OUR BLOG
OUR BLOG
Check out what’s happening with Myers Constructs as well as the latest news and trends in home renovation.
Q&A: Vintage 101 (and a Giveaway!)
In follow up to last week’s newsletter, When Vintage Decor Meets Modern Renovation, we sat down with Natalie Rettinger, owner of Media, PA-based vintage furniture boutique Reconsidered Home, for a primer on antique furnishings and how to incorporate them into your home. Q: How did you get started in selling vintage furnishings and antiques? NR: I found my first chair in a thrift shop a few years ago. It was a tufted, armless chair with a dusty mustard yellow fabric. I bought the chair for $15, took it home, and immediately took it apart to see how it got its shape. I learned a lot from that chair and still have it, mostly to remind me to leave reupholstering to the professionals! Q: What are the advantages of decorating a home with vintage finds? NR: Vintage furniture, in combination with your existing pieces, allows you to be truly unique and[...]
Hot Off the Press
Our postcard marketing program is featured in a new book called Visual Marketing: 99 Proven Ways for Small Businesses to Market with Images and Design by David Langton and Anita Campbell (Wiley). Get your copy today!
In the News Part III
Everything You Wanted to Know About Windows The third installment in a 5-part Examiner.com series featuring Myers Constructs. Read the story here.
In the News, Part II
Myers Constructs is featured on Examiner.com today regarding making older homes more energy efficient. You can see the story here.
Myers Constructs in the News…
Examiner.com is featuring Myers Constructs in a 5-article series. Check out the first installment here!
Renovation Roundup: Can We Talk?
To kick off the unofficial start of fall, a.k.a. "nesting season," we'd like to try something a little different. Tell us: What's your biggest design dilemma? What's at the top of your renovation wish list? Tell us about the projects you have planned in your own homes during the coming months ... or whatever else is on your mind relating to construction and design. All reasonable comments will be posted in the comments section below, and we'll respond to as many of your postings as we can.
Part I In a Series: When Vintage Decor Meets Modern Renovation – and a Giveaway!
If you follow our blog regularly, you may already know that we’re doing a long-awaited renovation of the master bedroom suite at our 1950s Sputnik-era split-level rancher in Flourtown. Happily, the construction phase is over, and we’re now on to the finishing touches and decorating stage. This is when we get to install all of the shiny and pretty bits. Shopping for just the right decor is, for me, one of the most fun parts of the project. Because I love old, quality crafted furniture, I really enjoy the process of combing the local antique and high-end consignment shops to find pieces that will not only fit the space properly, but also tell the right story about our home. […]
Irene’s Local Effects
By all accounts most of us in and around Philadelphia dodged the very serious potential effects of Irene. Our hearts go out to those who were not as lucky as we were. Here are some snaps of what I saw the day after in my own neighborhood; Local streams and rivers were 5-10 feet above normal causing low-lying areas to flood. Some people even had to be evacuated by boat. Because the storm threw weather at us from unusual directions, new leaks were discovered; At our house, some water came behind the brick screen wall and into the house via the window below. Crawl spaces got wet because the ground outside was so saturated. Tenants at our rental house let us know the old chimney let some moisture in and it stained the plaster ceiling. A customer called to let us know she too got some rain in[...]
Q and A: Checking in With Myers Constructs
As the busy fall home-renovation season kicks off, Myers Constructs co-owner Diane Menke sits down for a chat about breaking traditional design build paradigms, finding paths for growth in a difficult economy, and the surprising places where her team finds design inspiration. Q: Tell us about your design to build philosophy. DM: Generally speaking, design build is a model in which the design and construction phases of a renovation project are done in a streamlined fashion — often by having design and construction professionals team up in order to save time and money. Our approach is a different take on this concept. We do both design and construction in house, using a very tight system of steps we have developed over the years. We call it Design to Build™ because we only design projects to build them. We don’t spend a client’s financial resources on exploration of ideas that won’t[...]
Finding the Magic in Your Home
We often talk to new clients who come to the table with ideas about all kinds of “stuff” they want to buy and install in their homes. While this is a perfectly natural place for most people to start their renovation process, our job is to get them to back up a little and talk to us about their lives. What we really want to know is how they want to live, and how their home fits into that picture. Many times, we have to ask them to stretch a little, imagine a little magic in their everyday lives … and explain what that magic would be. Typical questions we ask in the initial consultation include: What works and doesn't work in your home? What do you love and what do you hate in your home? When you travel or visit the homes of friends and family, what do you[...]
