Good Neighbor Podcast: Union
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Residents of Northern Kentucky! Based in Union, KY....The Good Neighbor Podcast helps the residents of Northern Kentucky get to know local business owners as people. We allow the business owners and influencers in NKY to tell the stories of how they started their business and why. We hear about their families, their personal interests and why they love living in and serving resident of Northern Kentucky!
Good Neighbor Podcast: Union
Finding Your Signature Style with Kelly Kuehneman
What makes a house truly feel like a home? In this heartfelt conversation with Kelly Kuehneman, founder of SignaStyle Home and Kelly Annalise Interiors, we explore the art of creating spaces that don't just look beautiful but genuinely reflect who you are.
Kelly shares her journey from art-loving kid to home design entrepreneur, revealing how her passion for helping people find their "signature style" became the foundation of her business. With warmth and practical wisdom, she explains why our environments profoundly impact our emotional well-being and how thoughtful design choices can transform our daily experience.
For anyone feeling overwhelmed by design trends or uncertain how to make their space feel more personal, Kelly offers refreshingly accessible advice. From keeping walls neutral to allow for seasonal changes through textiles and accessories, to her ingenious suggestion to "shop your own house" by moving pieces between rooms, her approach makes beautiful design attainable for any budget.
What stands out in Kelly's philosophy is her emphasis on intentionality and authenticity. Whether incorporating vintage finds from her "Found Collection" that tell a story or helping clients discern what style truly resonates with them beyond passing trends, her focus remains on creating spaces that feel deeply personal. "I want it to tell each individual story," she explains. "I want them to go into their home and truly make it from a house to a home."
Whether you're planning a major redesign or simply looking to refresh your space, Kelly's insights will inspire you to view your home as more than just a collection of things—but as an expression of your unique story. Ready to discover your signature style? Visit signastyle.com to learn more about Kelly's curated collections and design services.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mike Murphy.
Mike Murphy:Thank you, Charlie. Yes, I am Mike Murphy, host of the Good Neighbor Podcast. We talk to local business owners, influencers, people that I think you should know and people that want you to know them, and one of the people that I have with me today is Kelly Kuehneman. She is the owner of Signa Style Home. She's got a beautiful website, signastyle. com, that I've taken a peek at. There's a lot there, so I don't know that we will ever really be able to get to everything that you do today, Kelly, but we're going to get to some of it, and so, that being said, say hello and tell us what you do.
Kelly Kuehneman:Absolutely Thanks for having me. By the way, as he said, I'm Kelly Keeneman. I am the founder and owner of Cigna Style Home, which is the retail portion of my brand. I actually have another portion, that's Kelly and Elise Interiors, which embodies interior design. The name Cigna Style itself came from me, combining the words signature and style into one, because that truly is the premise behind my brand helping people find their signature style Cigna Style Home. I'm online. As he said, I'm also in three Painted Tree Boutique locations Crestview Hills, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Ohio and Franklin, Tennessee and basically I offer curated home decor options for shoppers, and what I mean by that is it's not just your everyday finds.
Kelly Kuehneman:I try to incorporate unique items that you don't see everywhere else, you don't always find on Amazon. I have a range of price points to fit all budgets and I really just try to find unique things. It could include vintage and antiques modern type stuff you name it. Include vintage and antiques modern type stuff, you name it. And then the Kellyanne Elise interiors. I do everything from e-design to full service interior design. So both both aspects of my business are really rooted in my passion to help people create spaces that feel beautiful, personal, functional, with the goal being that they are timeless and intentional and unique to you. Know, you, the customer.
Mike Murphy:So when did you cut your teeth in this business? You know what got you started, whenever that was.
Kelly Kuehneman:You know I've had a love for design ever since I was a little kid. I started out loving art. I paint, I draw, you know I made all kinds of crafts. As I grew older I started to get a love for vintage and antiques. I spent time refinishing antiques. I have multiple antiques in my home. I even did the. You know the upcycling and the painting furniture that became so popular.
