On this episode of “Simplifying Life Through Technology,” Mark, Andrew, and Sue sit down with Jenny Pippin of Pippin Home Designs.
"From Tragedy to Triumph"
Join us as Jenny shares her inspiring journey, from adversity to accomplishment. Pippin Home Designs is a residential design business that has been transforming the landscape of home design for 38 years.
Jenny's journey took a dramatic turn in 1986 when a car accident left her hospitalized for 9 days and in a body cast for 4 months. Undeterred, Jenny continued her design work from her hospital bed, showcasing her unwavering dedication to her craft. Through her recovery, she found creative inspiration and a new passion for designing universal homes, marrying green building with beauty and health.
Pippin Home Designs' innovative approach focuses on eliminating common issues in home design, such as 90-degree turns, small bathrooms, and non-accessibility friendly staircases. Jenny's designs not only prioritize functionality and aesthetics, but also promote sustainability and environmental consciousness.
Jenny provides insights into her experience with integrating technology and the collaborative process that brings her designs to life. Her commitment to creating homes that are both visually stunning and functionally exceptional is truly inspiring.
Listen as Jenny shares her story of resilience and innovation, and discover how Pippin Home Designs has become a beacon of creativity and sustainability in the world of home design.
On this episode of “Simplifying Life Through Technology,” Mark, Andrew, and Sue sit down with Jenny Pippin of Pippin Home Designs.
"From Tragedy to Triumph"
Join us as Jenny shares her inspiring journey, from adversity to accomplishment. Pippin Home Designs is a residential design business that has been transforming the landscape of home design for 38 years.
Jenny's journey took a dramatic turn in 1986 when a car accident left her hospitalized for 9 days and in a body cast for 4 months. Undeterred, Jenny continued her design work from her hospital bed, showcasing her unwavering dedication to her craft. Through her recovery, she found creative inspiration and a new passion for designing universal homes, marrying green building with beauty and health.
Pippin Home Designs' innovative approach focuses on eliminating common issues in home design, such as 90-degree turns, small bathrooms, and non-accessibility friendly staircases. Jenny's designs not only prioritize functionality and aesthetics, but also promote sustainability and environmental consciousness.
Jenny provides insights into her experience with integrating technology and the collaborative process that brings her designs to life. Her commitment to creating homes that are both visually stunning and functionally exceptional is truly inspiring.
Listen as Jenny shares her story of resilience and innovation, and discover how Pippin Home Designs has become a beacon of creativity and sustainability in the world of home design.
Welcome to Simplifying Life through Technology. In the podcast studio today we have our CEO, mark DiPietro, our brand ambassador, sue Schober, and our extra special guest, jenny Pippin of Pippin Home Designs. Jenny is a notable designer in our area, known for her accessibility and healthy home designs. Jenny founded Pippin Home Designs with a vision to redefine the concept of home, drawing on her expertise in green building, renewable energy and healthy home design. Jenny incorporates principles such as functional flow and universal design to create her exceptional designs. She shares her experience with smart technology and the importance of teaming with industry professionals to deliver the best products to her clients. Be sure to listen to hear Jenny's incredible story of tragedy to triumph.
Speaker 2:
Welcome.
Speaker 3:
Welcome, Jenny.
Speaker 2:
Thank you, I appreciate y'all having me over and I look forward to this opportunity.
Speaker 3:
We have heard your name for a long time. I mean, in our industry we do get to work with a lot of interior designers and certain names pop up more than others, and yours is definitely one that's well known in Charlotte, so we're very honored to have you here.
Speaker 2:
Thank you, and let me give you a little clarification I'm not an interior designer.
Speaker 3:
Well, good, because you know what. That's what we were going to talk about first. Awesome, good segue. Why don't you tell us exactly what you do?
Speaker 2:
My company is Pippin Home Designs and I have a residential design business where I do something similar to an architect. I provide the plans for new homes and for renovations, primarily for waterfront and mountainside properties that are focusing on a view. So our tagline is award-winning homes with a view. And we've been in business now. I started this 38 years ago.
Speaker 3:
And I want to get to that in just a second, but before I do, I'd like to know how do people find you, or how do you find your customers and how do you market yourself.
Speaker 2:
So, because I've been in business for so long, the majority of my clients come to me by referrals. Okay, a lot are from builders, from interior designers, from real estate people, and we also advertise our business on Houzz H-O-U-Z-Z.
