Month: January 2020

BiFold Doors are a Space Optimizing Must-Have

Glass Door Solutions

Whether you’re a homeowner looking to optimize your interiors, or a designer/architect looking to craft the most user-friendly dwelling for your clients, a must-have staple of any home are space-saving view-enhancing bi-fold doors. These sliding doors are a fantastic hybrid of sliding doors with an added element of European flourish. Combined with traditional “French doors” or “patio doors” these bi-folding doors meld both designs into one. The result? A beautiful aesthetic and seamless design allowing for flexibility and ease of use.

Also known as “Concertina doors”, these chic and modern bi fold glass doors fold back on themselves in an accordion-like manner, optimizing space and adding intrigue and innovation to any spatial barrier. Being the creative design they are, these sliding doors date back to as early as the 1st century AD and were excavated amongst the remains of Pompeii. People of the past had engineered bi-folding doors almost exactly like how we see them now. Although they exclusively used wood rather than glass, this door design has stood the test of time. Below are some of the best ways to integrate bi-folding doors into your home.

Closets

If you’re like most people, you don’t have a tidy closet. Most likely, there’s a whole lot of junk and unorganized chaos lying behind those ominous closet doors. This hectic corner of your room (and life) deserves a fair bit of visual obstruction. While front opening closet doors seem to be the norm, why not install glass bi-fold closet doors to effectively optimize precious space and employ a bit of creative design in the process? With our innovative anti-finger pinch system, you won’t ever have to worry again about you or your child crushing a finger. Safe, sturdy and aesthetically pleasing, these bi-fold doors are the perfect closet upgrade you need.

Kitchen Pantries

Most often used for kitchen pantries, these sliding panel doors offer an easy space-saving solution perfect for small spaces such as food pantries and kitchen cabinets. Because they stack into panels, you don’t need to worry about cumbersome doors opening up into your kitchen space and taking up valuable room. Especially during heavy foot traffic experienced when cooking for large dinner parties or holiday meals, there is simply no room for normal front opening pantry doors. This is a must-have solution for the kitchen.

Laundry Rooms

Much like a bathroom or kitchen, laundry rooms are another territory of the house that are almost always designed without enough space. Tucked into some unassuming corner of the home, the laundry room is typically overflowing with clothing, extra items, cleaning products, and sports equipment. The last thing you want is to let this smorgasbord become visible to the rest of the house. Not only unsightly, but laundry rooms need some healthy spatial separation that will offer sound reduction and smell containment. Bi-fold glass doors work exceptionally well to offer the necessary barriers while appearing modern and visually appealing. Offered in an array of varying glass opacities, these folding doors are the solution for every home.

Living Rooms

Bring the outside in, with vast and sweeping bi-fold glass doors that allow for entire walls to be a visual opening to the other rooms in the house. Because we are creatures of comfort and we value our cozy spaces, we enjoy having the option to turn big sweeping floorplans into smaller, more snug nooks. We tend to feel safer and more enveloped in a smaller space. Interior bi-fold doors accomplish just that. Perfect for parties and entertaining, these doors craft a breezy solution for opening or closing interior rooms. Effortlessly expand or contract your interiors, and make the most out of your home.

With these simple yet effective considerations and upgrades to your home, you’ll be on your way to dominating your interiors. For more space optimizing solutions and inspiration, visit The Sliding Door Company to browse our online viewing catalog and Get A Free Quote from one of our team members to start your upgrade today!

Spring Cleaning and Clearing

Glass Door Solutions

Spring is just around the corner, and what better way to welcome in the change of the season than to start thinking about some healthy Spring Cleaning! This type of spatial clearing is a great way to rejuvenate the energy of your interiors, physically polish your spaces, reduce your unwanted and burdensome clothing and material items and set your home up for summer. This can tend to feel like a big scary project, one that you can’t see yourself undertaking this season. It doesn’t have to be so cumbersome, and that’s why we’ve crafted a few helpful tips straight from the experts in space optimization to guide you through your Spring Cleaning transformation.

1.Have You Seen My…?

The first task on your list is to clear. Tackle your living room, bedrooms, and especially your closets. Identify what items you want to keep, and then those that you think you can safely let go of. A good trick is to take everything out of your closets, lay it out on the floor, and then go through each piece of clothing, your shoes and stowed away items and ask yourself if you seriously need it. Marie Kondo famously refers to this as “what items spark joy?”. If you can’t live without it, put it in the “keep” pile. On the other hand, if you find yourself realizing that you haven’t worn or used the item in a year or so, it’s probably time to let it go. Put it in the “give away” pile. Your “give” pile should consist of different categories, such as:

Recycling
Goodwill/Salvation Army
For Friends
Garage Sale
Landfill

After you’ve successfully categorized your items, move the “give” items into the garage where they won’t continue to clutter your space. Make a note to spend an afternoon dropping all of these items off at their different locations. This first task on your five-step list has just effectively cleared up a lot of space in your home to be able to reorganize the remaining items, clean and rejoice in your fresh space.

