I am a real estate agent with Crye-Leike REALTORS in Memphis, Tennessee. I am a tireless advocate for my clients, whether they are buying or selling. I know how challenging the market can be, so I serve others the way I would want to be served—strategically, with integrity and compassion.

My passion is preserving quality houses in Memphis by matching sellers with buyers who intend to maintain the architectural integrity of the home. While I personally love mid-century modern, ranch, and contemporary houses, I believe good design is good design regardless of period. Whether you own a Victorian mansion or are searching for a two-bed bungalow, I am here to help!

I am originally from Wisconsin and have lived in Memphis since 2019. I take special pride in introducing other new Memphians to everything West Tennessee has to offer. I am active in local theatre, love to take long walks, and live in East Memphis with my husband (an artist), our child, and two mutts. You’ll find me at Novel, the Dixon, the Habitat ReStore, or Shelby Farms.

I don’t remember the first time I opened a copy of Atomic Ranch magazine. Probably 2009. My copies of the now-defunct Modernism magazine go back to 2006, when I was living in an apartment in Brooklyn and a modern house was a far-off dream.

In 2009, we bought our first house, and the dream got a little closer. It was a 1950s ranch in Charlottesville, VA with a fantastic fireplace with an asymmetrical soapstone hearth and huge windows. But it was a flip, and any original features were ripped out of the kitchen and baths before we ever saw them. But the basement den still had knotty pine paneling and very cool 9x9 vinyl tile floors.

It was in that house that I first started seeking out mid-century decor, like a light fixture on eBay that I later saw on 1stdibs for twelve times the price. I have brought that light fixture with us to every home since (remember, attached light fixtures convey, so if you don’t want them to go with the house when you sell, swap them out before the photos are taken and the house is listed).

In 2012, we moved and bought a very cute Cape Cod-style house built in 1950. Like many houses of its kind, it was intended to be expandable for a growing family. It had a walk-up attic where the owner could add bedrooms later. Remarkably, that had never been done to our house, so we had “stairs to nowhere.” We added those two bedrooms, and a bath. I was particularly proud of how that bathroom looked like it had always been there. A woman on Craigslist was selling boxes of the exact tile we had on the floor of our existing original gray and burgundy bathroom, so I snatched it up for the new bathroom. I got a gray toilet and sink to match, and gray tile from Daltile for the shower. I had a secondhand vanity re-laminated with a linen-patterned laminate. See that curved edge on the vanity? That’s so near-sighted people like me can lean in close to the mirror to put on mascara.

This time around, we were fortunate that the kitchen cabinets were still intact and in great shape. I sometimes say I bought that house because of the 2-inch chrome knobs on the cabinets, and that’s not far from the truth. The wood cabinets had been painted beige, which didn’t do anything for me, so several coats of Benjamin Moore Gulf Stream later, I had the turquoise kitchen I had coveted for so long. My husband wanted orange countertops, and who was I to argue, so our kitchen was aggressively cheery. But on an overcast day, it made me happy to walk in there to get my coffee.

Since the large beige floor tiles now looked out of place with the bright cabinets and counters, I grabbed an angle-grinder one day and attacked (this is how renovation spreads, like gangrene). Under those tiles, and a layer of sheet vinyl, I found this fabulous Armstrong linoleum with a multi-colored splatter pattern. Why did anyone ever cover this up? I wanted to save it, but it was too damaged from the subsequent flooring layers. I settled for a striped turquoise and white floor from Congoleum. So nice on bare feet!

Our next home turned out to be here in Memphis, Tennessee, and we finally found our dream modern home. To find our home, besides the help of a great agent, I turned to A Survey of Modern Houses in Memphis. I looked up each house in the book to see if it was currently on the market (and in our price range). We were very fortunate that the pages contained our future home, a mid-century modern split-level home designed by W. David McKinnie and built in 1959.

When negotiating the terms of the sale, I was surprised to learn the house had generated little interest from buyers since it had so many of the elements we had sought: ample light from walls of glass, wood paneling for texture and warmth, vaulted ceilings, original steel kitchen cabinets and floating bathroom vanities, and beautiful views from every room. Our real estate agent suggested “in these homes, people don’t know where to put their furniture.” The house has a 12-foot built-in sofa so I don’t know if that’s really the trouble.  

Over the next few months, I noticed many other mid-century homes described in real estate listings as “needing updates” or ideal for tearing down to build a new house. This distressed me, as I saw the damage done to the interiors and the damage done to lovely streets as out-of-scale houses took the place of well-situated and well-proportioned homes. 

I could not watch and do nothing, so, fortified by the knowledge that Memphis has many of these homes and there are people like yourself who appreciate them, I set out to obtain my real estate license. After fifteen years of running nonprofits, I pivoted to a new calling that requires many of the same attributes—a dedication to service, a love of people, a focus on details, and passion. I am now a licensed agent and a REALTOR® , focused on helping buyers appreciate these homes and sellers highlight their value. Now I can contribute to the preservation of these homes, one house at a time. 

I created this site so you can search for your home by categories like year built, style (ranch, split-level, contemporary) as well as by neighborhood and other criteria important to you. I also wanted to highlight the features so often-overlooked, like colorful bathroom tiles. (Hint, if the house listing has no pictures of the bathrooms, they may be super retro and cool. Don’t rule the house out for the lack of photos, just ask me to check it out for you.)

If you have a mid-century home to sell and think you have to rip out everything and make major changes to put it on the market, please talk to me first. There are buyers who want your paneling, your pink bathroom, your knotty pine kitchen. I can help you freshen up what needs freshening, and give your original features the love and attention they need to attract a buyer who will appreciate them. For ideas and sources, please see the Inspiration page.