Speaker 3:
Oh yeah sure Love that.
Speaker 2:
And also on Pinterest.
Speaker 3:
Okay.
Speaker 2:
And then we are doing a few magazine articles and magazine advertising occasionally per year, and mostly it's you know our website and opportunities like this well, that's super cool.
Speaker 3:
And you said 38 years ago we pulled some information off. I believe is your website beautiful website beautiful homes it's stunning and your story is incredible. And it doesn't say this happened 38 years ago. But is this what happened 38 years ago to get you started? It happened in 1986. So tell the listeners exactly what happened and how you started, because this is going to wow people. It's crazy.
Speaker 2:
So I was living outside of Raleigh actually outside of Pittsburgh and Moncure out in the country and I was working in North Raleigh. And I was on my way to work one morning from Moncure to North Raleigh and I was run off the road by a driver coming into my lane and to avoid a head-on collision I went off the road and there happened to be a tall embankment on my side of the road. So my car hit that embankment and flipped end over end.
Speaker 3:
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:
There was a skylight in my car and I was thrown out the skylight and luckily was not crushed by the car, but I wound up in the ditch with my back broken in two places. Oh my gosh, when the ambulance picked me up, they thought that my neck was broken so they had me strapped to a board. I think it happened maybe three or four miles from where I lived and we had had a friend of ours spend the night with us that night and he left shortly after I did. So he came upon the wreck and saw them putting me into the ambulance, so he rushed back to our house and told my husband, and then they both rushed to the hospital to find me and I was taken over to Chapel Hill, which was the closest one to where we were living, and I was in there for nine days and I did not have surgery. They determined I did not have a broken neck but I did have a broken back, so they put me in a body cast.
Speaker 3:
Oh, it says for four months.
Speaker 2:
You had a body cast for four months, yeah, so the way to get home from the hospital was either ride in an ambulance, which was going to cost money, or we had a good friend who camped in a hearse, and so you rode home in a hearse. Oh my gosh, oh my goodness, I rode home in a purple hearse in a purple hearse love it and it had a license plate on it that said mod 80. Have you ever heard of the movie Harold and Maude oh?
Speaker 4:
I love that movie, oh my.
Speaker 3:
God, that's one of my favorites. I thought you were going to say the sitcom. There was a sitcom. Maude too wasn't there. There was, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:
My goodness, yeah. So they got me home in the hearse and because of the 90 degree turn in the hallway.
Speaker 3:
So we had to rent a hospital bed and I stayed in that front room in the hospital bed for four months Wow, which is absolutely terrible, but you used it to fuel an ember of an idea that has turned a new business. How did that start?
Speaker 2:
So I had started my business before this wreck happened. I was working part time on my own company while I was working full-time for a builder in Raleigh, so I had some client projects of my own to work on, and so, when this happened, friends of mine came over and took our drafting table and put wheels on it and adjusted it so that it could roll over my hospital bed.
Speaker 4:
That's amazing. Kind of like a hospital tray, yeah, when you get your meals and stuff like that, a bit like that, yeah, only much bigger, absolutely.
Speaker 2:
And so I was in this great room. It had the living dining kitchen all in one space, with a vaulted ceiling, a spiral staircase up to the loft and then windows all around. This was a passive solar house, so I was in the room. That was this south side, so I had all this wonderful natural light and view of the trees.
Speaker 2:
We're way out in the middle of nowhere in the country, in the woods, and so it was a wonderful setting if you had to be laid up, you know to have a great view and with that vaulted ceiling they were wood tongue and groove finish and I refused to count those wood slats in the ceiling the whole time I laid down there Really oh my God.
Speaker 1:
I did not want to know It'd become a horrible cycle. Yes, exactly.
Speaker 3:
And that experience you said you had started your business, but did that give you kind of a direction of what you wanted to do in the future? It really did, because that home did not accommodate somebody with a physical challenge the 90 degree turn to get the master bedroom, for example.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and this tiny little bathrooms and the little bitty spiral staircase to the loft is the only way to get up there. Things like that made me think about this. Home does not accommodate a person with a physical challenge.
Speaker 3:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
And this happened to me when I was 26 years old, so you don't have to be old to need a home that's accessible. And not only that, the fact that it was a passive solar home. I love the concept of that. I wondered why aren't people building passive solar homes all the time, you know, and here we are how many years later, we're still not doing it, but on a rare occasion.