2. Hand Me The Broom!

The second chore is, you guessed it… to clean! For this next task, you’ll want to thoroughly check your cleaning supplies arsenal and pick up anything from the store you may need before diving headfirst into the mayhem. You don’t want to begin your cleaning extravaganza and realize that you need more sponges, bleach cleaner or Swiffer wipes.

What you’ll need:

Vacuum
Sponges
Rubber gloves
Windex/glass cleaner
All-purpose cleaner
Tile bleach/cleaner
Wood polish
Swiffers wipes
Dusters
Broom

Once you have everything you need, start to systematically move through each room in the house until it’s all done. Some key places and things you’ll want to scrub and freshen include:

windows, carpets/rugs, doormats, the kitchen, microwave, stovetop, silverware tray, “junk drawer”, hard-to-reach corners, desks, doorknobs, bathroom mirrors, sinks, under beds, to name a few.

We suggest putting on some fun music and taking necessary snack breaks to make the process more enjoyable. It’s more of a marathon than a race, better to lean into the experience than away from it.

3. Now, We Organize.

Now that you’ve scrubbed, scraped and deep-cleaned every possible nook and cranny in your house, the time has come to organize. Because you already did the preliminary clearing of unwanted items, you just need to creatively organize what’s left. Sometimes, its easier to organize when you have some novel inspiration to get the process started. A good way to transform your closets, for example, is to replace your drab closet doors with fresh milky glass closet doors. Mirrored doors enhance and amplify natural light throughout the room, while also serving a wonderful dual purpose- disguising the unsightly mix of clothing and personal belongings while providing floor length mirrors for you to enjoy. Our decorative closet doors come available in a variety of glass opacities- from mirrored, to translucent or more opaque. Choose from accessory options and panel configurations to customize your sliding doors specifically for your home.

Now that you have a fresh take on your closets, you can carry on organizing the rest of the closet. Fold and hang up clothing, make sure that your most used items are within easy reach and accessible, and most importantly- don’t leave clothing haphazardly cast to the closet floor.

After you finish organizing your closets, move to the remaining rooms in the house.

4. Laundry – the Beast of Burden.

A space often widely overlooked in any home is thelaundry room. This space typically doubles as a toolbox, a larger than life clothing hamper, and a place to toss anything in the spur of the moment that you want to be hidden from visibility- especially right before your guests arrive for that dinner party or book club meeting. Laundry rooms end up being the full-sized embodiment of the “junk drawer”. AKA your worst nightmare. Not to fret! With a few simple solutions, your laundry room will be a fresh scented organizational masterpiece!

What you’ll need:

Shelving (lots of it)
A large clothing hamper
Baskets to organize and place clean laundry
A set place for soaps, detergents and cleaning products
A garbage bin (for lint and other trash)
Took rack (if you don’t already have one in the garage)

Our suggestion? Take your laundry room to the next level with bi-folding doors that hide your washer and dryer machines to add a bit of noise reduction and visible distinction making the space appear less cluttered and more artful. These bi-fold doors are a space saver with their concertina design, folding the doors in on themselves giving you much-needed space amongst tight quarters.

5. Enjoy Your Well-Earned Oasis

By clearing, cleaning, organizing and installing some spatial solutions, you’ve just set yourself up for a stress-free spring. Enjoy the novelty of fresh air, no dust or dirt, optimal organization and an overall lack of material items inundating your interiors. All it took was a bit of planning, some elbow grease, a “bite the bullet” mentality- and you’ve arrived at your well-earned oasis.

For more space optimizing solutions and inspiration, visit The Sliding Door Company to browse our online viewing catalog and Get A Free Quote from one of our team members to start your rental upgrade today!

Step Into The Future of Green Building

Interior Design Trends

Tips For Every Successful Contractor

We have arrived at a widespread environmental revolution. This green evolution has made a powerful mark on our political legislature, our building standards and techniques and most of all- market demands. A recent study published by World Green Building Trends 2016 Smart Market Report, found that the global green building industry doubles every three years. Additionally, the green building materials market alone is expected to reach $234 billion in 2019, and as of early 2016, nearly 75,000 commercial projects were participating in Leadership in Engineering & Environmental Design (LEED) globally. These stats lend valuable insight into the current demand and the global move towards green building. As contractors, it is your duty to ensure that your projects adhere to these new environmental standards as well as meet the needs of your clients. Below are some helpful tips ensuring that your buildings and project sites are as environmentally sound as possible.

Materials Matter

The first aspect to consider, of course, are your materials. The quality, the source, and the environmental impact they will leave on the planet. When managing a building project and construction team, you must take into consideration a slew of factors to produce a harmonious finished product. Cost, value, efficiency, aesthetic are all on the mind when deciding what materials to go forward with. Green materials are the contemporary component now considered alongside all these other factors.

Sustainable Materials

Make use of recycled building materials and consider “upcycling” rustic materials and features to create a design flourish while conserving and reusing resources. Alternative woods, bamboo, hemp, straw-bail, and Rammed Earth are all innovative materials that have a beautiful aesthetic quality your clients will love. There is no excuse for continuing to use outdated, wasteful and built-to-break materials in 2020. Step up your building game and introduce green materials.

