McGinley Interiors

When you walk into Jessica McGinley’s home, the first thing you’re likely to notice is her floppy-eared Chiweenie (Chihuahua Dachshund mix) Bella, greeting you at the door. The second thing you’ll notice is the original 1950s wallpaper peeking out from behind her TV. Jess and her husband, Justin, didn’t know the wallpaper was there when they moved in; they uncovered it behind a mirror when decorating. For Jess, an artist turned stager and interior decorator who values all things vintage, a discovery like this was an exciting gift.

“We met the previous owners of our house when we bought it; there was one family (two generations) there for 65 years. We are the second family to live in it. It still has the original mint-green-and-pink and blue-and-pink bathrooms, and we told them, ‘We love it!’ They asked, ‘You’re not going to just rip this out? Really?’ And we said, ‘No way! This is literally why we bought your house; it has this tile and a lot of the other original 1958 features intact!’ It’s a mid-century time capsule, and we wanted to keep all that character and charm.”

Jess’s approach to styling her own home is similar to the approach she takes with her clients. “In our house, you have the original hardwood floors, the original trim, and the original stonework and fireplaces. We still need to make some updates - for instance, we need to redo the kitchen, because the layout doesn’t work in 2026 the way it did in 1958, and the appliances don’t all function. There are things we know we’re going to update for practical reasons, but we’re going to do it in a way that really fits with the time period of our house. We want this home to be a vibe.”

This mentality aligns with how Jess preps a home for sale or how she tackles an interior design project. “We try to make decisions that are going to work with the house, not against it. There are ways to blend historic and modern elements so it doesn’t feel off when you walk in; you don’t want it to seem like a completely different home when you go into each room. It’s about making more intentional choices that compliment the architectural elements throughout.”

Jess launched her small business - McGinley Interiors - almost one year ago, in June of 2025. But her journey to launching an interior staging and decorating firm was a long and winding one, with each step building on the one before it.

As a child, Jess was always creating. “I remember rearranging the furniture in my room at two in the morning and begging my parents to let me move the furniture around in the rest of our home. I wanted to paint my bedroom black, but they wouldn’t let me do that. Instead, I covered the room in posters and other things that I collected.” After winning a contest to have her art displayed in a local bank, her parents enrolled her in private art classes taught by a couple at a local studio. Jess worked with them through high school and eventually went to college at the University of the Arts for fine art and illustration. 

After graduating, she completed some gallery and commission work, but she was feeling a pull to do more than illustration and portraiture. “It’s very isolating. You had to push into the gallery space and editorial space, and once I graduated, it didn’t really feel like me anymore. I was at the point where I needed to figure out the next step.” 

She began designing products and packaging for a craft company; “I was applying my art skills, but in a different way. I learned a ton doing it.” After a while, the itch to try something new cropped up once again. She started learning web design and taught herself how to code. She began freelancing as a graphic and web designer, working with small businesses. She also started volunteering at Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia. “I wanted to be around fine art again. I was starting to feel disconnected from it, so I began giving tours and doing research.”

Ultimately, Jess decided to go back to school for a Master’s degree in communication with a focus on museum studies.

She began overseeing marketing and public relations and assisting with exhibitions at Woodmere, and she was eventually hired to run the marketing department at the Delaware Art Museum. For the next five years, she was doing everything from PR, to building their collections website, to marketing and brand strategy, to facilitating large-scale community events. She also began teaching graduate-level marketing courses to other museum professionals. Her work then took a more research-based focus, as she began supervising audience and donor research projects as part of the museum’s marketing and branding campaigns. She returned to Philly to work for a local design agency that created brand and communication strategies for nearby higher-education organizations and nonprofits. She was then hired into a corporate position with a Fortune 50 company, focusing on user and consumer research, website design, and global product design. Eventually, she was managing research and global design teams, but she started to feel like she was moving further and further from the creative process.

“Even though there was a lot of problem solving and creativity with the work I was doing, I felt disconnected from it after a while. I love learning new things, so in the beginning, there was a big spark; I was doing something different than what I had done in the past. I had never really seen myself in a corporate environment, but I thought, ‘Let me just see what happens.’ I started the job right before the pandemic, and once it hit, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I learned so much and worked with amazing people. I was studying how consumers shop and how they buy. I was close to the customer and also to the design teams. I got to move back into a management role for a while. It was great, but eventually, I was ready to make a change again.”

