When Katie Riddile walks into a room, her design affects her mood.
From the hardware on the cabinet to the veneer of the table, an interior designer takes into account how the smallest details make a person feel.
Riddile wants to help locals and tourists alike achieve their design goals with her new business, Kip & Idle.
Storefront, at 22 Carlisle St. Gettysburg, Gettysburg, brings refurbished home décor and furniture with new life under the skilled hands of Riddile. She will research a piece and consult with the client to implement her vision, and can work with the furniture brought to her.
“I want them to feel like they’ve got something special,” Riddell said.
It is important to her that clients receive a quality product, a product that represents the character of the space one wants to create. During the consultation, Riddile will ask clients about their design taste, color palette, and other elements that the piece will sit next to in the room.
Before opening Kip & Idle, Riddile spent 15 years in retail. She said the work gave her management experience and allowed her to think visually.
Riddile confirmed her passion for interior design with a nice job she gave to a family member.
Nearly four years ago visiting relatives over Christmas, Riddile enlisted her children, nieces and nephews to give her sister’s house a new look. They have reorganized, brought decor and arrangement. Her sister was blown up, according to Riddell.
“(It) knits for me like, ‘This is really, really what I like to do,'” Riddell said.
She continued to study home staging and interior design at the New York Institute of Art and Design, where the idea for Kip & Idle was born, according to a blog post by Riddile on her business website, kipandidle.com.
Riddile, whose Kip & Idle meant Kip & Idle convey a feeling of comfort and relaxation, said Kip is an Irish term and can be used to describe a fast sleep.
Gettysburg has become a target for the Riddile business. She moved to Gettysburg in 2018 and lived in Resterstown, Maryland before then. She originally hails from a small town in Oregon.
When their family came east, Riddile didn’t want to leave. I described the charm of every shop I encountered in Gettysburg.
“I wanted to bring something to Gettysburg that wasn’t there, and as I was looking around, it just happened and I didn’t have something I was really excited about,” Riddell said.
Kip & Idle features Riddile work, but the shop also offers consignment for people who want to sell their refurbished furniture.
The process of creating a piece of Riddile is not one in a hurry. Just last week, it sold the Best Small Desk that few customers desired. Riddell offered another piece in the works for a husband and wife who didn’t get their first office. When Riddile worked on it, she realized that the funeral office wasn’t a good fit.
“I said, ‘I can’t work on this piece for you. I said I’m literally now trying to find you another wardrobe that fits more than you’re looking for,'” Riddile recalls.
I finally found an art deco piece that, with a little TLC, should fit the bill.
“I don’t feel it’s right to compromise just because I have something that could work for them,” Riddell said.
Riddile names the pieces you’re working on to keep track of.
For example, there is a small wooden side table dubbed Monica. Took three attempts to renew to get it right. The challenging project is named after a tough woman Riddile was dissatisfied with once meeting in the parking lot of a retail store. Riddell laughed as she remembered the memory.
In her first month on the job, Riddile gets to know the locals. Its opening hours are currently limited, but it plans to expand towards the end of May. Kip & Idle is open 10am-5pm Thursday through Saturday, and 11am-5pm Sunday.
When Riddile isn’t polishing or polishing furniture, she works part-time financing a flooring company. She has two daughters and quite a few pets.
Visitors to the Kip & Idle may meet two Riddile dogs, Henry the Irish Setter and Daisy the Weimaraner. They serve as an informal greeting.
As a business owner who studies how her work affects people’s emotions, there is at least one emotion that Riddile clients should experience – welcoming them.