Temperature Retention and Reflection

A big waste creator in the residential and commercial building industry, are poorly designed or thin windows that allow the transfer of heat or cold to pass through. This classic design flaw can have a massive impact on your energy consumption and overall energy usage. By installing double-pane or eco windows, you’ll save your clients thousands in energy costs as well as slash their carbon footprint in the years to come.

By installing interior glass doors, your clients can enjoy the benefits of spatial separation while effectively and efficiently heating or cooling areas of their home without messing with the thermostat to get the desired temperature throughout the home.

Optimize Natural Light

Most homes are built with little consideration for allowing ample natural light throughout the interiors. Unfortunately, this creates a living environment that is devoid of views, crucial daytime light and overall higher quality of life. This lack of free light ends up costing homeowners higher energy costs in lighting during peak daytime hours.

Bi-fold doors offer the option for an increased surface area to fill with view-enhancing doors. Compared with the typical sliding glass door we are accustomed to, the bi-fold system can stretch much further and allows for the option to open up the entire space.

Closet mirror sliding doors are also a great solution for any light-lacking room, as mirrors are fantastic at reflecting available light and making the space appear larger than it is.

Solar

Especially if your clients live in a sunshine state, there is practically no good reason not to install solar. The panels pay for themselves in energy savings over the course of about ten to fifteen years and are a great ROI for the homeowner.

Know Your Supplier

Knowing where your materials come from and how they are harvested and processed is super important when taking steps to build green. Is your supplier environmentally conscious? Are you buying wood that is unsustainably harvested? Good companies will provide ample written statements and stamps of environmental advocacy if they are compliant with state and federal regulations. Look for these companies and don’t do business with a supplier that cuts corners

Managing Waste

As overseer of a construction site, make certain you are doing everything you can to manage your waste accrued during building. Have recycling and reuse piles on site so you aren’t throwing everything in one large dumpster and sending it to the landfill. Talk to your crew and ensure everyone is on the same page and acting consciously.

Green Features to Reduce Footprint

Introducing and educating your clients on all sorts of wonderful and innovative green features is a great way to get people on board and excited about eco aspects to invest in. Everything from Green Electrical, Green HVAC systems, motion sensors to conserve energy, Smart Thermostats to reduce HVAC fluctuations are all potential features to introduce to your projects.

Even awareness when selecting plumbing systems (alternative hot water heating >> tankless hot water heaters for example) will make a massive impact in the form of water reduction and conservation. This will also lower your client’s water bill and give them a home they can feel proud of.

With all of these green solutions, features, and practices, you will undoubtedly appeal to a growing market of clients who demand green homes and conscious building. From an environmental standpoint, we can’t afford to build unsustainable homes entering into this new decade- with eminent global warming on the near horizon, any unconscious building is holding us back from making the changes we need to combat this major threat to our planet.

With these effective considerations and upgrades to building, you’ll be on your way to dominating your client’s interiors. For more space optimizing solutions and inspiration, visit The Sliding Door Company to browse our online viewing catalog and Get A Free Quote from one of our team members to start your rental upgrade today!

Great Design Increases Quality of Life

Interior Design Trends

Simply put, interior design is to thank for providing the heart and soul to any building, home, restaurant, office, or retail shop. Design and curation are an integral part of any space- yet attention to interior design can be vastly overlooked. Why is it that our spaces are so affecting? Well, the obvious answer is because it’s our relative environment. We exist in our known spaces every single day, so they should be as functional, joyful, and enriching as possible. If you’re like the majority of people out there that draw a blank when it comes to crafting your interior space- don’t stress. Outlined below are the top design trends, elements, and solutions to effectively craft a dreamy, luxurious and unique abode perfect for you.

Frosted glass sliding door divides modern office from the living room area

The Healing Property of Plants

The age-old human tradition of bringing plants indoors has had many varying reasons, understandings, and developments. Houseplants have somehow survived as a staple of any interior design scheme throughout many a fad, decade and interior trend. Of course, which type of plants are in style has changed and evolved with the times. One thing is for certain- plants are an integral part of human life. There’s a greater reason why we crave to have plants living amongst us in our indoors. Here are the top

five main healing properties of plants:

They recycle carbon-dioxide and in turn, release oxygen. This assists us in breathing and promotes fresh, healthy air in our homes.
They increase humidity indoors during a process called transpiration which decreases dry skin, colds, dry coughs, and sore throats.
They reduce trace levels of toxic vapors such as carbon monoxide and formaldehyde from enclosed interior spaces.
They make us feel in touch with our outside environment when being outdoors is not a viable option, especially in the cold and foul weather winter months
It’s been scientifically proven that the presence of plants actually improves concentration, reduces anxiety and promotes good memory

Intention Through Color

Take into consideration the colors that you are already stuck with… or rather, already enjoying. That is to say, look at your available furniture, wood pieces- such as tables and frames, and go from there. It is much easier to change a wall color rather than buy an entirely new set of furniture. Typically the goal is to create a cohesive juxtaposition between furnishings and wall color. For example, if you have loud, statement piece furniture in bright colors and patterns, opt for a more neutral wall color so as to not overcrowd and distract from your beautiful sofa, chair, table, etc. It works the same if you have neutral, toned-down furnishings. Consider livening up your space by picking a striking and emotive wall color to bring life and depth into your atmosphere.

