Episode 15 - Rachael of Penny and Pearl Design
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Rachael Gendrolis is a mother of three and owner of Marshfield-based Penny and Pearl Design. Rachael has always had a passion for interior design and is known among her friends and family as the go-to for design and style advice. For Rachael, beautiful design is about transforming a space into a true reflection of her client’s personality. Her offerings and services include styling, sourcing, full-room design projects—and pretty much anything you can dream up, she’ll make it happen.
HER BACKGROUND
Rachael talks about her background and growing up on the North Shore and going to the University of Connecticut with a degree in Marketing. She worked in tech sales and loved it but wasn’t as passionate about IT and ended up joining a buyer development program with a major local retailer. After she had her daughter she started working from home and eventually started Penny and Pearl Design. Rachael is still working with her corporate retail job but has loved diving into her passion of interior design and has been excited to see Penny and Pearl grow. She stresses that having those people that you know you can count on for help has been so important to her as she balances career, kids and passion.
PERSONALITY & STYLE
Rachael talks about working with clients and being able to work with people from all across the country. She always starts by trying to understand what her client’s vision is, how they’ll use the space and what their style is. She likes to understand what makes someone tick and tries to focus on a piece in their home that she knows their client already loves and to run with that and build off of it.
INTERIOR DESIGN TOOLS
Rachael talks about being in the testing phase for her design and mood boards and talks about how things have changed and shifted over the years but that one tool that has stuck with her throughout the years is Pinterest. She talks about how helpful it is as a business tool and how it can sometimes be overlooked.
PIECES WORTH INVESTING IN
We discuss Rachael’s look for less series and talk about investing in certain pieces versus not. Rachael suggests not necessarily investing in the really trendy pieces that may change and to focus on places like Target for those. We talk about really knowing when to invest by seeing how long you think about the piece and that if it sticks with you for a period of time to save up for it. We also discuss life stages and how that affects the pieces you bring into a home and how she works with her clients.
DESIGN TIPS & TRICKS
Rachael talks about interior design being all about what makes you feel really good in a space and taking that one piece that makes you feel really good and building from there is a fool proof recipe for designing a space that you love. We also talk about the patience that you need to have with a home and designing a space and how easy it is to have house-envy when looking on social media. Rachael stresses that just because something is staged a certain way doesn’t mean that the entire home is perfect.
THE COLLECTIVE CO. VIBE
Rachael and I jump into The CC space and she describes it as fun, fresh, modern, airy and a space that you really want to be in. She talks about the feeling that she gets when she walks in and already being able to feel the support of the community even though we haven’t opened doors yet. We talk about making sure that the space feels like an extension for everyone and how that has been a unique design challenge. We also discuss the challenge of having items that we want in the space versus items that we need to have in the space. Rachael talks about making sure that it felt collaborative and comfortable and that each piece was also functional. We also wanted to make sure that the furniture would last and hold up with the use and general wear that it will receive.
Rachael and I also discuss the importance of bringing in the smaller items and giving The CC that homey vibe. She calls this stage the icing on the cake, the final touches that pull everything together and make the space feel comfortable and beautiful. She talks about bringing in pieces that are meaningful to myself and will really elevate the space and how unique it is as a coworking space dedicated to women. We also discuss bringing in art from local artists and how important it is to us to tie local aspects into the space. We talk about the textural layers and special touches that we’ll be bringing into the space.
links + resources
WHERE TO FIND RACHAEL
GET INSPIRED
Book Club Recommendation: make life beautiful
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