Kelly Kuehneman:But one thing I recognized as I was kind of on this journey, is that our environment, our spaces, they impact how we feel. So I started to think about that. You know, a room can feel cozy or it can feel cold and it has a lot to do with, you know, the things that we put in it. So I took the leap to turn my passion into a business and I first started out doing pop-up shows. You know vendor events. I first started out doing pop-up shows. You know vendor events. Those grew over the years and you know curating more pieces and kind of molding my, my design process, so to speak, and it's organically grown to where I am today.
Mike Murphy:So do you subscribe to the theory of feng shui, or is it your version of a feng shui?
Kelly Kuehneman:You know, I think it's each individual person's version of feng shui or is it your version of a feng shui? You know, I think it's each individual person's version of feng shui, because I really try to find when I'm talking to you know, customers, clients, whatnot. I'm trying to discern what resonates with them you know, everybody's different.
Kelly Kuehneman:You know, some people are really into modern contemporary design, others like more traditional or transitional, and that's OK. And ultimately, you know, a lot of people fall for the latest trends and the fads, and that's OK too. There's a way to incorporate the latest trends into your home without going too overboard. That one day then you wake up and you go, well, shoot, that's not a trend anymore. Day then you wake up and you go, well, shoot, that's not a trend anymore. And now I gotta re, you know, redo my whole house. So I try to help people, um, kind of figure all that out and, like I said, it really is a personal choice. The goal is to find a space that you, as the homeowner, resonate with, that you like. That's, you know, works for you.
Mike Murphy:It may not work for everybody else, but it works for you okay and that they're able to um have some control over it long after you've left and made your recommendations and whatnot, because I could see some people hiring you and then you do what you do and everything is perfect in the way they want it, and then they're afraid to ever touch it again. They're not allowed to move anything. You have to feel comfortable in your home and that's what makes you feel like a home.
Kelly Kuehneman:Well, you know, I think you know, a lot of us watch those DIY shows and the Joanna. Gaines of the world.
Kelly Kuehneman:And they are phenomenal, but they are very staged. And I mean I myself, I like to stage my house, I like to shop in my own house. So rather than, you know, spending a lot of money sometimes if I want to change things up, I just shop rooms. I encourage people to do that, you know. Go in your house, swap something from one room into another and it can change the whole look of the room. And it can also inspire you to maybe change the paint color or just change the throw pillows on the couch or what have you. But I think it is important to recognize that your room doesn't always have to be completely staged they still have to be lived in it that your room doesn't always have to be completely staged they still have to be lived in, it still has to be functional, and the functionality of a room is extremely important.
Mike Murphy:I had somebody ask me once. They came down to my lower level kind of where I do a lot of my working. I mean, we've got pool tables on here, it's a whole. I don't know. It's a utilitarian space, it's always changing. And people say, is it always staged? And I had never thought of it that way. My response was no, I'm an empty nester. I just don't have kids running around. I'm moving things. That makes a big difference. Yeah, when something goes somewhere it kind of tends to stay there. But then you know, every once in a while I change the functionality of a room and I move things around. My wife comes down here and she looks around and things are different. And functionality of a room and I move things around and my wife comes down here and she looks around and things are different and she's asking me what the hell are you doing?
Kelly Kuehneman:I'm like it's just, I needed to do it, so just let me be Yep, yeah, I sometimes drive my husband a little crazy because, like I said, I do, I love to redecorate and you know. You know, if I had an endless budget, if we all had endless budgets, I mean sure you could just go crazy, right? But you have to be realistic and some things you might find too. You know, you rearrange a room or you put new pieces in it and at first it feels wonderful, you're excited about it, but after you sit with it for a while, it may not, it may not evoke that same kind of feeling, and so you know that's okay. You just you got to shift and you got to change, and that's what I try to help people do too, is to recognize that, like I said, the rooms need to be functional, lived in, but personal to you and your story, so that it works for you.
