3rd Annual Hand Turkey Contest!

It’s our 3rd annual hand turkey contest! We love this tradition and get a kick out of seeing your artwork. And you can win some fabulous prizes!  You can find the complete details of the contest here, but these are the basic rules:

  1.  Draw a turkey. The one requirement is that you trace your hand to create the turkey body. Other than that? Get creative! You can use crayons, markers, glitter, etc. – but the most elaborate turkeys won’t automatically win. Big points for personality!
  2. Name your turkey. The name of your turkey will be evaluated alongside your drawing. So if your turkey doesn’t look like a Phil? Don’t name it Phil. And nameless turkeys will be disqualified from the competition, obviously.
  3. Post your turkey. To officially enter the competition, you must take a picture of your hand-drawn turkey and email it to emily@showerdoorexperts.com by Thanksgiving. We will announce the winner on our Facebook page on Friday the 26th, so follow along there for fun and prizes!

thanksgiving hand turkey as thanos

Spray Panel in Harper’s Ferry

Shower Door of the Week: Spray Panel in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia

Say it, don’t spray it! …is not actually the tagline here. We’ll keep working on that. But we did want to say: we’re big fans of how this project turned out. Spray panels are simple, just a hinged or stationary piece of glass that takes up some part of the shower or tub opening. Sometimes all you need is that one panel to keep water away from the rest of the room. As an alternative to a metal frame – or even many metal clips – it is the pinnacle of non-invasive design.

This particular panel in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia (which is so beautiful this time of year!) was custom measured to 39×79″ with chrome hardware. All our work is custom, so after you send us the dimensions and we get the ball rolling, one of the experts will come take careful measurements. (Read more about the installation process.)

Caulkmaster 3000!

The client chose to have the glass treated with a sealant, which we recommend but never push. Sealant closes up the microscopic “pores” in glass where scum likes to hang out. It makes cleaning your glass so much easier. And who wouldn’t want that? Anyone in Harper’s Ferry should be happily kicking through fall leaves, not stuck inside scrubbing at soap scum!

And, finally, sneak preview: we’re about to launch the 3rd annual Thanksgiving Hand Turkey! There are fun prizes. and your art will be displayed in our office gallery. Ooooh. Follow along on Facebook and/or Instagram. We’ll be posting the rules, sharing turkey art as it comes in, and – of course – announcing the winners!

thanksgiving hand turkey as thanos

 

Most Famous Halloween Shower Film?

You’re probably thinking, “Oh oh, I know this one: Psycho! That’s the most famous shower in horror film history!” And… you’re right. But did we make the second best shower-related video? We think so.

We are truly lucky to call Jordan Miller of Gypsy Cab Studios our Design Expert. For horror fans, he’s also co-producer of the hit horror podcast Camp Nightmare. With his design background, they also have the best swag! Last year Jordan found time to film this short (just over a minute) video feature shower door experts Emmarose and Devin – plus a very special guest star…

This is the kind of thing we get up to on social media, so follow us over on Facebook and Instagram for maximum shenanigans! Also lots of gorgeous shower doors, of course. Much safer than shower curtains!

Full Height Corner in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Shower Door of the Week: Full Height Corner Unit in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

It’s been awhile since we shared a photo from Pennsylvania! We’re located in Jefferson, Maryland – just outside Frederick. But our service area takes us to D.C., northern Virginia, the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, southern Pennsylvania, and of course most of Maryland. We get around! So keep your eyes peeled for one of our unique vans…

This shower of the week is a full height frameless corner unit. It looks fairly simple, but let’s take a look under the hood. Under the bath mat? Anyway, here are the details:

  • oil rubbed bronze hardware is a great match for the beige and lighter brown tones of the floor and tile
  • upgraded handle and robe hook – these are our Symphony handles, which add visual interest
  • low iron glass is more optically clear than regular glass, looks great against lighter tile colors
  • glass sealant that makes the glass a breeze to clean

We regularly get questions about cleaning shower door glass. So often that we created a handy blog post about it. The shorter version is that glass sealant fills the microscopic pores and ridges in your glass to prevent scum from accumulating in the first place. After that, your best friends are environmentally-friendly cleaner like Diamond Blue Wash and microfiber cloths. No scrubbing required!

Let us know if you have any questions about shower design, shower maintenance, best songs to listen to in the shower. We are, after all, the shower door experts! We’re over on Facebook and Instagram with behind-the-scenes pics and special offers. Hope to see you there – or maybe on the road in Pennsylvania…

Expert Advice: Matte Black Trend

Matte black is a bathroom design trend that’s here to stay! We get quite a few questions and comments about matte black options, so here are some ideas to consider when you’re considering a new shower look…

Black and Light

One of the most popular – and show-stopping! – iterations of the trend is black against white or light-colored walls and tile. This beige space, which could have been dull on its own, is completely transformed by the black hardware.

Mix and Match

Matte black can stand alone, but it also plays well with other metallics and colors. Here the black shower frame is paired with silver-tones, marble, and stone for a unique but entirely cohesive look. Grid showers are also having quite a moment, and these two trends are a match made in shower door heaven!

Be Bold

Chrome is the standard choice for bathroom hardware, but it can fade into the background. Totally fine if a neutral is what you’re after. We love how these folks in Frederick paired a more neutral handle with a bold black faucet and painted panels. And that tile! This unit definitely makes a statement!

Or Start Small

If you want just a bit of black in your bathroom, it’s easy to switch up your cabinet pulls or faucet. For the shower or tub that could mean just a black shower head or handle. Who knows, you might get carried away by the trend!

Get In Touch!