To get her creative fix in, Jess started focusing on designing the home she and her husband had just purchased. “We wanted a historic property, and we ended up in a 1940s brick colonial in Collingswood. My outlet during the pandemic was working on our house: designing spaces, painting rooms, and restoring certain areas of our home that needed to be updated.” She and Justin also started buying and fixing up investment properties in South Jersey.

Once all of the updates and restoration projects on their home were complete, they decided to sell. “I remember looking at Justin and saying, ‘I really want to stage this house. I have a vision for it that I think buyers will really like.’” Justin, a real estate agent, was a little hesitant. “He asked me, ‘Are you sure?’ He didn’t want me to take on all of that stress on top of moving. But I really needed to try it.”

Ultimately, Jess staged their home to match her vision, and it sold for $52,000 over their listing price. At the time, it set a record for a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house in Collingswood. Jess describes the experience as “very, very satisfying.” She began envisioning a path in which she could use her skillset to help others selling their homes as well.

At the same time, friends began reaching out to Jess to help them with home design projects. “A couple I knew wanted advice on paint colors and furniture layouts in their new house. I was brought in to consult with some of my husband’s clients who were getting their homes prepped for sale. I was overseeing all the design choices for our investment properties. I was looking forward to these projects, and I kept thinking, ‘How can I do more of them?’”

Jess started feeling excited about the possibility of launching her own staging and design business, but she was anxious to make the leap. “Justin really encouraged me and pushed me. He’s always been an entrepreneur, so he gets it. He told me, ‘You just have to do it. We can do it.’ Having that support at home was so vital. It gave me the confidence to make that jump and move forward.” Jess says Justin has continued to support her as she brings her vision to life. “He’s part of the business too; he is the other McGinley in McGinley Interiors. He’s still a real estate agent, but he also oversees all of our installation and deinstallation logistics and supervises our prep for sale project management with contractors and vendors. We bounce ideas off each other, and even though we don’t always agree, we work really well together. We’re always supporting and looking out for what we can do to move this business forward.” Since launching, McGinley Interiors has grown more quickly than expected.

Staging historic homes has pulled on many threads from Jess’s past. Her art and art history background has helped her as she designs each space. “There's a lot of convergence of art and architecture at different periods of time. I like diving into architectural history, design, and craftsmanship.” She has enjoyed collecting antique and vintage items to use in her projects as well as in her own home. “Finding really good pieces is important. I want to find high-quality things, items you can’t find easily today, well-made and designed pieces of furniture. I’ll see something and think, ‘I love the curve of this chair.’ I enjoy thinking about the story behind what I find and envisioning how I might use it in a space. I’ve learned to trust my instincts when I find something; even if I’m not sure right away how it will be incorporated into a staging or design project, it eventually finds its perfect place.”

Jess also pulls in her past museum experience to her current work. She understands the way museums guide patrons through exhibition spaces using sight lines and intentionally placed objects. She is able to use these skills to visually and physically guide potential buyers through the homes she stages. She is familiar with how to draw someone’s attention, how to highlight architecture by connecting it with furniture and decor, and how to create layouts that optimize the flow of a room. Her marketing experience is also invaluable in this process, and it is enhanced by her knowledge of the real estate world. “I can speak the language. I’m always thinking of the best ways to market the home, what features can be spotlighted with staging, and what we can use to attract potential buyers.”

Something Jess deeply enjoys about her job is collaborating with realtors to brainstorm creative marketing tactics, including one-of-a-kind photo shoots or online videos that highlight each home’s unique personality. “A lot of the agents we work with see us as a strategic and collaborative partner, which I love. We’re able to support the whole home selling process from beginning to end. We can manage all of the prep for sale work for the seller and agent, we do the staging, we make sure everything looks just right for listing photos, and we create supportive social media marketing the whole way through. I’m very invested in each property and figuring out how we can bring more agents and buyers to a home when it hits the market. By sharing behind-the-scenes footage on social media, we help others become interested and invested as well. The photos and videos we create span days and sometimes weeks, and they get people excited about the properties in South Jersey before they’re even listed. We tag and share the agent we’re working with, they reshare with their followers, and it continues to increase awareness and reach.”

