Biographies

Sue Pipal, ASID
Certified Interior Designer, California
NCIDQ

A whiz with color and charm, Sue loves integrating European antiques and old world styling into Tahoe homes.  Her clients want dressmaker details, elaborate tile, unique antique furnishings, beautiful window treatments and stylish fabrics.  While Sue loves the details, she always keeps the emphasis on comfort by designing rooms that offer plenty of luxurious seating, great lighting and easy livability.

As the owner of Dragonfly Designs, Sue supervises the retail store, manages the interior design business and runs our ongoing designer education program.  A regular attendee of trade shows and seminars related to the design field, Sue’s priority is to develop and maintain the highest level of professionalism in all the Dragonfly designers.  In weekly staff meetings, Sue, Shannon and an ongoing series of outside professionals present new industry information, preview the latest introductions and new materials, update Cad and drawing skills and pursue ongoing education and excellence.

Sue shops in Europe and all around the US for special furnishings and accessories both for clients and to stock the store.  As a result, Sue‘s clients’ homes often end up with the crème de la crème from her shopping escapades.  Sue loves nothing more than a client who has a strong vision for their home.  Whether that vision is inspired by the Yosemite Ahwahnee, an Austrian hunting lodge, a French farmhouse or an Adirondack fishing cottage, Sue loves putting together the fabulous collections of special furnishings and accessories that bring her clients dreams to life.

Sue works on client projects both in Tahoe and all over California.  In her former life as a resident of Los Angeles, Sue designed commercial office spaces for advertising agencies in Beverly Hills and Century City.

In her free time, Sue rides dressage at Tahoe Meadows barn, loves to ski and hike, and baby-sits her granddaughter Luna.  

“Comfort…it’s all about soft places to sit and beautiful lighting.”
-Sue

Debbie McAfee

If you love antiques and are looking for special, unique or hard-to-find pieces, meet Dragonfly Designs’ secret weapon, Debbie McAfee.  Debbie has been shopping for the store for the past seven years and has developed connections with hundreds of dealers and antique vendors throughout the United States and Europe.  An attendee at dozens of flea markets, auctions and antique shows each year, Debbie has developed an eye for quality stylish furnishings and accessories.  She is a master of the internet and can find virtually any antique item your heart desires. 

Whether you are hunting for old lodge and camp pieces, arts and crafts furnishings, Swiss wood carvings, fine French furniture or Indian blankets and baskets, Debbie knows who to talk to in order to locate the best of what’s available.  Debbie’s special skills have been helping us create exciting personalized interiors for our clients that are simply unlike anybody else’s.

Our clients love working with Debbie and you will too, if you choose to do so.  We simply give her a list of things we’re hoping to find for your project and Debbie starts emailing with fabulous choices.  Your job is to read your emails regularly and yea or nay!  Then just sit back and Debbie arranges the shipping, customs and delivery of your newest treasure. Some of our clients have put together remarkable collections and have had a wonderful time doing so.

Debbie has been busy raising three active young boys and working for Dragonfly Designs for the past ten years.  Prior to that Debbie ran a busy landscape design business.  A New York Master Gardener, Debbie studied landscape design at the NY Botanical Garden.  She has worked on projects in New York, Connecticut and California (including Lake Tahoe).  In the past year, with her boys demanding less of her time, Debbie has begun to add landscape projects to her work at Dragonfly Designs.    

Shanda McMahan

Shanda McMahan arrived in Tahoe this past winter from Alabama. She's learned to deal with snow, become adept at white-water river rafting, and has made friends with every dog in Tahoe. Shanda has a great big personality and keeps us laughing with her stories and jokes. Her clients love her big heart and her passion for their projects.

In Alabama, Shanda specialized in designing beach front houses. Now that she's here, it hasn't taken her long to ditch the aqua and shell motifs and figure out some great new ideas for our mountain decor. A former department store merchandiser, Shanda has tremendous flair and imagination. She is great with color and puts together beautiful textile combinations. She is very creative and thinks out of the box, always. Not afraid to roll up her sleeves, Shanda is the perfect person to hire for a day of accessorizing and consultation. Her merchandising magic brings a fresh look to everything she touches.

A former business owner, Shanda is a seasoned vet at design work. She was a regular at the Atlanta merchandise mart and design showrooms and knows home furnishing inside and out. Shanda is a wiz at finding great stylish pieces at affordable prices--great for rental homes. In Alabama her clients often asked her to design their homes from soup to nuts, even right down to the silverware & napkins!

Shanda is highly organized, full of energy, and has a great "get it done" mentality. Her warm personality helps her to get on well with contractors and vendors. Day in and day out, Shanda is a pleasure to work with. We feel very lucky she moved here to Tahoe and came to work with us. Her clients only need to meet her once to feel the same.

Kristen Boddy

We are keeping Dragonfly Designs fresh with our new younger members.  Already our best artist, Kristen is busy sketching drapery treatments like mad, drawing on AUTO-CAD and training to become a full-fledged interior designer.

Kristen studied studio art and art history at Hartwick College in upstate New York.  Although all the Dragonfly Designers are trained to draw and draft, we have been very impressed with how quickly Kristen has been able to translate her skills in watercolor painting, graphic designs and children’s book illustration to interior design.
 

With outstanding organizational skills, Kristen makes sure that our designs go from concept to reality as smoothly as possible.  She places orders, tracks shipments, measures for installations and, in general, does whatever it takes to keep projects on track and our clients happy.  Kristen devotes a good portion of each day to calling vendors to check on orders.   She regularly emails clients to give them a heads up on the status of items they’re waiting for.  Kristen’s clients are always reassured to know that things are moving ahead efficiently.   

A former ski racer from Maine, Kristen moved to Tahoe in 2003.   She spends her free time skiing, hiking with her dog, coaching girls’ lacrosse and planning her wedding (summer 2008).



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