Tuesday, December 16, 2008

First Impressions Are Everything

Everyone knows the saying that first impressions are everything. This is why we take pains to groom ourselves with extra care for first dates, interviews, meeting the significant other's family for the first time. This is also why, when it comes to our home, we make every effort to clean it when expecting company (or apologize when it isn't!).

A first impression that not many people think of though is the first impression a person gets when walking into your home for the first time. Half of HGTV's shows these days are all about this though. "Designed To Sell" and "Get It Sold" both are about the art of how a simple transformation can drastically improve the impression of real estate buyers.

The main staircase often gets overlooked as a potential makeover piece because people don't realize how dramatic the effect can be when it is completely redone. The stair treads, risers, and railing system of a gorgeous house can often look dinky in comparison to the rest of the beauty that is around you. If just the initial newel and fitting are changed, it is incredible the amount of impact you get for your buck. Take a look at these Before and After pictures to see what I am talking about.


This is the starting newel in my parents' house before they had their railing replaced and steps recrafted. They had a standard oak post-to-post starting newel, with a pre-assembled rake rail. The oak had faded over the years due to the exposure from the sun that comes directly into the main foyer.



In this picture you can see how the railing has been changed. The system has been changed to an over-the-post railing system, but keeping the rake pre-assembled railing system design. Looks completely different, eh? Stay tuned for some more pictures later on of how changing your stair and railings can change the look of your home.


Friday, December 12, 2008

Congratulations to our Stair Division

American Stairs & Cabinetry is the stair division of Signature WoodCrafters. Please see the press release below recognizing it's recent award.

Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

American Stairs & Cabinetry Receives 2008 Best of West Jefferson Award

U.S. Local Business Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement
WASHINGTON D.C., December 12, 2008 -- American Stairs & Cabinetry has been selected for the 2008 Best of West Jefferson Award in the Stair Builders category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA).

The USLBA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2008 USLBA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USLBA and data provided by third parties.

About U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA)

U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA) is a Washington D.C. based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USLBA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.

The USLBA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.

SOURCE: U.S. Local Business AssociationCONTACT:U.S. Local Business AssociationEmail: PublicRelations@USLBA.netURL: http://www.USLBA.net

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

New Enhancements to our website

We made a few changes to our Kitchen ReCrafting page on our website, www.signaturewoodcrafters.com. Check it out from this link!

Also, if you still don't quite get what ReCrafting is, think of it as a high-end cabinet refacing or kitchen refacing product - except our product runs laps around our competitors in terms of the quality of our ReCrafting product - for the same price!

The transformations have been pretty incredible and you should check out some of the slide shows on our Sample Projects page on our website. I will post some more later on! Stay tuned!

We'll also be posting more relevant and informational blurbs shortly - and if anyone has any ideas for posts, please pass them on!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

I Love HGTV

I have recently become enamored with HGTV and all of their various shows. From following first-time home buyers to people in desperate need for a kitchen makeover or general room makeover, it is a channel rife with creative and handy people. However when I am watching these shows, I often find myself wishing I was there with the homeowners to help them avoid the pitfalls/give them other options for the products that the various designers want to use - particularly when it comes to kitchens. I also believe that the designers ignore one of the biggest pieces of furniture in the home - the staircase - as a means to improving a home's appeal. But I believe that is because they don't have the stair knowledge of my company as well as our innovative stair recrafting product.

There was particularly one show that kitchen designer Lauren Lake did this past weekend that I was just yelling at the TV! She made these homeowners choose between a kitchen of cherry cabinets (!) with a dark stain versus a retro kitchen with cream-colored painted cabinets. I believe the homeowners should have been given an option to go with maple cabinets instead of cherry, because of the cost savings associated with maple v. cherry - choosing a cherry cabinet means you are choosing one of the most expensive cabinet wood options out there. Plus, Ms. Lake designed the kitchen with an optional wine cooler - why? I know a wine cooler appliance is "cool", but I really don't think that it would add that much more value to the home (maybe HGTV should get the "My House is Worth What?" people to assess!).

And in terms of the stairs - I believe that most of these designers just don't even want to touch stairs because of the fear of how costly it is to renovate stairs - which is a valid fear. A complete tear-out and renovation of a staircase would be very costly. But using our Stair ReCrafting products cuts out a third of this cost and adds a lot of value to a home, for only a few thousand dollars. Maybe HGTV needs a show that is all about stairs?

What about you? Are you addicted to HGTV? What's your favorite home improvement show?

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Some Helpful Stair Terms

In the stair and rail world, there are some common terms that we identify stairs by. You may think a stair is a stair or a railing is a railing, but there are specific terms for each of these parts. I will update with some more terms later, but to get started, here are a few basics.

BALUSTER - a vertical member which helps support the handrail. Usually referred to in colloquial terms as a "picket", "spindle", or plainly "railings". This is the most visible part of a railing system.

HANDRAIL - the horizontal or "rake" member of a balustrade (read, railing) system. It sits on top of the balusters and is supported by newel posts. It basically is the part of the railing system that you hold on to when climbing a set of stairs. In some Open Stair or Curve Stair ReCrafting jobs, homeowners are fine with their handrail and want us to save it, which we can do.

NEWEL POST - the major support for a balustrade (railing) system. Newels are larger than balusters and are located at the bottom and top of a stairway or at a turn in the handrail. In some cases, for a balcony rail, there are intermediate newels, depending on the length of the handrail. Newels can come in all shapes and forms, from a sturdy Box Newel to a delicate Pintop Model. If you replace your rails, you can choose from a variety of newel systems to enhance the look of your home.

