A K&B designer for The Home Depot parlayed her own renovation journey into a career, and is among a handful of NKBA members to earn all eight NKBA Specialty Badges.
By Dianne M. Pogoda
Megan Kyper, a kitchen and bath designer for about three years at The Home Depot in Johnstown, PA, is proof that sometimes the best education comes out of personal experience.
After starting her career path in a pre-pharmacy college program, she decided to pursue a field she was more passionate about — interior design — and switched schools. She graduated from Indiana University of
Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design in 2007. She found a job as an associate design technician at Peoples Natural Gas, handling permitting, applications, and some drafting/design work when needed — but it still wasn’t her passion. Then a friend told her about an opening at The Home Depot for a kitchen designer, so she went for it.
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After living on her own for 10 years and working for the gas company, she bought her first home in 2017, and spent the next two-and-a-half years renovating it.
“It was a foreclosure and needed a complete gut job, which I knew when I bought it,” she recalled. New electrical, new plumbing, new roof, new heating system, insulation — new everything. It was the first time since I graduated with my interior design degree that I really put my education to full use.”
Granted, she was the go-to person for friends looking to rearrange rooms and pick out paint colors, she said, but the renovation helped her learn how to maximize space planning, figure out where light switches, outlets and plumbing would go, what flooring was best, budgeting for a budget, how to work with contractors, schedule trades, adjust the floor plan, deal with delays — everything she needed to succeed in real-life client situations.
“You learn about different products that you maybe otherwise wouldn’t have heard of,” she added. “It’s important in the kitchen and bath industry — or any profession, really — to know that you aren’t going to have the answer to every question and every problem that arises. You need to lean on others and welcome their expertise throughout a project. And that’s OK. And perhaps that also helped reignite that spark when I walked into The Home Depot in search of a change.”
The Pennsylvania native, who is a member of NKBA’s Pittsburgh Tri State Chapter and also coaches high school tennis, spoke with NKBA about her journey and motivation in earning all eight Specialty Badges.
What are your specific job responsibilities?
I really am involved in the entire project from start to finish — consultation, design, sales, and in some cases, the install. Some customers want stock cabinets, while others are looking more for a semi-custom to custom look. Really getting to know your customer’s needs is so important. Some already have an idea of layout and just want to replace what’s there. Others need help with making a few subtle changes and seeing the visual, while others need help with a whole makeover that involves moving appliances, plumbing, and electrical.
The follow-up to any project is equally as important. Allowing your customer to give you feedback on all aspects of the project lets them feel that they are important to you as a client, and their project is more than just a sale to meet monthly numbers.
I love that every project is different. This is my first retail job, and though some days are very taxing, seeing the finished project and hearing from your customer how much they love their new space makes it all worthwhile. With some projects, it takes a couple of revisions to really get what the customer wants. Much like a tennis match, that ball can go back and forth several times before you accomplish the task at hand. It’s important to never give up, continue listening to your customer, and make changes until you get exactly what they’re after.
What drove you to earn all eight badges?
Our industry changes constantly. Once I started at The Home Depot, the one training course I was required to take mentioned the NKBA and the badge program, so I looked into it. It seemed like a great refresher on industry topics, so I thought, ‘Why not?” I would gain better knowledge of this industry, in which I hadn’t been active in almost 15 years. I spoke to my management, told them what I wanted to do — on my own time — and they were grateful that I was taking the initiative to further my knowledge, so The Home Depot reimbursed me for the cost of the badges.
What were the easiest and toughest badges to earn?
The toughest badge for me was Sustainability. Being green wasn’t nearly as important 2007 as it is now…so there was a lot of information I never knew. The easiest was either Color or Remodeling. I have always loved color and am forever amazed at the number of shades and tones of each color. Remodeling was easy because I have always been a hands-on learner. I helped my dad remodel the bathrooms and kitchen in our family home, and of course, there’s the full remodel of my own home.
What advice do you have for anyone else thinking about earning all the badges? Absolutely do it! You can do them on your own time (I literally did one at 1 in the morning because I couldn’t sleep!) and you get to expand your knowledge for a fraction of the cost of college courses. Why wouldn’t you do it? And if you’re looking to maybe take the CKBD exam, but have been out of studying and coursework for a while, what better way to use the badge program as a stepping stone?
What’s next for you professionally?
I am currently studying for NKBA’s Certified Kitchen & Bath Designer exam. For right now, I am happy at The Home Depot. Once I get through the Certification, we’ll see how life shakes out. It has a funny way of surprising us sometimes!
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Just 34 NKBA | KBIS members have earned six or more Specialty Badges, with an elite six members earning all eight. Current badges include Floor Plans & Specifications, Lighting, Cabinetry, Sales & Marketing, Sustainability, Remodeling, Universal Design, and Color. Badges cost $199 apiece for the study materials and testing, and NKBA periodically offers special promotions that give members discounts. For more information about the badges, visit NKBA.org.
