NKBA Columbia River Chapter
Programs Committee
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by Tina Enomoto and
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Jean Burton
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Wow - it's almost the 2nd month of 2008 - amazing - life must have been busy. I'm very excited about the next meeting - February 21st at PCC Sylvania Campus - the design work of students from local design colleges will be highlighted along with a great speaker, Puji Sherer, from Yolo Colorhouse. Color, new trends, and paint 101 will be the topic of the talk. How many of us have questions about what type of paint to specify - there are so many of them available! Also: what are VOCs and why do we want to avoid them? All of this and the wonderful contributions of those who attend are awaiting you.
2008 is going to have some great topics:
- Legislation or how does a practice act affect designers?
- How creative can a countertop be?
- New tile design and does grout matter?
- No time to go to the spa - bring it home
- Great design haunts in Portland - walk with us
- KBIS recap
- Holiday party – or how do you party?
- A great speaker – to be announced soon
- More to be added soon
Our programs are to spark your creativity, provide networking, and to answer questions that you have. Please let me know what interests you – because You Matter!!
Tina Enomoto
tina@enomotodesigns.com
NKBA- Columbia River Chapter meeting for August 16, 2007
Our August Chapter meeting was hosted by Standard TV and Appliance and Dacor Appliances. We met in the beautiful conference room and working Dacor kitchen in the back of the Beaverton Standard TV and Appliance. Glenda McAdam, the builder sales person at the Beaverton location, warmly welcomed us to their showroom. The huge showroom showcases appliances in displays designed by local designers. Glenda is available by appointment to meet with designers and their clients to help them make their appliance selections.
While Glenda was talking about the showroom the Dacor chefs were busy preparing a wonderful dinner for everyone. They presented us with a delicious chicken pasta and arugula salad. During dinner Casey Everly from Dacor appliances educated everyone on the full line of Dacor appliances with an emphasis on convection cooking. To demonstrate the advantages of convection cooking the Dacor chefs prepared chocolate chip cookies in both a convection oven and a standard oven. The cookies from the convection oven were done much faster and were more moist and uniformly cooked than the cookies from the standard bake oven. To round out the night the Dacor chefs served strawberry shortcake and sent us all home full and happy.
NKBA- Columbia River Chapter meeting for March 15, 2007
Our chapter meeting this month had another wonderful turnout! Make sure that you rsvp by the registration deadline.
Our meeting was hosted by Neil Kelly. The food was great and the hospitality couldn't be beat! Thank you Neil Kelly!
Rick Fields of Neil Kelly Cabinets discussed sustainable cabinet manufacturing methods. The discussion was followed by some tough questions regarding the durability of the finishes and materials in building "green" cabinets. While environmentally sound, do they last as long as traditionally made cabinets and how should we prepare our client's expectations for the life of the cabinets. For designers and their clients, education is key in the growing field of sustainability. Our clients' needs, expectations, and safety are always to be considered.
Two artists, Kari Fahrenkoph and Jody McLean, introduced us to the wonderful world of fused glass. They demonstrated some of the techniques used in making fused glass. Who knew there were so many different types of glass and uses for each type? It was eye opening to see the process and hear about the time involved in even the most basic of pieces. Samples of glass knobs, cabinet inserts, tiles, lamps, etc. were brought for us to see. The possibilities for fused glass in cabinet design are only limited by our imaginations. Our designs can only be enhanced by having two such talented artists living locally!
NKBA Chapter meeting February 15, 2007:
Store manager, Mike Martin, and his staff at Globe Lighting in Clackamas, hosted our chapter to an evening of tasty finger foods from Elephant's Deli and a truly informative discussion on lighting by Al Thomas.. We had record numbers R.S.V.P for the event and turned people away when we reached our maximum capacity. (RSVPs need be received 1 week in advance of the event to ensure your spot.)
Lighting expert and speaker, Al Thomas, made use of Globe's wonderful lighting lab. He discussed the different types of lighting sources and was able to display their effects on different surfaces. Al's lively discussion focused what's new in fluorescent technology and controls. This technology is evolving at high speed compared to other types of lighting in the industry. Our attention was brought to some of the many factors involved in choosing the appropriate lighting: types of ballasts, fixtures, wattage usage, lumen output, temperature, ambient light vs. secondary or accent lighting, spectrum of light, glare, etc. We need to pay attention to the lumens a bulb puts out and not concentrate only on the wattage.
The correct lighting can make or break the success of a job and our work. It is important for designers to make use of resources available to them, such as Globe Lighting to help with specifications, design and layout. Globe's services include both take offs and job site visits by trained lighting designers.
The evening was certainly worth attending and had a great turn out!
NKBA Chapter meeting December 2006:
Hosted by Bradley Distributors in Tigard
It's that time of year again! This month's holiday party was a nice gathering of cheerful and generous NKBA members, anxiously awaiting the evening's main event - the raffle!