Speaker 2:
But those two things intrigued me so much that once I was able to get back to living normally without a body cast, I was able to go back to my job. They did hold my job. I went back to school, I went to NC State. They had a healthy built homes program and they had a solar program and they had a renewable energy program. So I took all of those.
Speaker 3:
That's awesome that is. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and have been able to incorporate all of these concepts into my homes ever since.
Speaker 1:
So do you focus on accessibility now in your designs? Is that a major focus?
Speaker 2:
It's intentional, absolutely we do the wider halls and the wider doors and at least one accessible bathroom on the main floor. We make it visitable so if somebody living in the home doesn't need it accessible, somebody that's visiting them still can Right. And then we also incorporate either an elevator or an elevator shaft in every home so that you know you have a stacking closets with a knockout floor, you know just storage closets, and then if you ever need an elevator, you remove that floor and add the cab and you've got an elevator without having to do major transformations to your home to make it happen.
Speaker 3:
Certainly it accommodates folks with some kind of limitation, which is incredible. But even if you don't have a limitation, the wider hallway I mean, it's so elegant and it's so open and spacious you don't feel like you're cramped. It's all about the feeling.
Speaker 1:
It gives you a whole different feeling.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely, it really is. It really is.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it's different.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, people feel good in those type homes.
Speaker 3:
Yes, yes, well, that's cool. So in these, these like, what technology is embedded important? What are your clients asking for, maybe now that they weren't before, what are you seeing?
Speaker 2:
well, if they're not incorporating solar, they're incorporating conduit and pre-planning for solar. Okay for starters. And then they also want other technology, things like to be able to use their cell phone to operate window treatments and lighting and TVs or home theater all of that stuff. Lighting controls are big.
Speaker 3:
Has that changed over the years, say, maybe over the last five to 10 years? Has lighting control always been a big thing in your world, or is it something that you see more of?
Speaker 2:
now the years I've seen it kind of come and go, but most recently it's in more demand, absolutely, and incorporating the outside lighting as much as the inside sure because outdoor living is huge as well, absolutely take a moment to engage with us.
Speaker 1:
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Speaker 3:
We do a lot of lighting, both design and control. One of the things that I've always loved is the keypads themselves, so we call it wall acne. I don't know if that's an official term, but it's the one we use. Yes, and you know, you have a bank of kitchen's really the easy one where you got a bank of like six switches.
Speaker 2:
And nobody wants to see all that.
Speaker 3:
Nobody wants to see all that, yeah, so that's a focus when you design homes. That's an important thing. I'm asking, not telling yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:
The sooner you can bring in someone like yourselves to help integrate those things, the better.
Speaker 1:
When customers ask to incorporate that in their home, you think then hey, I need to go to an integrator. You don't think oh, let me look online. You approach an integrator to put that in their home.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, because that's not my forte and I don't want to try to incorporate things that I'm not familiar with. I'd rather bring in the professionals. I believe that bringing in more than you know, two or three heads on a project is going to give the client the best solution possible. So we like to bring in, you know, not only the builder and the interior designer, landscape designer, lighting integrators anybody that's going to help that client get the best end product is going to be a win-win Right.
Speaker 3:
This is an interesting thing too, not only bringing those folks in, but I'm curious how you do that from a timing perspective. You mentioned early on when I incorrectly called you an interior designer, and I apologize about that. So, you're almost more like an architect, and so do you find that, whether it's a landscape person or a audio video person or a shade person, are you bringing them in at the architectural level, like the design phase, or are you waiting until you know down the road a little bit?
Speaker 2:
It depends on the client and how interested they are in integrating their team. If you can do an integrated team from the beginning, it makes the project go more smoothly. A lot of times the client doesn't realize the importance of that and doesn't understand it when it's explained to them and they want to wait and see if they can figure it out, you know, through the builder or whoever the builder might recommend. So sometimes it's happening as the job is going up versus in the design stage. But if we can do it during the architectural phase it makes, I think, it easier for everybody.
Speaker 1:
Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2:
I'm sure easier for your team if it's oh man over the years it's certainly changed.
