September 2008

SGR Featured in Indy Star Home Renovation Series
While the SGR name wasn’t in bright neon lights, we were still pretty darned excited at the opportunity to be featured in a recent two-part article in the Indianapolis Star on home renovations. The article focused on a home we did in Westfield and how SGR helped the Fleck family to achieve a long time dream of having an entertaining kitchen. Over the course of the 8 month project – which was originally intended to be 3 months in length – SGR worked around the schedules of the 7-person family. Life went on, and SGR worked with the Flecks to make the construction process easier by applying our strict performance expectations throughout the entire project.

See the links below for videos of the project as well as articles from the Star:

• Watch two videos about this project - produced by Indianapolis Star

• Westfield home gets a modern makeover for a family of seven
 
• Timeline of kitchen renovation
 
• Remodel results in kitchen that fits entertaining lifestyle
 
• Lessons learned from kitchen makeover

3 Tips: Taking Your Dream to Reality
You’ve got ideas in your head about how you want your patio or kitchen to look, but you’re not a designer nor are you very good at sketching. How you communicate your dream to a contractor so that they can visualize what you want is an extremely important part of the project. So, how do you do it?

Write down what you dream about. Be specific but don’t worry about grammar, and you don’t need to take time to edit what you write. It should be raw stuff, but say what’s on your mind, and be specific and descriptive. For example: I want a fire place in my kitchen that I can also see from my family room. I want to be able to read a book by this fireplace and at the same time look out my window at my bird feeder.

Help the contractor visualize what you want by looking in Architectural Digest, cabinet manufacturer literature, or other resources that you can find online. Bookmark these pictures to show your contractor during your first meeting.

Communicate your vision by making sure you ask a lot of questions about the types of work the contractor has done. Ask them to share their portfolio with you. Finally, after you’ve told them your vision, ask the most important question of all: What have you heard me say I want?
We are proud to be nominated for seven MAME Awards given by the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis (BAGI.) MAME stands for Merchandising and Marketing Excellence. The awards program will be held in November 2008.

Steve Gray Renovations has been nominated for Professional Remodelers of the Year, with Professional Remodelers Magazine.

Q&A with SGR HELP. ADVICE. ANSWERS! Keep your questions coming! We will be answering some of those questions in upcoming issues. Click here to ask the pros!

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