Month: March 2020

Keeping Peace Within the Home During COVID-19

Glass Door Solutions

Right now, millions of families across the states are experiencing stressful times amid the current pandemic of Coronavirus. With so many children sent home from school, businesses asking employees to work from home, and parents finding themselves out of work for the foreseeable weeks, families are required to work together to coexist indoors throughout the quarantine process. This is not an easy task, especially for those with young children who are becoming more and more restless by the day, out of school and not accustomed to so much indoor time.

Running a household is already a challenge under normal circumstances, yet now with the added stress of full-time parenting, and revaluating work options and possible job loss, this current situation has left many feeling hopeless, burdened, and burnt out. Trying their best to soothe their children’s concerns, make do with financial restrictions, and find solutions to stress, many parents have forgotten to take care of their own well-being.

If you’re like most parents experiencing this crisis, you may be wondering how you can create balance and peace within your strained household. Unable to take the kids out to parks, outdoor trails, or frequent your local gym has left everyone with pent up energy bubbling over and in serious need of a healthy outlet. Trying to find inside activities to stimulate you and your loved ones can be tricky. We’ve got a few helpful solutions for creating spatial separation, and some fun activity ideas to get you started.

Create A Rec Room/ Home Gym

For those of you that have an available guest bedroom in your home that isn’t necessarily being used during this time, consider updating it into a rec room that can double as a home gym. This way, your children can enjoy a place to play, be noisy, and feel separate from the adults for a while. When the kids aren’t using it, you and your partner can enjoy a gym or yoga studio from the comforts of your own home while all health facilities remain closed. Halting your fitness goals, mental health and physical progress is not something you should have to do during this pandemic. Here’s how you can turn that unused bedroom into a rec room for your kids, and a health and wellness sanctuary for yourself.

Replace your front-opening closet doors with mirror sliding closet doors to give yourself the visibility you’ll want for your workout room. The kids will also love the mirror closet door aspect to their rec room to use when choreographing dances and plays.
Move most of their toys and playthings into one half of the rec room. This way they have easy access to their things, while also freeing up and decluttering shared spaces within the home such as living rooms and hallways.
Bring in your yoga mat, weights, foam boxes, exercise balls, stretch bands and any other workout equipment you may use.
Move your speaker into this new room so you can put on some fun music for the kids, boosting the overall atmosphere for them, as well as plugging in the perfect jams for your solo workout session.

Get That Vitamin D

While we are all currently mandated to stay indoors and keep out of public places, we still have the option and ability to get outside in our backyards, or on our balconies and soak up some much-needed sunlight. It is Spring, after all, and most of us would collectively benefit from a healthy dose of Vitamin D during these unprecedented times when our bodies are in stress mode and our minds are clouded with distraction. Set up some fun backyard games, like cornhole, or break out the baseball mitt and balls to enjoy a game of catch with your young ones. Outside yoga sessions are a perfect way to get your kids involved in some active stretching and breathing exercises. The breathing that accompanies a good yoga practice will be super beneficial for soothing everyone’s nerves and acting as a great meditation instrument to utilize during this crisis.

Girl meditating next to interior sliding frosted door

The Craft Corner for Everyone

Use this lengthy indoor time to think about some fun arts and crafts projects you can set up for your children, and yourself. Creative activities can tend to be put on hold or discarded during our daily lives of work, school, sports, and errands among other life commitments. Now is the opportune time to online order a bag of clay, start a painting, give yourself and your kids the gift of creation with an arts and crafts home studio for everyone to enjoy. Heres what you’ll need:

A free corner of the living room to set up space
Glass wall partitions or a room divider with door that you can install to easily construct a space separate from the rest of the house. Having a little corner will help to keep all the creative clutter from inundating your interiors.
Paints, paper and canvas
A drawing board or drawing pads, colored pencils, markers, and pastels
Collage essentials like glue, magazines, colored paper, glitter, and stickers
Plastic tarping or newspaper to lay down on the floor for the unavoidable paint spills and messes that happen during creation
Clean-up supplies; paper towels, cleaning spray, wastebaskets

Person in home office with frosted glass sliding door

By integrating some of these exciting activities and space optimizing solutions for everyone to enjoy, you’ll be able to ride out this stressful time and maybe even find yourself enjoying all of the freedom to simply create, exercise, and spend time as a family without the daily distractions of normal life. For more inspiration and exciting space optimizing solutions, Visit Us Online to browse our online viewing catalog and Enjoy A Free Consultation from one of our team members to actualize your vision today!

How To Make Your Interiors Video Conference- Ready

Interior Design Trends

Right now, with so many people transitioning into video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Facetime, and Vonage, there has become a novel need for some serious home interior reevaluation. Turning a living room into a temporary office can be a daunting undertaking, especially for those whose relative surroundings will make a debut on the evening news, or into their company’s video conference meeting. The recent government-mandated home quarantines have left many scrambling to set up a temporary work environment within their home. To help solve the need for picturesque living rooms and backdrops during video conference calls, we’ve come up with a few inexpensive upgrades and easy-to-install ideas for anyone working from home

If You’re Prepping For An Online Meeting

Whether you are a teacher ready to instruct your class online, or a team member of a flourishing start-up that requires daily meetings, you’re general surroundings and your visible backdrop that appears on your screen should be carefully considered. To quickly create an inspired video stream, there are a few considerations that you can take before engaging in a call. First off, you’re going to need good lighting. Without question, the first step in creating a compelling online presence is your surrounding lighting. A lot of people are currently making do with their existing lighting fixtures, yet it results in poor visibility, lackluster engagement, and a slightly depressive connotation. You want to achieve an inviting glow that engages your audience, students, or co-workers.

