Meet the Experts: Aubrey Bennefeld & Jackie Chelemedos

2/7/2019

[Fargo Glass & Paint]

Story by Tracy Nicholson
Portrait and sample photography by Micah Zimmerman, Amdak Productions, staged scenes provided by Fargo Glass & Paint, Gate City Bank images by J. Alan Pau

Fargo Glass and Paint. interior design, flooring, glass, mirror, Midwest Nest Magazine

When founder E.J. Schonberg opened the doors to Fargo Glass & Paint in 1917, he had envisioned a company based on integrity, intelligence and imagination. Schonberg, the son of Swedish immigrants, had coined his business the “Friendly House”. With a $10,000 loan and a dream, his venture quickly grew into the largest business of its kind between Minneapolis and Seattle. These days, Fargo Glass & Paint has continued to expand their offerings and work hand-in-hand with regional contractors at the 7th Avenue location and homeowners at their new retail store in South Fargo. To get the scoop on some of their latest lines and trends, we met up with in-house experts Aubrey Bennefeld and Jackie Chelemedos to learn more about their Amorim Sports Flooring line, Timberwall division, Akua tile line and custom mirror and glass door fabrication.

Jackie Chelemedos & Aubrey Bennefeld

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Beyond Glass & Paint...

Beyond their comprehensive line of Benjamin Moore paint and custom glass, Fargo Glass & Paint offers an array of home selections with locally-based experts to guide the way. With a trip to their wholesale showroom, we asked their on-site expert, Aubrey Bennefeld to explain their new Timberwall line and how the company has made it more accessible for DIYers to master the art of accent walls.

The Timberwall Collection

A newer arrival, this collection offers 100 percent real wood options for creating an array of easy-to-install, wood accent walls. Their South Fargo retail location features a handful of options, while their North Fargo wholesale showroom offers the entire Timberwall collection, along with local retail partners. Pricing varies per style, thickness and square footage per box.

Timberwall, Fargo Glass & Paint, Midwest Nest Magazine

Inspired by Nature

As a nature-inspired focal point for any space, the wood planks are available in four different styles; Classic, Modern, Rustic and Vintage. Under these style umbrellas, there are eight collections consisting of Reclaimed, Barnwood, Landscape, Vintage, Weld, Shiplap, Skid and Mosaic. Their collections are comprised of a variety of patterns like stripes, cubes, mosaic and herringbone, with natural tones ranging from barn wood greys to rustic whites and warm wood tones.

Install with Timberwall

Once you've selected your style and color, Bennefeld suggests painting the wall a similar color to the plank tone. "It's real wood, so it's going to expand and contract as real wood does. As it contracts, you want to make sure you don't see a white wall behind a darker wood," explained Bennefeld. If you want to get really creative, blend planks from various boxes to create the pattern you desire, then level, peel and stick. There are three different application options; a nail and staple for the heavier boards, glued with mesh backing for the 12x12 and 12x24 Mosaic squares, and a 'peel & stick' which comes with a foam tape attached to the back side of it. Just trim where needed with a miter box with a handsaw, then peel off the back and press down for about 60 seconds.

Aubrey Bennefeld, flooring specialist, Fargo Glass & Paint, Interior Design, Midwest Nest Magazine

Custom Glass & Mirror

Heading over to meet another local expert, we asked Jackie Chelemedos to walk us through their glass shower door and mirror line at the North Fargo wholesale location. Chelemedos works directly with clients and contractor referrals in residential, to offer on-site design services as well as CAD and shop drawings.

"With our glass options and types, we do a lot of frameless, which is our most common, and heavy glass, which is 3/8" glass units," said Chelemedos. "We walk them through the process and their budget, give them an estimate, and let them finish to a point where we come out and do all of the final measuring. From there, we have their order manufactured to their sizes and specifications, then do the install. We cut our single and double-strength glass and all of our mirrors in-house. We also do a lot of walk-in customer sales for smaller projects like custom glass pieces for a cabinet door." They also offer custom glass conference room doors for commercial use and custom-cut glass for stair railings.

A New Class of Glass

“With so many homeowners choosing beautiful shower tiles, we've really gone away from doing obscure glass and are seeing a lot more requests for clear glass," said Chelemedos. "Part of my role is to help them choose something that will be low-maintenance and figure out a design that's going to look great with their plumbing or hardware fixtures. We can pretty much fit anyone's budget and we inventory a variety of mirror sizes, which is always going to be more cost-effective than cutting to a custom size."

If you're opting for a larger bathroom mirror that extends to the ceiling, Fargo Glass & Paint can execute the cut-outs for the light fixtures and outlets. "We do all of the measuring, templating and cutting in-house in our production shop," said Chelemedos. "It's a really seamless install and it's gorgeous when you have a full, mirrored wall. We put a lot of focus on sourcing really good quality mirrors. Most people think that a mirror's a mirror, but there are a few different types. With poorer quality, you will likely start to see water spots on it over time, so the manufacturing process matters; how they put the coating on the back and how thick the glass is.

Jackie Chelemdos, glass specialist, Fargo Glass & Paint, Interior Design, Midwest Nest Magazine

Amorim Sports Flooring

Circling back with Bennefeld, she explained their unique line of Amorim Sports Flooring. This is only available through their retail partners and sourced through their 7th Avenue wholesale showroom. "Amorim is a recycled rubber flooring that comes in square or interlocking tiles and also a four-foot-wide roll so you can order whatever custom length you want," said Bennefeld. "It's really common in home and public gyms, hockey arenas and we've also seen it in schools, warming houses and offices."

Fargo Glass & Paint stocks two of the more popular colors in eight-millimeter thickness, with a much bigger selection that can be special ordered. Clients can customize the thickness from a quarter-inch up to a half-inch and choose colors like solid black or other variations with up to 90 percent color.

"You can do a custom order on 36x36 interlocking and square-edge tiles or custom order a roll which is 48-inches wide," said Bennefeld. "Usually, we see 4x30-foot rolls and for these, it's recommended to have it glued down, but double-face, taped-down applications are acceptable for lower traffic installations. It's pretty easy and very forgiving, but it's not recommended for the outdoors or kitchens - specifically areas that have oils, extreme heat or petroleum-based products."

Amorim is stain-resistant, but to maintain the recycled rubber, the company recommends using a mild detergent, then soap and water. "Sealing the floor is not a necessary step, but flooring with a higher color percentage will definitely benefit by being sealed," said Bennefeld. "It is colored all the way through, so if it chips or gets cut, it's very hard to see. We also offer special orders on a cork composite version of this flooring."

The Akua Mosaics Collection

Also available at the wholesale location is Akua Mosaics tile, a family-run business based in Florida. All of their tile collections can be special-ordered and shipped from Miami, usually within five business days. They offer a unique and artistic collection of mosaic tiles for exterior or interior use. Tile materials range from glass, stone, glass with metal and stone, porcelain, recycled glass, marble, mother of pearl, pebble stone and shell.

"We see a lot of people using these tiles for accent strips and even flooring in the shower or kitchen backsplashes," said Bennefeld. "Their subway tile is part of the Pastel collection and that's one we see a lot right now."