I can hardly believe the Millwork Outlet has been in business for twenty years. As the daughter of Dan Drllevich, one of the owners and manager at the Maple Valley store there was never a time when I wasn't a part of the  hustle and bustle at the Millwork Outlet. I was six when the Millwork Outlet first opened their doors, but my family has been making a living at the Maple Valley location my entire life. My family photo albums are filled with pictures of me toddling around the Millwork Outlet grounds hanging out with my dad in his acid wash pants and tank tops when the store was an auto body shop. I have fond memories of my sister and I spending the day at work with my dad. We spent hours earning money by sorting nuts and bolts in the office. Looking back I am pretty sure my dad never used  those nuts and bolts, it was more an effort to keep us busy for long hours. As we got older we were allowed to answer the phone. My  six year old sister, being the overachiever she is, created her own office space with a custom made desk fashioned out of the drawers of the big person desk and a door panel. She created business cards and an alternate identity. When she was in the office at Millwork Outlet she went by Maxine, no one was allowed to call her Belinda. In high school the Millwork Outlet employed me and a few of my high school friends. Keeping track of our availability between school, sports and social events was undoubtedly more trouble than we were worth, but dad liked having us around, and the young and able bodies came in handy when it came time to load our customer's doors and windows. After college I left the Millwork Outlet and got a "real" job. I loved my new job, but missed the Millwork Outlet incredibly. After a couple of years away I have returned to the Millwork Outlet where I have the opportunity to work alongside my dad, grandpa, stepmother, husband, stepbrother, cousin, aunt and uncle. Working with my family is not always easy, but I love it. I am extremely thankful to all the customers who have supported us throughout the years, they are the reason the Millwork Outlet is celebrating our 20th anniversary and I get to work with my family. This week I felt it appropriate to thank our customers for their support which prompted me to write a letter to the Editor of Maple Valley's local paper the Voice of the Valley. I have included it below so that all our customers can read it and know how much our family appreciates your business!
   
Dear Editor,
 
I would like to take a moment to thank the citizens of Maple Valley who remember to shop locally and support the small businesses in Maple Valley. I am the daughter and neice of the owners of the Millwork Outlet. This year is Millwork Outlet's 20th year in business and it is because of our local and loyal customers that we have weathered the troubled economy and have been able to give back to our community. Having grown up in Maple Valley area my whole life I have seen how important the Millwork Outlet and other small businesses are to the success of our community. Growing up the Millwork Outlet has sponsored all of my and my cousin's parks and recreation athletic teams. They have also donated countless items to community fundraisers. Additionally, the Millwork Outlet has employeed numerous local high school students who are in need of summer jobs to help pay for college.  Now as an adult, I have the opportunity to work for the Millwork Outlet alongside my grandfather, father, husband, aunt, uncle, brother, mother and cousin. It is great to work within the community I live and get to know my neighbors. Many of our customers are local contractors, handymen and installers and I know they appreciate the support of their community as well. It has been a pleasure serving our customers and community. In celebration of all the amazing customers we have had the honor of serving over the last 20 years we will be having a Customer Appreciation Day on August 20, 2011 with lots of great deals on home remodeling products. We will also have a garage sale benefiting Seattle's Habitat for Humanity. We invite everyone to come out, enjoy some free BBQ lunch and meet the Millwork Outlet family! Thank you Maple Valley for being a part of our family business!  

Thanks,  

Venise Cunningham

Lately, we have been trying to clean up our yard and do a little spring/summer cleaning. Like many cleaning projects go, we have uncovered some products we completely forgot we had. One of my favorite new finds is our wood window sashes (for pictures and prices click here). While these wood windows are not operable as windows, they can be turned into windows or short doors by attaching hinges. Dan Drllevich, one of the owners of the Millwork Outlet, built a one of a kind playhouse for his daughter using the old window sashes for all the windows and doors. If you are interested in learning about how he installed these, he would be happy to give you some tips when you come in to our Maple Valley store. In addition to using these sashes as windows and doors there are a ton of different ways people have repurposed these window sashes. At only $25 a sash you could make each one of these projects and still have money left to burn!

I LOVE this table because it is so easy to make! Attach some legs to your favorite window sash and voilà you have a coffee table.  We have about 30 wood window sashes that are very close to this size and have internal grids. The internal grids add an extra element of design and allows the table to be one continuous piece of glass versus having a true divided lite sash where the wood moulding would divide your table into smaller pieces of glass, which would require more finesse when setting down your coffee cup and saucer.