Because we have quickly transitioned into this new reality where our online appearance has become the only form of visual communication, we shouldn’t have to sacrifice our own aesthetic during these “interactive” work experiences. For many, the only human interaction experienced during the day is through phone calls and video conferencing. A great way to bring your lighting game into this current moment is to invest in some inexpensive spotlighting that you can place on your computer desk and illuminate your face with, as frontlet lighting will help your complexion and your visibility tremendously. In addition, ensuring that you have a good flow of natural light throughout your home will create a more pleasant environment and help your viewers see you better. To achieve this, consider replacing your light-obstructing tri-fold walls with glass wall partitions or glass room dividers. Easy to install, beautifully designed, sliding glass room dividers are a quick and painless solution to your make-shift home office needs.

If You Are Your Own Brand or Sell Instruction

Whether you offer trendy online tutorials, motivational speeches, or video instruction of any kind, you’ll want to address your background aesthetic. The overall environment that you present during your Zoom or FaceTime call during your captivative product proposal, your how-to makeup tutorial, or your online class is the most noticed aspect of your online appearance other than yourself. Many who have had to transition their work without a lot of planning are quickly setting up shop in unthoughtful settings and are allowing co-workers, bosses, and potential clients a view into their home life. Create an inviting space for your viewers to enjoy and connect with and you’ll increase your credibility, your engagement, and your views. Considering things like integrating house plants into the visible background, hanging fresh, attention-grabbing art on the walls and carefully considering your surrounding color palette, are all ways you can increase your live-stream or video marketing. Make sure you declutter your surrounding environment and organize your things in order to demonstrate that despite these wild times, you still retain your sense of order, cleanliness, and stability within your home life. Install sliding mirror closet doors to help keep your closets looking fresh, reflect beautiful daytime light throughout your home office, and add an unexpected flourish to your atmosphere.

With the above considerations, tips and space optimizing solutions, you’ll be on your way to crafting the idyllic, inspired home office. For more inspiration and space optimizing solutions, check out the best glass wall partitions, sliding doors, and spatial solutions, Visit Us Online to browse our online viewing catalog and Enjoy A Free Consultation from one of our team members to actualize your vision today!

The Importance of Well Designed and Maintained Medical Centers

Interior Design Trends

medical infusion rooms hospital in San Diego

Already, in the few short months since the turn of this new decade, we have, and currently are, experiencing a time of world-wide health issues, economic turmoil, border closures and impacted medical centers. Due to all of this upheaval, it has become increasingly important to provide spatial separation and containment of individuals who are ill or other such high-risk individuals. Wellness facilities, Doctor’s offices, urgent care, and testing centers don’t always have the spatial separation and distinction we would hope for. While this is normally not a necessarily pressing issue, it appears to have become one of paramount importance in the past month or so. Providing a medical center (or designing one) comes with immense responsibility- as the potential for spreading illness, and effecting a patient’s recovery is largely dependent on the facilities in which people are brought to for testing and care.

If medical centers don’t offer a positive hospital visit we can’t expect our sick to get better. In fact, more people can become infected by the spread of viruses and other “invisible” enemies. Factors such as well-considered walls, adequate lighting, amenities, outside interactions and cleanliness all feed into the treatment process of those in need of help. Additionally, because most health centers throughout the world are becoming increasingly impacted and don’t have enough rooms to hold everyone, we need to find solutions quickly and affordably that can help accommodate the influx of people hospitalized. One of the concerns expressed by healthcare professionals, is how can we make spatial improvements during a high impact time when major construction is out of the question?

The most streamline solution we see is to improve the processing of patients so that we don’t experience long lines of people all sharing small waiting room space together, and get them into their own rooms quickly and smoothly. Sharing tight quarters with lots of people undoubtedly puts everyone at risk of spreading illness and disease. By integrating more spatial separation, and the possibility for containment of people with known cases of viruses and illness, health centers can better protect and safeguard more patients. Installing simple floor to ceiling room dividers and other such Glass wall partitions could be a huge help in creating space and containment during these concerning times.

Medical centers and facilities of all sizes should be looking forward to how to design for improved patient experience, cleanliness, and environmental sustainability. Regardless of the current circumstances, our health care facilities could use some serious updating and modernization. Patients are more likely to recover based on overall happiness, reduced stress, and important exterior factors that we have failed to recognize as vitally important until now. Here are a few considerations that greatly affect patients, and could be further optimized:

Material sourcing and usage

Ensuring quality material sourcing, as well as environmentally friendly materials will greatly benefit the health and morale of patients, staff, and visitors alike. Providing low VOC materials and natural elemental flourishes such as wood, metal and stone help to bring the outside world in.