Secondly, there are specific colors that cater to specific moods. Typically colors on the dark side of the spectrum- blues, greens, purples, and blacks are used to enlarge a space, offer sophistication, intrigue, concentration, and productivity. While brighter colors such as yellows, reds, oranges, mustards, whites, and pinks are employed to evoke energy, excitement, life, curiosity, and playfulness. Neutrals would be grays, browns, creams, and pale hues. Soft colors and neutrals are great for curating calming and relaxing spaces, or gender-neutral rooms.

Aim to be intentional when selecting color, after all, whatever you choose will have a substantial effect on the way you exist and enjoy each space.

Tasteful Art Curation

Everyone knows or should know, the value that good art adds to a home. When we walk into virtually any interior space, be it a restaurant, home or office, one of the first things we notice (subliminally or not) is the art. With this said, make a point to curate your space with art you love, not just art you can buy from a retail store at a discount price. Perhaps it will take months or even years to arrive at a collection you feel proud of. That’s the fun part- every time you buy a piece of art, in a sense, you’re memorializing your experience and the artist’s unique creative process. While some people craft their entire rooms based on one single piece of art, others use art to tie accessories and design flourishes together. To make the space feel considered and unique. Having art around you that you love will spark joy when you exist in that room, and may even provide a wonderful conversation starter.

Attention to Health and Wellness

This is something that many overlook while setting out to curate their interior environment. Attention to necessities such as abundant light, fresh air, plants, heat, spatial separation, and humidifiers all remedy the experience of existing in close quarters. An effective way to bring in and maintain more natural light throughout your home is to consider replacing unnecessary walls and restrictive doors with bi-fold interior doors. These glass bifold doors are almost exclusively glass, with little framing which allows for ample light to pass through and brighten up your interior space. A great replacement for average doors to the outside, these are stylish and unique- which creates interest and aid in your meaningful design.

Smart Accessories and Features

Implementing smart features throughout your home, as well as useful and intelligent accessories, will make your day-to-day more easeful as well as lower your monthly energy costs and carbon footprint. Introduce features such as Smart thermostats to regulate temperature from your smartphone, solar power-lit path lights, dimmer switches, and smart kitchenware and accessories. Things to reduce waste such as product savers like foam soap dispensers will make a big difference in the long run.

In addition to accessories, we recommend installing sliding pocket doors to maximize space and improve usability. Introducing a barn door room divider into your living room to effectively craft spatial distinction is a great way to add value and ease to any home. These sliding glass doors are a stylish and contemporary design that breeds rustic nostalgia and offers increased spatial separation where needed. Your home will feel accessible, updated and modern with these simple additions.

Person behind desk in home office with frosted glass sliding door

With all of these interior flourishes, touches, and creative considerations, hopefully you won’t be stumped the next time you set out to successfully create your ideal space. The Sliding Door Company has all the creative solutions you need moving forward making your home as comfortable and stylish as possible. For help on getting started, check out our website, go into any of our 26 showrooms which offer a myriad of design examples, accessory options, and customizable choices. Get in touch with one of our knowledgeable representatives by scheduling a free consultation and start the transformation today.

What to Do When You Have Too Much Space

Interior Design Trends

You just moved into your vast and beautiful new house or apartment. The stunning amount of square footage and enormous windows were a selling point for you and your partner. You couldn’t wait to arrive at your new pad, after having just come from a significantly smaller place that felt cramped and limited. However, after having moved all of your belongings and furnishings in, you’re starting to realize you may just have too much space. After all, you don’t have large and vast quantities of furniture to begin to fill this new home. Not wanting to spend thousands on a new living room set, you start to wonder what one does when met with too large a floorplan.

Most would think this is typically not a bad complaint to have when describing a home. However, having too much space can make any home feel cold, not cozy, dark and lonely even. Luckily, there are some inexpensive and very effective solutions for crafting the cozy home of your dreams. Below are just a few tips you can use, items to integrate, and solutions to install to your new space.

Arranging the Furniture

This is a super important facet of laying out any interior space. How the furniture is arranged greatly affects the flow and function of a living room. If the furniture is too close to the walls, and far apart from other surrounding pieces, it will undeniably open up your space and create spacial distinction. As this is sometimes the goal for those living in tight quarters, it doesn’t work in your case. We want to pull the furniture in close to each other and create a cozy and somewhat intimate lounge where people can gather, share a coffee or watch a show together.

Being too spread apart will create unnecessary distance and give the impression of separation and solitude. Something to consider is arranging the furniture around a focal point. This could be an entertainment center, a big window with a view, or even an attention-grabbing coffee table or painting. This will act to give the surrounding furniture purpose and place.

