Sunday, July 12, 2009

I Love a Parade

This year I was lucky enough to have pieces in 2 homes on the HBA Parade of Homes.....One was even unexpected!

The downside to one of these parade homes is that you have a hard end date for having the home complete. We finally got the dimensions for the countertop about a week before the parade was due to open. I suppose that when the framer or insulation contractor is installing their part of the home and they get delayed by a couple of days, they get hassled for taking too long, but it doesnt seem like the end of the world. But it just means that the concrete countertop guy doesnt get to have those days to do his job. And those days add up, one after the other.

Hence, when you show up to install your countertop and there are 3 additional trades and a TV news crew all invading the master bathroom where you are supposed to install the 4" thick tops, life really goes to a step more towards tense. This of course happens after everyone concerned with the job has called you many times to make sure you will be on time.

But despite nerves that were tighter than a guitar string, the install went well and we produced a product that we were proud of.

The installation consisted of a 9 foot charcoal colored dual vanity, with 2 elevated sections for the custom cast ramp sinks. the whole thing was made of my latest Eco-Lite Concrete (80% recycled content and half the weight of traditional concrete). Both ramp sinks included slot style drains.

The great thing is that i got to spend some time manning the room during the tour and I would estimate that 80% of the people stopped, looked closer and turned on the faucet....just to see the sinks do their job. That was very gratifying.

Also, we installed 2 custom COMBI benchs in that home. To my surprise, next door Threshold Interiors had teamed up with the Micheal Hsu Design Office and placed another COMBI bench on their porch!!!


No comments: