5 things I love about this space!

In a previous blog we talked about the elements and principles of good design.  This morning, while flipping through photos we’ve taken of finished projects, I stopped on this image.  It’s a beautiful space and a gorgeous photo. Like all good design, if we spend just a few minutes thinking about those basic elements and […]

It’s not winter yet! Get outside…

Once considered an impossibility in our buggy, Midwestern climate, outdoor spaces are getting a second round of consideration.  Why subject yourself to one more dreaded mosquito when the sofa lies inside waiting to be visited? There are birds! A good breeze (sometimes)!  A bonfire waiting to happen!  And at dusk…stars!  Add an ice cold beverage […]

This just in: It’s time for a new front door!

When your home improvement budget has a limit, deciding where to invest your dollars can be challenging.  A new bathroom?  A kitchen upgrade?  A finished basement?  Lucky for you, a recent research project has made your home improvement budgeting quandry a little easier. Each year, the National Association of Realtors and Remodeling magazine join forces […]

Columns 101: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian or… tapered?

Even a ten minute run-through of architectural history would include a study of the ancient column orders (or styles).  What’s the big deal about columns, you ask?  They are one of the few, enduring architectural elements utilized in every historical period across the globe since they were established in ancient Greece! There is, quite literally, […]

The 3 keys to living through a remodeling project: this is happening now.

1. Consider all other options. I type that only partially in jest. While it can be very cost effective to stay in your home during a remodeling project, there are significant trade-offs which might persuade you to re-evaluate you and your family’s happiness vs. monetary savings. The stress of having things un-done and out of […]

Color of the Year – a follow-up!

Last week’s blog included a drum-roll presentation of our #1 most requested color; Custom!  Despite sticking to the facts, many of you didn’t like the answer.  “Custom isn’t a color!” To satisfy our readers, we tabulated the numbers again but this time limited them to the paint and stain categories we offer within our color […]

Did you see us on TV?

We had the great pleasure of welcoming Dean Johnson from the PBS television program, “Hometime,” to our plant last month. It was fun to introduce he and Miriam to our Bayer Built family and walk them through both our prefinish and production facilities. Dean started Hometime in the early 80’s when Bayer Built was just […]

Lighten UP!

In the Midwest, we are nuts about daylight; literally.  Without it we establish something un-affectionately referred to as “cabin fever.”  Talking to ourselves, becoming short with each other, sleeping for 14 hours because it’s dark at 5pm…these are the maladies of winter; some would say, “a gentle form of torture.”  In just a few weeks, […]

Remember that time we were at Grandma’s?

The holidays are approaching and throughout the United States, uncles will be cracking corny jokes and mothers will be crowding the kitchen.  Families will gather, friends will congregate and inevitably, memories will be recounted over a glass of wine or at the dinner table.  We have a fancy word for this sentimentality for the past; […]

New front door? It’s not too late… yet!

If your Fall To Do List, included replacing the front door, it’s not too late… yet!  Mine will be replaced in the upcoming weeks and I’m looking forward to an updated and fully-functioning front door.  One that doesn’t drag on our tile floor and will keep us cozy, and heat efficient, all winter long. To […]

Tips from a designer: Space Planning

It seems we are often worried about not having enough.  Not enough time and not enough money and never enough space, “could you give me another closet?”  Architect and author Sarah Susanka calls it, “the fear of too smallness.”  Prior to the recession this concept was evident everywhere.  “Why add 10’ when we could add […]

Back at the ranch…

Tuesday was a busier-than-usual work day at Bayer Built.  Aside from daily production, the stretch of County Road 32 we care for was on the schedule for its bi-annual cleaning.  The teams involved this season were from several departments, including:  Interior, Specialty, Warehouse, IT, Accounting, Customer Service, Materials Management and Logistics.  They had a windy, […]

To paint oak or NOT to paint oak… that is the question answered today.

Painted cabinets and millwork is not a new trend.  It gained popularity during the recession because of its very attractive price point.  Plus, there are few things more enjoyable than a clean, bright, spanking-new kitchen in the whitest of whites!  And while trends do come and go, paint is sticking around…at least a little while […]

Houzz…what’s the big deal?

It’s the 21st century and we are gluttons for information.  We seek it out and it finds us immediately via our “smart,” devices in the form of pictures, tweets, videos, blog, posts and pins.  Back in the old days, we read newspapers, magazines and listened to radio shows to be informed and inspired.  Today, the […]

Who is Bayer Built? Cory VanBeck

Behind every product that leaves our facility are many busy hands and machines.  While we wouldn’t diminish the importance of well-oiled equipment, our people make us who we are.   There are so many good people at Bayer Built and we have many to celebrate but this week we’d like you to meet Cory VanBeck. […]

Blue skies and clean air!

How do we keep that sky both blue and clean?  What is environmental stewardship and why do we care?  Just about everything we do as humans contributes something positive or negative to our environment.  Earth is habitable because of two cycles within our ecosystem; the carbon and hydro cycles.  Within this process the earth recycles […]

Who’s on your team?

If you were to ask anyone living in the community of Belgrade, where Bayer Built is located, what it means to be part of a team, they’ll likely reference the very recent State Basketball tournament.  The Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa boys brought home the Class A Championship Trophy again for the second time in three years!  You can […]

Manual? What manual, watch my video!

You’ve likely observed that the best way to teach any person born after let’s say…1980, is to set them in front of an instructional video.  Forget about 35-page instruction manuals; watch from your smart phone or your laptop or your iPad and you won’t have to try to figure out what that universal stick person […]

Fall Clean Up Reminders

Now that the sun is starting to set earlier in the day and a few colors can be seen in the tree leaves, it’s time to start thinking about getting your home ready for the change in seasons.  Notice we didn’t use the dreaded word beginning with a, “W”? To help you get started, we’ve […]

Town and Country

This week, in cities big and small, we’ll be celebrating our great nation’s beginning and our declaration of independence!  Burgers will be grilled, bevvies will be opened and laughter will fill the air.  Parades, carnivals, music and fireworks; cousins, friends, neighbors and grandparents…what a celebration we will have!  Many triumphs and losses took place in […]

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! From all of us at Bayer Built we hope you have a fun and safe start to the new year? Did you know… The song Auld Lang Syne is traditional sung at midnight to toast in the New Year. Auld Lang Syne  means “old long ago” or “the good old days.” The […]