Area Rugs

Area rugs are fantastic at warming up space, especially if you have cold wood floors and a sweeping floorplan. A rug draws together surround furniture, gives the pieces a framework to stay in and offers comfort to a shared space intended to feel cozy. Choose the color and pattern of your rug depending on how you want the energy of the room to feel. Warmer tones and vibrant patterns to create an uplifting, energetic vibe, and darker or cooler tones and colors to employ sophistication and elegance to your living room.

Greenery

To tie your space together, and make it feel more homely and intimate, make use of house plants and succulents to bring in novel life, purify the air and create intrigue. Bring the outdoors in with Fig Plants, Crotons, Lemon Lime Dracaena, Anthurium, Golden Pothos, and Snake Plants are all beautiful houseplants that do well with indirect sunlight. Consider replacing nearby closet doors with sliding mirror closet doors to spread ample sunlight during the day. Your plants will love the extra light, and it will simultaneously brighten up your space making it feel warmer and inviting.

Room Dividers

Employing room dividers to effectively break up vast floor plans is an effective, quick and painless way to transform any living room or shared space. For example, frosted glass wall partitions are great at creating a bit of spatial distinction and making a space more private, intimate and snug. Even sliding wall doors can help to separate the vast space and give you more options. With a variety of frame finishes, available accessories, and glass opacities to choose from, you can customize the partition or wall divider to suit your unique space! Plus, installation is simple and requires no serious construction to disrupt your lives and cost you money. Room dividers doors and walls offer flexibility and ease, as you can always remove and update them. By installing dividers,it becomes your choice. Slide them open, or close them for privacy in seconds. It’s getting the best of both worlds.

Cozy Accessories

Last but not least, make use of tasteful accessories. Bring your space to life with thoughtful touches such as worldly textiles, intriguing art pieces, interesting books and magazines to sift through, throw blanks and colorful knick-knacks. Things like wall sconces, candles, and intriguing vases are all fantastic additions that will add color, texture, and punch to a room. Not only do these accessories complete and tie together your design concept, but these little flourishes will brighten up your space and pull attention away from the expansive size, and towards the interesting details. This will craft a living room that appears smaller, more intimate and will provide a sanctuary for you and your partner (or family) for years to come.

With these effective solutions, tips and tricks, you’ll have a cozy new place in no time. The Sliding Door Company has all the creative solutions you need moving forward making your home as comfortable and stylish as possible. Don’t hesitate to check out our website, which offers a myriad of design examples, photos, accessory options, and customizable choices. Get in touch with one of our knowledgeable representatives by scheduling a free consultation and start the transformation today.

Crafting the Perfect Workspace from Home

Interior Design Trends

sliding hook latch black frame clear glass

With a rapidly evolving definition of what it is to be a modern-day worker, so evolves our working environment. Whether you work from a computer, make art for a living, work as a physical therapist or bodyworker, teacher/tutor, travel agent, or even a hairstylist- all of these professions are ones that you can likely do from home.

Understandably, it is far more environmentally friendly working from home rather than going to an office day in and day out. Slash your daily CO2 emissions by saving yourself (and the planet) your taxing commute- nothing is worse than sitting in traffic while your car pumps out exhaust and adds to our growing carbon footprint. Other benefits, such as making use of your own kitchen rather than eating out every lunch, and (assuming every room in your home has a window), utilizing natural light rather than burning bulbs in a windowless office. Many are making the move towards working from home because if you can maintain productivity, it just makes a lot more sense. If you don’t necessarily need to be in the office five days a week, why not get creative and make your morning commute a thirty-second shuffle into the next room?

With a little planning and some tips from the space optimizing experts, you’ll be on your way to making a productive studio or home office in no time. Considering time, effort and budget as important factors in this transformation, we have outlined some helpful ideas to get you started.

Pick A Room

First things first- picking the right room of said home office or studio space. Important factors to consider are natural lighting, feasibility, size, storage capability, coziness, and foot-traffic flow surrounding the space. You certainly don’t want to select an unused room in your house that is dark and miserable to be in unless you feel you can effectively brighten it up with the right lighting. Which is, of course, a viable option. Generally though, air on the side of the brighter, the better when selecting your office room. Consider the fact that you’ll be indoors for the majority of prime daylight hours. This means you’ll quickly feel trapped inside and maybe even start to feel tired and lethargic if your chosen room is too dark and bearing little visibility to the outside world.

In terms of feasibility, were talking, “is this room already full of junk and storage spillover?” If the answer is yes, don’t pick that room unless you can find viable storage options for all of your existing material goods. This office has to work with you, not you work around it.

How large or small is the room? If you think you can squeeze all of your necessary staples- computers, a desk, filing cabinet, art supplies, exercise equipment, what have you- in it, then great. If you’re experiencing a bit of trepidation, perhaps consider a different room or swapping rooms with one that has more square footage to accommodate all of your needs.

How much distracting foot-traffic does your chosen room experience on a daily basis? If you have children, you should consider if it is within audible distance to their normal playtime spots, shouts or screams. Maybe you have roommates and they move around the house frequently, creating loud noises and therefore disturbing your workflow and potential clients that come to visit. All of these are very important considerations when first setting out to select the perfect room.

