchen design to the lighting layout, plumbing and more, we take on the role of ‘interior architect.’”

As the firm grew from just Ursino to a team of five today that includes three interior designers, an operations professional and an associate overseeing their new retail store, “I realized that I’d grown out of my house and needed a separate working space,” Ursino said. She rented a small office in a co-working setting in Asbury Park in 2020, but after a year needed something bigger.

“One day in October 2021, I stopped by a cute plaza in Colts Neck across from Delicious Orchards to get coffee at a new coffee shop that had opened there and I saw a ‘Lease’ sign on a nearby space,” said Ursino, who promptly rented it for her growing business.

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Today, within their cozy 700 square feet, “we offer design services and access to products ranging from lighting, couches and draperies to plumbing fixtures, cabinetry, upholstery/window treatments, rugs, accessories like pillows, throws and artwork, and much more,” Ursino said. “We work with a network of vendors and workrooms whom we consider an extension of our team and we rely on them to be the experts in their niche and guide the project behind the scenes.”

While the team will travel and recently completed a project in Martha’s Vineyard, “we primarily serve the metro area and a majority of our clients are in New Jersey, from the Shore area up to Bergen County,” Ursino said. Among notable local projects, “we did a home on the Navesink River in Rumson that was a fun mix of bohemian and transitional styles for a young family and are currently working on an ‘entertainment barn’ in Rumson that will be spectacular.”

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Among trends, Ursino said that in some respects, what’s ‘old’ is becoming new again.

“For so long, everything was an ‘open concept,’ but people are increasingly leaning away from that and opting for closed rooms, so we try to strike a hybrid of those two worlds to give visibility between rooms, especially for young families,” she said. “And while light, airy and bright spaces used to be dominant, we’re seeing a return to moody interiors as well as colors like burgundy and olive green and patterns. In the end, you want your home to be a reflection of who you are and what you love.”

As for challenges, Ursino confirmed that the pandemic had a major impact on the interior design industry.

“The project management side of what we do has gotten quite complicated and managing a project now involves two to three times more work than it did prior to COVID because lead times and shipping delays have been extensive,” she said. “Prior to the pandemic, for instance, the furnishing aspect could be done within six to eight months, but now it’s not possible to do it in under a year, even a fairly simple project, and a significant build or renovation can take two years.”

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While she said that their clients have been understanding of industry conditions and she and her colleagues work hard to manage their expectations, “I do think — hope! — that things will get better in 2023,” she said.

At the same time, “the amount of detail involved in executing our vision and ensuring that it gets carried out as planned can be challenging; some nights, I’m up thinking about the nightstands or fixtures we ordered,” she said.

“Things happen every day in this business — from being shipped the wrong item or color to things arriving broken or made incorrectly. It’s a human business and mistakes are going to happen, which is a big part of why we work with the quality vendors we’ve aligned with,” she said. “They’ll stand by their product and fix any issue that arises.”

Opening week for Eteria

Looking ahead, Ursino Interiors is excited to unveil its new retail store, Eteria, in the front portion of their studio. “Through the process of curating so much product, we came across so many amazing small artisans and vendors,” Ursino said of Eteria (Italian for “ethereal”), which offers a collection of vintage rugs, newly-handmade contemporary wool rugs, and a selection of art and tabletop linens such as tablecloths, placemats and napkins.

“After a private friends-and-family event this Thursday, we’ll be celebrating our grand opening to the public this Friday, Nov. 4, with baked goods and discounts and we hope people will come check us out!” she said.

Though business has been strong and the opportunity for expansion is there, “I like being a small business that can intimately serve our clients and really focus on quality,” Ursino said. “There’s a boutique, personal feel to our firm that we always want to maintain.”

“We hope to continue serving our clients in an intimate and high-quality way and to enhance their home, comfort and lifestyle,” Ursino concluded of her wish for the business she’s been envisioning since her childhood. “Ultimately, I love creating homes for people to live in, love, and make great memories in.”

Ursino Interiors

Location: 317 Route 34, Suite 107, Colts Neck

Phone: 732-209-8529

Owner: Maureen Ursino

Launched: 2018

Website: ursinointeriors.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Ursino Interiors in Colts Neck founder needed creative outlet