We’d love to know what you think about this design – really! Matte black: yea? nay? We are quite active on Facebook, and you can also get in touch the old fashioned ways – well, not carrier pigeons but, you know, phones and email! We’re also on Instagram where we share even more shower door pics for design inspiration.

Or if you’re ready to dive in, you can get a free quote anytime!

National Coloring Day: Win a Ducky!

Happy National Coloring Day! In June 2020, as the covid pandemic became our reality, our office experts wanted to spread some joy and aid into the community. Our very own marketing expert Jordan (of Camp Nightmare podcast fame!), created these coloring sheets to lift everyone’s spirits. We donated $1 to our local food bank for every colored page we received back. It was such a joy for us. And, we hope, for everyone else! In that spirit, we are once again sharing Jordan’s coloring sheets on National Coloring Day. There are three below, but you can find the entire catalogue here.

We will post some of our favorites over on Facebook and Instagram. Our favorite artists will receive rubber duckies! Please do follow us for fun bonus content (funnest shower door company ever?? maybe) and behind the scenes shenanigans. And of course get in touch with any questions, comments, showering tips for dinosaurs…

 

 

Sandblasted Fade in New Market

Shower Door of the Week: Sandblasted Fade in New Market, Maryland

A sandblasted shower door is perfect for anyone who wants to shower without the “show”! Our friends over at Rowland Glass Studios do custom sandblasting, so you can request your perfect height. How cool is it to have privacy but still be able to see out? The un-blasted top also lets in more light, which is a plus. But you still might want to include lighting above the shower, as these clever clients chose to do.

That’s all for this week, but we do wish you a happy Labor Day weekend! We’re so grateful for all our hard-working experts, and for the customers who keep our small local family business thriving. 30 years of shower doors!

Drop us a line if you have any questions about shower doors or want to discuss why Sandblast Fade would be an awesome name for our company band. You can also get exclusive content over on our Facebook and Instagram.

International Dog Day: Help Puppies!

International Dog Day

This year for International Dog Day, we are supporting our neighbor non-profit For Otis Sake as they care for three new puppies. In addition to Keonna, pictured below, For Otis Sake just rescued three 5-6 week old pups that have been diagnosed with severe coccidia in addition to other medical needs. Donations to assist with treatment for these little ones would be greatly appreciated and can be made via Paypal at https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/forotissake 

Fostering

Foster pawrents are also in high demand!  For Otis Sake is looking for people to provide a temporary safe haven for dogs looking for their forever home. All supplies, food, and vet visits are covered by the rescue. You would be providing love, attention, and a safe space for a dog in need. With hundreds of requests a week to save pets from their situations, being a foster can be the first step to a dog’s new life!

Ready to sign up and help? Complete the foster application today at https://forotissake.org/foster

 About For Otis Sake

The mission of For Otis Sake Rescue Groups, Inc. is to rescue, rehab and re-home at-risk dogs that have been pulled from under-funded and overcrowded shelters and animal control facilities across the United States. They are a foster-only organization currently with no facility. Donations and money raised through our fundraising activities are used to cover veterinary and training expenses as well as  basic care for our rescued animals as they prepare the dogs for their adoptive families.

For more information on adoptable dogs, fostering or volunteering, check out the For Otis Sake website at https://forotissake.org.

Glamor Clamps in Eldersburg

Shower of the Week: Door and Panel Door with Clamps in Eldersburg, Maryland

Clamp your eyes on this shower door! The most noteworthy feature of this door and panel unit is the clamps along the bottom. Usually there would be a channel, but clamps are a minimalist and perfectly sturdy option too.

Ding ding! We have another low iron glass door this week. Long-time readers know the drill. Low iron glass is more optically clear than regular glass and looks great against light-colored tile. Iron particles give glass a slight green tint, which is why low iron glass is more clear. It doesn’t matter as much against darker tile, but with the marbled tile here it was a good choice.

The other upgrade for this unit was glass sealant. We’ll never push it on anyone, but it is quite nice! Especially if you’re not a huge fan of scrubbing glass. Even though glass looks smooth, it actually has lots of teeny tiny ridges and valleys where scum accumulates. Sealant fills in those microscopic gaps so your glass stays cleaner – and easier to clean!

You can keep up with shower of the week – and lots of other fun pics! – on our Facebook and Instagram. We’re also always on standby for shower door chats. No question too small or weird! Get in touch with your friendly local experts!  (That’s us.)

Total Clarity in Germantown, Maryland

Shower Door of the Week: Corner Unit with Low Iron Glass in Germantown, Maryland

Shower door of the week was once again unanimous: behold this lovely corner unit! It features brushed nickel hardware, a pull ladder handle, and low iron glass. Combined, these elements make for a de-light-ful shower space. Long-time readers will know that I love a matte black finish, but in this case brushed nickel keeps the look light and open.

corner unit shower with low iron glass

Newer readers might be asking: what’s low iron glass? It’s magical! Low iron glass is crystal clear, lacking the slight green tint of regular glass. Iron causes the green hue that dulls the overall perception, so lower iron glass is more optically clear. We recommend it especially against light colored tile. If your tile is, say, turquoise, you can probably skip the low iron glass.

In other Shower Door Expert news, this pic of one of our experts was a big hit on Facebook and Instagram this week! I’ll repeat: this move is for experts only! Do not try at home!

But it turns out that we’re NOT the only ones who can do this! Local teacher Ramona is also a badass expert…

Thanks for sending us the pic, Ramona! If anyone else has sweet shower moves, let us know! You can get in touch all the usual ways – and start a free quote right here on the website if you’re ready for a sparkly new shower. Thanks for tuning in, loyal readers. We’ll be back with another SotW soon!

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