Craft A New Room

If there is no extra room available, luckily there are a few relatively simple solutions for you to employ. Find a relatively open space in your house that gets little use, and hopefully, comes with good lighting. Once you’ve found it, envision installing beautiful frosted glass wall partitions, or even sliding glass room dividers to craft entirely novel rooms out of nothing! With minimal installation, you save the cost, permanence, and inconvenience of serious construction. This solution offers you the flexibility to take down or rearrange your partitions and room dividers at any time. Our interior frosted glass doors and frosted wall dividers are the perfect medium of function and privacy all while allowing ample light to pass through. With a multitude of glass opacities, frame finishes, and available accessories, we provide all the customization options you could possibly need to make this space a working sanctuary.

Make It A Sanctuary

Remember: this workspace is about to be your little slice of solitude for the foreseeable future. Better make it as cozy, comfortable, and as conducive to productivity as possible. Again, we encourage you to embrace all the natural light and outside vistas available. This will help bring the outside in and make you feel that you’re not trapped indoors all day. After the sun goes down, you’ll need lighting- plenty of it. Make sure you’re well equipped to see into the late afternoon/ early evening hours- especially in the winter months. Floor lamps and spotlighting are a big help to make your space feel cozy and, in comparison to ceiling fluorescents which can make a space feel sterile. Try to integrate greenery and house-plants throughout your home office so as to breed fresh air, stimulate the senses, and craft somewhat of an alive sanctuary to create in. Make sure you get creative and wise about your storage. A great way to bring in more light while getting a handle on storage is to replace your existing closet doors with stylish sliding mirrored closet doors. This will effectively bounce back so much wonderful light throughout your office while creating the illusion that the room is larger than it actually is. An inexpensive win-win. Lastly, while dreaming up interior decorating schemes and design ideas for your new workplace, take it upon yourself to utilize your biggest and most helpful resource- the internet. Look to Pinterest, Etsy, or any online design mag to garner inspiration for your new interior space. This is a great way to craft vision boards and get novel ideas from existing designs.

With the above suggestions and helpful tips, we hope your transition to working from home is as enjoyable as possible. The Sliding Door Company has all the creative solutions you need moving forward with your exciting new project. Don’t hesitate to check out our website, which offers a myriad of design examples, photos, accessory options, and customizable choices. Get in touch with one of our knowledgeable representatives by scheduling a free consultation and start the transformation today!

Top Five Sliding Door Designs and Where to Use Them

Interior Design Trends

Sliding Glass Room Dividers Separating Bedroom and Living Room

With a wonderful and exciting array of space-saving solutions, from wall partitions to room dividers, and sliding doors, The Sliding Door Company offers unique designs and quality craftsmanship to all we build. Each of our stylish door designs creates interest, value and increased usability to any home. Most are enticed by our wide variety of options but left stumped on which sliding door design to use and where. It all depends on the room, and the intent behind each space you wish to partition. Every room in the house serves its own unique purpose. From kitchens to laundry rooms, living rooms to bathrooms, no one room is the same. So why should it have the same door? Well, it shouldn’t. Here are the top five cutting edge sliding door designs on the market today, and how and where to use them.

Sliding Glass Mirror Doors

Sliding glass mirror doors are an aesthetically pleasing, updated approach to the ordinary closet door. Doubling its function as a door and a full-length mirror, you instantly save space, increase usability and update your room. Mirrors are, needless to say, amazing at reflecting light- meaning if you have a dark room, with perhaps a small window or simply it’s situated in an inherently dark side of the house, this is a fantastic solution. This lack of natural and/or available light can be easily mitigated by installing sliding glass mirrored closet doors. This design undoubtedly will save you money on energy costs and usage by optimizing natural light. Our sliding closet doors never dislodge from their track and are exceptionally easy to close and open with our 3S Smart Shut System. Our wheel-to-track locking mechanism is not only safe, but it also makes opening and closing a total breeze.

Sliding Shoji Doors

These beautiful, oriental-inspired sliding doors are an artistic flourish and design feature you won’t want to miss. Perfect for a traditional Tatami room, craft studio or yoga room. The modern approach we see with stunning traditional Japanese Tatami interior rooms now serve as study areas in temples and as living or sleeping areas in homes. The Tatami room, with its simple furnishings and open atmosphere, successfully introduces the Eastern qualities into any Western home. Not many doors compare to a beautiful shoji design. Typically constructed with paper, our contemporary take on this timeless design are doors made of tempered glass that offers increased durability, style, and a good sound barrier.

Frosted Glass Sliding Doors

Frosted Glass Sliding Doors are a must-have in any home. Out of all the available door options, this one is perhaps the most versatile, often ranging from bathrooms to home offices, and even closets. A great solution for closet doors, as they still allow for some transparency, creating intrigue to any space and offering a beautifully modern look. Home offices make great use of this design as well, with low opacity still allowing for natural light to come through while providing necessary privacy and solitude.