Nothing says french cottage kitchen better than this pot and pan hanger. I can just picture a longer version of this hanging over a kitchen island with a faux peeling paint job. Very vintage and very cool! Again, this would be super easy and I have a couple of pieces in our yard that would work great in this application. In this project having a true divided lite sash is critical as it provides a place to attach the hooks.

One of the latest decorating trends we have fallen in love with at the Millwork Outlet is repurposing doors into headboards. We have had more than a couple of customers search our warehouses for a door they can turn into a do-it-yourself headboard. Creating a door headboard is not only fun, it can also help you save some money. Door stores often buy their doors by the pallet load. Certain size doors are more popular than others so as the best sizes start to sell out, the stores get stuck with sizes they can't sell. You can often get the left over doors at VERY reduced prices. Below are my  favorite examples of these door headboard materpieces. I choose these examples not only for their orginality, but also because these just happen to be made out of doors we currently have for sale in our surplus warehouses!

Four Panel Door Headboard 
This is one of my favorite examples because the designer obviously appreciated the history of the door. The designer turned the door into a woork of art and challenged the idea of what a traditional headboard should look like. Made from two four panel doors, this headboard is truly a statement piece. In this application the doors were left their original size. The tall ceiling height in this house allows these doors to remain the standard 80". However, a similar look could be accomplished by cutting off the bottom panel and not extending all the way to the floor. The best part about this design? Millwork Outlet's hemlock four panel doors are on sale for only $99 each. For $200 and a bucket of paint you could create a VERY cool custom headboard!

Five Panel Door Headboard
The five panel door is probably the most popular door for designing headboards. The five equal panels allow the door to be turned on it's side which means you can use them in rooms with shorter ceilings and you only need one door for each bed. We especially like this one because the designer used antique door knobs to highlight the vintage look.

Shaker Door with Stair Spindles
This designer took the door headboard to a new level by adding stair spindles on the top. New, stair spindles can get pretty spendy, but people often replace broken stair spindles or whole stair systems so you may be able to find used ones on Craigslist or through your local building materials outlet store. At the Millwork Outlet we are currently closing out our three panel shaker doors, which is another style door that looks great horizontally, and our red oak spindles. If you get the stair spindles with the turn at the top and bottom you could get two sections out of each spindle.

Arch Top Two Panel Door Headboard
Now, I am fully aware that this bed was probably NOT made out of actual doors, but since we have such a GREAT deal on our two panel arch top doors I wanted to include  this picture. I searched the internet high and low for an example of a headboard using an arch top door and could only come up with this. So, if you decide to try the two panel arch top headboard and you post it online, you would be the first!  It seems to me that you could replicate this bed using two panel arch top doors and probably save a whole lot of money. Right now our two panel arch top doors are only $45 each!

Designing new closet spaces can be a perpelxing endeavor. It's not easy trying to figure out how you are going to fit all your favorite outfits in such a tiny space. When it comes to picking out closet shelving, drawers and containers it seems like there are a million and one choices. In fact, there are entire stores like the Container Shop in Bellevue, WA devouted to selling bins and containers to orgnaize your closet space. Luckily, when it comes to your doors there are far fewer choices.

Bypass Doors:
Bypass doors are a great option for small spaces or for extra wide closets. Bypass doors do not require extra space to open because they slide over one another and multiple doors can slide on a single track. Often times bypass doors are made of steel and have a full mirror on one side, however almost any door can be made into a bypass door. The downfall of bypass doors is that only one side can open at a time which means you cannot access your full closet. Bypass doors are typically your least expensive option, however there is a huge range in the quality of bypass doors and hardware. The more heavy duty the door and track are the better. I would highly recommend using a track that is mounted above the doors, rather than a floor track. A bypass door that slips off its track everytime there is someting stuck in the track can get incredibly annoying.

Bifold Doors: 
One of the most popular closet door configurations is the bifold door. Bifold doors are made up of two small doors that are hinged in the middle. They operate on a track installed at the top of the door opening. Bifold doors are great for rooms where there is not enough room for double swinging doors. Bifold doors allow the entire closet space to open, unlike bypass doors.

Double Doors:
If you have the space, double doors are a great choice as closet doors. Like bifold doors, double doors open up the entire closet. The best part of using double doors is the durability. Rather than relying on a track system double doors are built on a full jamb and are attached with three heavy duty hinges. Because closet doors get a considerable amount of use each day, we highly reccommend this option if the space is available. Double doors also provide additional storage if you attach a shoe or Hanging Purse Rack to the back of the door.

