Client: Private Family - New York, NY

Challenge: A New York family wanted to quickly build a bedroom for the latest arrival to their
family, a new baby, expected to be born in two weeks’ time.

Goals: To install a solid, attractive wall that would turn their existing dining room alcove into a
bedroom, complete with a door for privacy.

Concerns: The building’s management company would not permit any construction in their rental apartment units and told the renters that they were not allowed to fasten anything the fixed walls of their apartment without violating the terms of their lease.

Additionally, the family wanted to prevent any dirt, dust, or construction debris from entering the home before their new baby arrived.

The Solution: EverBlock® Modular Building Blocks.

Summary:

When the expecting mother contacted EverBlock, in need of a wall to divide their dining room and living room to create a new bedroom, sales executive and designer, Mark Barry, from EverBlock took the call. The family wanted to prepare the room in advance of the baby’s arrival, so Mark offered to rush the design process and order for the client.

The family had considered other options, such as building a permanent wall, using traditional construction or utilizing shoji screens or bookshelves to create a divider, but these options were dismissed.

Landlord restrictions on physical alterations (and a difficult approval and permitting process), as well as concerns over potentially harmful construction dust entering the home prior to the baby’s arrival, precluded traditional construction.

Concerns that modular options, such as shoji screens and dividers, looked impermanent and didn’t really provide the privacy and finished look the family wanted, eliminated these options from consideration.

Mark modeled the clients need in EverBlock’s 3D Virtual Builder software, allowing the family to view the wall before making a purchase. The family selected from 16 standard colors to meet their design scheme and chose to add EverBlock’s standard accordion door to the design, to allow for more privacy in the child’s room.

Once the design was finalized, the family expressed concern about accepting a pallet delivery at their apartment building in New York. For one, both parents worked and could not be home to receive a large shipment. Secondarily, the building had restrictions on receiving large shipments, including the need to reserve the freight elevator.

To avoid complications with receiving the shipment, Mark offered to ship the product via UPS in boxes that were 24” x 20” x 18” and only 42 lbs each. This allowed for the boxes to be received by the doorman of the building and stored until the parents got home after work.

Once the boxes arrived and were brought upstairs, the parents built their wall in about 35 minutes, including the time to unpack and dispose of the boxes and install the door. Their new EverBlock wall cleanly divided their space, turning their dining area into a comfortable and private room for their new child.

Takeaways:

• EverBlock is free-standing, allowing installation of complete walls without fastening to fixed walls - putting landlords at ease.
• EverBlock walls require no tools or heavy construction, eliminating the dust and debris associated with traditional construction.
• Add an accordion door for greater privacy.
• EverBlock walls can be shipped via UPS to apartment buildings, where access for larger panels or systems may be difficult.
• EverBlock’s representatives model each installation in 3D to allow visualization of a space prior to purchase.
• EverBlock product is delivered quickly, allowing for rapid transformation of a space.