[2] Kavanaugh worked as a stylist for General Motors primarily designing exhibitions to showcase automobiles, but also displays, created model kitchens, and interiors.
Kavanaugh advocated the use diversity and the importance of form's relationship to function(Smith, Constance A. Damsels In Design.
In 1960, she left GM for a position in the Detroit offices of architect Victor Gruen, known as the father of the shopping mall.
[2][4] Over the years, Kavanaugh has designed ceramics, light fixtures, homes, store interiors, textiles, town clocks, and furniture.
[4] She was the first interior designer to win a COLA grant from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.