This last week we received a surplus window truck at our Maple Valley store. As is typical after a surplus truck delivery, we had a steady stream of bargain shopping customers, including a couple who drove all the way from Poulsbo, WA. Although the couple had been in the weekend before, they heard we were getting a new load of surplus windows so they decided to devout their second Saturday in a row trying to find surplus windows for the new mother-in-law apartment they are planning to build on their property.

The couple from Poulsbo reminded me how valuable our surplus window yard can be to our customers who are looking for windows for their home improvement projects and are looking to save A LOT of money. The Poulsbo couple saved over $750 by making the long trip out to our store and even with gas prices the way they are, they assured us the trip was worth it! What our new friends from Poulsbo figured out is that sometimes it pays to buy your windows first and frame second. Most people would consider this backwards. Typically, people design their house, build the frame and then come visit us with a list of specific sizes they need. However, on occasion we get a customer who builds their project around the windows they buy in our surplus window lot and these are the people who save hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars. So, if you have a building project coming up in the near future now would be a great time to come and check out our surplus window lot.

About the Millwork Outlet surplus window yards:

The Millwork Outlet receives a new surplus truck every four or five months, depending on how many errors are made at the Alpine window factory. The windows on the surplus truck are windows that were made incorrectly and need to be recycled or thrown away. Rather than wasting materials and filling our landfills, Alpine windows has partnered with uthe Millwork Outlet and they sell us their rejected windows at a reduced price. We then get to offer these BRAND NEW windows to our customers at crazy low prices. The Millwork Outlet is one of the ONLY surplus window yards in the state, which is why our customers drive from all corners of the state to go window hunting.

When choosing doors for your home, consideration should be given to how different wood tones and surfaces compliment one another. Lately, I have noticed a trend I like to call the "Matchy Matchy" trend. The Matchy Matchy trend is born from the idea that all wood species should match in your home. Lately, I have been getting calls for birch and hickory doors because customers are trying to match their birch and hickory cabinets. In my opinion this is a huge mistake for two reasons.

The first is that too much of a good thing can quickly turn into a very bad thing. Think of it like a Hawaiian shirt. You can get away with wearing your favorite Hawaiian shirt and some khaki pants, but wearing your favorite Hawaiian shirt with Hawaiian pants, socks and hat is just wrong and the awesomeness of your favorite Hawaiian shirt gets lost amongst the rest of your Hawaiian attire. Doors are similar. Too much of one wood species in one room can be just plain wrong. Instead of overwhelming a room with too much of one type of wood, make your cabinets or doors a focal point by using contrasting accents.

The second reason to steer away from getting too Matchy Matchy is that it can get expensive. Doors are most commonly made from MDF, Hemlock, Mahogany, Pine or Knotty Alder. Once you start veering away from these basic choices, the prices and lead times start to climb.

The picture to the left works to highlight this point. Notice how the beautiful two panel arch top stained doors pop out at you because they are trimmed out with painted moulding. Had the homeowner decided to go with matching moulding to trim out his/her doors the door wouldn't pop quite like it does against the bright white moulding. Another benefit of using painted moulding is the cost savings. Paint grade moulding is almost always cheaper than stain grade moulding and by using paint grade moulding, the homeowner can also use paint grade door jambs, which can be a huge savings when ordering multiple doors.

Every so often a customer will come to the Millwork Outlet with a truck full of windows hoping we will buy his windows to sell in our surplus lot. Often times the windows are brand new custom windows that were ordered incorrectly. We will sometimes buy these windows, but it is always at very reduced prices since we cannot sell these windows as warranteed windows. More frequently, these windows end up on Craiglist amongst many other misordered windows.  In order to avoid having to sell your new windows at a fraction of the price you paid here are a few helpful hints to keep in mind.

1) Ask a lot of questions. You know what they say about assumptions!

2) If you are in doubt consider hiring an installer. If you do hire an installer, have them measure your windows. Whoever installs your windows should be the one who measures them. Each installer has their own way of installing windows. It is not safe to assume that the measurements given to you by one installer will match the measurements another installer will take.

3) Industry standard calls out windows WIDTH X HEIGHT. Switching these measurements is a recipe for disaster.

4) When determining how a window opens go outside. If a horizontal slider opens from left to right when viewed from the outside it is an XO (X indicates the opening side and O indicates the non-opening side). If it opens right to left it is an OX.

5) Pictures help. Take pictures with your phone or camera or draw a picture.

6) If possible go outside to measure the windows. It is likely the inside of your window frame is covered by sheet rock and liner material which will produce smaller window sizes. The best measurements are taken from the outside with any trim removed so you can see the outer edge of the window frame.
 
If you have any additional questions, feel free to call Millwork Outlet at 425-432-