Team Midnight!

I’m counting down…..in less than 2 months, The Next Cool Event 2012 will be taking place at the Atlanta Expo Center, Scott Antique Market in mid February. I can just feel the excitement building as we all work diligently on our set designs and exhibits.  AVI Marvin is a Silver Sponsor of the event.

I’m so proud of our team this year starting with the lovely Margaret Norcott of Milieu Design Group, Kyle Sturtevant of Distinctive Remodeling, Horacio & Melba Leonard of Higher Ground Events and Jelani Linder of J. Linder Design & Consultant. We’ve all worked together to create a mysterious, dark, shadowy, eerie, but beautiful southern garden theme.

Our “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” set design is really beginning to take shape and come to life. I’m so excited to finally have a final rendering of our concept drawn by Marc Hampton. He did a fabulous job sketching out this rendering from only a conversation and a few emails from me explaining what we wanted our garden to look like.

Our exhibit will have one of only two stages at the event incorporated into our space with vocal performances on the hour, every hour. Margaret is helping us design our stage area to look and feel like the inside of one of the old Antebellum Savannah homes from which this movie was filmed.  Of course the entire set will be surrounded and defined by our beautiful Marvin Windows. We also just found out that there will be a Voodoo Bar adjacent to our space playing up the Voodoo aspect from the movie….can’t wait to see that!

I’m hoping for a great turn out similar to last year with over 13,000 attendees throughout the weekend. AVI Marvin will be inviting our VIP customers and contacts in the building and design industry to this “over the top” party so let me know if you are interested in attending and I can tell you how to get tickets to either the Red Carpet Cocktails on Friday night or the VIP Gala on Saturday night which is invitation only!  Check out AVI’s latest blog about the 2012 event.

The Next Cool Event
February 17 & 18, 2012
Scott Antique Market, Atlanta Expo Center North Building
3650 Jonesboro Rd. Atlanta, GA 30354
http://www.thenextcoolevent.com/

Concept: An over-the-top celebration of all things fabulous! The Next Cool Event brings together established talent, budding artists and celebrated individuals in the Atlanta area to create three-dimensional set installations that awe, inspire and delight. Inspired by the growing film & television industry in Georgia, this showcase of great design celebrates local talent, suppliers, designers, etc. Each installation evokes a different movie, TV show or commercial as its muse.

Check out what other exhibitors have been up to here: http://tradetalknow.com/

Forbes Magazine features story about Marvin Windows & Doors

The current edition of Forbes Magazine online features Marvin Windows and Doors in an article demonstrating the reciprocal loyalty between the company and community.

Anyone who has traveled to Warroad, MN to attend Marvin’s Builder Training and Plant Tour has seen first hand how involved they are their community!

Check out the article here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/donalddelves/2011/08/03/reciprocal-loyalty-between-a-company-and-its-workers/

Atlanta Spring Home Show, Beverly Hillbillies – Take 2!

I’m so excited to be taking part in “The Beverly Hillbillies – Take 2”.  As most of you know, AVI Marvin collaborated with a great group of Atlanta based building and design professionals in the Next Cool Thing Event in January 2011.

 It was such a hit, that our group has been invited to once again, design and build our modern-day version of the Beverly Hillbillies Mansion at the upcoming Spring Atlanta Home Show this weekend April 1-3rd, 2011. 

We will be located directly next to the Total Wine & Design Experience, so come experience our fun exhibit featuring the most modern appliances and building products available today, including Marvin Windows and Doors! 

Check out more info regarding the Atlanta Home Show here: http://www.atlantahomeshow.com/index.php?c=84&d=205&a=257&w=9&r=Y

Windows as a Fashion Statement!

 Windows – Clearly a Fashion Statement

 Architectural Visions, Inc.  is an Atlanta based Marvin Design Gallery.  We are all about great, made-to-order windows. In fact, we like to say that with Marvin, if you can dream it, we can build it.

Over my 15 years of selling Marvin, I’ve learned it’s easy to take windows for granted, but look again at the dramatic changes your windows (and doors!) can make.

In the kitchen, glider windows are ideal because their side-to-side operation makes them easy to open while reaching across a counter. Imagine bringing in the sunshine with a row of gliders instead of a back splash.

