Finishing Touches/Details
Chameleon Register Vents
Clients expect a high level of service from Len McAdams’ team, including unique product choices. Chameleon isn’t a new product, McAdams says, “but it’s a night-and-day difference from what’s traditionally used for a floor register, which is usually just a stamped metal brown or white device that drops in a hole.” And it helps him differentiate his company’s work; so much so that the Chameleon is now standard on his high-end jobs.
With the Chameleon flush-mounted register vent, “you have a perfect match to the floor you’ve built—laminates, ceramic, tile, hardwood ... whatever you’ve used,” McAdams says.
Before discovering Chameleon, McAdams used an outside company to laser-cut holes in tile pieces to make floor registers, at a cost of about $300 apiece. “Now, in just a couple of hours on the job, we can charge $100 to do one of these ourselves,” he says. “It’s a less costly way to do something that’s really valued by clients.”
Len McAdams, president
McAdams Remodeling & Design
Kirkland, Wash.
Cree LED Lights
Since switching from traditional recessed can lights to LED lights that fit into a recessed can, Peter Rees isn’t turning back. “They’re trim and bulb in one,” he says. “The light is the right color and is a good intensity. Often LED lighting looks like little pixilated teeny-tiny light bulbs jammed together, but [Cree LEDs] have a lens on them, which softens the light and makes it look like regular incandescent lighting.” In addition, the LEDs don’t give off as much heat and don’t use as much electricity.
Though pricier than traditional recessed can lights—trim plus halogen bulb costs about $18; the LEDs cost about $35—Rees notes that he’s buying light bulb and trim in one piece: “I put it up and I’m done, which defrays some of the cost.” Costs get passed on to clients in the installation fee, he says, but clients are just happy knowing they’ll save money over time.
Rees also likes using The Lighting Division strip LED lighting under cabinets. “They last forever, are durable, don’t give off much heat ... and you get a continuous, even light without dark and light spots.” The strip lights come in varying brightnesses, are dimmable, and can be used as accent lights or task lights.
Peter Rees, owner
Rees & Co.
Scottsville, N.Y.
