Realistic 3D Design Software

See it before it’s built

I am always amazed at how dedicated our clients are. On Monday, Kirsten went to our old Kensington location and walked straight upstairs as usual, only to find a developer had taken over our space. Not discouraged, she came to our workshop to purchase furniture for her son’s new ‘big boy’ bedroom. That was the kick in the pants I needed to get out this newsletter!

Our workshop address is 5516 40 Street SE, Unit G.

While this may seem out of the way, we are only 15 minutes from downtown, and many clients swing by on their lunch. And our website has a map.

Thank you VERY much to all our clients that helped us celebrate the closing of our store. It was a truly humbling experience to see everyone and have them wish us well. We’ve had a great year thanks to your support.

3D Design Software

No, we don’t have a showroom anymore. We gave that up to improve our production, and to give our residential, corporate and hospitality clients what they wanted – custom designs. We invested in state-of-the-art software that allows us to quickly design beautiful furniture, kitchens and interior woodwork. The full colour renderings are in your wood and stain choice, and they can be ‘seen’ from any angle – you can even open the doors and look inside.

The software automatically optimizes materials for low to no waste, and converts the designs into shop drawings. This increases the speed at which your woodwork goes from concept to completion.

 

Line drawing of our Urvan Village Wine Console. Details show interior shelves and door styles.

 

 

 

 

Our software creates full colour renderings so you can see it before it's built.

 

 

 

 

 

The finished Wine Console.

Designer Downtown Condo

Professional couple create ultimate urban retreat

Not everyone wants a backyard. Like other major cities, Calgary’s downtown core is filling with multi-story condos. Scott Barker and Beverley Young are one young couple who took advantage of this urban lifestyle, and transformed their typical condo into a gourmet get-away.

Originally, the south and west facing condo with a wrap-around balcony had two bedrooms and a den, which divided the space and made it feel smaller than it really was. The den was tucked away behind the kitchen so it received little sunlight, which wasn’t ideal for Scott who works from home. The galley kitchen was not cutting it for Beverley, a gourmet.

 

Last fall, the condo was completely renovated to fit their lifestyle. The hallway and second bedroom were torn out to make a large den area along the east side that joins up with the open concept dining, living and kitchen area. The den and kitchen were gutted to make room for Beverley’s new kitchen that has every convenience.

 

Scott and Beverley, long-time clients of Ingrained Style, worked with Mike to build all the interior woodwork, including the kitchen, bathroom , custom closet organizer, and the interior doors and trims. According to Beverley, “it was so great working with Ingrained Style as they made our space exactly what we wanted.”

Not just a kitchen

If you take your food preparation seriously, take note because every detail was thought out. The first thing that strikes is how the kitchen looks modern, yet feels warm. The balance was achieved using natural materials like solid wood cabinets, doors and drawers, un-honed slate countertop, and a rich red mosaic glass tile backsplash that pulls it all together.

 

 

 

 

 

Storage is at a premium, so every square inch had to be used efficiently. “Mike took us to a wholesaler’s showroom for items we not only hadn’t seen before, but were essential to our kitchen design,” says Beverley. This included building a floor to ceiling “magic corner” into the dead corner space, revealing an entire pantry. A massive appliance garage with a stainless steel tambour door hides various kitchen appliances, and is flanked with pull out spice drawers with more creative storage above and below.

 

Convenience was very important: if it is hard to access, chances are it won’t be used. All cupboards feature roll out drawers or shelves to easily get the items at the back, and all the drawers have self-closing hardware. “The” modern convenience is the under mount pop-up tray for an electric mixer. Stored under a cupboard, a quick flick brings the mixer up to counter height and is ready to use. All these measures keep the counter clutter free.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Mike asked all the right questions to ensure we had not missed anything,” says Beverley, “like moving the huge microwave from over top of the sink where I, at 5'11", would bump into it.”

 

 

 

 

 

Pulling it all together – custom millwork

Whether your home is 1,000 or 10,000 square feet, unifying the look with consistent doors and trims makes the difference between well designed and well, not designed. Scott and Beverley transformed their home by replacing all the standard interior doors with custom solid wood doors in the same style as their kitchen.

 

The mouldings were upgraded to solid wood and stained to match. This allowed the couple’s furniture to shine because it was not competing with a myriad of mixed materials and finishes.

 

 

 

 

 

Bonfire of the Vanities

The modern bathroom was made warm and inviting, again by using natural materials. The ‘floating vanity’ comes straight out from the wall (no legs) and is made with solid bubinga, a rich coloured African hardwood we sourced specifically for this project. The tub is surrounded by smooth river stones, which feels like you are showering in a waterfall. The tub base is encased in bubinga panels.

Having Ingrained Style build the kitchen, bathroom, and all the interior woodwork, gave Scott and Beverley the cohesive modern look they were after without using several suppliers. “They completed the work on time and for the quoted price. They installed the cabinetry on the weekend to work around our hectic building schedule, which was beyond what we expected,” says Beverley. “I couldn't ask for a better experience and will happily work with them again in the future. After all, we already have ideas for the desk and built-in cabinets, our other bathroom, and walk in closet.

 

When in doubt, renovate!

Have you seen how busy the video store is lately! Holy cow – people are staying home in droves. Hollywood is gearing up for another ‘golden age’ of inspirational and attention-diverting movies reminiscent of the dirty ‘30s.

Which is why the Fed’s Home Renovation Tax Credit is perfect timing. If you’re going to be staying home anyway, you may as well enjoy looking at your house.

A slight insult to us craftspeople, the Tax Credit does not include stand-alone furniture. However, we can still help you get back $1,050 of your hard-earned cash. While most of you know us for our furniture, we do all interior woodwork including mouldings, doors, bathroom vanities and full kitchens (see the Designer Downtown Condo story for details).

