About

Carmen Mays is on a mission. A mission to transform places of chaos-at home and at work-into beautiful and peaceful sanctuaries. Places that offer comfort and inspiration to all who enter.

Carmen is founder and principal of HomeSuiteHome, a business specializing in staging houses for sale, doing personal and professional room makeovers, and freeing living and work spaces from their organizational challenges.

"I want my clients to have spaces where they can relax and feel comfortable," she says. "It brings out the best in them, and it makes me feel really great as well!"

She has been doing just that for nearly 10 years, working in settings ranging from disorganized closets and disjointed rooms to homes being prepared for sale. Her intuitive combination of colors, shapes, and forms, fortified by her sensitivity to her client's needs, anxieties, and hopes, has routinely led to the satisfaction of all involved.

Carmen's success stems largely from her ability to make her clients feel comfortable with her and with change. This leads to an enthusiastic collaboration between the two to create a soothing, satisfying, and productive environment that's best for the client.

"Every room has an energy that is always very apparent to me," she says. "I love transforming that energy to create spaces that calm and at the same time energize all who enter. Yet I am very respectful of the needs of the client. If a client is open to change, well, all kinds of positive things are going to happen in a very short amount of time."

Her ability to walk into a space and envision what could be propels her forward, whether the space is brand-new, empty, and looking for definition or is full of old stuff and in need of a new spark. She's just as comfortable designing the waiting room of an office as she is creating an exciting new atmosphere in someone's home.

"A lot of people watch HGTV and think that they have to spend tons of money and renovate everything in a major way to get what they want or to create something someone will want to buy," she notes. "That's just not true. Most times, it's a matter of recombining things that are already there and getting rid of the excess that makes all the difference. It doesn't take a lot of money and time to create an atmosphere that everyone can feel real in."

Her flexibility and her gift for combining disparate elements appeared early in her life, due in part to growing up in a military family that lived in other countries and exposed her to a variety of cultures. Her artistic side was clearly present in high school, culminating in a blue ribbon won for a multi-media piece she entered in a state-wide competition. In addition, her organizational and communication skills have been honed over time in a variety of business settings. All have contributed to the realization of her true passion: working with others to create the sanctuaries of their dreams.

Carmen Mays currently resides in Georgetown, Texas, just outside of Austin. She has a son who is a member of the U.S. Army, and two lively young grandsons.

I want to thank Debbie Starr for helping me with my bio and Peter Gonzales for my portrait.