Visibility, Windows, Light

Big floor to ceiling windows inpatient rooms, glass sliding room dividers, and closet mirror sliding doors are all upgrades that will allow for the flow and spread of natural light throughout a hospital or wellness facility, positively affecting patients recovery. Not getting enough natural daytime light can quickly worsen medical conditions, cause depression and reduce hope.

Space Optimization

Designing a medical or wellness center with acute consideration for spatial optimization will make the most out of the given square footage, and will increase usability and ease for patients, doctors, and visitors. Simple solutions such as sliding bathroom doors with locking handles will decrease space compared with normal open swing doors.

Air quality

Having great air quality throughout a medical center is of utmost importance. Clean, frequently maintained HVAC systems are the only option in clinically sensitive places such as hospitals and health facilities. Windows that can open to let in outside air make a big difference in quality and health for patients. With interior glass doors, hospitals and other medical facilities will not need to move their HVAC systems, further saving money during renovations and upgrades to enhance overall patient experience.

The incorporation of natural elements and sustainable design into healthcare facilities promotes the health, safety, and recovery of patients. Good design and layout of medical facilities and wellness centers greatly benefit medical staff and visitors, improves overall morale, and allows for more people to be seen and cared for. The conscious interior spatial design also increases a facility’s return on investment.

It has been proven over the years that design and architecture can have a measurable impact on an occupant’s experience during their time at your facility. Be it a negative or a positive experience, patients and staff are greatly affected by surroundings and environment, which is indisputable at this point. With all of the above considerations and examples, hopefully, your medical center can blossom into a safe and inviting sanctuary for those in need of medical attention. For more inspiration and space optimizing solutions, plan a visit to our closest location. Visit Us Online to browse our online viewing catalog and Enjoy A Free Consultation from one of our team members to actualize your vision today!

Dawning The Age of Minimalism

Interior Design Trends

How a Less Is More Approach is the Answer We’ve All Been Searching For

In a time of global upheaval, with the rise of a novel and unprecedented pandemic, we all seem to reconsider our values, our lives, and our current atmosphere. With the majority of us stuck indoors for the foreseeable weeks, perhaps even months, we turn to our current environments to reevaluate meaning and purpose. While as a collective, we have been seemingly accustomed to the practice of buying and accruing material goods, now is a time when we must discard these old ways and unnecessary expenditures, and evolve with sustainable, reasonable design efforts and updated purchasing behaviors.

In which specific arenas are we most called to look? We should all be carefully considering our homes, our material possessions, the food we consume, our technologies, and the clothes we put on our backs. All of these materials, goods, services, and products have defined us for so long. With a global trend of ceaseless spending, unconscious material sourcing and usage, we have unfortunately arrived at a widespread environmental disaster that now dictates our very humanity. Yet despite the overwhelming hurdles we must overcome, we have the chance to start redefining our lifestyles starting today. Because so many of us have extra time on our hands, now is the perfect opportunity to take a closer look into our surrounding environment, and notice all the ways in which we can improve our human existence, for the betterment of the planet, as well as for our fellow animals and humans alike. Adopting a sustainable mentality of reduce, reuse and recycle we can move forward with clarity and direction.

Below, is a comprehensive outline of how to adopt the wonderful concept of Minimalism into everyday life. We’ll go over Minimalism in the Workplace, Minimalism at Home, The Minimalist Shopper, and The Mindset of a Minimalist.

Minimalism in the Workplace

Known to increase productivity, and reduce feelings of stress and anxiety, bringing minimalism into your workday can generate a seriously positive impact. The idea many hold that minimalism simply means owning less stuff, is just simply not accurate. While starting at a minimalist approach to consumerism is never a bad thing, this concept extends far further than just tangible goods. Minimalism also investigates how on a psychological level, when we become acutely aware of our surroundings, and the values that we bestow things, we are better able to judge and discern between what really matters, and what we truly need to exist in our best form. This concept asks us to look at whether we are prescribing a greater value and importance on our material possessions than we are our health and wellbeing, and our relationships. Our relationship to the physical world, as well as with other sentient beings. The idea is that we first must become clear on what we value, and then we can understand what is distracting us from that. Now in how this relates to work, we can begin to look at environmental factors that we are surrounded by during our workday that could be the cause of distraction, lethargy, and lack of inspiration, A lot of this comes down to outside influences, audible noises, discrepancies in lighting, and feelings of overcrowding. A few simple solutions in mitigating these feelings, are to upgrade your physical office space. If you find that you are easily distracted by the movement and sounds of others, see if your employer will consider installing floor to ceiling room dividers, or glass sliding room dividers so as to create more spatial distinction and privacy for you to enjoy during your work hours. With the rise of shared office spaces and open floor plans, many employees are finding it more and more difficult to focus, and are distracted by the visual landscape inundated with too many surrounding things. By creating your own little oasis within a larger community of workers, you’ll effectively minimize your stress, your distractibility, and lack of inspiration.

