Great finds: product report from the field

Custom Home, May-June, 2003

Ted Visnic

Mitchell, Best & Visnic, Rockville, Md.

With Washington, D.C., rapidly becoming the nation's capital of anxiety, area builder Ted Visnic reports that cocooning is the order of the day. Among his custom home clients, the nesting instinct translates as a heightened interest in convenience, comfort, and home entertainment. "Espresso stations are beginning to make a statement" he says. "We're doing more and more of those." Visnic likes the Coffee Station by Miele, a built-in unit that handles bean related tasks from grinding to brewing to steaming milk. "Typically it's in an appliance garage, so it can be hidden."

The central vacuum system Visnic specifies is by Silent Master, which offers the VacPan, a baseboard- or kickspace-mounted outlet that allows clients to simply sweep floor crumbs into the vacuum system. "It's easy on the back."

Flat-screen television has changed not just the way clients watch, but the way Visnic designs and builds houses. "We used to account for 2 extra feet to push in a TV," he says. "Now you can hang one over a fireplace and have two focal points in one." Visnic's audio/video subcontractor is partial to flat-screen units by Sony.--B.D.S. Miele. 800.883.4537. www.miele.com. Circle 415. * Silent Master. 800.525.2055. www.silentmaster.com. Circle 416. * Sony. www.sony.com. Circle 417.

David Hornstein

Light House Design, Lexington, Mass.

David Hornstein first used the 100 percent waterproof, high-density urethane board called Sign [Foam.sup.3] for a renovation project on a Victorian home that required him to match existing decorative porch brackets. He wanted to find a cost-effective way to produce 16 brackets, and found Sign [Foam.sup.3]. "I like Sign Foam because it has unique properties that enable me to design any type of exterior ornament I can imagine."

Sign [Foam.sup.3] comes in sheets in three different densities, is chemically resistant, and carries a 10-year warranty. Also, the material will not warp, split, crack, or rot, and is unaffected by temperature, according to the maker. "The real benefit is that the brackets will look exactly the same 20 years from now," says Hornstein, "where the wood may have rotted or delaminated by then, and would certainly need to have been repainted a number of times."

Sign [Foam.sup.3] is "lightweight yet dense, routs very crisply, paints beautifully, and is completely inert (no seasonal expansion or contraction) and waterproof," Hornstein says.--S.L.M. Sign Arts Products. 800.338.4030. www.signfoam.com. Circle 418.