Speaker 3:
Used to be we were putting in speakers in some places, you know, or we're putting in TVs or or whatever. But now there's so many things, whether it's wi-fi and we have these access points, and where are you going to put those and what are they going to look like? And now we do small aperture speakers that are really small, they aren't as obtrusive, they're more aesthetically pleasing. The lighting design which you talked about. There's just so much that goes into what we do now. Window treatments yes, you know building something to hide them. And what does that look like? And how is that going to integrate with the design? Is it going to be this ugly box that just cut, you know, right up there, how do you do a soffit or a facade or whatever?
Speaker 2:
yeah, and that's something that we work through with the interior designer too, and how they're going to want it to look in the finished space, sure, and so you know, incorporating the electric as well as the hidden features, and how all of that's going to tie together with all the finishes in the end. It takes a lot of time to figure it out. Yeah, and planning is very important. Yes, it is. Yes, it is because you don't want to have to be ripping things out exactly later.
Speaker 3:
yep, it's going to cause more aggravation and costs down the line, and that's one of the things that we decided to do a couple of years ago was really focus on the higher end homes, and what I mean by that is not from just a dollar perspective but the details that's involved to properly plan and execute that. Like you were just saying, there's so many little things and so many people you've got to integrate with electrician, interior designer, you know, heating and air contractor, obviously, the GC, the architect. So we do have folks on staff that have time. That's their job is to make sure that whatever we have agreed to do, that we can do. And if there's there's always issues, there's always challenges, right?
Speaker 2:
And you're like.
Speaker 3:
Oh, oh, you know this header is in the way. How do we deal with that? But that's a real big deal here.
Speaker 2:
So and so you as a team prefer to be involved early on as well.
Speaker 3:
Oh gosh, yes.
Speaker 4:
Earlier the better, oh gosh.
Speaker 3:
We actually even offer some of our architectural partners we do the lighting design for them, like we'll offer to do that for them, and then they can include that as part of their package and we appreciate that. Yeah, yes, yes, we want to get away from the four cans and a fan yeah, yes, we do, and the six inch cans in the ceiling and that sort of thing. But what do you feel is important for you from a trusted partner, somebody that you work with? What is it you're really looking for out of that company?
Speaker 2:
To be a team, a team player. You know we work together to bring the best solutions for our client, and then you know finding whatever opportunities we can to incorporate fun things as well as useful functional things and things that will, you know, help them really make this home special.
Speaker 4:
Well, and also it brings up their confidence level too. You know if they've got a team that works well together and you have fun doing it, but you've got their best interests, then that makes them feel that much more special as well, and that makes their home that much special.
Speaker 2:
And it makes it fun for the whole process for them too, for everyone. It's a memorable experience. And then they recommend us.
Speaker 4:
And because building a home can be very stressful. Yes, it can. But I mean, I've built a couple of homes, but not to your size, but I've always enjoyed that process and you want to make sure that is enjoyable for your clients as well.
Speaker 3:
Yes, because it can be quite stressful. What else would you like our listeners to know about you and your team, your company, you in?
Speaker 2:
general. Well, my husband joined my company about eight years ago.
Speaker 3:
Love that.
Speaker 2:
No, actually, I think it's 10 years now. Yeah, it's been 10 years. He is formerly from the medical field. He was in the MRI field, wow and he did that for 28 years, so he has seen a lot of people who are not in great health, so he's well aware of how important it is to have a healthy home and an accessible home Right. So he brings a lot to the table from his experience and aspects, as well as being very artistic, and he went from taking pictures of people's insides to to taking pictures and photography. He's doing architectural photography and things like that, and then, when he joined my company, he learned how to do CAD. So he actually Nice.
Speaker 3:
We do that here too Nice.
Speaker 2:
So he takes my designs, which all originate on a drawing board, and then incorporates that into CAD.
Speaker 3:
So what's your?
Speaker 2:
husband's first name.
Speaker 3:
Wes, wes Shout out to Wes.
Speaker 2:
And then we also have a group of other people that do CAD work for us as well. Okay, yeah. And then we have a gal Friday and she does some of everything. Her fingers touch something of everything within our business and she writes our blog and she updates our website.
Speaker 3:
And every business needs a Friday.
Speaker 2:
Yes, and then she's also working with all of our prospects as they come in to you know field, whatever they need, and get them going in the right direction. Oh, that's fantastic.
Speaker 3:
How'd you find her?
