About Us

Headquartered in the Bay Area, Catherine Macfee Interior Design (CMID) is an award-winning, full-service interior design studio specializing in curating high-end residences, retreats, hospitality, and select boutique commercial projects. 

 

 

Principals Catherine & Justine, who together have fifty years of collective design experience, are known for their thoughtful and comprehensive approach. Their work encompasses all aspects of a client's lifestyle, elevating the everyday through thoughtfully-curated interiors, bespoke products, and unique experiences. 

Founded in 1989, the studio has completed more than 350 projects across residential, commercial, and hospitality in the most prized zip codes of California from Orinda, Atherton, Marin, to Lake Tahoe, as well as luxury homes in the Hamptons, Bend, Portland, and around Nevada.

CMID has been awarded prestigious design awards including Luxe Gold List, Luxe Red Awards, and Mountain Living Home of the Year, among others. CMID has been selected to participate in leading showhouses such as Traditional Home Napa Valley Showcase, San Francisco Showcase House, and Christopher Kennedy Design House. 

 

 

 

CATHERINE MACFEE

FOUNDER & PRINCIPAL

As founder and principal of Catherine Macfee Interior Design, Catherine believes in legacy interiors that will make life better for generations to come. Her business acumen combined with her keen creative eye has helped her grow CMID into a nationally-recognized and award winning design studio known for its timeless approach to custom interiors that are both elegant and approachable.

With more than 35 years of experience, Catherine is an award winning designer who is sought-after by discerning clients with multiple homes across the San Francisco Bay Area and the Lake Tahoe region. From luxury lakefront residences to soaring mountain cabins, she is especially well-known for her award-winning residential design, and even designed the very first home in Lake Tahoe's private luxury ski and golf community, Martis Camp. 

Catherine’s retail stores, including the iconic Rubicon Collection, were go-to luxury design destinations for prominent Tahoe and Bay Area residents. She was among the first to leverage her design studio aesthetic into retail, combining high-end custom furniture and upholstery lines, with one-of-a-kind pieces from all over the world – a model that many in the design community still follow today. The product development and store merchandising process allowed for international buying trips that further fed her creativity, inspiration and passion for design. 

Another crowning moment for her as both a businesswoman and mother was having her daughter, Justine, join her in the business in 2009, and work her way to being named Principal and partner in 2013.Together, they have traveled the world gaining inspiration and experience, which they bring back to their clients through their studied design approach, soulful, layered interiors, and range of original styles.

Catherine has received membership to the National Design Leadership network, Design Council for San Francisco Fall Show, American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), as well as the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA). She has been featured in national and regional design publications for her robust portfolio of projects, and has been awarded top design recognitions. Previous to founding the company, she studied business at the University of Oregon and the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM).

 

JUSTINE MACFEE

PRINCIPAL

As a designer and principal of CMID, Justine believes great design has the power to elevate all aspects of a person’s life. She brings this passion, energy and creativity to each and every project she takes on. Justine has been exposed to the world of design from an early age, collecting textiles and vintage objects since she was a child. This constant exposure to new ideas and artists, as well as extensive travel and experiences alongside her mentor, mother and eventual business partner, Catherine Macfee, has shaped her intuitive and comprehensive approach. Her mindfulness in design means no detail is too small, no project alike, and her creativity is endless.

After honing her skills in Interior Architecture & Design at California College of the Arts in San Francisco, Justine joined CMID full time in 2009, and was promoted to partner in 2013. Justine worked her way from the Rubicon Collection retail shop floor, to assisting with design projects and marketing, to eventually taking on clients of her own early in her career. With now decades of experience in and around the interior design industry, Justine has helped make CMID a nationally-recognized design studio, adding creative depth and diversity to the studio’s storied portfolio.

Justine is frequently sought after as a speaker at industry events, and selected to design for top showhouses, including two Traditional Home Napa Valley Showcase Houses and Christopher Kennedy’s Central Valley Showcase House and her work has been featured in national publications including on the cover of Mountain Living Magazine. Her design eye has been tapped to judge the Annual Tahoe Quarterly Mountain Home Awards for multiple years. She was a High Point Market Style Spotter in 2018 and collaborated with brands like Minted at the market to curate their market product displays. She has worked on product development and licensing on everything from rugs and case goods to hardware and textiles. Justine is also known for her out-of-the box thinking, often collaborating with unlikely brands and clients to produce and style photoshoots and other creative endeavors.