Web start-up Doodle looks to reinvent interior design

First Doodle Home helped make the interior of the M@dison Theatre Building what it is today, then the Livonia-based web start-up moved into it this fall.

Jennifer Gilbert, a full-time mother and entrepreneur, started the 2-year-old firm after noticing that the interior design industry wasn't keeping up with the technology of the day. It was antiquated from the way it handled its administration to how it made design available to both suppliers and designers.

"I thought there had to be a better way," Gilbert says.

She and one employee turned the idea into a website that is a design destination for residential interior design that facilitates both manufacturers looking to sell product and designers looking to create the perfect living space. Today the company employs 10 people and plans to continue to grow its user options and staff over the next year.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the team doubled," Gilbert says.

Doodle Home is a member of the Quicken Loans family of companies (Gilbert is the wife of Quicken Loans Chairman Dan Gilbert) and was working at the corporation's old Livonia offices before moving to the M@dison Theatre Building. Doodle Home helped design the interior of the recently refurbished building overlooking Grand Circus Park, working hand in hand with Nuemann/Smith Architecture.

Source: Jennifer Gilbert, founder of Doodle Home
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.