Superior Shade with Living in Shade
As our summers get longer and hotter, transforming our sweltering outdoor spaces into shady havens is an absolute must. Tom Tregenza is the bright spark behind luxe, modern external residential and commercial awnings and blinds of all shades across Noosa and beyond, discovers Rebecca Jamieson Dwyer.
Tom Tregenza makes a living selling shade, but his personality is all sunshine. Being a people person is an essential skill for someone who works closely with high-end home and business owners, and, for Tom, it’s this customer-facing part of the role that he relishes.
“I just love that I never know who I’ll meet on each job – it could be an athlete, a politician, a television personality or a multinational business owner,” Tom says. “I enjoy connecting with all my clients and hearing the incredible stories they have to tell.”
Living in Noosa we all need to take savvy steps to keep ourselves protected from the sun, and Living in Shade specialises in a huge range of superior quality exterior shade products such as awnings, blinds, umbrellas, retractable roofs, day beds and more – including the gold-standard European designs – so you can create a stylish, safe outdoor oasis for yourself, your family or your customers.
Tom – who’s a qualified builder by trade – and his team have the expertise to advise on design, aesthetics and functionality, and often work closely with clients, interior designers and architects to bring their vision to life.
“We do a lot of high-end work, and our reputation has really grown from word of mouth,” he said. “I bought the business off my former boss, Graeme, a couple of years ago. He was a great mentor and really good at maintaining relationships, and I’m continuing his legacy of focusing on excellent quality and amazing service.”
One of the things that makes the Living in Shade experience so positive is Tom’s commitment to building a qualified and experienced team of tradespeople who are invested in the quality of their installations – something that’s becoming increasingly rare in the industry.
“With Living in Shade, you get a personalised experience where you’re dealing with someone from our team all the way through your installation,” he said. “We live and breathe all things shade and I’m highly invested in the training of my staff, so you can trust the superior quality of our work. And, we’re always here for any aftercare queries for the entire lifespan of the product.”
The company has been going for over a decade, and some of Tom’s favourite jobs have been installing large umbrellas for an iconic oceanfront restaurant in Byron Bay; providing external shade solutions to the owner of an international skincare and cosmetics brand at their residence here in Noosa; and installing 12-metre wide external roller blinds without any poles to obstruct the ocean view at an incredible seaside residential home in Kingscliff.
“We’re skilled at providing solutions for large outdoor patios, decks, balconies and other spaces where you don’t want the views to be compromised but you need the flexibility of shade covering for the hotter months,” he explained. “Whether it’s folding arm awnings, vertical or venetian blinds, louvre roof systems, pivot arm awnings or something else, we have a high-quality, modern, stylish solution that will complement and add to the aesthetic of your building’s exterior,” he said.
Tom is proud of the way he’s grown Living in Shade since taking over the business a few years ago while still remaining true to its original ethos of quality over quantity.
“That’s a big point of difference for us. We’re not pumping through the jobs like many of our competitors; we’re pretty low-volume, which means we can guarantee the quality of every installation,” he said.
Driven by customer satisfaction, he thrives on seeing how much his clients love the end result – something that’s a change from his former life as a builder.
“I used to work on building sites and it was an extremely male-dominated environment where you didn’t receive much appreciation, whereas in this role I leave someone’s house or business after installation and they’re over the moon,” he said. “That means a lot to me.”
Need expert exterior design advice? Skip the shady operators and go straight for Living in Shade!