Mike Murphy:So you sort of addressed this a little bit earlier in saying that you shop from different rooms and you kind of move things around. I wondered, like you know, is this one of those? The emperor has no clothes sort of thing, or whatever. That is Bottom line being is your home a showcase or is your home a mess?
Kelly Kuehneman:Well, I'm also a little OCD. I have a lot OCD if you talk to my family. So my house is seldom a mess.
Kelly Kuehneman:It may not always be past the white glove finger test, but I am a really neat, tidy person. You know, chaos causes me anxiety. When I was a kid I used to drive my mom crazy. She would clean my room and dust and I would go in my room and you know like on my desk I would, if she had moved my you know pencil holder or something like two inches too far, I would go and move it back Like I was really bad. I'm not as bad anymore, but I will say like when I'm decorating for Christmas, because I always say Christmas threw up at my house, I, you know, I do all the things very tasteful but it's like in all the rooms and I can sometimes decorate and, you know, step back and then move things and then step back again. And because I am like a perfectionist but I don't encourage other people to be like that I'm a little over the top.
Mike Murphy:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, my wife was complaining I don't know if that's the right word, but you know how she put everything out for Christmas and she worked so hard at it and everything looks so beautiful. But then she said, when people come over, they don't tell me how beautiful it is. It's like if we forget that. You know, we work so hard at something and we're just wanting some sort of validation. The bottom line is, we all think how beautiful it is, we just don't say it, and so that's something that we need to be more cognizant of, just in life, I guess.
Kelly Kuehneman:I agree wholeheartedly.
Mike Murphy:The beauty that you're putting out in the world. I think I'm sure a lot of people appreciate it. We just need to all say it. So there's there's some more life coaching coming out of me. I need life coaching and here I'm giving it. So there's, there's some more life coaching coming out of me. I need life coaching and here I'm giving it. So there's something wrong with that. So, when somebody approaches you or you go to I mean when you find a client, however, that is what does the process look like in terms of starting that relationship, the process of doing what you do for them.
Kelly Kuehneman:Well, I mean, it's pretty much like anything. You do your due diligence first, right. So a lot of questions, you know if someone comes to me and something that's you know, maybe more formal. So you go through a series of questions to try to pinpoint. And sometimes they don't know right, sometimes it's you know I don't know what I like. And that's okay too, because then you just kind of coach them and you show them pictures and say you know, what do you like here, what don't you like? And so then I can kind of determine from those questions and those pictures kind of what their style is or maybe is, and lots of times it's a combination of many styles, and then we kind of build off of that.
Mike Murphy:Okay, yeah, that's a good point. People can't always communicate what it is they want, but I think pictures is one way, like you mentioned Pinterest, kind of look at different styles and whatever resonates with you, pin those, save them, whatever and show you, and that's one way of communicating without knowing the terminology necessarily.
Kelly Kuehneman:Right.
Mike Murphy:So you personally like what is your favorite decor style.
Kelly Kuehneman:You personally like. What is your favorite decor style? You know I try to blend current trends with artful pieces and timeless pieces. I would say I'm more transitional. You know there's aspects of more modern, contemporary stuff that I like. I don't have really that look in my house per se, but I can create that for other peoples and I like it. My house is more transitional. I mean, I've got, like I said, I have antiques in my home and then I have newer pieces and I really enjoy marrying those, those pieces together. Um, I do try to recommend to people now you might have a room where you decide to go really bold.
Kelly Kuehneman:You know they have what's that's called color washing, where you do the ceiling and all the trim and the walls and it's all one color, and lots of times it's a deep, bold color, you know, for a dramatic impact, maybe a study or you know that kind of thing, and those can be beautiful. Um, a lot of times, though, I try to sway customers too, that you know, aside from maybe that one room where you want to do that dramatic effect, the rest, rest of the house is oftentimes wise especially if you have lower ceilings or a small house or you don't have a lot of natural light, to keep the walls more a neutral, lighter color, and then you can bring all the color and excitement that you want into the room via the furnishings, whether it's blinds or drapes, or throw pillows on the couch, the furniture, the area rugs, you know, vases with flowers.