Speaker 2:
We found her as a friend to start with.
Speaker 3:
Okay, yeah sure.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and we found out she could write, and then we asked her if she'd be interested in writing our blog.
Speaker 4:
And how much do you love her name? Oh, we love it. Everybody loves Friday.
Speaker 3:
I know I mean, everybody loves Friday. Who's named Monday? Who doesn't like Friday?
Speaker 2:
Her name is Jessica. Jessica is doing a lot.
Speaker 3:
Oh, I thought her name was Friday.
Speaker 2:
No, that's what I thought too yeah, Friday, but her name is Jessica.
Speaker 4:
Oh my God, I thought her name was Friday. Gotcha.
Speaker 1:
Okay, well, how did you get gal Friday?
Speaker 2:
That's a term that she chose because of all the things that she does for us. Yeah, All right. Very cool, and we have a social media gal and some other people on our team as well, so we have a lot going on.
Speaker 3:
Your online presence is very good, so I would highly thank the social media gal. She's doing a really good job.
Speaker 2:
it's beautiful awesome, beautiful, beautiful. We love what she's doing. We are unveiling a new logo for us.
Speaker 4:
Is this the logo you're talking about this?
Speaker 3:
logo. This will be on the cover of the podcast thank you, I know you were talking about that yeah, great, yeah, oh, that out, great.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, love it. Oh, that's beautiful.
Speaker 4:
It's got a view. Yeah, yes, it does.
Speaker 3:
And we always like to ask a few kind of fun things. To end up, andrew likes to take over we do At this point so Andrew.
Speaker 1:
Who is your favorite band or artist? What kind of music?
Speaker 2:
are you into?
Speaker 3:
You know classic rock and blues are my favorite give us some specifics, because I love both too. So when you say classic rock, who are you thinking like?
Speaker 2:
eric clapton yeah, eagles, doobie brothers, the rolling stones. So I actually fantastic.
Speaker 3:
This is great stuff. Yeah, I saw the doobie brothers live. I used to work for kenwood years ago and they did a concert for us, which was pretty cool. I didn't actually even like the doobie brothers. This is 15, 18 years ago. I was like, yeah, I know the songs. Whatever, those guys are insanely good musicians. I mean crazy. They still had michael mcdon then too, so he's got the incredibly iconic voice.
Speaker 2:
And I got to see him last November in Charlotte.
Speaker 4:
Oh yeah With the Eagles. Oh yeah with the Eagles. I was there too girlfriend, that was amazing.
Speaker 2:
It was an awesome concert, yeah.
Speaker 3:
Journey's my favorite band, but the Eagles are my second favorite band.
Speaker 2:
Oh, I love Journey too, yeah.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, the Eagles are unbelievable, Unbelievable. My wife who's here? You can meet my wife Back when we were dating. It was the Hell Freezes Over tour it was a huge deal right and I got tickets and at the time they were like.
Speaker 2:
I think they were like $150.
Speaker 3:
Now back then and I had no money, so this was. It was a big deal and Kristen may have broken up with me Aghast. I know that's ridiculous, ridiculous and it doesn't make any sense that's our design engineer. So kristin may or may not have broken up with me and I took a blind date who I have no idea her name anymore. I literally had to take a blind date to that concert it was awful. We have seen the eagles since then I was gonna say I hope you made it up to us exactly I did.
Speaker 3:
Well, this has been great. We really appreciate your time. The concept of what you're doing is incredible, folks. If you have not gone to jenny's website, like spend an hour, or you, thank you and it's p-i-p-p-i-n-h-o-m-e-d-e-s-i-g-n-scom, thank you, and you jumped the gun on how to do that?
Speaker 1:
is there any other social media? Is there anything you want to shout out before we head out?
Speaker 2:
yeah, you can find me on house and you can find me on pinterest and instagram well, instagram, you're all over instagram, yeah and we will have all of those in the show notes as well as links for folks.
Speaker 3:
So thank you go there.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely go check jenny out. Her work is amazing.
Speaker 3:
Thank you so much and a fellow wolfpack nation so that's right, that's right.
Speaker 1:
Well, thank you, jenny, for being here with us. We really appreciate it thank you.
Speaker 2:
I appreciate the opportunity to join you this evening thanks for joining us for Simplifying Life Through Technology.
Speaker 1:
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