Sliding Glass Barn Doors

This stunning contemporary take on a seemingly rustic western door has everyone excited. Inspired by the homeliness and comfort of the country feel, these Sliding Glass Barn Doors are a wonderful addition to any living room. Mostly used to separate kitchens from living rooms, or one shared space to the next, these barn doors slide along the wall and are one of the best space optimizers offered. Our doors are available either framed or frameless, crafted with 5-10 mm thick tempered glass, and so easy-glide open and close. Moreover, they are available in seven unique glass opacities to choose from. Offering one of the most elegant space-dividing solutions yet, you won’t be dissatisfied with our custom-built barn doors.

Interior Pocket Doors

Many people today find themselves living in an overly cramped apartment, tiny home or even average-sized home with limited floor space. Especially when downsizing from a larger size home into something a bit smaller- this can be a difficult transition for anyone. Living with limited square footage can make even the most simple features of the home seem overbearing. Creating discomfort and unnecessary stress. Our space-saving interior pocket doors are a great option for smaller spaces that may not have space for a full-swing door. They’re a total must-have for closets, small bedrooms, or connecting two spaces such as between an en-suite and a walk-in closet. With this easy to install and cost-effective solution, you’ll be happy you made the upgrade!

With all of these available artful and creative design options, you can bring your home up to date with simple cost-effective sliding doors. Whether updating a bathroom, living room, shared space, or setting out to craft a special room for tranquility or creative endeavors, The Sliding Door Company has the solution for you. Don’t hesitate to check out our website, which offers a myriad of design examples, photos, accessory options, and customizable choices. Get in touch with one of our knowledgeable representatives by scheduling a free consultation and start the transformation today!

Top Interior Design Trends on the West Coast Entering Into 2020

Interior Design Trends

The west coast is long known to be the visionary mecca for innovative trends and artistic styles that ripple to the rest of the world. Being home to such influential hubs as Hollywood, Palm Springs, San Francisco and Wine County, California, has a way of paving the way for far-reaching creative fashions – especially in interior design. Below is a list of some of the top interior design trends carrying us into the roaring ’20s.

Hollywood Regency

This commanding interior style was born out of a culture deeply vested in all things luxury. From velvet couches to jeweled chest of drawers, decadent lighting fixtures to gold plated coffee tables. This look emulates grandeur and lends appreciation for the high quality finer things in life. It gives meaning to the word splendor. This design trend is one that we see throughout the homes of the rich and famous- yet it has successfully made its way into the average home. It’s so full of life that this look has been made accessible to everyone through beautiful, yet affordable statement pieces offered in department stores and furniture showrooms alike. We see the Hollywood Regency theme being explored in hotel lobbies, Airbnb rentals, and restaurants across the globe. Creative touches such as large Sliding Glass Mirror Doors, geometric glass furniture pieces, and sleek hardware throughout the home are a must. Think extravagant speakeasy luxury. With the ’20s just around the corner, an ode to the extravagant millennia benchmark is not only fitting- it’s here.

Mid Century Modern

Here is a design trend that is not only striking in its updated nod to worldly textiles and polished bohemia, but it’s delightfully accessible to all. Once this trend exploded as a major revisit to the ‘60s and ‘70s, just about everyone jumped on board. Mid Century Modern is an exquisite staple in any rental, high-end restaurant, hotel room, or quaint city loft. This trend thoughtfully pairs accent pieces such as Moroccan rugs and pillows, glass sculptures and evocative art with elegant yet comfortable furniture and calming wall color. MCM makes use of leather chairs and cow skin rugs to ground and add a dose of the earth to the home. It’s all about tranquility and sophistication when choosing Mid Century Modern. Simple houseplants keep the space lively and relatable. This style enjoys a bit of cross-over from the Hollywood Regency trend when statement pieces such as cushy velvet sofas and animal print divans make their way into the mod atmosphere. While there is little room for sparkly embellishments, Mid Century Modern is a fashion-forward staple in interior design that will continue to thrive throughout the ’20s.

Natural Luxury

This is one of the most recent, and most exciting interior trends of the moment. It is a fine use of distinct juxtapositions. The delightful pairing of two elements that otherwise would not be seen together. Comparisons of smooth and rough, heavy and weightless, polished and raw, geometric and natural. This use of industrial paired with earthy has become a fascinating style, tickling all with its contradiction and forward-thinking acknowledgment of the environment. Demonstrating a need and a utility in working with the natural, rather than against it. Utilization and employment of large-scale glass walls, for example, is a righteous move towards sustainability. Glass emulates a sense of letting the outside in. Utilizing this medium, such as installing inside glass doors and glass room dividers aids this elemental design. Being able to coexist in nature without braving the elements. Drawing us back to our humanity and catering to our inner outside. In Natural Luxury style trends, we see the use of large size house plants, inside greenhouses and rooftop gardens when living in larger cities. We are seeing a lot of luxury items paired with this green approach. Things like faux fur rugs, faux animal fur living room furniture, thought-provoking sculptures, leather dining room chairs, live-edge redwood dining tables, and amber bulbs in lighting fixtures. Paint color pallet typically stays in the greyscale or perhaps mature blues and natural creams, but refrains from anything too loud. This design trend aims to pull from the elements, from the earth and intends to ground the dweller with its soothing simplicity.

