Celebrating two years and looking to the future
Post by Stacey Walker. Stacey mostly works behind the scenes for Greenbrook Design, managing day to day operations, marketing, sourcing product and keeping the showroom beautifully designed. Stacey also does interior design & home styling for a select number of clients. Find out more about Stacey here.
Anniversary: the annual recurrence of a date marking a notable event.
This is the perfect description of our showroom’s grand opening. It was an event that took two years of dreaming, planning and hard work before we saw it come to life. Now we are preparing to celebrate our two year anniversary, and can’t help but wonder where did the time go? It seems like just a few months ago we opened our doors and welcomed our first clients inside the showroom. Come walk with us down memory lane as we reminisce about our journey to Uptown Shelby.
Construction
Our construction journey officially began in early March of 2016, once we signed the lease for the Campbell building in Uptown Shelby and the road was filled with many ups and downs and sometimes even complete stops. As soon as we finished the initial planning stage we were ready to move into the next phase – waiting for permits! We can fully understand and appreciate our client’s frustration at having to wait on particular things to come through or arrive since we did our fair share of waiting in multiple areas. A lot of time and energy went into the design of the showroom, from choosing tiles to whether or not we should stain the wood floor. The easiest decision by far was painting the ceiling tile white instead of black, making the space feel more open and airy. While Walker Woodworking did several custom pieces for the showroom including our amazing kitchen that we use every day, Travis made something extra special, our large front doors. Adding these custom, tall wood-framed doors made the exterior look absolutely perfect. Though it was not always easy, we kept the end goal always in our mind and the end result was worth it all!
Grand opening
The day finally arrived! February 1, 2018, is a day we will never forget, it is the day we opened not only our doors to clients but to a new future for Walker and Greenbrook. It was an exciting time as we celebrated by hosting a grand opening gala with our upstairs neighbors, Uptown Indigo, and had nearly 500 guests in attendance. Special guest Brian Patrick Flynn, an interior designer that often works on projects for HGTV including the recent 2020 Dream Home, gave a stellar review of Greenbrook when he said, “I think this [Greenbrook Design] is going to be a massive hit because of the amount of things that I saw down in the showroom are things that I don’t have access to in the big city of Atlanta.” Guests enjoyed great food and listening to a local band as they toured the building. It was a wonderful night spent with amazing people.
Highlights
Our first year was filled with many wonderful surprises, like when we were the proud recipient of the March 2018 Commercial Appearance Award and have our showroom featured in the June 2018 Kitchen and Bath Design Center magazine in their showroom portfolio. One of the biggest surprises and delights was when we were informed that our Greenbrook Design showroom was one of six winners in the nation to receive the 2019 Innovative Showroom Award from the National Kitchen & Bath Association. Visit our publications page to see a video of Stacey receiving the award and read about some of the other awards we have received.
What’s next?
The future is bright and we are excited to see where it will take us. We feel privileged to have seen our little woodworking hobby grow into a large shop and design center that employs 33 people and to open an award-winning showroom all within the span of 20 years. Learn more about Travis’s journey here.
Even though we are constantly seeking to stay on top of the latest tech and trends our main goal will always stay the same, customer satisfaction, it is what drives us and has enabled us to come so far. Cheers to the next anniversary!
