Pate-Meadows Designs Blog

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LEIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-25T21:12:00.000-05:00

Well, it is finally here!!! Leigh's 50th Birthday. Can you believe it. 50 years old. I always pictured 50 year old women with cat eye glasses and toilet paper wrapped around their head to keep their "hairdo" in place while they sleep. Well, times have definitely changed!!!!! 50 lookin real good!!! Happy Birthday Leigh - enjoy 1/2 doz of those Hunt's raw oysters for me!!! I am sure there is no better place in the world to be than Rosemary in the Spring to celebrate. May this be the best 50th you will ever have!!!! Luv ya, Caterina

OH NO!! IT HAS CAUSED DRAIN BRAMAGE!!!

2010-03-18T10:10:00.000-05:00

See!!! I lost 2 months!!! Im thinking it's already May!!!! We are up and running as of March 17!!! Not May 17!!! Lord Help Me!! Caterina

WE ARE BACK!!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-17T22:26:00.000-05:00

OMG!!!!! Last Tuesday, MARCH 9, the building a few doors down from us was struck by lightening. Since we are in a downtown area - all the buildings are connected - so guess what - THAT'S RIGHT - WE GOT ZAPPED TOO. Gone were the phone system, voice mail, intercoms, computers, internet - EVERYTHING!!! SO, THE FUN BEGINS - calling, and calling and describing our situation over and over and over again with the ever so courteous (but let me tell you - totally uncaring and unconcerned AT&T people). My blood pressure is shooting up just typing this. After days and days and days of telephone technical support, replacing and resetting modems, then finally BEGGING them to send someone out only to be transferred to someone else - and starting the whole process over and over - BECAUSE IT APPEARS THAT NOONE MAKES NOTES IN OUR CUSTOMER FILES - NO MATTER HOW MANY PEOPLE YOU TALK TO - THERE ARE NEVER ANY NOTES IN OUR CUSTOMER FILE!!!!!!!! They kept saying - OH, IT IS NOT AN AT&T ISSUE, IT'S IN YOUR LINES - IT'S IN YOUR COMPUTERS - IT'S IN BLAH BLAH BLAH but NEVER AGREEING that any of our problems were related AT&T service or products. Then the I.T. person comes and says No, not in the lines!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's AT&T's problem. Then again, AT&T says - not ours. WELL - FINALLY - somebody did find it WAS AT&T's LINE from the alley to the building. Why can't they just send someone that knows what they are doing right off the bat. OOOHHHHH NOOOOOOOOO, it has to take a whole week!!!! A WEEK!!!! This is 2010 - not 1970. What in the world?????!!!!

So - any of our wonderful customers want to know "why aren't they responding to my email" or why aren't they answering the phones - it just rings and rings and rings - WELL - now you know!!!!!

BUT WE ARE BACK UP - as of 9:30 am today, Wednesday, May 17, a whole week later - AND READY TO GO!!!

What did we do before we had the internet? How in the world did we conduct a business?

I feel much better now. Caterina

See Our Segment on ABC 33/40's Talk of Alabama

2009-10-20T12:48:00.011-05:00

Leigh and I were thrilled when we were approached by a local TV station about doing a segment on our business. When asked which one of us wanted do the talking during the interview -- there was no doubt -- loud-mouth Caterina, of course!!! As usual, I always have something to say and Leigh would rather be off camera being the brains of the business!

We hope you enjoy!

Caterina

Birmingham Chapter of WCAA host Scot Robbins

2009-10-05T12:00:00.006-05:00

We recently had the pleasure of hosting the seminar "Roman Shades And Creative Cascades" with Scot Robbins. Scot showed us his techniques for producing beautiful roman shades and innovative cascades. This event was sponsored by the Greater Birmingham Chapter of WCAA. Everyone had a great time learning how to take our business to the next level with the help of Scot's vast knowledge and experience.

Hoover High Interior Design Class Visits Pate-Meadows Designs

2009-04-22T11:55:00.003-05:00

About 20 students from the Hoover High Interior Design Class visited our studio on Tuesday. Teacher Teddie Butcher, organized the event. We met her when we spoke at the Alabama Association of Family & Consumer Sciences.

