Business blooms at Steelstra Designs
Amber Steele Poelstra stands among her locally grown blooms at her Post Falls home. The art teacher is the one-woman show behind Steelstra Designs, a custom floral arrangement business through which she shares the joy of homegrown, hand-cut flowers with the community.
Small businesses don't come much smaller than Steelstra Designs, a custom floral business owned and operated by Amber Steele Poelstra, who grows and crafts her products on the fifth of a Post Falls acre where she lives with her family.
“I’m the seeder, weeder, the deliverer, the arranger, the artist,” Steele Poelstra said with a laugh during a hot July 10 morning. “I’m everything.”
Other than a firepit area, a few beehives and a shop where the flower coolers are stored, each foot of land has been maximized for growing potential. Over 100 different varieties and colors can be found on the grounds, including delphiniums, rudbeckia, echinacea, drumstick alliums, peonies, dahlias, veronica, sunflowers, phlox, catnip, orach and a dazzling array of lilies.
“I grow a little differently because I’m growing for market bouquets or for people’s homes, so people want those bright fun colors, while some people are arranging with muted tones or they’re doing all weddings, so they’ll have the whites and the creams," Steele Poelstra said. "My shapes and colors are a little bit different, which has been the new trend in weddings, a little more punchy, bold, with different shapes.”
The front of the house gives few clues to the secret garden that thrives beyond the fences and gates. Steelstra Designs began four years ago. Six years ago when the family moved in, Steele Poelstra started the yard and garden from scratch.
“This was a blank slate,” she said.
The Post Falls High School ceramics teacher has an art education degree and an understanding of color theory and design, as well as years of green thumb experience.
“I’ve grown my whole life,” Steele Poelstra said. “My parents always had a garden. My mom and I grew flowers and we played with dried flowers growing up, when dried flowers were popular in the early ’90s. Now dried flowers are back.”
With Steelstra Designs, she combined her knowledge and passions so a hobby could become a profitable business that serves as another income for her household.
Steelstra Designs offers seasonal fresh flower bouquets and subscriptions, a "shop the garden" option, custom gift and floral arrangements for weddings, funerals and other events.
“Everybody loves flowers,” Steele Poelstra said. “Flowers increase productivity and they can change your mood. There’s nostalgia with different kinds of flowers and that gift-giving aspect. I love all of that, and people always say, ‘Can I have some flowers? Can I come pick some flowers?’ And I love to give flowers. That’s just sort of where it started, and here we are.”
Steele Poelstra also offers workshops and pop-up classes during which she shares her expertise during fun, informative sessions that can double as a friends' night out or bonding time with moms and grandmothers.
“Beauty enhances your life,” she said. “Big hotels have giant flower arrangements and plantings in their lobbies, that’s part of the experience of visiting that place. I like to bring that to people’s homes.”
She also takes budding artists and helpers under her wing to see firsthand how to run a small business and share the joy of flowers with others.
For those seeking to turn their passions into profitable companies, she recommends they start with research and take a class.
"Just start informing yourself what needs to happen in order to have a business," she said. "You need a business license, you need to be legit, you need to pay taxes, you have to learn about the business aspect. Marketing is huge as well, getting the word out about what you offer. That might be the hardest part.”
Steelstra Designs can be found Wednesday evenings at the Fifth Street Farmers Market in downtown Coeur d'Alene through the end of September, as well as occasionally at the Athol Farmers' Market.
Visit steelstradesigns.com for details.
Steelstra Designs owner, grower and designer Amber Steele Poelstra inspects a leafy vine in her yard July 10.
A dazzling array of lilies are among the varieties of flowers that bloom in Amber Steele Poelstra's Post Falls yard, where she grows fresh flowers for her small business, Steelstra Designs.
Drumstick alliums are seen among the many varieties in Amber Steele Poelstra's Post Falls yard, where she grows fresh flowers for her business, Steelstra Designs.