Kelly Kuehneman:And the beautiful thing about that is, if you tire of it or if you want to change it you know, in combination with the seasons you can do so relatively inexpensively. You can have pillow covers where you keep the inserts and just swap out the covers and you can change the whole look of your couch or your living room and you don't have to worry about repainting the whole. You know all the walls, so you know.
Kelly Kuehneman:It's little things like that that I try to help customers, um you know, figure out what they want and and kind of point them into the direction that maybe suits their home best yeah, good point.
Mike Murphy:So you were talking about like hg tv earlier and those home decor shows or whatever. That's. One term that we've all heard is pops of color.
Mike Murphy:You know, you got your neutral base or whatever and then you bring in your themes through pops of color and you can change those out through pillow coverings and throws and things like that, yeah, so yeah, I could see the value in having somebody come in and at least get the process going and get a good basic layout, design whatever, and then just allowing you to have some creative license to just kind of slowly tweak and reinvent seasonally, right, right.
Kelly Kuehneman:Okay, you know it's just like when people you know go to sell their home and the realtor says you need to remove all the personal looking stuff, you need to, like, pull some of the stuff, the clutter off the counters and stuff. And the reason being is a lot of buyers when they walk into a home they can't see the big picture they can't visualize. You know either their things in the home or just how to decorate the home itself. So if you have a lot of busyness and clutter, that works well for you. It's not always best when you're selling a home.
Kelly Kuehneman:So I also encourage people if they're putting their house on the market, they need help staging it, you know, to help kind of streamline it so that when a buyer or potential buyer walks in the house they can say, okay, I can see, you know that size couch works. But you know you try to remove a lot of the personal stuff because they don't want to see your stuff in there. They want to. You want them to envision their family portrait of, you know, the fireplace and stuff. So you know I also can help with that if customers are, you know, in that stage of life.
Mike Murphy:So I could understand why realtors might love you. You're helping them, You're making their job easier. Okay, Well, very good. So what is your favorite part of what you do? I know there are multiple things you do for people, but what really gets you excited? What makes you? What's most rewarding for you?
Kelly Kuehneman:I guess you know, really, it's just it's hearing back from customers when they're just so excited, like I know myself, when I do something in my own house and I, you know, rearrange it or redesign it or whatever and you just sit back and you're like, wow, this just makes me feel so good. And when a customer says that, or even if they buy something from my retail store and they're like, oh, I just love this piece. I've been looking for something for the longest time that was different and this is perfect. It's the perfect size, you know, or it tells a story, or if it's a vintage type piece I have a series in my store called the found collection, which are authentic, vintage and antique pieces, a lot of pottery and whatnot.
Kelly Kuehneman:And you know, when people find those, they're like, wow, this is just so unique, Nobody else is going to have something like this, and you know a lot of people like that. And then, too, there's those pieces that you know someone says, oh, this reminds me of my grandmother, or this reminds me of you know a story of when. And that's nice too, just knowing that you can tie some kind of memory or story and help put that in a person's home Cause. Again, part of my goal is to help it feel intentional and lived in. But I want it to tell each individual story. I want them to go into their home and truly make it. You know, from a house to a home.
Mike Murphy:Yeah, at the end of the day, you're really just making people happy. There's different routes you take, but yeah, you're making people happy. So you mentioned the painted tree boutiques. When somebody goes to a painted tree, what are they going to see there from you?
Kelly Kuehneman:Well, for me they're going to see a multitude of stuff. I mean, I do tend to have, um, I have some hand design stuff, um, cause I am an artist by background. Um, I have a graphic design background as well, so there are some hand pieces in there, but a lot of it's just like I said. I have the found collection, which has um, antique and true authentic vintage pieces, and then I have modern day stuff, but I do try to find, like I said before, unique pieces.