If you want to spruce up what you have, consider new solid wood cabinet doors and drawer fronts to take your kitchen from ‘80s country to millennium modern.

Other qualifying purchases are built-in units. How about a new entertainment centre to watch all those movies? Or a built-in desk for downloading all the latest movie reviews?

Mount Engadine Lodge

Luxury Rocky Mountain Getaway

A backcountry lodge with front country access, Mount Engadine Lodge is the jewel of Kananaskis Country. Located on the Spray Lakes road behind Canmore, wildlife viewing is guaranteed and the majestic peaks surrounding the lodge are all worth the effort - with the added benefit of an amazing meal and wine upon descent.

Legendary for its afternoon tea, Mount Engadine Lodge was recently renovated under the careful supervision of owner Andrew Kyle and his team of professional innkeepers Chris and Shari-Lynn Williams. The rooms were transformed from dorm-style bunk beds to luxurious suites complete with a King size bed, living area and private bath. For groups wishing to share accommodations, the king converts into two twin beds.

 

 

Mike Dopf, owner of Ingrained Style, worked with the Engadine team to design the unique ‘king to twin’ bed design. Chris and Shari-Lynn have been involved in the industry for over 15 years throughout North America, including The Wickaninnish Inn in Tofino, and have seen many adaptations of the king to twin split.

 

When we showed our design to the Williams, they were thrilled with the concept. Since its installation, “we have raved about the design, efficiency, and ease of transition whenever we do the king to twin bed split,” says Chris.

 

 

 

With storage space at a premium in mountain lodges, the Engadine team came up with their own ingenious idea for the bedding. Each bed has two twin duvets used in both the twin and king bed setups. Guests sharing the king are very pleased to have their own duvet, and Chris is happy not to store an extra king duvet.

The impressive solid wood headboard was designed with shadow boxes to bring the outdoors in. The removable panels display the seasonal
flora found in the area.

 

 

To make your reservation,
please visit www.MountEngadine.com.

 

Customized Sales Centre

IT Support company upscales its image

If you run a small to mid-sized business, chances are IT is not your forte, and nor should it be. That’s why there are companies like SSI Solutions – to make your life easier.

SSI Solutions is an Alberta company that provides a simple and cost effective way for customers to manage their business technology. Whether you have one site or a hundred computers across multiple sites, SSI Solutions' managed platforms allow you to focus on your business and leave the IT to them.

Katherine Pickett, Administrative Assistent at SSI's Calgary location, contracted Ingrained Style to design and build a modular sales centre that allows several people to work at once. Consisting of only two pieces – a tower and a display cabinet – the centre can be reconfigured if the company moves or expands. The central area has a false floor for storage, which is accessed from the lower cabinets, and the computer and network wires run up this area to the ceiling to keep it neat and trip free.

SSI selected solid maple for the sales centre, as it is a clean and modern wood. Solid wood has the cache of an upscale operation, with the added benefit that it can be repaired and refinished as needed, greatly increasing the life of the centre.

“I selected Ingrained Style as our supplier because they impressed me with their knowledge, friendliness and customer service. Their website is divided by commercial and residential products, showing they frequently deal with businesses. They responded knowledgeably to my initial online inquiry and replied promptly to my questions throughout the process. Most importantly, Ingrained Style sent a representative to our location to fully understand our ideas and requirements, making sure we received a piece that is functional and reflects our business’ style and personality,” says Katherine.

"Heavenly Outhouse" in Cochrane

Karrie and David Peace are long time clients of Ingrained Style Furniture. So when Karrie bought the very popular Heavenly Outhouse gift and décor store on main street Cochrane, she knew she wanted to carry our furniture.

Karrie is currently displaying our most popular Yamnuska Log and Harvest Table collections, along with our modern line of tables, chairs and wine consoles.

Visit Karrie and all her beautiful home accent pieces in person at 312 1 St W in Cochrane.

Ingrained Style Wins Scotiabank’s National Business Contest

Lean manufacturing strategy resonates with judges

The furniture and interior woodwork industry is steeped in traditional manufacturing methods. Building things the ‘old fashioned way’ has earned us a reputation of quality products. The challenge was how to take the desirable aspects of traditional building – like dovetail joints – and produce them more efficiently.

Our solution is Lean manufacturing – which is the difference between Ford’s mass production model and Toyota’s ability to build a custom car in 6 hours. Lean allows us to produce more with less effort by systematically eliminating all wasteful processing steps, creating efficient work cells, removing bottle necks, and implementing new technologies to increase flow.

Since starting our lean journey last January, we have completely optimized our workshop for ‘one-piece flow,’ so once a project starts it flows through to completion. This one element has greatly reduced our build times – which means YOU get your order done faster.

National Win - Get Growing Business Contest

As a small business owner, getting professional feedback on your business plan is a rare opportunity. Which is why Scotiabank’s contest to see who has Canada’s best growth strategy appealed to us. With our initial submission, Ingrained Style won the very competitive Prairie division. In order to win the National Grand Prize worth $25,000, we underwent an intensive interview with five of Canada’s top business experts. Guess what? We not only won, but all five judges selected us the winner!

Kyle McNamara, managing director of small business for Scotiabank, says two aspects of our business strategy set us apart from a typical small business: “They have a very good and very detailed business plan, and they also have great mentors, which are essential for future growth of the business.”

 

While our win re-affirms our confidence to be successful in a very competitive market, knowing we have the support of our employees, suppliers and most importantly, our clients, is our true ‘win’.

 

To read about the contest and the other finalists, visit www.getgrowingforbusiness.com/challenge.