Minimalism at Home

Minimalism is no new building concept, yet we are seeing it become recycled back into fashion within the past decade or two. We predict these trends only becoming more prevalent in the coming years as a mirror to our global efforts in reducing our overall environmental impact. Architecture, interior design, and general building practices are all leaning into this minimalist trend for a myriad of reasons. First, people like it. Living in a reduced impact home, with less material goods, has shown to have a plethora of positive emotional outcomes. Enjoy a home that was built with conscious discernment on every single detail and furnishing curated, the inhabitant doesn’t experience the typical distraction and ensuing stress that someone living in a busy, messy, or over-cluttered home may experience. Secondly, it’s aesthetically pleasing to exist in a seamless, simplistic dwelling. With every line and nook and granny carefully considered, there is a certain feeling of purpose and excellence built into the home that the homeowner can thoroughly enjoy. Even small considerations such as contemporary pocket doors, that save space and offer an enhanced visual flourish, can make a big impact. Frameless glass interior doors and frosted glass wall partitions all increase natural light flow and exude a modern artistic touch that everyone can enjoy. Clean, crisp design and minimizing material goods all help to decrease anxiety and require less upkeep and cleaning as a wonderful built-in perk.

The Minimalist Shopper

In regards to consumption, the minimalist mindset is simple: what do you need? What can you live without? What goods, services, and extras are actual necessities, and what are just distractions and an exercise in self-indulgent spending? These are particularly good questions to be asking at this time, while we experience a global reduction in production and material availability. Because almost everything has been put on hold, we get to inquire within and solely focus on the necessities. Learning how to conserve resources by spending less and doing more will hopefully become a take-away from this pandemic. Owning and buying less is a classic example of retail therapy: the practice of buying things to satiate an internal issue that requires more involved self-work. The simple solution many of use, is to fix our problems with tangible goods. Practicing minimalism will help reduce these feelings, similar to cutting back on other such vices.

The Mindset of a Minimalist

Those who actively seek a minimalist lifestyle consistently practice letting go. Discarding stress by releasing control and relinquishing items from our lives. Mindful practices are also a great tool in adopting a more minimalistic, simplistic lifestyle. Deep breathing and conscious bodily awareness can also help in reducing active stressors in your day to day life. Yoga and stretching are other great ways to lean into awareness. Daily meditation, patience with those around you, minimizing commitments, and spreading kindness are all little gestures you can integrate into these uncertain times.

By integrating minimalism into your workday, adopting simplicity and decluttering your interiors, and practicing mindfulness are all active displays of minimalism. For more inspiration and minimalist space optimizing solutions, Visit Us Online to browse our online viewing catalog and Enjoy A Free Consultation from one of our team members to actualize your vision today!

Home Remodeling Generates a Fantastic Return on Investment (ROI)

Interior Design Trends

People starting a home remodel project are (perhaps unknowingly) starting a massive undertaking, one that requires much planning, work, money, and investment. Yet throughout all the taxing work and the initial investment of time, money and mental strength, what you will undeniably end up with, is a fantastic ROI. Anyone looking to upgrade their home, be it an interior remodel, an exterior upgrade or an ADU can expect to enjoy a healthy return on investment- in more ways than one. Here are some of the reasons people are choosing to tackle a home remodel.

Better Quality of Life

A home upgrade is a very exciting time, one in which you can plan, envision, and actualize your home goals. Most people who bought their homes walked into an already aged house, that could have likely used many more initial upgrades at the time of purchase. But, it can be costly, cumbersome and scary for anyone to undergo. Many people put off their remodeling projects for years and years until it’s economically feasible, and they’ve carved out a good amount of time for the project and the ensuring disruptance to their lives. Taking down outdated or unsafe parts and features of your home is always a positive thing. Old walls potentially carrying black mold, flooring installed with asbestos, and an abundance of dust and harmful particulates can all cause serious health issues if not dealt with. Long term human exposure to these harmful substances can cause real health effects such as fibrotic lung disease as well as harmful changes in the lining of the chest cavity.

Many people with older homes are aware of these health risks and are using remodeling to successfully mitigate these issues. Installing new flooring and walls is the best way to take care of these harmful substances. Today, more and more people are choosing to install floor to ceiling room dividers rather than permanent light-blocking walls in communal areas of the house such as living rooms and kitchens. These glass walls partitions and sliding room dividers are becoming more popular with home remodels, as they can be great insulators without requiring any insulation, offer a great barrier without blocking the flow of light between spaces, and they add a nice contemporary aesthetic to the home. Installing double glass pocket doors is also a great way to add a modern flourish to your remodel and enhance the amount of passable light throughout your home.

Jumping on the Green Train

Updating and remodeling in efforts to bring a home up to eco-friendly, sustainable green standards is another factor driving homeowners into these upgrades. With a new precedent put on environmental responsibility, builders and homeowners are shifting their values and interests towards crafting homes that work with and for the planet, rather than against it. Installing alternative energy systems and sources, landscaping to effectively reduce water consumption, and being increasingly discerning with building materials are all ways in which to build with environmentally sound incentives. Even little features and interior solutions, such as mirror doors for closets can effectively reduce daytime energy consumption, by reflecting natural light throughout a room, lessening dependency on standard energy usage.

