This kitchen in Chestnut Hill, which features cabinetry and trim work from Bellingham-based Van Millwork, is similar to a kitchen that will be displayed in the new Van Millwork Design Center slated to open in Needham later this month.
High-end custom homebuilders typically send clients to showrooms to select kitchen appliances and finishes, as well as bathroom fixtures, for their new homes.
In a few weeks, homebuilders, designers and architects – along with their customers – also will have a new place to go to preview and pick out millwork for a home’s interior.
Van Millwork, a Bellingham-based lumber company, is opening a new design center in Needham that will showcase architectural trim, blended with fabrics, wall coverings, flooring and light fixtures.
Many lumber companies have opened showrooms that display their products. Van Millwork, for example, has smaller showrooms in Mashpee and Bellingham featuring their doors and other products
But the Van Millwork Design Center is unique because of its configuration, according to Jonathan Van, owner of Van Millwork.
The 2,700-square-foot center, set to open on Jan. 23, will feature architecturally themed rooms – Greek Revival, Cape Cod, Arts & Crafts, Victorian, Colonial, Georgian Federal, Eclectic and Tuscan – as well as a custom-designed room. Each of the rooms will have millwork representative of that period, including doors, mantles, moldings and staircases.
The rooms, which are also designed and furnished specifically to those architectural periods, include intricate details. In the Colonial room, for example, a custom mural depicting a village of that era appears on all four walls, while the Tuscan room features a simulated full wine closet.
‘Much Better’
The design center, designed by Van Millwork, was decorated by Gerald Pomeroy Design, a Boston design firm. Fabrics and wallpapers were provided by Brunschwig & Fils, a well-known textile company in New York that offers more than 20,000 fabrics and 1,200 wall coverings.
The rooms include in-period and reproduction light fixtures, along with fireplaces and hearths. The center also includes several pieces from Van Millwork’s custom division, including a custom kitchen and built-in home theater unit.
“There are no other design centers that we’re aware of in the country that feature interior millwork the way this design center does,” said Van.
Van said the center will help homebuilders and architects who often find it challenging to explain to clients how interior millwork and trim will actually look in a new home. Many times, consumers are presented with architectural drawings, but don’t really know what to expect.
“A builder could send his customer to the showroom to pick out his interior finish millwork, just as a builder would send a customer to a kitchen design showroom,” he said.
Gregory Spier, a custom homebuilder in Foxboro who has purchased lumber from Van Millwork, said consumers often have a tough time visualizing what a finished product will look like.
“I think anytime you can work with clients so that they can feel, see and touch what it’s going to look like in three dimensions, it’s much better than showing them in a brochure or magazine,” said Spier, president of Maystar Realty Corp. in Foxboro. “I think it’s a great concept.”
Finley H. Perry Jr., president of the Home Builders Association of Massachusetts and president of F.H. Perry Builder in Hopkinton, said the center could be quite helpful for designers and consumers.
Van said several customers including homebuilders who are constructing their own residences, have previewed the center and have been “astounded” by it.
“If you can excite them, then you know you’ve got something,” Van said.
Van Millwork, which was founded in 1967, produces millwork products and architectural trim, including moldings, stair components, mantels, wainscot panel systems and columns. The new design center will be open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
