About Us
Our Mission
At Porch Concepts, we are committed to providing sustainable and eco-friendly outdoor furniture options. We believe in creating beautiful outdoor spaces while minimizing our impact on the environment. Join us in embracing a greener future for outdoor living!
Our Story
Porch Concepts came to be in October of 2015. We are family owned and operated by Irish immigrant, Mary Maki, and her husband, Paul Maki. Mary and Paul have a 35 year history of building stunning sunroom additions and offering outdoor furniture for families in Coastal North Carolina.
These days, Paul & Mary fuel their passion of helping others embrace life outdoors with our new outdoor furniture showroom, officially completed in December of 2023! With our new expansive showroom, we have over 24,000 feet of show space with something for everyone. While we no longer build sunrooms, we do assist in furnishing and decorating them with the help of our skillful design consultant team.
Meet the Team
Paul & Mary Maki
Our Founders
Growing up in the west of Ireland and sharing a home with nine brothers and sisters, Mary learned at a young age that everything has value. Her beginnings were full of color! Using these colorful surroundings, her mother inspired the children to paint to enhance their young creative minds and to foster cheer for one another and the community. This imaginative approach taken by her mother would come to serve Mary greatly in life.
Paul and Mary have been designing beautiful award-winning sunrooms since 1985. While passionate about enhancing the value and quality of the home, their creative and colorful sides still desired more. The perfect solution came to them; sister company Porch Conversion builds your dream sunroom, while Porch Concepts furnishes & decorates it! Porch Concepts was born to bring even more joy to their sunroom customers. Now you can add a sunroom to the home and truly make it yours with all the color and furnishings you desire. Building these outdoor retreats is now easier then ever.
Mary is making her American dream come true by helping everyone in our community build theirs! We are most grateful that Porch Concepts and Porch Conversion is the hotspot for patio enclosure and furniture!
Emily Kirk
General Manager
Emily has dedicated three years to our growing team, adding many years of experience in the furniture industry. She began her career in furniture with the world's largest furniture supplier, Ashley, in a local home store. At Ashley, Emily led her team in sales, mostly due to her excellence in customer service.
Shortly after joining our team, she was promoted to assistant manager, and then general manager! Emily is a vital part of the Porch Concepts customer journey from showroom to your sunroom.
Rachel Edwards
Design Consultant
Rachel is another amazing addition to our growing team. Hailing from the corn fields of Illinois, she has a love of nature and a passion for all things creative. Rachel brings a positive midwestern disposition and a background in spatial design with a colorful perspective.
Coming from a state where bonfires and fireflies light the evening sky, she knows a thing or two about the necessity for comfortable outdoor furniture. When you stop by our showroom, ask how she can best assist you in bringing your outdoor retreat to life.
Carla Pagi
Design Consultant
Carla has long been a staple here at Porch Concepts. She has had a long and varied career in sales, which has given her a diverse skill set that anyone would love to have in their toolbox. From furniture sales to advertising, television production to real estate, Carla has done it all.
She enjoys helping customers finding the perfect solutions to design their living spaces. The time and patience she spends with each customer, as well as the ability to match customer needs to our products, makes her a keen asset to our company and a wonderful person to work with for our patrons.
