Mary Maldé

Designing Homes That Feel Instinctively Right

A Considered Beginning

My work is grounded in a deep interest in how we experience the spaces we live in — not just visually, but emotionally. Early in my career, I relied on instinct when working with colour and design, but I began to question why a space could look resolved, yet not feel quite right to live in.

Understanding Colour
More Deeply

This led me to study colour and design psychology, including the work of Karen Haller. While I had always understood the emotional impact of colour intuitively — what felt cocooning, uplifting, or unsettling — this gave me the framework to apply it with clarity and intention.

It allows me to align colour and design choices with each client’s personality and how they want to feel within their home — setting aside personal bias, so each space is shaped entirely around the individual.

The Foundation of
Earth States™

From this, I developed Earth States™ — an approach that brings together formal study and practical experience to create interiors that feel considered, balanced, and instinctively right for the people who live in them.

When Something Begins
to Shift

I’ve come to believe that our homes hold us more fully when they evolve with us.

There often comes a point where a home no longer reflects where you are in life. Not because anything is wrong — but because something has shifted: a greater sense of clarity, a deeper understanding of what you enjoy, a more instinctive way of living.

It’s something many of my clients recognise, even if they haven’t yet put it into words.

Shaping What Comes Next

My role is to shape homes that meet that shift — bringing together space, colour, material and light in a way that feels natural, expressive, and personal to you.

A Holistic Way of Designing

I approach each home as a whole, through a human-centred lens — considering not only how spaces connect, but how they are experienced: how colour, materials and textures sit together, and how light moves throughout the day — so the result feels balanced, cohesive, and effortless.

Influence & Perspective

My background is in interior design, with over a decade of experience shaping thoughtful, enduring spaces. I trained in residential interior design at the KLC School of Design, and have further specialised in Advanced Applied Colour & Design Psychology with Karen Haller FRSA, as well as Biophilic Design. I am also a member of the British Institute of Interior Design.

My work is grounded in biophilic principles, applied colour and design psychology, and a deep understanding of how environments influence how we feel, think and live.

Time spent in more natural, elemental environments continues to influence how I think about the home — not as something imposed or defined by a particular style, but as something that quietly supports you and continues to feel right over time.

The aim, however, is simple:

To create a home that reflects you, holds you, and supports the way you want to live — not just visually, but in a way that lasts.

The aim, however, is simple:

To create a home that reflects you, holds you, and supports the way you want to live — not just visually, but in a way that lasts.