Investing In The Future

By making the initial investment to undergo a home remodel, however large or small, simple or difficult it may be, one thing you can feel sure about, is fostering a great return. When (or if) you choose to sell down the road, your home will be worth so much more from the upgrades you put into it that you’ll exponentially increase its value with every improvement made. You’ll enjoy the upgrades every day that you live in your home, and then profit off of it’s increased value when it comes time to sell, or refinance.

The Sliding Door Company has everything you’ll need to generate that ROI with your home improvement plans. By upping the value of your home, making green improvements, and investing in your home’s future value, you’ll enjoy these benefits for years to come. With inspiration just waiting inside a showroom near you, plan a visit to our closest location. Visit Us Online to browse our online viewing catalog and Enjoy A Free Consultation from one of our team members to actualize your vision today!

How to Accessorize Like A Pro

Interior Design Trends

When it comes to updating your interiors, there is a long list of available online how-tos, DIY’s, design dos and don’ts, and thousands of Pinterest pages to scroll through for helpful inspiration. However, if you find that you’ve exhausted all of those options, you’ve listlessly scrolled through pages and pages of google results and poured over interior design mags and you still got nothin? Don’t stress, crafting bespoke interior spaces is not always a simple undertaking! It takes professional interior designers years to acquire the skill set needed for tackling design projects. Redesigning the inside of your home can be super tricky, especially without any prior design knowledge or experience. So, we’ve crafted a list to help you out. It pretty much covers everything you need to know about accessorizing your home, no matter the size or budget you’re working with.

What’s The Point?

A lot of folks don’t quite understand the value of accessories- until they do. Accessories are meant to add artistic embellishments, character, color pops and personality to a home. They are the “stealth bomb” of interior decor. They aren’t intended to clutter, distract, or take up too much space. Accessorizing done right will be so carefully considered and chosen that these flourishes will leave an almost subliminal imprint on the beholder. The observer will begin to feel a certain way when walking into the room, yet they don’t know how or why, and they certainly don’t realize that every piece in the room has been thoughtfully curated to evoke that particular emotion. Accessories are intended to elicit a response and to do so silently.

How Do We Get There?

Now, actively employing these concepts is entirely different than understanding them. There is a lot to consider when making these design choices. First, you must ask yourself what kind of theme you aim to achieve. One aspect of accessorizing to remember is to stick with your chosen theme like glue. Don’t deviate from it! Employing too many themes and color schemes will unquestionably muddy your curation and will confuse your interiors. A lot of designers will curate their accessories in layers. They start with a first pass- adding the crucial and larger textiles and features (area rugs, accent furniture, and wall tapestries), then they’ll make a second pass, with smaller to medium-sized objects (adding art to the walls, colored pillows and throw blankets). Lastly, after giving the space some time to simmer, they will add in the last bits of embellishments and color pops to accentuate the existing elements (fruit bowls, books, vases, wall scones, etc). This layering effect will create depth and interest to the space and ensure that the room is not cluttered or thrown together without allowing for the necessary time to discern what should stay, and what should go.

The Heavy-hitters

While all of these artistic touches are super important and an integral part of any space curation, we haven’t yet gotten down to the framework of what makes a space fantastic. Perhaps the most important details about a home, are the ones that often go unnoticed. Doors, frames, lighting fixtures, mirrors, door handles, light switches are all super subliminal yet crucial aspects of a well-considered interior. Here is a list of some design features to integrate (or install) into your well-accessorized home:

Mirror closet doors (enjoy a two-in-one with this contemporary sliding door mirror design)
Intelligent lighting fixtures (choose to support local glass blowers, or lighting technicians and purchase inspired lighting fixtures from your local artisans)
Sliding closet doors, and bi-folding doors complete with minimalist handles and interesting accessories to update underappreciated features
Warm up the ambiance with interesting floor lamps that use softer amber lighting
Carefully consider door frames and wall trim to remain design (and color) consistent

Utilizing all of these tips and ideas for accessorizing, you’ll be well equipped to craft the beautiful interior space of your dreams in no time, and with little doubt! The Sliding Door Company has everything you’ll need to get started on your accessory-driven makeover. Visit Us Online to browse our online viewing catalog and Enjoy A Free Consultation from one of our team members to actualize your vision today!

Receiving Recognition for Quality Work

Interior Design Trends

Bedroom closet frosted glass sliding door

Being a glass door and glass wall partition manufacturer, we exist in a growing design industry filled with hundreds of wonderfully skilled competitors. It is always a great compliment when we receive thoughtful recognition from some of the best interior design and architectural magazines and publications out there.

After years and years of hard work, company expansion, fantastic customer relationships and displaying a consistently high level of craftsmanship, we’ve enjoyed a good volume of written praise. With recognition from Dwell, Architectural Record, HGTV, Los Angeles Times, Elle Decor, and more, we feel proud to serve the greater U.S. with our space optimizing partitions and flexible design solutions.

What Makes Us So Unique?

We have arrived at an exciting new standard of architectural and interior design, that is centered around the concept of flexibility. Vast open floor plans, geometric modernism, and nods to the outside elements are all defining cultural narratives of this time. Working within this vast industry, we have made our mark on interiors with our stylish and smooth glass doors, modern sliding doors, various wall partitions, and other innovative spatial solutions. Available in hundreds of configurations, we offer customization as a defining characteristic of our company. We believe that each client should have the option to choose between various glass opacities, handles, and other accessories, frame finishes, and the overall door design. Customization allows the individual to integrate our pieces within their space with intention and purpose. Some fall in love with our modern sliding glass barn doors, while others opt for a more class design, such as a frameless sliding door.

