Custom home designer Ralph R. Mackin Architects recently took part in a design project using higher end materials and fixtures, addressing some of the most popular trends in modern kitchen and bath design.
Darren Mercer, a partner in Mackin Architects, explained that the company is a custom home designer that typically works directly with clients and a builder to put up a new house on the client’s own property. “We develop all the interiors and all the interior design details with them in selection of plumbing fixtures, marble and doing the kitchens and all that,” Mercer said.
But in this case, the company was working on a spec house with a developer it has worked with for 6-8 years, Deep Woods Development in Bedford, NY. A spec house is a house that’s being built by a developer for sale, prior to having a buyer, and it is sold as a completed residence.
“In the middle of the process when the project was underway, we were contacted by Brizo, and they were interested in our input on their newer line of plumbing fixtures,” Mercer said.
So both Ralph Mackin and Mercer went to Indianapolis to meet with representatives of Delta Faucet Co.’s premium faucet brand to see what new products were available and where they were going with their design. “It was kind of a transitional approach with traditional elements and more contemporary lines, a combination of the new and old,” Mercer said. “They wanted to know if we’d be interested in taking their product and putting it in one of our houses.”
Mercer said the company couldn’t find an opportunity in its custom home business to fit in the products, since its clients typically already know what they want to use. “So we thought about doing it in the spec house, and it worked out well that it was under construction and that we could put together a project where we would re-look at the kitchen and the bathroom with this type of plumbing fixture design,” Mercer said.
From Bath & Kitchen Pro, April 2008
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