Kelly Kuehneman:You know, you may find some things that you're gonna see similar, you know, in a Target or an Amazon or HomeGoods or whatever, but I try, I strive to find pieces that you're not gonna see everywhere else. And then the other thing that you see in my store is the way my store is set up. I have like a fireplace mantle on the back wall and there's bookcases, so it kind of feels like a home. And you know typical merchandising, like when you go into a big box store you see a lot of product and it's just lined up in a row and you know I try to decorate my space as if it were a home.
Kelly Kuehneman:So, and the goal being that it helps people visualize how they could see that in their own space. So lots of times too, you know, I may have five of the same item in there, but I won't put all five together. I'll have them spaced out in the store and I'll have other pieces with it so they can see how to curate similar pieces that might work. That you know. Maybe they have something similar at home in terms of size, or a vase that works well with this other item, or maybe they like the whole grouping. So that's something they see from MySpace and Painted Tree in general. You're going to see a whole multitude of things.
Mike Murphy:Right. Right, it's a great facility, so let's take a departure from the business talk and talk about family talk. So I'll usually ask business owners what does family look like to you? So are you married with kids or are you like what's that look like? Just describe your family for us, please.
Kelly Kuehneman:Married with one daughter. She is 27 and I'm extremely proud of her. She graduated from UK in public health and then decided that she really wanted to be a nurse. So she went back and put herself through college again through Xavier's ABSN program, graduated this past December, and now she is a nurse at Children's Hospital.
Mike Murphy:So and it's.
Kelly Kuehneman:National Nurses Week. So more power to her and all the nurses out there.
Mike Murphy:So we've talked about your daughter. What about your husband? What does he do? What's his name? Let's shout him out. Just how long have you been married?
Kelly Kuehneman:Okay, my husband's name is Tom and he likes to be difficult because he spells it T-H-O-M. Which people are like Tom and he's like no, it's like Thomas. So, but he's a jack of all trades. One of the things we do that both of us love to do is DIY projects, and when we moved into this house six years ago, we have literally gutted this whole house and remodeled it, so he has a lot of the same kind of passion that I do for design and you know, fixing homes and whatnot.
Kelly Kuehneman:He can do the CAD drawings too. We've been married over 30 years. Like I said, we have the one daughter. We both have an immense love of animals. We've always had dogs.
Mike Murphy:I'm a dog person too, so I get that I love dogs. Okay, when you guys go and do fun stuff, what do you do? Do you like to vacation? Do you like to cruise? Do you like hiking? What do you do?
Kelly Kuehneman:I love anything outdoors. Now I I'll preface that by saying when the weather's nice. I am not a cold weather person, I hate winter.
Kelly Kuehneman:I often say that I don't know why I live here. I should live like in the South, where it's warm more times out of the year. But we both we love to be outside. I like working in the yard, I love taking walks, and you know, being out in nature, love going to the beach and you know, given that I do have a strong love for animals, I love love being with my dog. I take him for a walk every day, so yeah, dog's a big commitment.
Mike Murphy:If you're going to, you know do the right thing. You can't just have a dog and make them sit in the corner all day. Yeah, so yeah, being a dog lover is part of responsible pet care.
Kelly Kuehneman:That's right. And we typically have more than one, but unfortunately we've lost a few over recent years, so we're down to just the one little guy, but sometimes he feels like we've got more than one.
Mike Murphy:So losing a dog is a terrible thing, it's, but, but we digress yeah, that's a that's a tough subject. It's but, but we digress yeah, that's a that's a tough subject. It really is, yeah. So let's see. One thing I wanted to ask you is do you have a typical client really? Like I asked before, like you know, when you come across a client, however that might be, let's just talk about that. What's what's the typical way a client might be? Let's just talk about that.
