With all of the excitement over the past couple of months, the blog has unfortunately fallen to the bottom of the priority list.   Now that we have gotten settled in the new building in King of Prussia, and the main warehouse has finished shifting around inventory to make room for the new product lines, RTA is back in full swing.

In addition to the new building, we have some really exciting news about some upcoming projects.   We just finishing shipping out cabinets for a show that is going to air on HGTV!!   RTA Cabinet Store is going to be featured on one of their Saturday shows- "Carter Can".   Not only will it be great exposure for the business and the cabinets, but it is going to give us a chance to see how the shooting of a home improvement show works (which is going to be really exciting!).  We are going to video tape the entire process so that we can share some of the experience with our customers....  so check back for a special section on our experiences in LA!

We are also getting ready to work with Habitat for Humanity on 5 houses that they are working on in upstate NY.   We are donating the cabinets for the projects, and should be doing a lot more work with them down the road.   Stay tuned for pics and updates about this project as well.

Over the next couple of weeks, you will start to see a lot more posts and some really interesting content (both pics and videos).

Granite is certainly a challenging material to work with, especially when you are dealing with larger pieces.   The weight and awkward size of the vanity tops makes it so that they have to be strapped to a pallet.   Once you start getting into the larger size tops, the amount of surface area starts to become a problem.   Since granite is a natural material, it will inevitably have stronger and weaker points in the surface.  

Over the past couple of months we have run into major issues with the larger tops, particularly the 61" tops.   The excessive vibration on the large surface (and mis-handling from the trucking companies), was leading to a large amount of damage.  This not only creates problems from the customers stand point, but it is also a nightmare for us from a claims stand point.   Because of that, we have decided to stop shipping the 61" tops, atleast until we can figure out a method that the carriers can handle.   We are still offering them for local pickup, but shipping is no longer an option at this point.

Next week is the filming of the HGTV show "Carter Can" in which we will be participating.   Even though this will be our first time working with HGTV and any of it's home improvement shows, we are already getting calls about other shows (it is quite exciting).   It really says something about the quality of the product, if an industry leader like HGTV is excited to work with the cabinets and feature them in a show.    They will be installing the Marquis Cinnamon Kitchen Cabinets in a home out in Chatsworth, CA.  

Some of the staff will be flying out there on Tuesday to assemble all of the cabinets, and we will be on site while the house is being renovated to see how the filming of a television show actually works.   Check back to the blog for some photos, some video footage, and the highlights of each day of shooting.   

We just wrapped up our first day at the HGTV house.   It was a little more subdue than I expected, but it was hectic none the less.   The only people on site were the general contractor (who happens to be from Pennsylvania as well), and his assistants.   Jake and I got right to work assembling the cabinets for the kitchen, which took us most of the day....  did I mention that is was 105 degrees where we were?   Not the best conditions to be assembling cabinets in a garage, but we were able to get them all done.   As you will see in some of the pictures, they already had some of the kitchen cabinets installed when we got there so that they could measure for the countertops, but we finished installing the majority of them.

It was interesting to watch the coordination to make sure that all of the materials were on-site for a three day shoot.   We actually had to drive and pick up some of the remaining cabinets that hadn't arrived yet, so we still have some work in the morning.

So that they have something to film tomorrow, they asked us not to assemble or install a couple of cabinets until the camera crews are around (so it sounds like we might be on the show after all).   Below are some photos of the house, the kitchen half installed and Jake & I hard at work.    Tomorrow is when most of the action happens, so check back for pics of the full installation, filming of the show, and maybe some pics of shows crew.

(unfortunately the internet signal at the hotel will not let me upload pics right now, but as soon as I have a strong enough signal I will get them up here)

Today was probably one of the coolest days of my life (not joking).   We spent the entire day watching the behind the scenes of the filming of an episode.   While Jake and I didn't make it on the show, we helped the head carpenter (also named Jake) with the assembly of the kitchen and walked him through the features of the cabinets.   After filming seperate clips about the assembly of a base and a wall cabinet, we helped both Jake and Carter (the host) with the installation of the remaining cabinets.  Both Carter and Jake were extremely nice guys, and appreciated the fact that we were willing to help with the installation even though we were not going to be on camera.

As the day went on, they shot the installation of the countertops, some of the side projects, and closeups with Carter.   It was interesting to see how many changes were taking place as the show was being shot.   We actually made some changes to the layout right before they shot the first installation segment.   We stuck around the rest of the day and helped out where we could (ending the day with a picture with Carter).  

Tomorrow we are heading back to the house for the end reveal to the family.   The producers and product staff were extremely happy with the look and quality of the cabinets, and we are already talking about future shows that we can help them out with.   While I still can't load any pics to the blog yet, we are going to create a new page on the site to cover all of the videos and pictures that we took over the past two days and tomorrow.

Check back for an update about the activities from tomorrow.

They wrapped up the final day of the Carter Can episode yesterday, and the kitchen turned out to be amazing.   Everything really came together in the last 2 hours, with people scrambling everywhere to make sure that it was ready for when the homeowners came back.   The Marquis Cinnamon Cabinets looked amazing with the countertops that they picked out.   We got some great video of Jake, the assistant carpenter on camera, talking about the cabinets and showing them being assembled and installed.   The production staff is going to send us some high resolution pics of the finalized kitchen that we will be using to create a new page on the site to show how the process worked.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when we got there the first day, since we had never done anything like this before, but I was really surprised at how easy going and friendly the entire team was.   While it is a small team that produces the show, they really know how to work together and get the job done.   In talking to Carter and the production team, we learned a lot about the behind the scenes process for selecting homeowners for the shows and deciding which projects to do (which I found really fascinating).

It looks like the show will be airing something next year in October.   As soon as we have the specific date, I will post it on the blog.  Keep an eye out for all of the pictures and videos that we took.   As soon as I get back to the office, I am going to start working on addiing them to the site.