A New Library Design-Build Project Pays Homage to Regional Culture…

Perhaps most notable and a true highlight of the project, the Gullah Geechee Collection room pays tribute to the area’s rich history and tradition. Celebrating the regional Gullah heritage, this unique room is constructed of a bamboo basket weave membrane over wooden rib-and-beam ship construction framing.

In case you live and work outside the Southeast, the Gullah are descendants of slaves who live in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina and Georgia, which includes both the coastal plain and the beautiful Sea Islands.

The meaning behind this subtle design theme may not be immediately obvious to everyone. Though, it accomplishes what most good design should do. It gives rise to learning about the region and culture in which the structure has been imbued.

Several sustainable elements were also included in this project such as recycled materials, recycling construction waste, and natural lighting. Due to Choate Construction Company’s sustainable efforts, the building is hoping to be approved for LEED Silver certification.

       Photo Credit: Choate Construction Company

If you’re as impressed with this new library by Choate Construction Company as we are, follow the link below to learn more about the company and its variety of services and awe-inspiring portfolio. http://www.choateco.com.

Spring is just two weeks away and, for interior designers, your clients will be eager to clear out the clutter and lighten up their homes with fresh new looks. To help get your creative juices flowing, our team at ECPR has compiled some of our favorite design tips for livening up the home for the days of spring.

Tip # 1 – Welcome Spring at the Front Door

After enduring the long winter months, a home’s exterior will be in dire need of a facelift. Landscaping aside, start your spring spruce-up with the outer focal point of the home, the front door. Encourage your clients to stray away from the traditional red and basic black door, and suggest Farrowand Ball’ s Folly Green or BenjaminMoore’s Venezuelan Sea for an inviting spring twist! Doing so can keep the home from looking just like the Joneses’ home.

Tip # 2 – Think Nature

With the digital world in full swing, companies are looking for ways to incorporate new online marketing strategies into budgets. This not only includes online and e-newsletter advertising, but also valuable editorial content available through target media outlets. Many trade and consumer publications, blogs, digital magazines, and websites enable companies to submit their own editorial content online through submission forms. For example, press releases, product profiles, case-studies, feature articles, and much more.

This is something we PR professionals call self-publishing. And, by using these valuable tools, companies have the ability to exponentially increase their online presence. Researching online submission sites and guidelines can be an arduous task. It is important to know upfront which sites will add value to an organization’s branding message. Also, following instructions is a key factor to achieving publication. This is one of the many reasons why companies turn to public / media relations firms like ours for assistance.

Our team of experts can help develop strategic digital and integrated marketing plans as a gateway to increasing brand awareness. The premise behind this is one of our mottos: Content is King!

We assess, analyze and execute online submissions to help benefit our clients’ overall editorial content and reach, as a clear supplement to other forms of published company news and product information. In turn, we help companies expand their website press sections to more well-rounded displays of multimedia placements, ultimately building brand awareness for their design services and / or product launches.

To learn more about our services, please visit our website at www.eberlycollardpr.com.

~ ECPR

Our client, Highwood USA, a manufacturer of outdoor furniture, accessories as well as decking and fence material, recently completed a privacy fence installation featuring the company’s long-lasting synthetic fence material along a freeway in northern Virginia. The customer for this project was a Home Owners’ Association in need of a fence solution that had the following qualities:

• When installed, the fence had to be attractive and natural in both color and appearance. The HOA desired a privacy fence that would blend with the environment. 
• The fence was required to be ultra-low maintenance and sturdy to provide a no-fuss solution and require minimal upkeep, ultimately offering exceptional durability and long-term value. 
• Providing a sound barrier to the freeway noise was a key desire of the Home Owners’ Association members. 
• The community also wanted to install a fence manufactured with eco-friendly material and that which was sourced from a company that takes its responsibility to the environment seriously. 
• Finally, the finished fence was specified for installation at a height of 12 feet; and, of utmost importance, it needed to be strong enough to withstand the winds and weather conditions that Virginia experiences throughout the year. 

“We worked closely with both the fence installer, Northern Virginia Fence Company, and the HOA representatives to provide detailed information about our Highwood material and how it would address all of the project’s needs, giving rise to a solid solution for the project,” says Craig Smith, director of sales & marketing for Highwood USA.

According to Smith, Highwood USA beat out a number of alternative materials produced by competitors. “I do believe this was because we took the time to listen closely to the customer’s needs, to answer all of their questions, and to deliver a quality design solution that fulfilled the technical specifications and requirements,” he says.

The 12-foot commercial HOA fence project is a larger and more heavyweight version of the company’s “new for 2013” 6-ft tall privacy fence that offers all of the same benefits as above. The 6-ft tall privacy fence is designed for easy installation, requires little maintenance and is readily available for fence installers to sell for residential or commercial applications. For more information, visit www.highwood-usa.com.

Members of the media, if you are interested in learning more about this case-study for an upcoming feature article, please contact the ECPR team at ddebruin@eberlycollardpr.com.

Builders, architects and designers, if you’re looking for the latest window and door products, Andersen Windows and Doors is high up on our list of manufacturers. The company’s 400 Series of windows provides a classic blend of engineering and craftsmanship, ensuring they are weather-tight, high quality and easy to install.

The 400 Series features a wide range of styles, from bow / bay and gliding to casement and double-hung, this collection has it all. And, no matter if you are designing a contemporary or traditional home, the 400 Series is available in five different exterior color options and two interior colors. In addition, Andersen’s 400 Series is energy efficient, a characteristic that has become increasingly more important to homeowners.

To learn more about Andersen Windows and Doors’ 400 Series, watch the video below.

