Ask any working mother what she needs more of and the answer is usually the same: time.

Time for family with her husband Lorenzo and sons, Etienne, 10, and Davi, 8. Time for work as creative director at Spruce. Time for herself.

As a mother of two and founder of Spruce, a floral and event design studio known for weddings, milestone celebrations, luxury spaces, and brand activations, Pat Tañedo says the early morning hours are the only part of the day she fully keeps for herself.

“I wake up at 5:20 every morning. The kids are off to school by 6 a.m., and I work out,” she says. “I like to get my workout done early in the morning before most people are awake. No one is at our office yet so I don’t get any messages. My mind is clear and I can focus on myself.”

The pace goes faster after that. Office days depend on the season—sometimes one to three times a week, even up to five during peak events. She usually makes it home in time for dinner with her family.

Spruce began as a project, but through an experiment. “It started out as a home business one Valentine’s day that a friend and I thought would be fun to do—create a simple logo and branding, post online, take some orders, go to the flower market,” she recalls. “We thought it would be easy and pretty straightforward. It turned out to be very stressful, and we didn’t sleep.”

Orders came in faster than expected. At one point, she remembers waking up staff at her mother’s house at 4 a.m. just to finish bouquets.

“In the early years I did pretty much everything. I took the orders, purchased the flowers, made the designs, did the marketing. I was at events from the start to the end—even at egress.” A florist helped with execution, while a driver managed deliveries.

As Spruce grew, weddings and events became the core of the business. The pandemic pushed the studio to expand further. “We expanded our services to luxury brands and homes. We also do PR seeding kits and activations for brands now.”

Managing both work and family requires structure, but not everything is predictable. “It’s very clear that I keep early mornings to myself. Other than that, I feel like my life is a hot mess between my work life and my home life.”

She credits the people around her for making things possible, “My husband, my good friends, and my team will all be laughing out loud if they hear anyone say that I have it all together. I cannot remember anything, get details mixed up, and I’m very messy. I just have a really very supportive and patient husband and a super great team behind me to get things done.”

Her husband also showed his support by taking care of planning meals. “Three or four years ago, he noticed planning the meals, doing the grocery, and doing the food inventory was really making me crazy so he took over.”

Being a mother has also influenced her decision making for both work and home. It has made her more deliberate with how she spends her time and who she spends it with. It also changed how she defines beauty. “When I was younger, beauty was more about aesthetics. My perception of beauty was defined by my senses. Today, beauty to me is more about what resonates with me at an emotional and connective level.”

She brings this philosophy into Spruce, where their creations are designed not just for visual presence but for interaction and connection. “The work I do at Spruce is focused on creating environments and products that bring people together. True aesthetic value is found not in isolated objects, but in the relationships between things.”

Their house is not of curated perfection. “My home is far from beautiful in the architectural-digest-sense. I love that my family and I have created the balance between functionality, little personal touches, and a cozy atmosphere. It’s a sanctuary that supports our daily routines and brings us together.”

Plants and greenery fill parts of the home, but so do everyday objects—books stacked in corners, unopened mail, things waiting to be put away. “My real creative self is very cluttered. And that does show up in my home life.”

Motherhood has also guided her on how she leads her team. “It has compelled me to create efficiencies and systems at work.” These are some of the qualities, along with strong work ethic, she hopes that her two children will be able to apply when they grow up. “It will help them develop perseverance, resilience, accountability, and give them purpose.”