Katie Logan LeBlanc is the co-founder of Logan Killen Interiors and its downstairs storefront Sunday Shop. Sunday Shop is a dreamy home goods store run by women.
We are honored to be partnering with Sunday Shop as they host Smoke for a residency throughout the month February. If you've never been, Sunday Shop is luxe and dreamy, but unpretentious and welcoming – a space that speaks to the success of her deeply feminine business. Stay tuned for a very special valentine's evening of self-care!
Tell us a little bit about yourself, your work, and where we can find you?
I am an interior designer and shop owner along with my business partner Jensen Killen. We are lucky enough to have our interiors studio, Logan Killen Interiors upstairs from our most favorite of places, Sunday Shop. I work with ten amazing women everyday to create mostly residential interiors in the New Orleans area as well as run our little shop. I call LKI my day job because for the most part I am upstairs running the studio, but I try to spend as much time as I can finding new brands for the shop or taking a breather and doing some styling on the floor. I think for both Jensen and me, we would choose to be in the shop every day chatting with customers and rearranging things. Both of us could happily move a vase back and forth on a table for 30 minutes to get it juuuust in the right spot.
My home life is precious to me. It is full of dogs, food, sitting on the back deck with my husband, who I currently see too infrequently, and trying to keep up with our little yard which we both enjoy getting our hands into. I can also often be found cruising mags and Pinterest dreaming about decorating my current little cottage and all of my other imaginary houses in the Louisiana swamp, English countryside, Southern France, and the Italian coast. Other than that, lately I can be found in the bathtub.
Where were you in life ten years ago, and did you ever see yourself where you are now?
Wow. I was nearing the end of my long time job at a small architecture firm in New Orleans where I worked from the time I graduated from LSU into my mid-late twenties. I was also about to meet my future husband and start See Scout Sleep, a pet product business that I started and owned for 5 years. It was a time period of learning so. many. lessons. I think for most people, your late twenties is really when you start to figure out who you are, and that you do not have to be everyone’s cup of tea. If you are in the design world or are someone who thinks about the aesthetics of things often, I think it is also when you really start to see some clarity in your taste and work. At least for me it was.
I think I actually did always see myself where I am now, but not in a clear way. Like I saw myself working in the environment I do and being creative like I get to be everyday, but the path was very winding. I think the biggest challenge and blessing for me professionally is my entrepreneurial spirit. It has aided and hindered me many times.
Where do you derive strength? What gives you the fortitude to keep going when the going gets tough?
I have always been a rather strong person I think and that probably comes from the confidence, kindness, and importance of education my parents helped instill in me. They also taught me to take care of myself and that if I wanted something, to just go get it. I am inherently lazy, so thank goodness I had them to curb this tendency a little! I have also suffered quite a bit of loss in my life, and I think when we go through that you can either crumble or actually come out of it a happier person in your day-to-day life because you realize how fragile and special every day is. All of these people that we meet everyday and interactions we have are passing moments that will never exist again. That is pretty powerful to me and something I think about often, especially when I am excited about something but having anxiety about facing it.
What is one of the biggest challenges you’ve faced, and how did you overcome that challenge?
Tough question, but I think anxiety. I have actually derived a different type of strength from dealing with my occasionally crippling anxiety. Learning how to conquer your own mind is pretty powerful stuff. Everyone should reflect and meditate. This combined with the usual suspects of self-care rituals, exercise, and diet are my main sources of strength on combatting my own mental health issues. Mental health should not have such a negative stigma attached to it. If someone is struggling with their mental health it does not mean that are crazy. I think of my anxiety the same way I do a cold. It is a something that I need to care for and it will not always be there.
What is an early or favorite scent memory you have? What comes to mind when you imagine your favorite scent?
Dirt, pine trees, swimming pool, and manure! Ha. I grew up spending my summers on my family farm in north Louisiana and nothing brings me back to the deepest feeling of home than the smell of skin and sun right after getting out of the pool and the smell of a tomato picked right off of the vine. My favorite scent though (I have to answer this quickly before I spend 3 hours thinking about it!) is an old world musky citrus rose.
Self-care: What is one non-negotiable self-care ritual that you try to regularly attend to?
Nightly face wash.
Nature: We take great inspiration from travel & nature. What is the most inspiring natural place you've ever been to and why?
I do not think I have ever been as floored by Mother Earth as I was exploring the red wood forest of Northern California. Yellowstone is also a place that holds a special place for me. My husband and I fell in love exploring that part of the world, and spending time in nature is still one of the deepest connections we have. I think the most emotionally healing place for me though is the beach. I have had some solitary breakdowns on a morning beach before. I don’t know... is it the eternal passing of time rolling constantly in front of you? It really just helps me wash it all away.
What is your favorite Smoke product?
I change my scent mood too often to pick a fragrance, but I am obsessed with and a forever future user of the Rose Body Oil. It is one of the best rose scents I have ever smelled captured before. It immediately lifts my mood, and I am convinced has helped improve my sleeping habits. I rub it into my feet and hands when I crawl into bed, and I swear ten minutes later I am out. I can feel my brow relax and a soft smile creep onto my face the moment the scent hits me.
What is your greatest hope for the future?
Professionally, it is to keep Sunday Shop open, growing, and thriving.
Personally, it is to continue to conquer my anxieties. I am focusing on my ability to speak in front of people and let new people into my life in a meaningful way. I have been working on getting out of my head by reminding myself that being can be a form of self-involvement. I say the word love over and over in my head, the idea being that when I come form a place of love and make the assumption that others are as well, it's easier to connect. I find it amazing what good eye contact and one meaningful question to let people know you are focused on them and care about their presence can do for easing any “new person” conversation. Lastly, I am very hopeful and excited about the possibility of a new president who we can respect as our leader.