We’ve got Your Closets Covered

For many, the issue of drab closets with equally drab closet doors can, unfortunately, become a distasteful drawback in any bedroom or living room. When a well-curated room suffers from cumbersome closet doors, there’s really only one solution; replace them! We offer exciting solutions to replacing those unsightly doors, with a few modern twists on the outdated doors of the past. Try our mirror closet doors, one of our best sliding door solutions, or our glass sliding shoji style doors to create interest and worldly narrative to your space. While some companies offer just a few options, we choose to offer an option for every room, any home size- from expansive villas to tiny homes and everything in between

Frosted sliding door divides home office work station

Seamless Wall and Partition Installation

We work with a lot of contractors, architects and interior designers who aim to optimize their client’s interior spaces, all while working within tight time and monetary budgets. For us, this is a great opportunity to show how installing floor to ceiling glass wall partitions and sliding glass doors throughout an interior can craft two completely distinct rooms, without the burdensome construction process. These spatial solutions are not only much less expensive, but they are also a total breeze to set up and take down. With the help of expert hands-on team members, installation is absolutely seamless. Our team will arrive ready to do all the lifting, installation and work within your vision to achieve the best outcome. Our partitions have, understandably, garnered a lot of attention over the past decade from quite a few top design publications. Hopefully, this written recognition will help simplify, declutter, and enhance the lives of hundreds of readers! Our designs offer enhanced ease of use, as well as a super stylish and contemporary aesthetic, offering a greater artistic flourish compared with a simple light-blocking wall.

At The Sliding Door Company, we have worked tirelessly year after year to ensure quality and customer satisfaction with all of our products, designs, and installations. With recognition from some of the most well-established home magazines, we hope to inspire your next project, however large or small. Being one of the top interior optimizing companies in the nation, we proudly offer our sliding solutions across North America. Having over twenty U.S. locations, The Sliding Door Company has everything you’ll need, with inspiration just waiting inside a showroom near you. Visit Us Online to browse our online viewing catalog and Enjoy A Free Consultation from one of our team members to actualize your dreams today!

The Booming Business of Boutique Hotels

Interior Design Trends

With an increase in demand for smaller, more intimate hotel experiences, we are starting to see boutique inns pop up all over major cities and small towns. This evolution has shifted the mentality of the traveler and thus has created an entirely novel market for boutique hotel architects and interior designers to capitalize on. This universally upgraded view of what comfort and luxury means have birthed a booming business across the globe. Now companies are popping up and staking claim of this new niche market. Thriving companies such as Sonder have built a solid empire based on this demand for more intimate stay experiences. Other major corporations in the hospitality field, such as Hilton and Mariott are jumping on board and developing a franchise of new independent upscale hotels to compete in this ever-evolving industry.

(referring to Hilton’s independent hotel development) “Curio Collection comprises nearly 50 one-of-a-kind, upper upscale hotels around the world and will be opening more in exciting destinations such as Portland, Ore., Costa Rica and Iceland. Tapestry Collection, which launched last year, will more than double its existing portfolio of independent, upscale hotels and open in landmark cities such as Washington, D.C.”

“Finishing an impressive first year, Tapestry Collection by Hilton will continue to offer travelers upscale independent hotel experiences unique to their destination by more than doubling the collection in its second year,” said Jenna Hackett, global head, Tapestry Collection by Hilton.

It used to be that big corporate hotels dominated the market by selling solely one kind of stay- super hotels. This was an impersonal hotel experience where practically every room was the same, and there were little to no distinguishing features from city to city. There weren’t a lot of available options when it came to independent lodging and boutique luxury stays separate from major hotel chains. Now, with the ease of internet booking, all of these independent stays boasting character and individuality have surfaced. And as far as everyone is concerned, there’s no going back.

Any vanguard wishing to compete in this growing industry should be aware of some of the defining characteristics of these unique hotels. Below are a few design tips and tactics to keep in mind when crafting a cutting edge design.

Personal Interior Design

A driving force drawing clients in and making these independent hotels a destination is their understanding of smart interior design. People love to enter into space and feel it was personally selected for them, that it’s comfortable, it’s chic, contemporary, and best of all- photo-worthy. In today’s social media-driven world, most hotel goers and vacationers are looking to snap memorable photos while on their getaway. Crafting a picturesque environment is going to draw people in and improve their overall experience. Artistic flourishes and consistent design themes set boutique stays apart from the rest. Consider integrating interior glass doors as the bathroom or closet doors. Sliding doors such as modern sliding barn doors are a simple design flourish that is both modern and easy to use. An innovative feature that saves space and upgrades the suite to add a bit of luxury and thoughtfulness to each room. Things like this are practically subliminal to the guest, yet they make a big overall impact.

