We are very excited to shine a client spotlight on Jennifer Georgiou. She has been working very hard on the new sales office for their Ormston community at Doon South. This is a new project for Activa Homes. I had the pleasure of talking to Jennifer about the sales office for Ormston, and learning more about this exciting new project.

Question One: Tell me a little bit about yourself! How long have you been with the company? What do you like to do outside of work?

JG: I have been a Creative Designer at Activa for the past eight years. I graduated from Sheridan College, where I went to school for graphic design. When I’m not at work I spend most of my free time with my family. When I have the time I enjoy working out, reading and cooking.

Ormston Model Sales Centre

Question Two: Explain the Ormston at Doon South project.

JG: Ormston at Doon South has been a project that we have been working on for some time. We wanted to do something different with the Sales Centre, and give it a sleek and modern look to tie into the contemporary model home. In this particular community we have built 3 new models with a Sales Centre attached. It also marks the first contemporary model home that Activa has ever built!

Ormston Model Sales Centre interior design

Question Three: How were you involved with this project?

JG: I was excited to get my creative juices flowing! I started with a blank slate and created the layout of the Sales Centre, including custom wallpaper & shelving, wood paneling on the walls to create warmth and texture, window graphics, and a black herringbone feature wall with two acrylic cut gold foiled logos as the focus point. We even installed a living wall, again to add colour and texture as well as a giant wall to wall map with amenities in addition to all the signage for the exterior. I came up with the concept back in April and we had everything ready for our Grand Opening in the beginning of July.

Question Four: What are some of your highlights of the project so far?

JG: I was very excited about this project and happy with how everything has turned out so far, especially the custom wallpaper and living wall – the pop of pattern and real plants really stands out in the space! We wanted to do something different and it really paid off. We had a very successful launch during our opening weekend with many future homeowners finding their dream home!

Question Five: Were there any challenges? How did you overcome them?

JG: One of the biggest challenges we faced with the Sales Centre was that we wanted to fill the office with a lot of information about the neighbourhood, however we didn’t want to go overboard and make the office overcrowded - we really needed to find a happy medium.

So, we decided to do the living wall to make a statement without adding too much visual clutter, as well as featuring a giant, wall-sized map that shows the Waterloo Region to help homeowners orient themselves. Screens are used to show off floor plans and the site map also help keep the space feeling open.

Questions Six: How did FASTSIGNS help you achieve your goals?

JG: FASTSIGNS went above and beyond for us. The map turned out really well and the custom wallpaper looked spectacular, especially around the windows. What I really appreciate is the owner, Rob Richmond. You can rely on him to always be honest and tell you if something might not turn out the way you are expecting it to. He is always there to give suggestions about your project. One problem we ran into two days before we opened was that the ENERGY STAR® sign fell off of the wall. I called Rob and told him what had happened. The next day FASTSIGNS sent their installer, Tyler from TMC Customs, to come and take a look at the sign. Since two of the corners dented when the sign fell and there wasn’t enough time to order a replacement before the opening, they came up with a solution to cut off the 4 corners into 45 degree angles and removed the rotor dotes so the light switch would no longer interfere. Then they drilled the sign into the wall and put black caps over the drill holes. You would never have known that was not the original design. It looked like we had done that on purpose.

In short, I really like dealing with FASTSIGNS. They are fast, reliable, and they always think on their feet.

Question Seven: Is there anything else you want to tell our readers?

JG: These houses are selling really fast! You should absolutely come and see our fully decorated model homes if you are in the market of buying a new home.