Jess’s skillset allows her to consult on a variety of projects, whether it means helping a homeowner hone in on their personal style and guiding them in design choices, or assisting sellers and investors who want to make their property stand out. “I’m able to say, ‘Hey, let’s go with these types of light fixtures; they’re still on budget, but they’re going to work better with the style of the home.’ Or, ‘Let’s paint this room in this color and use this backsplash tile - it aligns with the design of the rest of the house.’ They’re seeing a higher return on those investment choices because everything is cohesive. We prioritize what will have the biggest impact. When you walk in, it just makes sense. It doesn’t feel disjointed, like you’re in three or four different homes depending on what room you’ve entered. That cohesion is so important. From a psychological perspective, it really makes somebody feel calmer and more centered in a house, which allows them to become more emotionally connected. That’s what actually sells a home: the design, psychology, and marketing all have to come together.” 

Many of McGinley Interior’s seller clients become design clients after they move into their new home. “It’s amazing to be a part of that personal journey, helping them not only sell their house, but settle into a new one and create spaces that are perfect for them.

The attention given to prep and staging is a crucial part of McGinley Interior’s experiential marketing strategy; they are creating a memorable experience for buyers. “We are showing them a certain lifestyle and making it easy for them to come into a home and immediately imagine living in it. Buyers form an opinion in seconds, and they make the decision to put in an offer only minutes after entering a house. It’s so important to create something that they can connect with. Every design and staging decision we make helps reinforce that. When you walk into a home, you can immediately sense if something feels off. You may not know what it is, but there’s an unconscious element that you can’t quite put your finger on. These are the things we work through. We have to land that first impression immediately and then reinforce it throughout the home. The feeling comes first.”

Jess also values community connection in her work. She sources inventory from local shops whenever possible, and she makes sure to highlight them through word of mouth and on social media. “It’s what I call, ‘Shop local, stage local.’ When we elevate those businesses, we are elevating the location and sense of place; we are adding to the story of that home. We love our local community, and we want small businesses to thrive. We hope that the more we share, the more people will discover them and shop there too. We also collaborate with a lot of local artists and photographers, and their work often gets highlighted in these homes. We get to know their stories, and many have become close friends. Sometimes, if I need to source a very specific item, I can reach out to them, and they’re able to help me find it. I love finding different ways we can work together. We even recently partnered with a shop in Haddonfield by designing their spring window display. That sense of community and connection was something I felt I was missing before starting this business; now it’s become a part of the business itself.”

I tag along with Jess as she stages a property in Haddon Township - a beautiful two-story home with a lot of historic character. Houses like this one, with unique and original details, are what she loves most.

We stop off at her warehouse so she can pick out additional furniture that she wants to bring in. Justin patiently waits to see what he is going to have to load into the van. Jess explains that she always listens to her gut when making design decisions. She tells me that she will even sometimes wake up in the middle of the night with marketing ideas or visions on how to adjust an element in the home that just wasn’t feeling quite right. Every small detail is placed purposefully and intentionally. “We want every single composition to be interesting. We want to draw your eye in.” Tricky layouts don’t scare Jess; in fact, they are a welcome challenge. “I am the person to call when you want to make a weird layout make sense or make an ugly room look good. Difficult listings, funky layouts, and historical homes are where we shine; sometimes it just takes a bit of creativity. I know many people have difficulty visualizing what could work in a space. We hear things like, ‘Where would I put my sofa and TV?’ ‘Could I fit a king bed in here?’ all the time from buyers. We eliminate that by showing people exactly how to lay out and use a space. When we stage a home, the furniture, scale, and layout should answer those questions before a buyer even thinks to ask them.”

Back at the Haddon Township property, in between measuring the floor and directing the couch placement, Jess is snapping photos and videos on her phone to share on Instagram; it’s all part of the marketing plan for the home. She enjoys how interested others become when they are able to see the process unfold. “I like helping other people see what I see; sometimes these homes need new paint, sometimes a little more of a refresh or repair, but it’s there… sometimes it just takes these basic updates to make a home really come to life. I love that I can envision it in a way that not everybody can. I am feeling more creative and inspired than I have felt in a really, really long time.”

When Jess and her team prep and stage a home, it’s typically on the market for a week or less and gets multiple offers over the list price. A couple of days after my visit to the Haddon Township home, it was ready to be shown to buyers. After only a week, it was under contract following a bidding war.