OutOnThaPorch....

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!

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 .

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!

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.

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 .

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.

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.