The name is the whole idea: centered around you.
I'm Kim — owner and principal, and the person you'll work with from the first walkthrough to the last piece of styling.
I've spent more than 20 years designing spaces, but I've never believed my job was to give clients a recognizable “Kim White look.” My job is to understand the person, the property and the problem — and find the solution that belongs there.
My background spans residential, commercial and multifamily design, renovation, custom furnishings, real estate, and teaching Introduction to Interior Design and Historical Architecture & Furnishings. That range taught me to look at a space from more than one perspective: how it functions, how it feels, what it costs, what it's worth, what should change — and, most importantly, what shouldn't.
I'm drawn to spaces with personality, materials with history, and solutions that aren't always obvious. Good design can be refined without being precious, luxurious without being wasteful, and current without erasing what gave a place its character in the first place.
Originally from Colorado, I studied at Phoenix College, taught interior design as adjunct faculty at Glendale Community College, and have been designing professionally since 2005 — across the Phoenix metro area, Flagstaff and El Paso.
centriKdesign was born from one simple idea: the client is the center. I don't begin with an aesthetic. I begin with you — then listen, question, solve and create from there. The result isn't a space that looks like me. It's a space that feels unmistakably like you.
YOU. ONLY BETTER.
My real skill is listening. When a proposed solution doesn't sit right with a client, I don't push past it — I look for the reason, find the actual problem underneath, and solve that. Most design mistakes are really unheard objections, and I'd rather catch them in conversation than in construction.
Same designer, same philosophy, different places. Based in Arizona, with a base in Albania.
The projects don't look alike. They think alike.
A Scottsdale custom residence shouldn't look like an El Paso clubhouse. A Southwest bath shouldn't look like my own kitchen. A six-figure furnishing project shouldn't use the same strategy as a $500 charity table.
I start by understanding the person, the property, the budget, the lifestyle and the experience you want, then look for the possibility that wasn't obvious at the start: cutting a builder mirror in two, a peninsula that opens a room, a children's corner no one asked for. Client-centered was never a tagline. It became the method — and it shows up in budget stewardship and honest expectation-setting as much as in anything you can photograph.
Kitchens, baths, antiques, and my own art.
I love to cook, which is why my kitchens are designed as working rooms rather than showpieces — a place to gather and celebrate in. A bathroom should be the ultimate sanctuary and transition zone: a place that supports emotional regulation and self-care.
I have a real feel for craftsmanship and for old things: antiques and vintage pieces mixed with the new, chosen for character and built to last. And I make original artwork of my own — with a firm rule about scale I'll happily apply to your walls.
When you are unsure about artwork, go bigger than you think.
Work that's been recognized.
A few moments of recognition along the way — a People's Choice design award, a placement in a regional room competition, and a published feature for charity.
Interior Design Room Competition
A room designed and styled for the Third Annual Interior Design Room Competition at the Maricopa County Home & Landscape Show — the warm, collected room shown here.
Table Dressing for Ryan House
My “Los Muertos” fantasy table for the IFDA Tableau Event — the People's Choice winner — was photographed and published, benefiting Ryan House, a pediatric respite and palliative-care home.
- Owner and principal, centriKdesign
- Award-winning interior designer
- Designing since 2005
- Graduate of Phoenix College
- Former adjunct faculty, Glendale Community College
- Residential, multifamily and commercial experience
- Work across the Phoenix metro area, Flagstaff and El Paso