With these main interior trends setting the scene for the new year, there are a few more helpful tips to consider entering into the ‘20s. This year is not about playing it safe or going with the status quo. It’s moving away from generic art and useless material accessories. It’s not designing your home for anyone but you and your family.

It is about integrating pieces that make you truly happy. As Marie Kondo would say, “what is it in your home that sparks joy?”. This year is all about highly crafted materials, attention to fine furnishings paired with thought-provoking architecture. It’s about redesigning interiors to highlight the authenticity of the individual and reflect character and personality. It’s using these top trends and integrating them into your life in a way that makes sense and feels great for you!

To get inspiration and see some space optimizing solutions, visit our photo gallery to upgrade your interior entering into 2020. Contact us at The Sliding Door Company to get in touch with one of our team members for a free consultation.

What to Expect When Expecting

Renovations

In life, there is often little planning and preparation when big life moments happen. Finding out you’re welcoming a new life into the world, for example. Not many enjoy the luxury of aptly deciding when to have children and pick a convenient or feasible time to add new members to the family. Most are hit with an unexpected surprise and have to figure out and rearrange a multitude of things in life in preparation for a child. It’s an exciting yet nerve-wracking time for you and your partner (or existing family). What can you expect to change or update in your life to be well-prepared when the baby arrives? Below, we have carved out a little list of some helpful tips to consider when expecting.

The Essentials

You want to make sure you’re as ready as possible to provide the best care, home, and items for your baby. Because once they arrive, you won’t want to be spending your time reinventing the wheel, so to speak. You’ll also want to pick quality products and familiarize yourself with tricks and tips to save yourself a lot of time, headache and discomfort in the process.

A Crib
Soft Blankets and Linens
Diapers
Onesies and Baby Clothing and Booties
Car Seat
Baby Thermometer
Baby Tub
Bibs
BPA-free and Baby-Safe Toys and Entertainment

For The Home

Typically, a large part of the stress and often uncomfortable adaptation one experiences during this time is the issue of not having enough rooms or space to accommodate another child. When you and your partner are renting on a year or two-year lease and all of a sudden, realize you’re pregnant, there is a lot of stress surrounding your current living situation and the feasibility of adding a new member to the family. Moving costs, a higher rent, and leaving your beloved home is a huge ordeal and big stress on top of all the other new variables you must consider. With the current number of rooms available, you ask yourselves how in the world you can make this work. For renters, we suggest calling the Sliding Door Company to find out about our many space optimizing solutions that are right for you and feasible for your rental. Easy and quick to install and take down, our glass wall dividers are an absolute life-saver for those unable to build or add on to an existing home.

For those who already own their own homes, the cost of construction is another large factor that many are not prepared for when hit with the big news. Even when you own your own home, and swiftly moving to a new home is not a viable option, how do you make do with what you already have? Increasing the size of your home is a big change- involving much planning and headache. We’ve realized there is a need for space optimizing solutions to remedy this classic problem. Our advice? Install entire wall partitions, Room Dividers or floor to ceiling sliding glass doors to craft entirely separate rooms without the cost or inconvenience of disruptive construction. Especially while pregnant, the sounds and disturbance of weeks or even months of construction and home additions is enough to drive everyone mad.

These feasible home improvements will allow you to craft spatial separation for the newborn and yourselves while providing flexibility and the option to move, rearrange and alter these rooms and spaces with time. As the child gets older, maybe consider updating the space to provide more privacy. These solutions will provide your family the necessary time and cost solution you’ll need to plan for a future move or ADU if need be.

Revisit Your Finances

You and your partner should start to critically think about your finances and even draft up a reasonable budget and timeline for saving so that when the baby arrives you aren’t surprised or down and out. Rearing a child is always more expensive than people think and budget for. A good tip is to craft a budget, and then go back in and add 10% to all of your expenses. That way, you’ll have a safety-net for everyday things that will undoubtedly cost more than you expect.

Another recommendation is to start paying down your debt so that you don’t enter into parenthood financially burdened by a mountain of debt. Start paying off more every month than your minimum, and even consider consolidating your debt into one low-interest account to avoid costly APR.

Talk to fellow parent co-workers in your office, or ask your boss what maternity leave is offered through work. Don’t leave it to the last minute to plan for this, is it could be a lot more (or less) time and compensation offered than you expected. This way you can reasonably budget for what is available to you.

Hopefully, with these helpful time and money-saving tips, you’ll enter into parenthood on top of the game and enjoy the entire process rather than dread it. With some careful planning and the right resources, you’ll be on your way to welcoming in a new life stress-free and ready for anything!

We at The Sliding Door Company are here and happy to help provide as much information as possible on some must-have solutions. For more inspiration on how to partition your rooms and make use of valuable floor space, have a look at our website. Schedule A Free Consultation to get in touch with a helpful representative and start the transformation and create a home that can welcome in this new life.