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Simplifying Life Through Technology
SoundVision LLC is a lifestyle technology company located in Mooresville, North Carolina. We interview vendors, clients and staff with the purpose of demystifying the capabilties of new technologies for your home or business and sometimes highlighting local content that is important to our community.
Simplifying Life Through Technology
Design Perspectives: Golf Simulator Rooms
On this episode of “Design Perspectives,” Mark, Andrew, and Jenny Pippin sit down to discuss Golf Simulators and Custom Home Features.
What if your home could become a legacy estate, captivating your family for generations to come? In the second episode of our Design Perspectives series, we delve into the exciting world of golf simulators with visionary designer Jenny.
Jenny shares her expertise on the rising demand for these innovative spaces, shedding light on why homeowners are increasingly drawn to them—whether it’s the allure of year-round golf after relocating from warmer climates or the desire to create irresistible family amenities. She walks us through her thoughtful design process, emphasizing the importance of room placement and ensuring enough headroom for an authentic golf swing experience.
But the conversation doesn’t end there. Jenny reveals how custom home features, like golf simulators, are redefining modern living. We explore her creative solutions for designing multifunctional spaces that cater to client needs, from luxurious kitchens to trending barn dominiums. She also touches on the technological advancements that are transforming golf simulators into more than just entertainment, making them valuable tools for honing skills.
Join us as we uncover how Jenny collaborates with homeowners to bring their creative visions to life—turning houses into homes that are as functional as they are enchanting. This episode is packed with inspiration, practical tips, and forward-thinking ideas that ensure your home remains a hub of connection and joy for years to come.
To learn more about Pippin Home Designs:
https://www.pippinhomedesigns.com/
Check out Pippin Home Designs on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/pippinhomedesigns/
To learn more about SoundVision:
https://www.svavnc.com/
Check out our Instagram to see our recent projects:
https://www.instagram.com/soundvisionllc/
To listen to more “Simplifying Life Through Technology” podcasts:
https://open.spotify.com/show/7fIkJuLZ7lZ8xbafz62muQ
Contact Us Today: (704) 696-2792 Ext. 1 | Info@svavnc.com | soundvisionlkn.com
Welcome, Jenny. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for having me back.
Speaker 1:I love being here we love having you.
Speaker 3:So we decided we're going to do this series with Jenny on her designs and her homes and things that people are interested in ask about and that sort of stuff, that kind of bridge, that technological gap. And we asked Jenny for some ideas and the first one that she came up with I would not have thought of and that was a golf simulator room oh, the women are all going crazy right now.
Speaker 1:I almost hit eric's stupid, it doesn't make sense oh my goodness.
Speaker 3:So tell us about that.
Speaker 2:Tell us about golf simulators and the requests that you get for that so I'm recently have had probably three or four in a row of homeowners asking me to incorporate a golf simulator somewhere in their space, and the wives are going what do you want? What they?
Speaker 1:don't even know this exists, You're putting that room.
Speaker 3:Are these folks? Are they moving from somewhere where you know maybe they're moving up from a warmer climate and now they wouldn't be able to play all year long? Are they looking to improve their game? Do they tell you that kind of stuff Like why?
Speaker 2:Some of them are definitely moving from one climate to another.
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 2:You know that want to be able to do it year round, and some of them are just looking to add as many fun amenities in their home as possible so that they can keep all their family there.
Speaker 3:You know what? I am so glad you brought that up. We just did an episode on theaters with you and I remember years ago I was designing a theater for family and it was a big room. It was a huge room in their basement and I was like you know, it really doesn't have. We don't have to take up this much space if you don't want. And they said no, we want to be the house that all the kids come to exactly, and I hear that so often I had never heard it before.
Speaker 3:That, and what a great thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's cool okay, yeah, for for not only now but, you know, future grandkids, because they're planning for those grandkids, right?
Speaker 1:well, that's like with a lot of these um technologies and things we put in our home it is planning for the future. I feel like that's very common in your designs you're not just planning for the first year of build. You want it to last a lifetime yeah, it's a legacy.
Speaker 2:It really is a legacy estate well in the golf simulator.
Speaker 3:If you have, uh, sons and I don't I'm not trying to be sexist here, but if, but stereotypically, if you have sons and as they get older and you want them to come back like I have 21 year olds so and I want them to come back, golf simulator would definitely be attractive.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a drawing.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'll go visit mom and dad.
Speaker 3:So tell me more about them. So like room designs or and, by the way, is this in the, in the design phase, like we haven't broken ground or anything right, that's correct.
Speaker 2:This is in the initial conceptual design phase, when I'm just coming up with the ideas for how to lay out the house. It's where is? Where is this room going to go where? Where can we fit it? That you know. Number one, we're all, almost always, on a view of something you know waterfront or mountainside. So is this room going to be in a space that has a view which most often it does?