Hopefully they learned something in addition to how fabulous Caterina is!!!!

Our Picture Gallery is Updated

2009-04-22T11:47:00.002-05:00

Hugs and kisses to Anna (Leigh's daughter) for uploading all the wonderful pictures that our customers have sent in. Be sure to check out our picture gallery with the all the new photos. Sorry we got a little behind, but keep sending in all those wonderful pictures!

UNDER THE GUN - DOWN TO THE WIRE - BOTTOMS IN A CRACK. . . . . . .

2009-04-09T12:38:00.002-05:00

OMG - We are pulling our hair out - still writing patterns, doing photography, making valances, new brochures, and on and on and on. . . . will we ever get these new patterns finished????? Oh, absolutely!!!! We always do!!! But if you are one of our loyal customers waiting to see your beautiful photos on the gallery - please forgive us and be patient - we WILL get it done - just as soon as we get the new patterns to press - just a few more weeks. . . . . hopefully. .. . . . . no - definitely!!! Then we can breath again!!!!!!

Getting New Patterns Ready

2009-03-11T15:55:00.002-05:00

One big step in getting our new patterns ready for marketing is doing the photography. We have set up our own photography studio in our loft and take the pictures ourselves. Leigh has taught herself photography and Caterina does the staging. You know we are a bootstrap company!

Caterina painting our window for photography

All was going well last week until the dogs knocked over our camera and broke a $400 lens!! So we had to go to Lowe's and buy some construction fencing to keep them out.

Dogs on the outside looking in.

Cricket watches as Leigh snaps a picture.

Pattern Names

2009-01-07T14:30:00.006-06:00

We sometimes get customers asking where we get the names for our patterns and, of course, there is a story behind each one. So here we will give a little background on the names of our patterns.

Cuff-Top Valance:
This was our very first pattern created in 1996. This design was based on a valance that Leigh had designed for a client's bay window and had entered in the Window Fashions Design Contest. She won 2nd place in the specialty window category. At first, we named our valance patterns with descriptive terms.

Pull-Up Valance & Lace-Up Valance:
More descriptive terms...BORING. So from then on, we decided to give the rest of our patterns real names.

Emily Valance:
This pattern was named after a dear high school friend of Leigh's that died of breast cancer in her mid-30's. In addition, Emily's mother was Leigh's home-economics teacher and played a part in Leigh's learning to sew.

Haley Valance and Kasey Valance:
These two were named after Caterina's two daughters.

Catherine Valance:
This was named after Leigh's daughter, Anna Catherine. We had already named one of our Southern Living Patterns "Anna". But she wanted one of our Show Home Patterns named after her, so we used her middle name "Catherine".

Claudine Valance:
Named after Caterina's mother.

Morrison:
Leigh's dad wanted a pattern named after him, but "Jim" didn't fit, so we gave it his surname or "Morrison"...he was happy.

Madelyn Valance and Eleanor Valance:
We couldn't leave out the Mother-in-Laws!

Melissa Valance:
Melissa was named after Caterina's sister-in-law. She was kind enough to let us use her kitchen for photography.

Julia Valance:
This was named after Leigh's sister. She provided her wonderful breakfast room for photography.

Dana Valance:
Dana is a good friend and fellow designer who offered her beautiful sitting room for photography.

Erin Valance and Marley Valance:
These names came about when Anna, Leigh's daughter, and her friend, Leslie, were helping out after school getting orders out and assembling patterns for us. We had two new patterns coming out and needed names. Leslie volunteered her middle name "Erin" and Anna volunteered one of her favorite singers name--Bob "Marley". Sounded good to us!

Abigail Valance:
Named after Caterina's precious granddaughter born in 2005.

Delaine Valance:
This one is named in memory of Leigh's dear sister-in-law who died at the young age of 45 from an extended illness.

Julie Anne Panels:
Julie Anne is a good friend and former employee at Southern Living Magazine. We did these panels in her living room which was featured in a past issue of Southern Living Magazine.