Character/ interesting features

What sets smaller, more design-centered hotels apart from large chainstays, are their interesting features, beautiful lobbies, lounges, and artful restaurants and bars. Upgraded furnishings that address both comfort and style, interesting light fixtures that display mood lighting, modern sliding glass mirror doors and a juxtaposition of earth elements/materials will all offer character and intrigue to the hotel’s communal interior spaces. Many boutique stays are also now offering communal kitchens, and game rooms with favorite activities such as pool tables, ping pong, four square and board games available to encourage interaction and opportunities to connect amongst guests.

Memorable Amenities

People want to feel taken care of, and considered during their stay. Thoughtful amenities such as quality hair products and bath soap, drinks in the fridge, super soft towels and bathrobes are all little extras that upgrade a guest’s stay from good to great. Leaving chocolates on the pillow, and a bottle of wine in certain suites are sure to excite guests and keep them coming back for years to come. Providing menus to local nearby restaurants with coupons helps the guests feel integrated into their new landscape and encourages them to get out on the town.

Insta-worthy photo ops

Every traveler and vacationer these days are looking to capture their noteworthy trip for their online audience. While designing the layout for a boutique hotel, make sure you keep this very important facet in mind. You’ll want to take it a step further than simply crafting artful interiors- we recommend you design stunning photo-op features and facets to the building and surrounding outside property that will draw people in and increase your visual marketing ten-fold. You’ll enjoy the perks of social media sharing (aka free advertising), and effectively build your brand awareness and identity when people feel inclined to post about your artful architecture and breathtaking interiors. A win-win for you and your guests! Things like alluring flower gardens, chic lounge interiors, vibey restaurant nooks, and interesting murals will inspire hundreds of mini personal photoshoots.

All of these aspects of the business will undoubtedly heighten your guest’s experience and set your independent hotel apart from the rest. Artful interiors, striking design features, thoughtful amenities, and plenty of picturesque backdrops will draw clients in from near and far. Consult us at The Sliding Door Company- the experts in spatial optimization. For more exciting 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!

Home Renovation Project Tips and Tactics

Interior Design Trends

Tackling a home remodel or renovation project can be quite the task. Regardless of size and scale, any home improvement is likely going to cost you- not only in financial terms but also in mental taxation, your physical wellbeing, and the unavoidable disruption to your present life. So, how can a home renovation project become an easeful, relatively painless experience that doesn’t totally drain the bank? We’ve got some tips and tactics to consider before you start out on this new journey.

Before diving in too deep, you’ll have to understand that there are multiple factors at play during a home renovation- think of it as a symphony that must work with total cohesion to reach a beautiful harmony. In order to save money, stay on a time schedule, and not completely disrupt your life, all of these considerations should be employed.

Conserving Your Resources

In the beginning stages of any home improvement project, you’ll need to work with a great contractor or architect to identify what visions you have for your space(s), how long you can budget build time, and most importantly- the relative cost of all of this work. Set a clear budget with your team and stick to it. Be very clear that you don’t have a flexible budget (if this is the case) so that they don’t make costly decisions without your approval or enjoy too much wiggle room. When allowed for invited, often time architects and builders will try to push the budget and possibilities for extra add-ons and certain materials. Make sure you outline your boundaries and let them know you’re aware of your finances.

Choose the right materials

This can be a tricky process, as picking textiles and building materials can often be a frenzy of options and unknowns. First, try to identify the overall aesthetic of what you’re trying to achieve. Next, talk with your contractor about these main considerations:

Quality
Cost
Sustainability
Aesthetic
Availability
Long-term Use
Environmentally Responsible

All materials vary greatly in regard to the above factors. New wave building consciousness has led us to become acutely aware of the sustainability of our materials and textiles. This refers to the ethics and environmental impact of where and how these materials are sourced, as well as how long they will last and if their deterioration could be a potential environmental hazard/harm. Your contractor should be well versed in a plethora of material options and will be able to talk with you about your options. Typically, there is a great medium to be reached with regard to cost and quality. If you only select the top tier materials, you’ll end up paying the price for them in the end. Sometimes homeowners don’t realize that the relatively small price difference, while seemingly minuscule per unit, adds up quite a bit with the volume of units. Be aware of these factors.

Choose Flexible Solutions Whenever Possible

There are many fantastic options out there for space optimizing designs that don’t require full (and costly) wall construction. For example, full-length sliding wall doors are a stylishly modern and innovative solution to install in place of permanent drywall. This option allows for spatial flexibility, increased visibility, and light flow, as well as the option for a thoroughfare between two distinct spaces. Wall doors and frosted glass wall partitions, even a stylish barn door room divider still offer the option for privacy (depending on chosen glass opacity) yet they slash the cost of constructing an entire wall, and fortunately, are very easy to deconstruct when needed. These options will save time, money and add a lot of practicality to your new space.