Builders and developers have faced many challenges since 2008 when the housing industry was hit hard due to the recession. Many homeowners were forced to foreclose, which created widespread homeownership losses. As the economy is slowly but surely continuing to recover, builders and developers will be faced with new yet exciting challenges. One of these challenges being the drastic change in consumer housing preferences.

These changes can be welcomed in many ways, as they present opportunities for new forms of revenue and industry expansion.

The concern for childhood obesity has increased tenfold over the last few years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents during the past 30 years. And, the risks of childhood obesity can result in long-term cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. In addition, an overweight or obese child can feel the effects from a social standpoint, opening them up to ridicule and bullying from classmates.

In an effort the help prevent childhood obesity from continually growing, the USDA is seeking to rid school vending machines of junk food such as chips and candy bars in exchange for more healthy options like fruits and vegetables. The proposed rule, Smart Snacks, requires schools to uphold nutritional standards consistent with the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans. If passed, the law would go into effect at least a full school year after final approval, allowing schools to acclimate to the new changes.

Under the proposed rule, food sold in schools must:

Designers and architects, are you wondering what new kitchen appliances are being introduced this year, to ensure your clients have the latest technology? Wonder no more, because ECPR set out on a mission to find some of the newest and most innovative kitchen appliances on the market. Scroll down the page to view three new products our team found most intriguing!

La Cornue’s CornuFé 1908 

The newest range in the La Cornue family, the CornuFé 1908 has a sleek, old-world look and features a patented gas vault oven and a 5-burner cooktop. This new oven range is made from enameled steel and measures 36” in width. In addition, it has a large, soft-close drawer that enables ample storage for racks, trays and other over accessories. The CornuFé 1908 is available in seven colors and three trim combinations. For more information about the CornuFé 1908, or to view other products from La Cornue, visit www.lacornueusa.com.

Photo Credit: La Cornue

Photo Credit: Kohler

LG Electronics’ HDTV Refrigerator 

LG Electronics; HDTV Refrigerator gives a whole new perspective on innovation. The side-by-side model incorporates LG’s fifth-generation digital television tuner to deliver digital broadcast to a 15-inch screen. It also includes remote-control operation, cable and DVD connection, and FM radio. On the left door is a 4-inch weather-center LCD display above the ice and water dispenser. For more information about the HDTV Refrigerator, visit www.lg.com.

Photo Credit: LG Electronics

These new designs are just three among many inventive products being introduced to consumers in 2013. New technologies are being designed everyday, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds. Friends and fans of ECPR, which of these new products will you be incorporating in your next project?

Better Homes and Gardens  recently featured on its website, a slideshow of must-grow new perennials for 2013. The brand new varieties offer exciting colors and more flowers that will make any perennial garden the best yet. The slideshow includes a large array of varieties such as hibiscus, echinacea, sedum, and coreopsis as well as many other eye-catching varieties. Echinacea ‘Supreme Cantaloupe’ from our client, Terra Nova Nurseries, was one of the many echinaceas mentioned.

Echinacea ‘Supreme Cantaloupe’ Photo Credit: Terra Nova Nurseries

Echinacea ‘Supreme Cantaloupe’ is part of the Supreme™ Series, which includes two other varieties, Echinacea ‘Supreme Elegance’ and Echinacea ‘Supreme Flamingo’. Terra Nova Nurseries teamed up with Blooms of Bressingham to create these heavy bloomers with strong saturation in its large, but proportionate flowers. Retailers, learn more about these beauties here. 

For those reading our blog who are garden center retailers, you do not want to miss out on purchasing these varieties to have in your garden center for 2013. Consumers will see these lovely new plants on Better Homes and Gardens’ website and you will not want to miss out on stocking these trending perennials for spring gardens. No matter what type of retail you might be working in, it is important to stay abreast of consumer trends and demands in your related industry. This will help you keep up with competitors as well as reach your company’s sales goals.

A note for our landscape designer blog readers, many of the plants featured by our editor friends with Better Homes & Gardens magazine are popular trend-setters. So, keep them in mind as you begin to plan your clients’ landscape designs for spring. – For everyone else, these plants just might add some living color to your own lawns and gardens in 2013. 

Be sure to check out several of our top picks from Better Homes and Gardens’ selections below. Also, if you want to view the whole slideshow visit its website.

Belamcanda ‘Gone with the Wind’ Photo Credit: Plant Delights

Hibiscus ‘Heartthrob’ Photo Credit: Perennial Resource

Lavender ‘Phenomenal’ Photo Credit: Garden Plants

With a new year ahead of us, it means many new and exciting opportunities to look forward to here at Eberly & Collard Public Relations. One that we are thrilled about is the addition of our most recent client, Kimberly Grigg of Knotting Hill Interiors. Many of you who read our blog and keep up with our social media sites might recognize her name from the Southern Vernacular Architecture and Southern Interior Design Panel our team hosted at the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center (ADAC) in October.

Kimberly Grigg is the talented and much sought-after lead designer of her firm called Knotting Hill Interiors. She also owns a retail store in Myrtle Beach, SC, of the same name. Kimberley believes her design mission is to create living spaces that are genteel, welcoming, comfortable, and authentically expressive of those living in them. One of the many traits we admire about Kimberly is the fact she forms a relationship with every client and brings fresh and inspired ideas that are responsive to each client’s needs and visions. Whether working on an entire home renovation project or planning the interior design of a new room or guesthouse, she has earned a reputation of delivering on all of her promises along with a dash of flair and fun.

To learn more about Kimberly Grigg and Knotting Hill Interiors, please visit her website or check out her blog. Also, be on the look-out for more posts about projects and events featuring Knotting Hill Interiors as we kick-off publicity and speaking engagement planning for Kimberly during 2013.