Smarty Mom: Adrienne Matthews

Adrienne Matthews is part of a made-up group I have dubbed “Glam Squad for the Home”. You met another member of this sassy entourage, Smarty Margaret, a couple of months ago.

Let me explain “Glam Squad for the Home”. For too many years, my home has been furnished by family hand-me-downs (just because it’s old doesn’t make it antique) and odds-and-ends simply accumulated (let’s buy a couch today) over the years. None of it goes together. None of it makes sense.

Enter Adrienne. She is the queen of “soft furnishings”, those lovely details that make a house a home such as pillows, drapes, duvets, seat cushions, the perfect piece of trim on a bed skirt and fabric, fabric, fabric!

I met Adrienne about 7 years ago through our husbands who attended MBA school together. She is such a refreshing person – a true breath of fresh air, someone you want to be around and the only person in my circle who I truly consider adorable. After discovering her mad sewing and creative skills, I’ve become her part-time stalker.

Smarty Charlotte, get to know Adrienne!

Married to: Russ for 7 years
Mom to: Caroline (5 years old) and Kate (3 years old)
Occupation: CEO of The Matthews Household & Owner/Designer, C & K Design
‘Hood: South Charlotte
Hometown: Jacksonville, NC

1. Tell us about C & K Design and how you got started?
After graduating college (go Heels!) and climbing the corporate ladder (and being miserable), I decided to make a change. I left that job, took a job in retail doing something I enjoyed and began Interior Design school at CPCC. I received my degree just prior to the birth of my first child (Caroline), and fell into the “stay-at-home-mom” role. When Kate was born in 2009, I started feeling an urge to do something creative again. A friend of mine opened Elle Pea, an online children’s boutique, and asked me to help so I began appliquéing children’s shirts. I also spent loads of time with a family friend who has had her own sewing workroom for over 30 years. With time and her tutelage, I broadened my skill set and developed a real passion for sewing.

Last month, I officially launched my business with my new online presence, C & K Design. I am a member of the Greater Charlotte Workroom Association and am now part of a sewing community. Sewing is a dying art and I feel like I am representing the next generation of workrooms.

2. Give us some Smarty Tips on how to accessorize your home using soft furnishings.
The cheapest way to change a room is through pillows. Whether you have them custom made or buy them at Home Goods – pillows can add so much personality to a room.

3. Now for the important stuff … who is your celebrity crush?
Currently, it is probably Ryan Gosling. Not only is he hot, but have you seen the movie “Lars and the Real Girl?” That boy can act.

4. What home décor items are you crushing on these days?
Chairs. I am obsessed. I do a little upholstering on the side which has fed into my obsession of finding chairs with tons of personality at yard sales/thrift shops and recovering to create something gorgeous. I am also stalking Lucite.

5. If you wrote a parenting manual, the title would be…
“Things I Learned the Hard Way So You Don’t Have To.” I have so many things I want to tell the girls as they grow older. Whether or not they will believe me remains to be seen …which would lead to my second book, “The Older You Get the Smarter Your Mother Becomes.”

6. First thing that pops into your head when I say “mom”?
Equal parts of feeling exhausted and feeling blessed (ok, I will be honest, more tired than blessed on most days but it all evens out).

7. Behavioral trait you hope your children don’t inherit from you?
I hope my kids are more athletic. I am pretty sure when it came to inheriting genes, my sister (who can play any sport well) got all of the athletic ability and I got grace (I did dance for 16 years but in my mind, that doesn’t count as a sport).

8. The phrase you’ve said to the kids more than any other at home is…
“Good gravy” or “God Bless America” (it is my small attempt to clean up my previous fowl mouth)

9. Favorite kids’ movie?
Any Disney movie. I can sing every Ariel and Aladdin song along with my kids.

10. Household appliance you couldn’t live without?
All of them. I used to think I wanted to live back in the day when there royalty reigned and people worked hard on farms and knights rescued princesses on white horses – and then read The Tudor Series (about Henry IV) and realized I am definitely living in the right decade. No coffee pots? No dishwashers? No thanks.

11. Funniest thing Caroline or Kate have ever said to you?
Caroline (who is a mini-me) said to me about Kate, once: “Good gravy, woman, that girl is crazy.”

12. Favorite CSP article?
Susan Bowman once wrote about the Snack Obsession and how out of control the post-practice/post-game snacking has gotten. I thought about that article hard – and then handed out Fun-Dip and juice boxes to Caroline’s soccer team. Not cool, I know. I don’t think my friends will ever let me forget about being “that mom” who spooned out sugar to their kids. Sorry Pink Panthers!

13. Guilty pleasure?
Grey Goose dirty martini with blue cheese stuffed olives with pieces of shaved ice at the top. Ahhh.