Cuff-Top Panels and Floppy-Top Panels:
We sort of reverted to those descriptive names. We'll have to do better in the future.

Speaking of the future...We will name one of our upcoming patterns after Missy, Leigh precious pomapoo that passed away last summer (see previous post). We're also planning on naming one after Tracy, our wonderful assistant (see previous post).

Happy Birthday to Caterina!

2008-12-06T01:00:00.000-06:00

Here's to our health at Pate-Meadows

2008-12-03T11:40:00.007-06:00

To keep everyone healthy at Pate-Meadows, we have a fitness trainer come to our loft twice a week and offer an hour-long group workout for our employees. In addition we have two elliptical machines and a Nautilis Smith Weight Machine for our employees to use. Our trainer, Ron McNeely, has been coming for over a year now and we don't know what we would do without him.

Caterina makes her usual fashion statement!

Meet Our Assistant, Tracy

2008-10-16T14:41:00.011-05:00

If you ever call Pate-Meadows to place an order, you will most likely be pleasantly greeted by our assistant, Tracy. Tracy has been working for us for about 3 years and we don't know what we ever did without her. She keeps us reminded of everything we need to be doing and where we should be. She is always willing to go beyond the call of duty to make Pate-Meadows run like a well-oiled machine. She puts up with all our mess AND she loves our pups, too!! I don't know what we did before she came to be a very important part of Pate-Meadows.

The next generation of dogs

2008-10-09T15:04:00.000-05:00

With the passing of her 16-year-old pomapoo, Missy, Leigh had to get a replacement pup. Husband, Doug, always wanted a "big dog", so they decided on Cricket, a yellow lab. Of course all puppies need a playmate, so Caterina bought Sadie, a boxer. They both come to work with us everyday and have a big ole time playing in our 5,000 SF of open loft space. They keep us laughing most of the time. (except when they occasionally pee on the floor!) Gotta love em!

Our Little Missy will be so missed

2008-10-09T14:06:00.011-05:00

It was very sad day at Pate Meadows back in August of this year. We had to say goodbye to our beloved little Missy. She was Leigh's 16-year-old Pomapoo and we will never be the same without her. She spent the majority of her life on her fluffy pillow in our workroom greeting everyone that ever visited us while we worked making curtains in Leigh's basement. Then when we finally moved into the building, she was getting on up in age and didn't seem to notice every visitor as she did in her younger days but still waited eagerly every morning for Leigh to invite her to hop in the car and go to work with her. She knew she had a job and that job was to be there with us -- on her little pillow, like the queenie she was.

We will miss her dearly. We plan on naming our next curtain pattern the "Missy Valance" in her honor.

Beth Hodges comes to Pate Meadows

2008-10-09T13:50:00.007-05:00

On Tuesday, Oct 14 Pate-Meadows was thrilled to host the Greater Birmingham WCAA's October meeting with guest speaker, Beth Hodges. Beth is the past president of the WCAA and owns a very respected workroom in Elberton, GA. Beth has taught classes for the Custom Home Furnishings Conference, International Window Coverings Expo, Draperies and Window Coverings Magazine, Window Fashions Magazine, and many Window Coverings Association of America local chapters. When it comes to window treatments - Beth knows it all!!!

She did a 3-hour seminar on beautiful skirted panels and those custom embellishments that makes your client's project stand out. We had over 30 WCAA members in attendance here at our loft at Pate-Meadows Designs.

Our Little Piece of Heaven

2008-10-02T15:10:00.010-05:00

A little about our place of work here at Pate-Meadows Designs. After many years working out of the basement, we (Caterina & Leigh) purchased a 12,000 SF historic building in downtown Bessemer, which is right outside Birmingham, AL. After many months of sweat equity with the husbands, we finally moved into the upstairs loft in February of 2005. It is our dream come true and we pinch ourselves everyday when we come to work. Check out our slideshow of before and after pictures below.

We Gotta Have a Blog, Cause Everyone Else Does!

2008-10-02T14:58:00.007-05:00

Well, here we go. We're gonna start a blog. This will give us a chance to tell a little bit about what is going on at Pate-Meadows. Maybe you will find something interesting.