Kelly Kuehneman:What's what's the typical way a client and that you and a client come to meet. You know it, it depends sometimes when I'm in painted tree because I'll be refreshing my space during business hours. Lots of times it's, you know, I get to meet the customers, which is really really nice, and sometimes, you know, nothing comes of it. Other times it's just a nice conversation. But there are times that people reach out and they're like oh, you offer this service and this service too. I'd love, you know, for you to, to help me out, and, and lots of times then we'll, you know, we'll communicate via email or whatever. Some people just go direct to my website. There's a contact form there, and then on the Kellyanne Elise interior site there's even a spot where you can fill out like a design questionnaire. So it allows you to go through and pick out you know, what room that you're looking for assistance with, tell what you like about it, what you don't. You can upload pictures, that kind of thing, but a lot of it's just word of mouth. You know it's, you know.
Mike Murphy:Kind of like any entrepreneur, you get your clients however you can. Like you know. Kind of like any entrepreneur, you get your clients however you can. You know it's many different paths to to the people that we, that we help.
Kelly Kuehneman:That's right.
Mike Murphy:So one thing I want to make sure before we sign off is, if somebody does want to reach out to you as they're hearing this what's the best way they can reach you and what are?
Kelly Kuehneman:you know a couple ways that they typically can reach you um, probably the easiest is via the website, just so that you know, I ensure that I have the correct spelling and email address and whatnot, because, as we well know I mean, I know myself the older I get, my handwriting isn't what it used to be and I sometimes I look at it and I think what did I just write? So this way, you know, it's all typed out and nice and pretty, um, but they can go to signastylecom or to kellyannalisecom, either one of those Um, and there's links to both, you know, redirecting to the other Um. I'm also on, you know, all the social media channels. I'm on Facebook as Cigna Style Home, which the username is just at Cigna Style, and then on Instagram it's at Cigna Style Home, and Instagram is nice because you'll see a lot of the I mean you see it on Facebook too a lot of the pictures and stuff that some of my product and whatnot that's in the stores. You can see highlights and stories and you know know that stuff, it's kind of easier to navigate I think,
Mike Murphy:than facebook um, but instagram lends itself well to visuals and things like that, so it's a nice gallery setting. So yes okay, uh, is there anything that we haven't talked about? Before we sign off that, um, you maybe have on your punch list of things to make sure people know about you.
Kelly Kuehneman:I'd say one thing is to know that my business, both aspects of it, are deeply personal.
Kelly Kuehneman:So you know whether I'm curating products for, you know, my retail stores, I'm working on a project for a customer or a consultation, regardless, it's all it's deeply personal. You know, I'm trying to find pieces that speak to that individual person Because, like I said, at the end of the day, you know, it's not just about aesthetics, it's not about just creating a space that you know that feels pretty, it's really about making it functional and fitting for that person's lifestyle, you know, to bring out their personality. So when someone comes to visit their home, you know, even if it's just the decor pieces in their home, it kind of tells you something about the individual that lives there and it really does make a house feel like a home, and so I would want people to know that. That's. My goal is to, you know, to help them with design, either through the products that I sell or through my services that it's intentional and timeless and it's, you know, unique to them.
Mike Murphy:Well, very good. It sounds like if somebody needs your services. You are a very warm personality. You seem to know what you're doing.
Mike Murphy:Thank you People can, I feel, trust you, and so I could see why people would want to reach out to you. So you're welcome. You and I have not really had FaceTime together till today, so this has been a nice conversation to have. I feel like I've gotten to know you pretty quickly and at least how you operate, and you know I try to build up that know like and trust factor, and I think we've kind of checked those boxes today. So thanks for spending time with us and just kind of explaining to the community what you do. I'll say to the people listening if you think you might want to reach out to Kelly, then by gum, do it. She's just showing you how to do it and she told you what she can help you with. So yeah, that being said, it's been a pleasure to talk with you today, Kelly, and for everybody out there listening, this is the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'll always sign off by saying everybody out there until we talk next time. Everybody, please be good to your neighbor. So long, everybody, Bye-bye.
Charlie McDermott:Thanks for listening to the good neighbor podcast union. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP unioncom. That's GNP unioncom, or call us at 8, 5, 9, 6, 5, 1, 8, 3, 3, 0.