WORKING GRIND,
BY DESIGN
A
fter school, Shannon reports, she worked in Santa Barbara in
antiques, then at Thomasville Furniture as part of their opening
team for about a year, and then onto Design Spectrum. Moving
forward, she learned of a design firm new to Santa Barbara called SFA.
“I was there about two years, and for the most part was pretty green –
but I’m really, really detailed. What I do best is detail,” and with that, she
was thrown full-force into some large hospitality projects.
In Shannon’s mind, she was going to design homes, never even
thinking about the hospitality side, and says during her time at SFA
she learned how much she loved hospitality endeavors. “I think at
one point I had eight to ten projects. I was managing $30-million
renovations, including Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa, Ventana in Big
Sur, Lake Las Vegas Private Golf Clubhouse, and the DoubleTree
Suites at Fess Parker.
“I got into the detailing and all the spreadsheets. That’s what it
takes when you’re doing commercial work; you have to give drawings,
specifications, details, and construction documents. It’s what they’re
going to build from, and what the contractors are going to bid off of.”
Shannon was three weeks pregnant with Caden when things started
to slow down and SFA had to let her go. “But it was my chance to start
my business. I had a goal that when I was twenty-five, I’d have my own
business. I was twenty-six at the time, but by twenty-four I had a couple
of independent projects, so I technically made my goal,” says Shannon,
adding, “I started and grew my business slowly, and when Caden was
little he would go with me to client meetings in the baby carrier, and I
would always introduce him as the CEO.”
Shannon launched her business in a 12’x12’ office in Santa
Ynez, next door was architect Rob Mehl, who was working with Eli
Parker at the time. “Rob told Eli about me, and he hired me to do
my very first wine-tasting room, which was the original Epiphany
tasting room in Santa Ynez, and also to work on his home.”
Through the years, Shannon worked on a variety of projects with
them, including moving Epiphany’s tasting room to Los Olivos,
and redoing all the guestrooms, suites, pool area, and spa at Fess
Parker Wine Country Inn & Spa.
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ON DESIGN
