I have been hearing about Substack too often for quite some time now. I kept wondering what is Substack anyways? And then now I am here. As I go through all the accounts, I like what I see and am slowly falling in love with this platform. I mean what better way to express myself - I can be anything: formal, semi formal, share my journey, my passion - write about almost anything, something that I will always find an audience for.
So here I go ——
I have spent years looking at homes through floor plans, cabinetry details, materials, and renovation decisions. And I have worked on Client Projects, big and small! But the longer I work in design, the more I realize that home is not only built through construction. It is built through memory, rhythm, culture, food, seasons, and the way we move through our days. The journey is remarkable and worth sharing and writing about. It is a part of everyone of us and we can connect in many different ways!
I’m writing here because I want to talk about the part of design that doesn’t always fit into a before-and-after. A kitchen can be beautiful and still feel wrong. A bathroom can be newly renovated and still not support the way you actually live. And a “dream home” can somehow leave you restless because the dream was built from trends and photos, not from the patterns of your life.
Who am I?
I’m Reena Venkatesh, founder of Seasonal Leaf Studio, a Certified Kitchen & Bath Designer (CKBD), a communicator and design storyteller. I have been always a designer in my heart, loving to indulge in the science of home and how people live. Over time, I discovered my love for writing, and also the fact that I could actually write & sometimes I write pretty well! Recently I held the Communications Chair position for NKBA British Columbia and realized that not only was I a connector and a communicator, but that I also loved to speak and write about design.
My design work has always been about clients, the next big trend, what’s the most recent color & tile design or the wallpaper on the market. What new Cabinet Company is emerging and what their products are - this was always what went on in my head and my eyes kept on searching. But now my design thought process and writing as well as my thinking lives at the juncture of function and feeling: the practical realities of home, its layouts, how people move in their homes, and what ideas and culture they bring into their homes. The quieter realities of home are harder to measure - the belonging, the comfort, the identity, and the small daily rituals that make a home feel like yours, like mine.
Over time, I’ve come to believe that some things may sound simple but in the end the changes they bring about have a profound affect that can transform everything or every situation!
Making changes to our home and remodeling it, isn’t primarily a solution of how many finishes and trends we can include, or think about what goes with what. It’s a decision-making solution that surrounds our lifestyle, in the way we live.
Our home is a place where our life keeps happening, repeating stories and creating new ones. It is where mornings happen, where we cook when we need a meal, where we enjoy a family activity. It is where we host gatherings when we are joyful, where we put the groceries down, where we reach for the mug we always reach for in those wee coffee morning hour or the work afternoons. It’s where you stand without noticing you’re standing in the same spot, every day, because the space either supports you, or it doesn’t.
That’s the expression I am interested in.
A little about my lived experience
My relationship with “home” has never been just visual. It has always been sensory and emotional, shaped by routines, by daily lifestyle, by food, by family systems, by lineage, by seasons, by what gets passed down and what gets reinvented, and the mothers, grandmothers in my life.
I’ve learned that culture shows up in the smallest design decisions, in the kind of cooking you do and how often, whether a kitchen is a stage, a workshop, or a refuge.
How we host, and what hosting means to us, what we keep visible, what we keep tucked away, what “clean” looks like, what “cozy” feels like and what “enough” means is an integral part of who we are and who we have become.
Design isn’t neutral. It is woven in many myriad strands of both creativity and practicality. Homes hold stories and renovations or remodels ask us to decide which stories we’re making room for next.
What “Seasonal Leaf” means
Seasonal Leaf Studio is named for the way I believe homes should work: not as a static showpiece, but as living environments, spaces that can hold changing seasons, changing energy, changing family dynamics, changing needs. A leaf isn’t trying to be impressive. It’s trying to be alive.
That’s what I want for the homes I help shape: spaces that feel like they can breathe with you.
And how I came up with the name Seasonal Leaf is not far from me either. It is who I am and who lives within me - my namesake, my official formal name being “Rituparna”, the name given to me by my Grandmother. It is a Sanskrit word which literally means “Ritu = Season” & “parna = leaf”: thus Seasonal Leaf.
What this Substack will explore
This is not going to be a stream of “top 10 backsplash trends” or “5 ways to style your open shelving.”
I am not omitting them because those things don’t matter, but because they’re the last 10% of the conversation, and most people are trying to solve them first. I may still plug few of them here and there.
But HERE, in this platform, I want to write about
The invisible work behind a renovation with clarity, sequencing, decision fatigue, alignment between partners, and how to stop second-guessing every choice.
Kitchens and baths as lived spaces with function, flow, storage logic, and why some layouts quietly make your life harder.
Design as story and how memory, identity, and culture shape what “beautiful” means.
Ritual and rhythm and the way our home supports (or fights), the way we move through our day.
The emotional side of change and why renovations can feel tender, overwhelming, or deeply personal, even when we “just want a new kitchen.”
I’ll share frameworks, observations from client work, and real-life design thinking, the kind that helps you make decisions you can live inside for years.
What you will also find here
The Design Storyteller is my home for thoughtful living through the lens of home and design: the practical choices and the quieter rituals that shape how a space feels to live in.
This Substack account in essence will move between story and strategy as well as between the emotional texture of home and the real-world decisions that work.
Here are the recurring sections you’ll see:
Home Notes
Essays about home, memory, belonging, and the small rituals that make a life feel grounded.
Renovation Clarity
The practical column: how to make renovation decisions without overwhelm, especially for kitchens and baths. Clear sequencing, better questions, fewer regrets.
The Seasonal Table
Cooking, hosting, food memories, and kitchen rituals since the kitchen isn’t just a room, it’s a heartbeat that changes color daily.
Garden Notes
Gardening and seasonal living: patience, care, beauty, and the quiet design lessons you learn outdoors.
Travel & Place
Design observations from places: architecture, hospitality, markets, local enterprises, materials, culture, and the way “home” changes from one context to another.
Objects I Love (Brand Features)
Thoughtful features on objects and brands: curated through my design eye and grounded in craftsmanship, sustainability, materials, and everyday usefulness. (If I ever share affiliate or sponsored recommendations, they’ll live here in the form of editorial, with special mention.)
If you’re here for clarity on renovation, a more supportive kitchen, a softer home rhythm, for stories about food, gardens, travel, and the objects we keep close, or simply a deeper way of seeing how we make a life at home, WELCOME!
“The Design Storyteller”: Design guidance, renovation clarity, and practical tools for thoughtful homes - Design, translated with clarity and intention.
Seasonal Leaf Studio, Vancouver, BC
Design Communication & Storytelling | NKBA Member
Explore more at seasonalleaf.com | Based in Vancouver, working across Canada
