Hi! This certainly is a milestone to remember as I write my first ever blog, I have swotted up on what makes a good blog and found it is really all about just being me actually, writing makes me happy, as does sharing my expertise and opinions with you! I am delighted for you to join me as I take you through the journey of our newest venture with Pebble & Leaf Home - The Interior Design Style Blog and Web Store.
If we haven't been formally introduced over on the "About" page, (do check it out!) well then hello, welcome aboard, I am Kate Soanes the writer of this Interior Design Style Blog and I am very pleased to meet you! My life and career has been a great journey thus far and I am thrilled to share a glimpse of my background along with this new, exciting chapter with you guys, so, how did we arrive here, in this blog and what is Pebble & Leaf all about?!
Well, this journey began when I became a qualified professional interior designer and upholsterer some 15 years ago. My passion for design, fabrics and upholstery led me to create the "Room in A Box" concept, which literally was just that! My clients could now take an otherwise bland room, to professionally styled by simply purchasing a complete coordinated set of accessories to bring instant style, in a box (the box being a handcrafted, bespoke ottoman or storage footstall!) which resulted in cost effective room transformations - et voila!
From here I discovered a new passion for all things bathroom design (I have a huge thing for taps!!) and built a successful design, supply and fit business not only in design and management of beautiful bathrooms, I ran a complete plumbing and heating company for some 12 years with both a local database across Suffolk and Essex of happy customers and National commercial contracts too for some very big names! (Yes you can look forward to oodles of professional free advice about everything bathrooms along the way too in this here blog!)
At the peak of success fate dealt a very unfortunate and cruel blow, the battle of my life - for my life, ensued, with two years of treatment to fight cancer with chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy and Herceptin. Here I learnt a lot of very tough life lessons, life changed completely and recovery was incredibly difficult physically and emotionally.
But we made it! Hooray! I am a cancer warrior, a very blessed and grateful survivor.
I made a lot of life changes and decided I no longer wanted the stress and strain of the business and life I had before and rather wished to just be Mum for a while to my daughter (then at secondary school now 19 and doing great!)
So while recovering peacefully back to good health (none of which would have been possible without a lot of help from my friends, family, meditation and the discovery of magical healing Qi Gong, more about that later!) I had to consider whatever will Kate do next? And there, one day, it appeared, right in front of my eyes in the beautiful Suffolk countryside - a big pile of fly tipped furniture and wood being dumped on a regular basis, to my great horror!!
Being a natural designer and creative I would look at these unwanted items and on my country walks with my big furry friend Dizzy dog, and see that something good could come from these items rather than them go to waste, so I took them home and that is just what I did next - I learnt how to transform unwanted wood into beautiful wood!
Being a natural designer and creative I would look at these unwanted items and on my country walks with my big furry friend Dizzy dog, and see that something good could come from these items rather than them go to waste, so I took them home and that is just what I did next - I learnt how to transform unwanted wood into beautiful wood!
I turned my summer house into a workshop and commenced working with old wood, furniture, pallets and alike and, with a lot of help and guidance from google, blogs and my wonderful and wise Dad, I found a new passion for all things old and unwanted along with learning a lot about the cause and effect that such unwanted items has on our local and global environment (which we will certainly chat about much more along the way with this blog!)
I was stumped as to what to call this new and exciting venture, but I just knew it would come to me at some point, et voila! There it was, right under my favourite Oak tree, a shiny pebble and a lovely Oak leaf, and so the Pebble & Leaf brand was naturally born (and of course made into a heated branding iron which we stamped onto our bespoke creations (and about everything in sight!)
We have so many wonderful transformations and stories to share with you from the progression of Pebble & Leaf along the way, I can't wait to get it all on here for you!!
Proud as punch to to have had orders for our bespoke items made entirely from reclaimed - all stamped with our Pebble & Leaf designer branding and mark of quality assurance - from Scotland to Portsmouth, Guernsey to New York City, from Restaurants to Shops, our handcrafted and lovingly reclaimed, branded items grace the homes and commercial spaces of our local Suffolk community too, to be cherished for years to come, now isn't that something wonderful!
Let's not forget my absolute favourite - Weddings, the pride and joy of being part of making someones special day - from rustic wooden table center boxes for flowers, to wishing wells and beyond - the love and thanks we receive from not just the happy brides, but every single one of our customers always touches my heart, such as this review to the left with the bride saying her bespoke table centre boxes would make her wedding day perfect!
And now......drum roll please.....I am combining all of the above with my experience and love for researching, interior design, creativity and writing into this 'ere blog to bring you all the latest interior style news, where to get the looks aaaaaaannnndd we have a super fabulous Pebble & Leaf Home web store too, where we scour the globe to seek out the hottest trending interior home and gift items of each season and collate them into the seasons most stylish collections for you to purchase in the knowledge you are in safe hands over at www.pebbleandleaf.co.uk
Be sure to check us out there too for more about what we do and browse the store. I look forward to getting to know you all , please ask questions, leave comments, opinions, pictures - lets chat and do subscribe to be first to read all the blog posts and get those all important discounts!