We introduced our chapter's board members for 2006 and 2007, thanking those that were leaving and welcoming those that were joining our board.
The evening was very festive and the food - ohhhhh the food. Chef Philippe Boulet from Portland's Heathman Hotel treated us to an amazing feast. We were so pampered!
The donations were generous. The assortment of prizes included services for spa treatments, gift baskets, designer area rug, beautiful ornaments, and even a jetted spa tub, to name but a few! Oh, and don't forget the vintage bottle of Night-Train!
The registration fees and raffle monies were donated to the Raphael House in Portland. We all came together and were able to give Raphael House approximately $1600.
Barry's band treated us to live music and finished off the evening of mingling and dancing!
We are lucky to be surrounded by wonderful people in our Columbia River Chapter!
NKBA Chapter meeting November 2006:
Hosted by Portland Community College Rock Creek Campus.
Special thanks to Spencer Hinkle for all of his efforts in arranging this event! Spencer's band treated us to live music as we mingled and viewed student's design projects before the evening's event got underway.
The evening featured award-winning writer and lecturer, Jim Kringel, CMKBD.
An amazing turnout, 150 people registered, 85 of which are students!
It was a treat to meet Jim Krengel, and listen to him speak about "Kitchen Design for the New Millennium." He covered "what's hot and what's not" in kitchen design, focusing on attention to details in designing unique kitchens. Jim spoke about the top trends of today and yesterday and who is driving these trends. Generation Jones' seems to currently have the buying power and is driving today's trends.
The presentation was followed by a raffle including four wooden bookcases built by the students of the PCC Design Program.
NKBA Chapter meeting October 2006:
The meeting at Millinneum Stone was so much fun! The laughter could be heard throughout the building. We carved pumpkins and created weird and endearing faces with corn, tiny pumpkins, flowers, etc. Millinneum treated us to a wonderful harvest meal and a tour of their new facility. It is really something - the fabrication possibilities are quite impressive. Lots of fun and lots of energy.
NKBA Chapter meeting September 2006:
Our chapter meeting this month was held at the new Standard TV & Appliance showroom in Beaverton. Glenda McAdam and Dan Reese and the rest of the staff showed us their hospitality and welcomed us to view their new test kitchens and see what products they offer.
Our guest speaker, Lora Creswick, of In The Works, talked with us about Universal Design. She spoke about the difference between desinging for special needs and desinging for the best functionality for most of the users of a space. We learned how simple considerations could increase the function and productivity of a space.
We enjoyed a nice spread from Hall Street Grill of assorted finger foods and the best brownies on earth!
We also had the pleasure of meeting Mike Nelson, of Accessible Solutions Elevators & Lifts, Inc. Mike brought in motorized chairs for us to try and a lift mechanism that can be installed in the home. This lift has a track that can be run throughout the home allowing an otherwise bed ridden individual to get some independance and dignity back, and allow them to be at home instead of in a hospital or care home. The tracks on such devises can be incorporated into the architecture of the home, becoming virtually indetectable.
Our activity this evening had many of us bumping into walls! The idea was to get a small glimps of what it is like to be impared visually and physically, and to try to function in the typical kitchen set-up. Lora Creswick has designed the Universal Kitchen at Standard TV & Appliance. Taking great care to select appliances and mechanisms and surfaces that make the space most functional for a great number of users, of all ages and abilities.
Overall, we got an eye-opening experience and are at least more aware of what we need to consider for designing Universally.
NKBA Chapter meeting August 2006:
NKBA members encouraged to create "BAD" designs!?
What a great evening! Our night at Pental Granite and Stone pushed some of us out of out comfort zones, but everyone had a blast with in our hands-on "create and critique tile design." Guest speaker/critic Mark DeWolf, of DeWolf's Tile and Marble, Inc., shared his knowledge of tile installation and happily discussed our designs, while we snacked on wonderful appetizers and wine from Food In Bloom.
We learned very valuable information on the challenges of today's tile installation. Some of us have had costly jobs because of details missed and misunderstandings about the materials. So, this was an informative experience for all of us. A few of us were even surprised that our "good" design actually was not so good from the installer's point of view, and others found that the things we thought were "bad" didn't really cause any trouble for the installer.
With various materials and substrates, and our imaginations as the limit, we learned how important it is to have good communication in order to create productive working relationships with our tile installers.
Affiliated Associations in Oregon
American Society of Interior Designers www.asidoregon.org
ASID Event Calendar
International Interior Design Association www.iida-or.org
IIDA Calendar
Northwest Society of Interior Designers www.nwsid.org
Oregon Remodelers Association www.oregonremodelers.com
Design Within Reach www.dwr.com
