{"id":499416,"date":"2026-06-14T15:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T15:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/499416\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T15:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T15:41:10","slug":"i-helped-dad-when-i-was-young-now-ive-followed-in-his-footsteps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/499416\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I helped dad when I was young.. now I\u2019ve followed in his footsteps\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growing up in Sydney, Australia, helping her father John put teak furniture together, Joanna Kenneally could never imagine that one day she would have her very own business almost 18,000km miles away.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in an old piggery farm at that!\u201d says Joanna laughing. \u201cThis is the old piggery farm belonging to the farm at Ballymaloe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, the former piggery is the home for Strand Road Furniture, decked out with beautiful, durable luxury furniture selected by architects, designers, business owners, and hospitality experts. <\/p>\n

Sitting at a long teak kitchen bench that came here with her to Ballyduff, Cloyne, the mother of two tells me about her journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI helped dad put together teak furniture in the early 1990s,\u201d says Joanna.<\/p>\n

She was an all-rounder.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways wanting to sit up next to him in the delivery truck (the views were better)! Helping him set up shop with the company compliment slips and shop till in our Roseville garden, it was a given that I follow him in his footsteps.\u201d<\/p>\n

And she did.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout high school, I worked weekends at the head office showroom in the beautiful Southern Highlands, where we moved to when I was eight,\u201d says Joanna.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI was lucky to experience every side of the business, from accounts to warehousing to sales and marketing. The company had several showrooms in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and a network of successful stockists in the other Australian states.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Joanna was looking at other career and travel options as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking of doing a cookery course in maybe London or Paris,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen a relative told me about Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry, East Cork, that had a wonderful reputation. Dad is originally from Cheltenham in the UK, and I thought, Cork is not a million miles away from his birthplace and I opted for Ballymaloe.\u201d<\/p>\n

She made a good choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was April, 2005, and it was the first 12-week summer course they did,\u201d says Joanna.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved the cookery course, the place, and the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The people loved her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I had completed the cookery course, I was offered a job to stay and work in the office. So I did!\u201d<\/p>\n

Love blossomed in the beautiful haven of east Cork.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met my husband Quentin in the local pub in Ballycotton!\u201d says Joanna. \u201cHe is a fisherman.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is handy too.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuentin helps me put the furniture together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Together, they returned to Australia where the couple lived for nearly eight years.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur front veranda housed pieces of Cotswold Furniture. It\u2019s name is in honour of dad,\u201d says Joanna.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe had our own furniture warehouse, and Quentin did deliveries and assembled the furniture. I was hands-on managing the day-to-day running of the business and promoting it. Every Sunday since I was 14, I worked in the furniture showroom.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

She was busy being a mum too.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur son James, 13, was born in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Home is where the heart is.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuentin was keen to go back to fishing,\u201d says Joanna. \u201cHe wanted to get a boat.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, his mum was unwell. We made the decision to sell our furniture business to an Australian business that would supply our Australian outlet. We returned to East Cork, where we continued to run the business from afar until the sale was completed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claudia Kenneally, 10, is a true Rebel.<\/p>\n

\"JoannaJoanna and Quentin first met in a local pub in Ballycotton.<\/p>\n

\u201cCork born and bred!\u201d Joanna says.<\/p>\n

Did Joanna ever feel homesick given the coastal Cork climate?<\/p>\n

\u201cNot at all,\u201d says Joanna. \u201cIn the Southern Highlands our winters are cold and frosty. I often played hockey in blinding sleet!\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s used to other similar things here from Down Under.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere could be 16,000 acres of sheep next door!\u201d<\/p>\n

So she is quite at home with the country life here, surrounded by sheep and cows?<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to laugh at first about the \u2018pretend farms\u2019 here,\u201d says Joanna.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are a bit different to the farms back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the children were little, the Kenneallys did Air B&B at their house in Loughane.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt suited us,\u201d says Joanna.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Quentin fishing, there was no set schedule. My mum came over to us a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joanna never wastes her talents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went back to work in Ballymaloe Cookery School as a teacher for a brief stint until I felt the time was right to bring my own furniture shop and showroom here to East Cork.\u201d<\/p>\n

She had the experience and she had the expertise.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Strand Road, our products are designed to last, often passed down through generations,\u201d says Joanna.<\/p>\n

Like the kitchen bench almost the length of the showroom space?<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, like the kitchen bench,\u201d says Joanna.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad and I put that bench together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Customers like to build up their own collection of Strand Road furniture, choosing from brands such as Fermob, Sika Design, Vincent Sheppard, and Raw Materials.<\/p>\n

\u201cCustomers can build their own collection over time without the pressure of purchasing sets or meeting minimum quantities,\u201d says Joanna, opting for quality over convenience.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur furniture and homewares are made from materials like teak wood, rattan, and steel. They are sourced responsibly and can be reused or recycled.\u201d<\/p>\n

I like the Vincent Sheppard Kraft paper Lloyd Loom chairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are painted to order, allowing for easy customisation,\u201d says Joanna.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf tastes change, the chairs can be resprayed, making them ideal for long-term use.\u201d<\/p>\n

Covid did not provide ideal conditions to do business.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went back to Oz for a year,\u201d says Joanna. \u201cIt was a huge upheaval.\u201d<\/p>\n

She made a discovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had been away too long. We came back here after covid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connections made had never been broken.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went back to work at the Cookery School again,\u201d says Joanna.<\/p>\n

What did she do there?<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I was cleaning 16 ovens a day!\u201d<\/p>\n

Furniture was more her thing than appliances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to go back to selling furniture again,\u201d says Joanna. \u201cIt was in my DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was in her sisters\u2019 DNA too.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy two younger sisters had a big company in Australia and they ran furniture showrooms\u201d.<\/p>\n

They had the recipe for success.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said run it like you can sell it,\u201d says Joanna.<\/p>\n

Often, Quentin\u2019s days of being on his boat fishing have to take a back seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was at the very top of Donegal recently with a delivery!\u201d says Joanna.<\/p>\n

Where else?<\/p>\n

\u201cDublin and West Cork are regular destinations for our furniture deliveries.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is Strand Road\u2019s best seller?<\/p>\n

\u201cFermob is the most well-known brand and it is a great seller,\u201d says Joanna.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd with the promise of a good summer, our outdoor furniture designers are doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joanna doesn\u2019t let the grass grow under her feet.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI attend industry trade shows and regularly meet with our suppliers. When it is not very busy, I concentrate on picture framing, which I do here at the back of the showroom.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

She has a little helper.<\/p>\n

\u201cI left Claudia here one day while I ran an errand down the road,\u201d says Joanna.<\/p>\n

Claudia has her mother\u2019s DNA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came back, she was demonstrating a variety of lights to some customers! I wondered, what in the world is she doing?\u201d<\/p>\n

Joanna is happy in her world.<\/p>\n

She thinks of the Southern Highlands sometimes<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Australia, restaurants and hotels have refreshed their Strand Road furniture even after 15 or 20 years, proving that sustainability and style go hand-in-hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stand Road Furniture. P25 KW68 is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am-4pm, or by appointment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Growing up in Sydney, Australia, helping her father John put teak furniture together, Joanna Kenneally could never imagine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-499416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}