TREAD - the horizontal component of a step upon which one walks. Prefinished, solid, hardwood oak treads are the hallmark product of Signature WoodCrafters Stair ReCrafting process. Unfinished treads can be bought at a Home Depot or Lowes, but the nosing for the tread does not come included and you will have to buy additional wood materials to making that nosing. Our treads come with the nosing already attached, for a simple slide in fit on top of your current stair's substructure.

RISER - the vertical component of a step which, along with the stringers, supports the treads. Commonly comes in a white finish or stained to match your prefinished oak treads. Most people think that they can get away with painting the wood substructure when they take the carpet off and put on a tread from Home Depot. What they fail to realize is not only are they two different types of wood with different grains, but you also change the height of the stairs when you fail to include a riser with your tread. Prefinished treads and risers solve that problem.

Again, just a couple of terms from the stair world. More to come soon!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Watch This Video!

Take a look at this video we made about our Cabinet ReCrafting product.



Monday, November 10, 2008

Curved Stair ReCraft

Check out this Curved Stair ReCraft and Rail Replacement project that we completed in Woodbridge, VA. The original handrail was kept for the project...




Some Kitchen Remodeling Tips

Are you thinking of remodeling your kitchen? Take a look at this article about a few tips before you start your remodeling project, and then visit www.signaturewoodcrafters.com to learn all about ReCrafting your kitchen!

by Leroy Calstard

Does your kitchen need a change? Are you ready to update the room where family and friends tend to spend the most time? Then go ahead and do it! A kitchen renovation is a great way to give your home an entirely new look and even...
Tips for Planning Your Kitchen Remodeling Project - http://wallys-workshop.com


Friday, November 7, 2008

Transforming a Renaissance Home Kitchen



Where Has the Time Gone?

Before you know it, it is almost time for the holidays and Thanksgiving is right around the corner! It has been a while since I update this blog, for which I apologize to everyone. But there have been many exciting things going on at Signature WoodCrafters, it has been hard to remember to stay in touch!

We participated in three home shows this past fall. One located in Germantown, MD, another at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, VA, and our final show was at Upper Marlboro, MD. We met many interested homeowners who seemed to be very interested in our products and took a lot of our literature, so hopefully that bodes well!

We also have completed a wide range of installs over the past months of kitchens, stairs, and rails and the results are frankly stunning. It is amazing to see some of these kitchens go from such eyesores to genuinely beautiful places. The stairs are even more amazing - you have no idea how such a transformation can completely change the appearance of your home! I will be publishing a few of these slideshows shortly so that people can see our beautiful products.

We have also made many updates on our website, www.signaturewoodcrafters.com, including our Sample Projects page. This page has turned into our best sales tool because of the fact that we list pricing estimates directly on the page. There are more enhancements that we need to do, as the kiss of death of a website is for it to remain static, but we are off to a fantastic start!

Stay tuned for some truly stunning before and after pictures!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

ReCrafting? What is that?

The hallmark product of Signature WoodCrafters is our exclusive ReCrafting technique for both Kitchens and Stairs.

This technique allows the homeowner to experience beautifully crafted products within their home for a fraction of the cost of complete replacements, remodels, or tear-outs. And not only is it a fraction of the cost, but it also takes less time to install than any of those home-improvement options.

Stair ReCrafting is a process that places solid hardwood treads and risers over the current sub-structure of your staircase. You can also replace the railings if you want, and it is actually recommended that if you have an open or curved staircase with the balusters sitting on top of the stair tread, that you do replace the railings.

Kitchen ReCrafting is comparable to the more common known techinque of kitchen refacing. Most homeowners that are happy with the layout of their kitchen, but want to update the look of their kitchen often choose to reface their kitchen. Refacing typically consists of changing the cabinet doors and drawer fronts with brand new doors and drawer fronts and applying a laminate tape veneer on all exposed face frames, both exterior and interior.

Where ReCrafting differs from refacing, is that we do not apply a cheap laminate veneer that will chip and fade over time. We use solid 1/4" hardwood moldings on your exterior face frame, while also replacing your cabinet doors drawers with solid hardwood doors and drawer fronts. For the same amount of money that you would consider spending on having your kitchen refaced, Signature WoodCrafters can provide you with a much superior product. A ReCrafted kitchen will typically take 1 to 2 days for installation, unless you include a countertop replacement, at which the lead time increases to 3-5 business days.

For more information on the benefits of ReCrafting, visit our website, www.signaturewoodcrafters.com!

Monday, April 28, 2008

Welcome!


Welcome everyone to the new Signature WoodCrafters blog!

It is only fitting that the new consumer-direct division of Signature Companies should have a voice that reaches out to its consumers - hence, this blog. We are looking forward to advancing the communication lines between us and our customers, and sincerely hope that this will provide a forum to do so. A bit of information about us:

As the tag line of our blog states, Signature WoodCrafters is the new consumer-direct division of Signature Companies, a 25-year old company that supplies cabinetry, stairways and railings, built-in cabinetry, and countertops to the Mid-Atlantic region. We are home of the new Stair and Kitchen ReCrafting - two products that separate us from your normal, run-of-the mill kitchen refacing/remodeling companies, and flooring companies that inadequately supply you with a hardwood solution to your carpeted stairs.

We have had some incredible success so far, participating in three home shows and launching several marketing campaigns throughout the Northern Virginia area. Check out these Before and After pictures from a couple of our completed jobs and contact us today at info@signaturewoodcrafters.com to find out how you can get a free, no-obligation estimate for our ReCrafting services! Be sure to visit our website also at http://www.signaturewoodcrafters.com/ for more information about our products!

STAIR RECRAFTING

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KITCHEN RECRAFTING

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