Speaker 3:And then wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and then it is it where is there enough space?
Speaker 3:that we can also have the headroom that's required Right Explain what that is, just for customers or listeners that may not know.
Speaker 2:So for the headroom itself, we need something that a room that's going to be tall enough where the person that's actually swinging the golf club can be standing up and swing the club and have plenty of clearance for that golf club to swing and not hit the ceiling.
Speaker 3:Which typically makes these rooms a little odd, because the ceilings are taller than almost anywhere else in the house, right? Yes, which then means the thing if there's something above it, if we're not going into an attic space, then that means that something above it's got to be like sunken living room. You got to take that intoken living room, or so you got to take that into account too yes, yeah, much like the home theater having a sunken floor.
Speaker 2:We have to have a room that way or we're going into really steep roof pitched attics oh interesting yep, and two of them are going in that location right now so let me back up just a second.
Speaker 3:When, when a customer comes to you, uh, and they sit down with you and they've, you're talking about just a uh, a dream like they don't, you don't really have anything yet, right, and you're just doing like a wishlist. Hey, give me the things that you have to have in this house, is that?
Speaker 2:how it works. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. We have a checklist, you know, as they're talking through all the things that that they are dreaming of having in their home, I am making a list, I'm taking right down everything they're telling me. I'm very good listener. I also have a design questionnaire 26 page design questionnaire that they have to fill out for us as well, which ask questions like that too. So we go through the questionnaire and then I'm adding notes and so I have a really thorough picture of what it is that they're desiring, as we're looking at their site and we have a land survey there, yeah, and so we're looking at that and we walk the site too. But so, as we're walking through or talking through the things that they want, and I'm beginning to visualize how these spaces can start to to morph and work together and thinking about what level would it go on?
Speaker 2:You know, some people that just want a one level house, yeah, and then some people that would love a one-level house, but their lot isn't big enough.
Speaker 3:Yeah, or if it's on a mountain, kind of hard.
Speaker 2:And often they're on a slope and we always have to have a basement on the sloping lots. So typically when we're in that situation it's going to be in the basement.
Speaker 3:Okay, okay. And so when you go through this and people ask, people are listing the things that are most important to them, like what's, what's forget, technology, just for a second, what are the most common things that they bring up? Like almost immediately the kitchen, kitchen.
Speaker 2:Yep, the wife, you know. It's got her what she wants for the kitchen. Sometimes it's the husband, you know sure um I've designed a home for a number of chefs and um and, and then know the living space and the master suite, the garage, the garage yes.
Speaker 3:We need to do a show entirely on garages. I am a garage geek. Yes, oh my gosh. And how many garages, yes.
Speaker 2:Not just how many bays in one garage, how many garages.
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 2:Often we have a detached as well as an attached. Yeah, and maybe a drive-through, port co-share and a motor court and those sorts of things, because we have a lot of clients that have multiple vehicles and collections and that sort of thing that we have to accommodate.
Speaker 3:Right, that was one of the reasons I wanted to bring this up, which, again, is a little bit outside the scope of what we're talking about with golf simulators. But for customers that might be listening, or potential customers for you that might be listening, those kinds of things chef kitchens, multiple garages for you know, sport car garage or the workshop garage or the whatever garage right that that you take that into account. And if you want a golf simulator bringing it back, uh, you take that into account. Yes, and if you want a golf simulator bringing it back, uh, you take that into account too. So, uh, when you said you said a lot of times that's a room that does have a view.
Speaker 2:It often is because we're trying to lay out all of the spaces to take advantage of the view as much as we can, and sometimes it winds up in a location like above a garage. Okay, that's got a steep pitched roof and tall enough to put this golf simulator in. It's got dormers onto that lake view.
Speaker 1:Okay, oh, that's very cool yeah.
Speaker 2:Now. Another thing we're doing is designing barn dominiums.
Speaker 1:Those are becoming so popular, popular.
Speaker 3:I actually wonder if that's the case all over the country. I'm probably naive, it probably is, but I think it is.
Speaker 2:It's become huge here. But we also put golf, golf simulators in those spaces, sure, they're often clear.
Speaker 3:Two stories that's probably a lot easier yes, a lot easier lot easier.
Speaker 3:We actually did or Zach did a design. A couple years ago we had a customer that had a very specific request. He wanted a golf simulator and a theater. So we did a room that had both. We had two projectors, two screens. There was a screen six foot in front of the, the golf simulator screen was back, and then there was a theater screen that would come down out of the coffer, motorized and it was six feet in front and it was uh, you know it was a bit of a compromise because those two rooms don't totally work together, but uh, it was incredible. He designed everything and it worked out pretty amazing. Um, but golf simulators nowadays are very, very popular and just people may not know that in almost every doesn't matter of full swing or there's a bunch of different ones. But, um, no matter the manufacturer, there's a lot of extra games in there too. You were talking about it's not only golf simulators. Now, you were just saying there was another customer that wanted uh, one that's working with a gun and shooting clay pigeons yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And so there's there's that out there too, there's soccer, there's football, there's like all kinds of different things that that can be done to enhance the experience and not just be golf, primarily golf, but not just be golf.
