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Pro Remodeler Magazine recently examined what’s driving the sliding door hardware trend and how it adds value to projects. Among other eye-popping statistics, one things in the article stands out: homes with sliding barn door hardware saw an increased sale value of over 13%. Featuring Krownlab hardware as an example throughout, author Tim Bruns, offers a complete analysis on the appeal of sliding barn door hardware:

It's official: Barn doors are incredibly hip.

A recent study conducted by website Zillow Digs found that these contemporary yet rustic sliding doors can help a home sell as many as 57 days faster and at a higher price point. The study analyzed descriptions on the listings of more than 2 million homes sold between January 2014 and March 2016 to see how certain keywords affect a home’s sale. Of all the terms analyzed, “barn doors” brought the highest premium, with homes whose listings mentioned this door type selling for an average of 13 percent above expected values. The “craftsman meets farmhouse” design concept is clearly resonating with today’s homeowners.

Consumers like the distinctive, upscale look as well as the doors’ functionality when it comes to closing off large spaces. Barn doors are also easy to install and are amazingly versatile in terms of color, size, and door style.

As Krownlab continues to design and manufacture the leading sliding door hardware solutions for office, hospitality, and residential projects, we’ve added to our team. Rounding out the sales and production departments will allow us to continue to produce the obsessively-engineered, iconic sliding door hardware systems we’re known for while expanding our offerings of architectural hardware.

Jesse McFadden, Technical Sales Representative

McFadden supports incoming and outbound sales and customer support and comes to Krownlab from Tesla Motors Inc., where he oversaw day-to-day operations of the Portland Delivery Center, including hiring/onboarding staff and long-term strategic planning. Previously he’d been a business specialist for Apple Inc., managing more than 250 B-to-B accounts at any given time.

Scott Wilson, Technical Sales Representative

Wilson held numerous sales and management positions for Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co. and has extensive experience as an account manager and trade specialist. He supports incoming and outbound sales and customer support for Krownlab.

Seattle-area firm SHED Architecture and Design recently used the Axel sliding door hardware system in a unique project in the Bridle Trails neighborhood of Kirkland, Washington. Like many of the surrounding homes, this property had a stables. However, by the time SHED’s clients bought the property, the stables had fallen into disrepair. Not owning horses, they worked with SHED to completely renovated the detached stables into a flexible painting studio and guest bedroom.

Axel, a modern twist on the classic barn door hardware that has been around for more than a century, was key to the design. Not only does the system add flexibility to the space, it alludes nicely to the stable’s past life. The two massive bi-parting doors, run on a continuous track to hide or reveal a studio space, a storage closet and utility sink, a mud room, and a guest room, depending on the configuration.

And Dwell loved it:

The Baldur sliding door hardware system has been racking up attention, and was recently featured in Office Insight.

Baldur’s industry-unique hubless design was inspired by a visit to the workshop of an early Krownlab collaborator, Rob Roy. There on a table in Rob’s workshop was an enormous 8-inch bearing. Krownlab founder Stefan Andrén put his hand through the inner race and rolled it back and forth over the table.

“You could still put your whole hand through the bearing and I was like, hang on a second, there’s something here,” Andrén said. “I realized you didn’t necessarily have to bolt through the center of the bearing like it’s originally intended to be used, but you could just clamp a portion of the inner race and get this awesome hubless look.”

From that early spark of inspiration was born an iconic sliding door hardware system utterly unique in the industry. Office Insight took notice:

Krownlab founder Stefan Andrén has worn many hats in his career but watch design has always been of special interest. Over the years, he’s had the opportunity to design pieces for Nike, Perfect Fitness, and Phosphor.

“There’s something about wristwatches I love,” Andrén said. “There is such a compelling synergy of beautiful, high-end materials, and precise engineering.”

Recently, Andrén teamed up with fellow Portland company, Grovemade, on a unique line of wristwatches. They set out to make something as much an artifact as timepiece, an update on the classic analog interface. The watch features a hand sanded hardwood face, spherical hour markers, a precision calibrated stainless steel module, and vegetable-tanned leather wrist bands with a classic buckle.

Last month, their beautiful, minimal creation was praised on Worn and Wound, the watch aficionados resource that has been featured in the New York Times and International Watch Magazine, among others:

This summer, Krownlab was the first local business spotlighted in the Portland Business Journal’s new series, Meet the Makers. PBJ got a behind-the scenes peek at our production team assembling our Oden and Baldur hardware, experienced the extensive testing we put each of our products through to ensure we lead the industry in quality, and toured our brand new building in Northwest Portland. Since then, the series has gone on to cover great local businesses including OpenFab, Time & Oak, and our friends at ADX.

Here’s an excerpt of the article:

In Portland, Andrén felt he wanted to finally realize his dream of living in a large industrial loft space. Yet the Pearl had already been developed and he felt his dream's costs were out of reach.

So Andren changed course and decided to build a house that felt like a loft on a piece of land he'd purchased in Portland's West Hills.

We couldn’t be prouder to be a part of this year’s Street of Dreams in the Highlands of Lake Oswego. We partnered with Garrison Hullinger Interior Design and Westlake Development Group. Our hardware can be found in four of the nine houses.

We loved working with GHID on their Sandhill Crane house. They used Ragnar, the newest addition to our product line, because of how well it rhymed with the unique composition of materials, angles, and open spaces of the home’s design. Sandhill Crane was built with contemporary living in mind and boasts wonderful views of Mt. Hood.

Local manufacturing and local design are not mutually exclusive; both are at their best when collaboration occurs.

[Elk Collective][1], a local design/creative firm here in Portland caught our eye not only because the installation of Krownlab sliding barn door hardware in their own studio, but also for their excellent work regionally and abroad.

Recently, we had a chance to have a conversation with Elk Collective's Sam Koerger. Having such wide range of projects to inform the discussion, it was an opportunity to gain some insight into the current design climate.

KL: With the increased demand for urban real estate, designers are required to creatively squeeze more functionality into smaller and smaller spaces. What trends are you seeing here in the Portland area?

SK: On a macro level, one trend that is right in our face, yet makes Portlanders squirm, is purely just new development. There is a tremendous increase in the number of properties under construction, specifically mixed-use development. While we have done an outstanding job of re-using buildings and re-purposing different urban nooks, a wave of development has washed our shores.

We're so proud to have been featured on Portland Made as a Portland-based company that does its sourcing as close-to-home as possible. From the Portland Made website:

"Portland Made is a self-sustaining collective of makers, artisans and manufacturers that advocates and supports its members by providing education and marketing, a shared resource hub, and a brand that promotes their products locally and globally."

Krownlab is very proud to be the recipient of the Architectural Products Magazine Product Innovation Awards '14. Oden Bamboo was featured in the November 2014 issue of the magazine. Of the product, Architectural Products said:

"With bamboo veneer and an FSC-certified heavily compressed paper and wood pulp core, Oden Bamboo sliding door hardware is both handsome and surprisingly rigid. Available in three mounting stiles, two standard track lengths, or made-to-measure, the hardware offers a nice aesthetic. Judges said: "Wonderfully detailed and with a precision that suits its hardiness."