Ceiling Beam Buyers Like Narrower Ones
Kern Wood Beam Ceilings, 515-A N. Victory Blvd., Burbank, is concentrating on narrow-beam (2-3/4-inch-wide) ceilings these days.
My Jan. 23, 1983, column described the company and its patented (U.S. patents 4,281,498 and 4,454,700) system, when its big push was with 3-15/16-inch-wide beams.
According to both Gary Kern, the founder and president, and Hal Noerdlinger, the sales manager, the overwhelming preference today is for the narrow beam, so the wider one has been dropped.
The oak beams are used in place of the utilitarian metal grids that are common in commercial installations.
Kitchens and baths are probably the most common rooms where the ceilings are installed, but beamed ceilings can be used anywhere in the house as a way to personalize your space. Panels--typically 2-by-4 feet or 2-by-2 feet in size--are made of plastic (for lighting), wood, acoustic tile, stained glass or just about any material that isn’t prohibitively heavy, Kern said.
“We do diamond patterns in addition to the rectangular or square arrangements,” he added. “The diamond arrangement has 2-by-2-foot grids and looks especially nice in kitchens or bathrooms. It can be and usually is combined for accent purposes with a square or rectangular arrangement.”
Kern ceiling displays are on view or will be soon at Snyder-Diamond stores in North Hollywood, Pasadena, Santa Monica and Torrance; Cleveland Wrecking Co., 3170 E. Washington Blvd.; Design Works, 25485 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance, and 7227 Edinger Ave., Huntington Beach, and other places whose locations are available from Noerdlinger.
Classes in everything from installing an entry door to using a computer to design a room addition will be taught this fall at Ganahl University, make that Ganahl Lumber Co. in Anaheim. The fall ’88 class schedule of the Ganahl school of woodworking and home building is available from the company at 1220 E. Ball Road, P.O. Box 31, Anaheim, Calif. 92805. Among the basic subjects covered in the classes--many of them with only one or two meetings--are basic home electrics, installing skylights, home plumbing, hardwood floor installation, windows, routers, table saws, building a grandfather clock, furniture finishing, etc.
A tour of custom-designed kitchens in Westside homes will be offered next Sunday, Sept. 25, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. under the sponsorship of Jewish Family Service of Santa Monica. Tickets for the third annual tour, which includes houses in Beverly Hills and Brentwood, are $35. For tickets contact: Jewish Family Service of Santa Monica, 1424 Fourth St., Santa Monica 90401. The phone is 213/451-9196.
