Immersive Experience Brings Exterior Home Design to Life

Immersive Experience

When it comes to choosing products and materials for a new home or remodeling project, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the choices in brand, color, profile, style, and more. Online tools that help homebuyers visualize their options can bring tremendous clarity and, perhaps most importantly, a level of confidence that can help avoid change orders down the road. Westlake Royal Building Products offers several online design platforms and most recently partnered with Pro Builder magazine to create an immersive experience for easy browsing of its siding, trim, roofing, and outdoor living product lines.

The Immersive Experience is an online 3D interactive program designed to showcase exterior products from all Westlake Royal brands. Contractors, builders, architects, and homeowners can discover the boundless array of materials and expressive color palettes available from Westlake Royal Building Products as they explore three distinct homes—a Custom Home, a Mid-Range Home, and a Multi-Builder design.

The program begins with an avatar introduction, providing an overview of each home and product selections where users can interact and select key hotspots to learn about product details and color options. Easily travel around the front and rear elevations of the houses, engaging with different interactive features along the way.

Three Unique Homes

On the Custom Home exterior, created by BSB Design out of Charlotte, N.C., the six schemes feature roofing from DaVinci® Roofscapes, TruExterior® Siding and Trim, Eldorado Stone® and Cultured Stone® sidewall treatments, Zuri® Premium Decking, and Kindred® outdoor elements. The textures and colors amplify the designs and elevate the senses.

Immersive Experience

For the Mid-Range Home exterior, also designed by BSB, Unified Steel™ Stone Coated Roofing and Newpoint™ Concrete Roof Tile options are highlighted, plus Celect® Cellular Composite Siding and Trim and Cedar Renditions™ aluminum siding. Versetta Stone® sidewall treatments, Zuri decking, Kindred outdoor elements, and Atlantic Premium Shutters® help transform the home with boundless designer options.

Immersive Experience

The Multi-Home Builder exterior, a creation from Larry Garnett Designs in Glen Rose, Texas, features Newpoint™ Concrete Roof Tile, Foundry® and Royal® Estate™ siding, plus Versetta Stone sidewall treatment. Mid-America® shutters, Royal Trim, and Kindred outdoor materials complete the home tour options.

Boundless Color Options

Coordinating the color palettes for the six schemes on each home required the special talents of Kate Smith, chief color maven at Sensational Color. Using the broad color offering available from each brand, Smith found palettes that harmonized across all products to create enticing schemes meeting the demands of today’s homeowners.

“There were boundless color options to select from within the Westlake brands,” Smith said. “According to the national and regional color trends I’ve researched, we came up with colors and styles that consumers currently find most desirable. These include contemporary dark primary colors like black, charcoal and gray. Then there’s a crisp, white modern farmhouse palette. We also relied on some classic color combinations plus timeless neutrals that shine on their own or can coordinate with the brick or stonework on the home designs.”

According to Smith, each Westlake brand’s broad color offering made it easy to find palettes that harmonize across the products. “One of my favorites is the combination of the Newpoint Saxony Slate in Cheyenne on the Multi-Home Builder,” said Smith. “When paired with the Versetta Stone in Plum Creek, the roof and stonework together work beautifully to set off against the updated deep primary and door colors. Another favorite is the DaVinci Province Slate in the European blend of colors on the Custom Home. When matched with the Eldorado Stone Ledge in Whitecap with the white, pale gray and black, it’s an elegant combination that any homeowner would love.”

Visit and tour the Immersive Experience at http://www.wrbpimmersive.com/.

Westlake Royal Building Products Celebrates 300th Home with Habitat for Humanity 

Together with Habitat for Humanity – MidOhio, Westlake Royal Building Products recently celebrated a historic milestone with the dedication of the 300th home to feature the company’s donated siding and trim materials in the Ohio region. On Thursday, Sept. 15, the three-bedroom, two-bath single family home was dedicated and keys were turned over to the partner family in the South Linden neighborhood of Columbus.

Habitat for Humanity MidOhio home dedication

The dedication of this house marks the 300th siding donation that Westlake Royal has made to Habitat for Humanity – MidOhio over the last 20 years. For this home, Westlake Royal donated 20 squares of siding, including Exterior Portfolio® Vinyl Siding and Portsmouth™ Shake & Shingles Siding, as well as Royal® Shutters, Mounts and Vents accessories. Westlake Royal’s Columbus-based employees also donated their time and skills to help with installing the building products during the construction of the home this summer. 

Installing siding on a Habitat for Humanity MidOhio home.

“Amid inflation and rising costs, the need for affordable housing today is greater than it’s ever been. Westlake Royal is proud to be part of the solution in donating building products for good quality, single-family homes,” said Steve Booz, VP of Marketing & Product Management, Westlake Royal Building Products. “Our partnership with Habitat MidOhio dates back through several company name changes and decades, but our commitment to this organization and the community of Columbus remains unchanged.” 

“When we invest in housing, we invest in the future of the entire community. Thanks to the contributions of Westlake Royal, Habitat MidOhio has brought the dream of homeownership to 300 families,” said E.J. Thomas, President and CEO, Habitat MidOhio. “We are grateful for the generous support of our donors and volunteers, and look forward to continuing our work of providing quality, affordable housing to our family partners.” 

In January 2021, Habitat MidOhio celebrated the dedication of its 1,000th home. The organization works to bring people together to inspire hope, build homes, empower families, and develop communities. For the past 35 years, Habitat MidOhio has served families through new home builds/rehabs (437), owner-occupied home repairs (350), and tithe support to its sister affiliates in Africa (331). 

What Do Common Shutter Terms Mean?

Shutters seem pretty straightforward. But do you know the lingo well enough to sell them confidently to your customers? Here are a few common terms you should know.

Open Louver
The angled slats of open louver offer a timeless design.

Atlantic Shutters open louver
Atlantic open louver shutters

Raised Panel
Raised panel units feature a traditional design with one or more raised center panels with chamfered edges.

Atlantic raised panel shutters
Atlantic raised panel shutters

Board and Batten
Board and batten shutters are vertically oriented boards typically featuring a minimum of two wide strips, called battens, horizontally fixed with narrow trim in between.

Atlantic Premium shutters board and batten shutters
Atlantic board and batten shutters

Bahama
Rather than swinging in from two sides, Bahama shutters install singly and swing upward. As their name implies, this style is used frequently in the Caribbean because it blocks UV rays while allowing in ambient light and breezes. A sophisticated privacy solution for coastal locations or homes with a coastal-style exterior.

Atlantic Bahama shutters
Atlantic Bahama shutters

Storm Shutters
These specialty units are made specifically to withstand the impact of wind-driven debris. Open, they look no different. During a storm, they close and lock into place with storm bars to protect the shutter leaf, the window, and the home’s interior. Before buying, verify that your storm shutters meet the Large Missile Impact Test requirement as specified in the IRC and IBC 2006.

Operable vs. Decorative
Historically, shutters were more than just a decoration. They were used to block out sun, control temperature, and provide privacy. But, as Fine Homebuilding explains, those uses were less needed when drapes and blinds became the norm. Today, most shutters are purely decorative, or inoperable. Operable shutters, like those from Atlantic, still offer those same benefits as well as an extra dose of authenticity.

Holdbacks
Holdback hardware does just what it says: holds operable units in place but is easily turned to release the panel for closure. Common styles include the elegant S holdback, a simple dog post holdback, or a scrolling rat-tail holdback. They’re not just for operable units: Use holdbacks for decorative shutters to ensure an authentic look.

Shutter holdbacks
Rat-tail holdback

Ready to learn more? Download a product brochure