Insider Insight for Easier Living
The second value enhancer we’ll be exploring of our You-Inspired Discovery Process discusses EASE and COMFORT! First I define Pippin-Performance Homes and how these homes can significantly enhance your life. Next, I discuss Functionality (link within blog) and why it’s vitally important. Then I offer a shift in perspective that can change the way you view the very definition of HOME!
How can we make your everyday living easier?

Everyone wants their lives to be easier, but few realize that ease can be designed into your home, and even fewer realize how economical an easier life can be. What if your home was designed to simplify tasks, control climate, improve your health and wellness, and reduce your utility bills? We refer to these highly capable homes as Pippin-Performance Homes and they are the homes of the future!
What are Pippin-Performance Homes?

Pippin Performance homes achieve all the aspects of a High-Performance home (energy and water efficiency, superb indoor air quality, durability, and money saving opportunities) in addition to creating unparalleled ease and comfort, with health and wellness as the central focus.

9 Homeowner Benefits of Pippin-Performance Homes
…these all provide an instant return on your investment, too!
- Peak Health & Wellness: superb air purification creates healthier indoor air quality, materials without toxins, plenty of sunlight, healthy spaces accentuate views of the natural surroundings.
- Enhanced Energetics: implementing feng shui practices, inviting positive chi energy, enhancing the way you FEEL in your home; balance, peace, calm, and joy.
- Increased comfort – stable indoor temperatures, fewer drafts and better humidity control, daylighting based on the path of the sun create feelings of comfort and happiness.
- Environmentally Friendly: considering eco-friendly materials, reduction in waste, longevity of construction methods, and a smaller carbon footprint.
- Lower Operating Costs: less expensive utility bills due to energy and water efficiency measures.
- Increased Home Value: instant return on investment through high quality of design, materials, and construction.
- Low Consumption of Resources: during construction AND throughout lifetime.
- Reduction in Repair Costs and Maintenance: using highly durable building materials and carefully considering the environment the home is built into, lawns require less weeding and watering.
- Accessibility: accommodates guests and/or residents with mobility limitations, ease for visitors of all abilities, age-in-place with grace.
And most importantly, it FEELS good to be in a Pippin-Performance home!

There are A LOT of options when it comes to building a Pippin-Performance Home. Check out this video (Net zero home video) to see the full potential of what an ultra high performing home can achieve and then read our article: Pippin-Performance Homes: Advantages, Options & Costs (link) to learn the full spectrum of what’s available to you.
Pippin Performance Myth Busting!
Q: Won’t a Pippin Performance Home cost a lot?”
A: Designers and builders are now able to find easily sourced materials and affordable solutions for homeowners. The increased demand for energy efficient homes has resulted in a spike in competition among suppliers, driving down costs for the consumer. Advances in technology have led to more efficient products, providing the homeowner with more options that fit into their budget. Though often times the initial cost of a Pippin Performance Home will be greater, the cost saving benefits quickly adds up to a lower total cost of ownership.
Pippin Performance + Functionality = Ease and Comfort
A Pippin Performance Home designed with highly functional living spaces is the key to living a life of ease and comfort in your new home.

What is functionality in home design?
Functionality in a home refers to the ability to easily perform daily routine actions. Your home is designed to meet your current daily needs AND your needs in the future without requiring costly up-grades or renovations. A highly functional home is practical, easy to use, allows you to age-in-place with grace, and way out-performs the average spec home.
Examples of functional design:

Ample Storage Space

Space For Free Movement

Drop Zone for shoes, keys, mail, etc.

A Built-In Place For Books

Screened And Covered Porches

Space for Furry Family
Why is functionality so important?
Designing functionality right into your masterplan can save you LOTS of hassle and money down the line, not to mention make your life as easy and comfortable as possible from the moment you move in.
How do you make a home functional?
It’s important to evaluate the intended use of each space in the home.
As part of our You-Inspired Discovery Process, we discuss how to create each room to serve your needs and desires.
3 questions for determining size and level of detail that goes into each room…
- How do you plan to use each room now and into the future?
- How much time do you plan to spend in each room?
- How many people will need to use the spaces, either alone or in gatherings?
Making a home functional means that the home works for all the people living in it and makes everyone’s lives easier.
Pro Tip: Incorporating rooms that have multiple uses can help avoid the costly mistake of building rooms that are rarely used.
Accessibility Creates Ease for Everyone
Accessibility refers to the home’s ability to accommodate guests and/or residents with mobility limitations. There are MANY ways you can plan accessibility into your home to make your and your loved ones’ lives easier. Stay tuned for a future blog on accessibility!
The specific requirements, needs, wants and desires of each homeowner will vary and this makes designing really interesting for us.
Thoughtful and careful planning of the everyday functionality of the spaces within your home will automatically result in a home that is comfortable and easy to live in. The elements of Pippin-Performance and Functionality incorporated in various ways will make your house truly a home.

What exactly does HOME mean to you?
The necessity of home is best highlighted by Abraham Maslow in his depiction of needs that every human is motivated to achieve. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (link to article) suggests that shelter is the most basic and fundamental need of every human; without which achieving safety, love and belonging, esteem and self-actualization are not possible.
If we shift our perspective of what HOME is, a world of possibilities become available, allowing the home to work in harmony with and enhance every aspect of our lives.
What I’m proposing is that your home, when designed appropriately for YOU and YOUR life, can actually help you achieve ease, comfort AND all your needs and desires.
To see more examples of how a YOU-Inspired home can support a YOU-Inspired life check out my article Home Meets Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (link).
We at Pippin Home Designs feel it’s our calling to use our skills in residential home design as the conduit through which clients are able to achieve self-actualization.
“Nothing brings us greater satisfaction than seeing our clients’ lives blossom into a deep state of joy, ease, inspiration and abundance.”
I intend you find ease, comfort and inspiration today and always.