Speaker 2:And I think then that makes that space more functional for the entire family. Yes and not just the golfer, that's right.
Speaker 3:Especially with little kids or grandkids or something like that. It makes it more fun if you can do something like that.
Speaker 2:And then it makes more sense for you know somebody that that this is sort of a specialty item. But you know my whole family can now come in here and enjoy it with me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, another added extra family space.
Speaker 3:And for the golfers out there that haven't researched this, the level of these things are incredible. I mean, there's leagues all over the world and you can play every course that there is. Yes, you have to pay for it, but if you want to, you know whatever, you want to play Carnoustie, you want to play Pebble Beach, you want to play wherever, like, you can play all those and they have been depending. There are levels of these, depending on the level you get. They have incredible players, metrics for actually improving your swing, improving, oh my gosh, it goes so deep into how to uh, how to, you know, be a better golfer so you can literally train off season anytime.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, cool that's. That's a really good bonus to it. You know to to get the training opportunities absolutely, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:So have you done any any really cool ones that you said? You have three that you're working on right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of them has sort of a racing theme.
Speaker 1:Oh, there's a good one. We didn't bring that up. That's another one. Racing simulator yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, and because we're, of course, in Race City USA.
Speaker 3:We are, that's very popular Makes sense that's very popular makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yes, have you been on one of those, have you?
Speaker 3:actually sat on a racing simulator. Yeah, do you get motion sickness? Yes, again, people that have maybe have not done this. When you say racing simulator, I mean it is incredible how real it is. Yeah, you're driving a car just on the floor instead of on the on the ground.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, yeah, and I've done the richard, petty driving experience too. Oh yeah, really, yeah, yeah, it's really yeah what? How fast did you go?
Speaker 1:only 132 oh, only 132 that was clean fast enough that is super cool.
Speaker 3:So are you a car nut, do you like?
Speaker 2:Well, I used to go to all the races here in. Charlotte and I followed NASCAR for a long time and I had a number of clients you know and people would ask me you know who? Who are you rooting for? And it's like whoever I'm working with right now.
Speaker 3:So I'll tell you, we had a lot We've done a lot of racing folks, um, and I had the very first simulator we did. I had, uh, it was a very well-known driver and I set it up for him and it was at the time it's a long time ago and the networks was actually the the limiting factor because they weren't that fast yet. So uh and he was training, they were going to Phoenix, and so we literally had the team download his car into the simulator, exactly how it was going to be set up, so that he could practice, so that he would know how his and he could make changes. That's super cool.
Speaker 3:So, we're in like an upstairs bedroom in his house. It's just me and him and I'm driving the car Like he goes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, get in the city and drive the car, so I'm driving the car.
Speaker 3:He goes yeah, get in the city and I'll drive the car. So I'm driving the car and I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. I go around a couple times and he's like dude, are you going to go past like 60 miles an hour?
Speaker 1:Oh my.
Speaker 3:God.
Speaker 1:Even on a simulator that was funny.
Speaker 3:And then one more quick story. Matt and Katie Kenseth were customers and I'm only bringing up his name because it's pertinent to the story Um, and and really good folks, uh, we, one night I had my boys I have twins, michael and Matthew, um, that were with me. This is years ago, they were really little and we went to a grocery store here in town. It was at night, we had to, we were picking up ice cream or something. And we're walking through the thing and Matt's there, and he's there by himself, he's wearing a hat, he's got to kind of pull down, and at the time I was, uh, I, I was a soccer coach at YMCA and his daughter was there, so he always called me coach.
Speaker 3:So we're walking down the aisle I didn't even notice him. And he says, hey, coach, and I look up and I'm like, oh man, look, what's going on, you know. And I shake his hand and there's nobody else in the aisle and he meets my boys and whatever, and he leaves and my son looks up and he goes man, I like racing. I said really, I didn't know you like racing. He goes, yeah, and he's my favorite driver and I went are you kidding me? I didn't even know this. Like I wish I'd have known five minutes ago. And I go. What makes him your favorite?
Speaker 1:driver His name's Matthew.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh. Anyways, we got off topic. Well, that's very cool, so have you done any racing simulators yet?
Speaker 2:No, but I would like to yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:They're really cool. I think that would be very cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, this is cool. I mean, if people are interested in golf sims or racing sims or any kind of sim. Um again, reach out to jenny for for any kind of design tips or if you are working with her. She can do it and we can help provide that too that's right.
Speaker 2:Gotta be a team with sound vision, that's right teamwork makes that dream work. That's right all right guys so thanks again, thank you till next time.
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