(Shannon Leahh Home in Redmond offers new furniture, home décor and design services | Photo Courtesy of Shannon Leah Hawkins)
Shannon Leah Hawkins, owner of Shannon Leahh Home in Redmond, has always had a passion for interior design. She says her mom teases her that if she was locked in a closet, she’d decorate it.
“Interior design has always been my first love,” says Hawkins, sole proprietor of Shannon Leahh Home, LLC, which opened in December 2020 in Redmond and offers new furniture, home décor and design services. “I was doing fashion styling for women, some of it online, and when COVID hit, it became all online,” she explains. “I didn’t want to do that, and I love interior design, so I opened the store.” The name of her store, she explains, comes from her first and middle names, with an added “h” at the end of “Leah” that is derived from a nickname. The double “h,” she says, is for the end of her middle name and the beginning of her last name. “It’s usually in reference to double trouble,” she says with a laugh. “Someday, when I have a ranch, it will be called ‘The Double HH Ranch.’ ”
Hawkins is a true local; she grew up in Alfalfa and graduated from Redmond High School. But she has traveled extensively, living in Europe for three years and also in Los Angeles, and says Shannon Leahh Home reflects her travels. “The store offers all styles and all eras of design, with some European influence,” she says. “I like to combine styles and eras, so you’ll see modern and vintage.” She adds, “I love art and design, and color. I don’t produce art, but I can put it together. And I love helping people do the same.”
While Shannon Leahh Home offers an array of décor in the brick-and-mortar store at 339 SW 6th Street, Hawkins says she offers design services as well, and will go into clients’ homes to help them create their spaces. “I take what they have and add some new to it. Or I can create from scratch.” Her goal, she says, is to grow the design service side of her business. “Because everything is hard to get right now, I like to source items you can get right away. My goal is really to expand my design services, and to continue to have unique items.”
So far, Hawkins says her business has been well received. “People have been very excited about it. They tell me there is nothing like this around here, and that it is a unique place. That’s always nice to hear.” As she nears her one-year anniversary in business, Hawkins says the past year has been a learning experience. “Summer was interesting. I learned that people don’t really buy furniture in the summer; they are outdoors. But it has really picked up now.” She adds, “This is a learning process. Next summer, I will offer outdoor furniture, pots and garden accessories.”
Because of the pandemic, Hawkins says this is an interesting time to do business. “People are spending more time at home, and entertaining more at home, so I go through a lot of bar accessories.” She says she is also selling lots of couches. “Clients are doing a lot of shopping for items to cozy up their spaces, like pillows, throws, pictures, pottery and end tables; lots and lots of end tables.”
Hawkins resides in the old downtown neighborhood of Redmond, and says many locals know where she lives because she drives a 1978 Volkswagen bus. She decorates the outside of her home and the store, so people have come to appreciate her personal touches in the area. “People watch for my outside decorations. When I get behind on that, I get texts from people,” she says with a laugh. “And when I do decorate, I get texts with compliments.”
In the store, Hawkins says she has two friendly employees: McKenzie McMahon, 17, who is a Ridgeview High School student, and Linda Westeren, who was a designer in Bend. “People come into the store to get inspiration on how to decorate their own homes, she says. “Offering something very different from anything else in Redmond has been great. And being invited into peoples’ homes to help them style their homes, using what they have and adding some different pieces, has also been great.”
Her next goal, she says, is to launch her website, which will go live this month (shannonleahhome.com). “People will be able to purchase furniture on the site. We are very excited for the site to go live.”
facebook.com/shannonleahhome • 541-527-1440