Don’t overlook doors for adding drama and changing the overall feel of a room. Sliding Patio, French doors, and Swinging Doors can change traffic flow, help you keep an eye on your kids when they’re playing, and bring the outdoors closer to the indoors.

An important window style element is how each pane of glass is divided. This feature is called divided lites. The patterns they create not only help you style your windows, but they cast shadows and change their appearance throughout the day and into the night. Often we think of divided lites as something for traditional homes, but even a bold, new mid-century decor can make use of this option. In fact, the sky’s the limit!

Whatever decor you’re picturing, I’m confident we’ll be able to help you achieve it. We have hundreds of style, shapes and sizes, colors, divided lite options and more. And we’ll make the process easy, because we love delighting our customers and making their homes beautiful! Come in and see us! 

–Heather

Visit www.AVIMarvin.com or call us at 678-297-1111

HElsberry@avimarvin.com

The Hillbillies Mansion Set at the Next Cool Thing Event!

Our view to the "see-ment pond"!

Our Modern Day Hillbillies Mansion Set was a hit at the Next Cool Thing Event in Atlanta last month.  It was a 3 day over the top party that ran from January 21-23rd, 2011 with almost 10,000 visitors throughout the weekend. 

The Next Cool Thing events were staged around 90,000 square feet of individual installations showcasing the area’s design/build talent and fine home products. Each installation featured a movie or TV show theme. AVI, together with industry design partners, created a 900 square foot set reimagining a Beverly Hillbillies mansion of the 21st century.

Of course we featured Marvin Windows and a Marvin French Door in addition to a custom staircase built by Vision Stairways, modern kitchen supplied by HADCO, Kitchen and Bath design by Simone Feldman and interiors by Margaret Norcott, Allied ASID.  Bernie Smith with MasterWorks Atlanta brought the whole thing together. 

It was hard to walk through our 30’ x 30’ space at times because we had so many visitors. Our booth location encouraged visitors to stop by on their way in and again on their way out.  Many visitors wanted a second look at our ultimate casement windows. And our backlit French door feature, which simulated a view of the Hillbillies’ ‘see-ment pond’ provided a great photo-op for our attendees.

We hope to team again for the upcoming Spring Atlanta Home Show at the Cobb Galleria in April, so don’t forget to stop by the Hillbillies Mansion and sit a spell!

A walk through the past….

I’ve been so busy over the past few weeks trying to get the word out to the building trade community in Metro Atlanta about our upcoming Marvin Window factory tour next month.  Having been to the Marvin plant several times over the years, I truly understand the value of the trip and tour of their facilities.  There is something of interest for everyone on this trip whether it’s the sheer size of the window plant, the machinery and technology, the gorgeous snowy topography, the lake, the wilderness, the people or for me…the history.         

Marvin welcomes hundreds of people a year to tour their Warroad, Minnesota facilities.  Warroad is a small city 6 miles south of the Canadian border and rests on the shores of the Lake of the Woods which is the 100^th largest lake in the world.   

The William S. Marvin Training Center in Warroad is actually a popular visitor destination that illustrates the deep history that the Marvin family holds in Warroad.  The center’s name sake “Bill Marvin” was the patriarch of the family and known for building Marvin Windows and Doors from a small regional company to the premier company that it is known as today.  Sadly, Bill passed away at the age of 92 late last year, but leaves a grand legacy behind with several members of the Marvin family at the helm including Susan Marvin as President.  With old Marvin family photos and artifacts, retired machinery from the original window plant and audio and video clips of interviews with Bill Marvin after the plant fire of 1961, it is a true walk through Marvin history.  

I have a small group of builders and contractors looking forward to attending our March tour and in the early stages of planning another trip in late Spring or Summer.  We welcome the opportunity to host upcoming trips for Architects, Designers, Builders and Contractors, so please let me know if you might be interested in taking a walk through Marvin’s past.  

Warroad 2009

Hello world!

This is the first of hopefully many posts to my new blog.  I am looking forward to sharing the latest and greatest in premium building products as offered by AVI Marvin.

Not only are we the “Direct Source” for Marvin and Integrity Windows & Doors in Atlanta, but we also represent many other premium brands such as Therma Tru, Rogue Valley, Wood Harbor, Sola Tube, Velux, Nobilus, Ashley Norton, Baldwin and many more.