Clear Design Direction

A lot of homeowners, when setting out to update their homes, are somewhat unaware of the necessity to outline- and stick with- a consistent design theme. This is such a crucial factor in the renovation’s success. While upgrading to a more modern look is a great design choice and probably a good return on investment, you’ll want the right accessories, fixtures and hardware to ensure your theme works within the full scope of the home. Below are a few considerations to attaining a consistent modern look:

Furniture and art curation (pick one or two themes and don’t deviate from them)
Smooth dyed cement retaining walls and siding
Wood accents (siding, fencing, hardwood floors, cabinetry)
Sliding bathroom door, mirror sliding door, or mirrored closet doors
Stacking room divider, pocket doors, or bi-fold doors
A blend of elements throughout the house (wood, stone, fur, granite, metal)
Large, open windows
Plenty of light
Open floor plan
Large open kitchens

Relinquish Overzealous Design Choices When You Can

During the design process, we tend to get a little excited, and can at times go a bit overboard with our vision. Most times, architects will go through a series of designs, with each round cutting back and refining the overall choices and aesthetics. Throughout the first few rounds, there are typically ideas thrown out there that are inherently too costly to remain in the project in order to stay on budget. Work with your contractor to figure out which parts of your blueprints you are willing to give up to achieve financial harmony.

Frosted glass sliding door divides reading room with two pictures on the wall

Plan For The Unexpected

There are situations that will unavoidably arise throughout a building/renovation project that you hadn’t expected, and you’ll have to face these roadblocks head-on. If you and your contractor only budget both time and money for smooth sailing, most likely you will exceed your budget on all sides. Factor in an emergency cost budget, as well as plan for extra time in case unfortunate situations arise, causing delays and increased finances.

By being prepared for the unexpected, following a consistent design theme, employing flexible construction solutions, and carefully choosing materials you’ll set yourself (and your home renovation project) up for success. No one should endure a terrible renovation experience- leave those for television. Consult us at The Sliding Door Company- the experts in spatial optimization. For more exciting solutions and inspiration, Visit Us Online to browse our online viewing catalog and Enjoy A Free Consultation from one of our team members to actualize your design dream today.

Stay At Home Parents, It’s Your Time

Interior Design Trends

As a stay at home parent, there can be a lot of hours in the day just waiting to be filled. This can pose a troubling series of questions for those not sure what to do with all of this novel free time. While raising children can be undeniably taxing, there are, of course, school hours and extracurricular activities that take them out of the house and leave you with ample time to sink into a project. Once your child (ren) head off to school, your entire day all of a sudden opens up and presents you with (at times) a stifling existential question- what exactly should I do with mytime?

If you’ve felt this way before, you’re not alone. This is a very common occurrence for stay at home parents that presents a wonderful opportunity to get creative. This is a chance for you to deeply consider what activities, hobbies or skills you’d like to learn or improve upon. Taking time and money into account, we’ve outlined a few creative options to consider during your process.

Home Daycare

If you love kids, which, there’s a high likelihood (seeing as how you’re a stay at home parent), consider starting your own at-home daycare for little ones. This is an excellent way to spend your daytime/morning hours after your own children head off to school (or before they’re in school) where you can be at home, and run a business at the same time. You can easily and affordably build your own home daycare by employing a few spatial optimization solutions and techniques that cost very little and don’t require any major construction. Convert a wing of your home into this daycare by installing sliding wall doors, a barn door room divider or glass wall partitions to enact space separation within a comfortable setting. These spatial solutions are super handy and provide the needed flexibility to account for expansion or deconstruction if you decide to end the daycare business. You’ll be helping out so many parents, and simultaneously growing your community and making friends with other parents. Sometimes being a stay at home parent can feel limiting and can cause a separation from the important adult interaction that parents with 9-5 jobs enjoy. Owning a home daycare will put you in touch with other parents and babysitters and will expand your interactions ten-fold. It also could be a great way for your children to meet new kids.

Personal Business/Startup

Having your children head off to school for the majority of the workday presents a brilliant opportunity to develop your own business doing something you love and working with other adults in doing so. Perhaps your new business is an exciting startup that will take a few years to grow momentum- the perfect circumstance for your lifestyle. Turn a room in your house into a home office or use frosted glass wall partitions to craft an entirely new room or freestanding office space within your home. Choose from six different glass opacities to achieve your desired level of privacy when constructing this office space. This will save you a commute and the cost of renting out an office. Allowing you the flexibility to still drop off and pick up your kids whenever needed, and work from the comfort of your own home.

Yoga Teacher Training/ Fitness Specialist

Have you always secretly dreamt about getting wildly in-shape or even becoming a fitness instructor? Now is the time to actualize these goals that used to be mere fantasies. Starting the yoga teacher training process is actually a lot easier than most people expect and will endow you with a skill set that you can use and enjoy for the rest of your life. Once you acquire this certification, you can teach yoga and integrate your practice into your everyday life. Perhaps you’ve always dreamt of becoming a fitness specialist or a nutritionist. Consider turning one of your rooms into a workout/fitness/yoga studio. Install mirror sliding doors (such as mirrored closet doors) to get the visibility you’ll need when starting this fitness venture. For a relatively simple room upgrade, you’ll craft a health and wellness sanctuary from your own home.

Take the time to look within and ask yourself what path you’d like to go down with the years you have ahead. With your abundance of unique free time, you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. By employing some creative spatial solutions, you’ll set yourself up to utilize your home in a way you never thought you could. For more exciting solutions and inspirations on your home (and lifestyle) transformation, The Sliding Door Company has everything you’ll need. Visit Us Online to browse our online viewing catalog and Enjoy A Free Consultation from one of our team members to actualize your dreams today!