kevin barnes

Kevin Barnes

Design Team Manager — Creative & Client Experience

With a degree in horticulture and 20 years of experience in horticulture and design, I’ve built my career around my passion for creating beautiful, functional outdoor spaces. My love for art, architecture, and design influences every project, ensuring each space is both aesthetically stunning and thoughtfully designed. Over the years, my work has earned multiple awards on both a national and regional level, including a feature on the cover of the Unilock 2018 design catalog. But beyond the accolades, what truly drives me is helping people transform their outdoor areas into spaces they love. When I’m not designing, you’ll likely find me traveling with my husband, always seeking places where we can be outside—whether it’s enjoying local food, live music, or exploring beautiful gardens. At home, I love cooking, spending time with my pets (including my newest pup, adopted in March 2025), and creating moments with good friends over great food. I also love hosting unforgettable gatherings—because the best spaces are the ones where people come together.

Kevin Barnes leads creative vision and client experience for Wave Outdoors' design team. As the primary point of contact for design clients, she guides homeowners from initial consultation through design completion and into construction handoff, owning the creative direction and sales outcomes for every project that moves through the department. She partners closely with Ashley, the Design Team Manager for Operations, who handles process, permitting, and timelines on the delivery side. Together they keep the design department running cohesively and efficiently while protecting the creative standard Kevin sets. She also directly manages the design team, mentoring the people doing the day-to-day design work. With a horticulture background and two decades in the field, she brings a trained eye for beauty, deep plant knowledge, and a collaborative approach that makes even complex projects feel manageable for clients.

Skills & Expertise

skills and expertise

Kevin brings a wide range of skills and expertise to her work, including:

  • Creative Leadership: Sets and maintains the creative vision for all design projects moving through Wave Outdoors, ensuring a consistent standard of quality and originality.
  • Client Experience & Sales: Owns the full client arc from first consultation through design completion, building trust and translating client goals into design direction that closes.
  • Horticulture & Plant Knowledge: Backed by a formal degree and extensive hands-on fieldwork across the Chicago suburbs.
  • Landscape Design Experience: Two decades of planning and building outdoor spaces that balance aesthetics with real-world use.
  • Design-Forward Perspective: An approach shaped by art, architecture, and spatial design, bringing intentional beauty to every project.
  • Award-Winning Work: Recognized at regional and national levels for design excellence, including the cover of the Unilock 2018 design catalog.
  • Team Development: Directly manages designers, providing creative mentorship and day-to-day leadership within the design department.
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Professional Journey

Kevin started her career with a degree in horticulture and has spent the last 20 years refining her ability to read a site, understand a client's goals, and translate both into a finished landscape that holds up over time. Her eye for art and architecture shows up in the details, but she's just as focused on practical questions: how will traffic flow, where does the light fall, what will this look like in ten years?

That combination of creative ambition and practical discipline has earned her multiple awards and national industry recognition. Now, as Design Team Manager for Creative and Client Experience at Wave Outdoors, she channels that background into leading the department's creative output and shaping how every client experiences the design process from start to finish. She works in close partnership with Ashley on the operations side, which frees Kevin to stay focused on what she does best: the creative work and the people it's for.

Approach to Design

Kevin leads with clarity and structure. She wants to understand the full picture before a single line gets drawn: how the family uses the space now, what frustrates them, what they want to feel when they walk outside. From there, she balances bold design choices with functional planning, making sure every element earns its place. Her goal isn't just a space that photographs well. It's one that pulls people outside and keeps them there.