If you’ve been keeping up with MLuxe, you know that over the past year we have been featuring winners of the 2011 Architect’s Challenge. And it could be your project that fills this space next year.

If you are an architect, time is running out to enter the 2012 Architect’s Challenge. Entries must be received by May 31. We want to see your best Marvin projects. Entries can be for commercial or residential projects. We welcome any kind of aesthetic from historical to contemporary.

Winners of the Architect’s Challenge will be featured in our permanent Winners Gallery on Marvin.com, be a key part of our trade- and consumer-focused media relations efforts, be showcased here and in other social media channels.

Don’t miss the chance to show off your great project and get some publicity! Enter today! The entry form can be found here.

Marvin is pleased to announce a cool new feature on our website: online user reviews. If you’ve ever bought Marvin windows or doors, or had them in your home, this is the place to let us know what you think.

We’re offering both product and experience reviews so you can review specific products as well as your overall experience working with Marvin. When you write a review, please include as many details of your experience as necessary. You can even include photos if you want!

Marvin is committed to protecting your privacy and will not publish your email address. We want to hear from you! Let us know your opinions on our products and company here.

MLuxe is now on Pinterest! If you’re on Pinterest too, consider following us.

Pinterest is an online “pinboard.” You can use it in the same way you might use a bulletin board or inspiration book to gather tidbits of things you like for anything from a remodeling project to a wedding. When you find something that strikes your fancy, you “pin” it to your Pinterest boards. You can re-pin other people’s pins and they can re-pin yours. It’s a great way to get inspired and share ideas!

If you’re looking for another way to interact with MLuxe or Marvin,  follow us on Pinterest!

Attention  to our building-professional readers! Are you headed to the International Builders’ Show next week? Are you ready to see the latest in cutting-edge fenestration innovation? Then you need to make sure to stop by the Marvin booth!

We’re in booth W2339 and will be showing all of our latest and greatest as well as old favorites. If you love Marvin, want to tell us something or just want to see what all the fuss is about, stop by! There’s always someone there to talk with.

Safe travels to Orlando and see you at the show! If you’re not able to make it, we’ll be covering the show on MLuxe next week, so stay tuned…

Happy New Year, dear readers! We have greatly enjoyed talking with you in 2011. Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by our little patch of Internet. All the best to you in 2012!

Image courtesy of jonathanrchang on Flickr.

Happy Thanksgiving to our readers! We’ll be back posting on Monday. In the meantime, carve up some turkey, dish up some pumpkin pie and relax and enjoy the holiday.

We are thankful for YOU!

Image courtesy of Ginger Me on Flickr.

A company’s heritage is built on vision, determination and an abiding commitment to core beliefs. At Marvin, our heritage of excellence goes back more than a century. It reflects an unwavering dedication to quality, service, innovation and community. That dedication has been passed on through four generations of family leadership. And thousands of our skilled workers have been steeped in our heritage through a lifetime of family connections to our company and the communities we proudly call home.

Last week, we began taking time to celebrate Marvin Windows’ long history of values and innovation. It’s a celebration that will continue for the next several weeks. We’ll be publishing a series of videos that tell the stories of our company’s heritage. We’ll be posting a weekly trivia question on our Facebook page and Twitter account. We’ll be writing blogs posts that feature special construction and remodeling projects featuring Marvin products. And so much more.

Stay tuned to this blog, to the Marvin Media Room, to our Facebook page, to our Twitter account, and to our YouTube channel for more.

We at Marvin Windows talk and write a lot about the state of the economy and how it affects the housing industry, how it affects our business, and how it affects the communities around us. We’re proud to have been invited on “Fox & Friends,” the nation’s top-rated cable morning show, this past weekend to discuss Marvin’s fight to keep its employees on the job during the long economic downturn.

Susan Marvin, our company president, did a great job presenting Marvin’s viewpoint on the critical issue of American jobs.

“We recognize that people are our most valuable asset, so that’s the last place we’re going to cut,” she told co-host Clayton Morris. Everyone at the company has participated in the sacrifices needed to preserve jobs, she said — including senior management and all 16 Marvin family members who work full-time for the company.

Marvin remains committed to making decisions that will serve the long-term interests of the company, she stressed.

“You guys did a great service, and this is a remarkable thing, Susan,” Morris said as he wrapped up the interview, shaking his head in admiration.

We’re getting that reaction a lot. To us, it’s just business as usual. But we appreciate the sentiment, and we’ll keep doing everything we can to preserve American jobs.

We were delighted to see this insightful, in-depth story about Marvin Windows and Doors  in Sunday’s New York Times. The reporter, Andrew Martin, spent three days in our hometown of Warroad, Minn., talking with company leaders and townspeople. He wanted to look at how a mid-sized company was navigating through the economic downturn.

What he discovered was Marvin’s commitment to its community and its valued workers. Although we’ve had to make cutbacks during the downturn, we still have not laid off any of our skilled, experienced workers. As our company president, Susan Marvin, told the Times: “You can’t cut your way to prosperity. You can’t grow if you are cutting your lifeblood — and that’s the skills and experience your work force delivers.”

The story about a family-owned company that refuses to cut jobs has been flying around the Internet. For example, Fox News host Greta Van Susteren wrote about Marvin on her blog, Greta Wire:

“These are very tough times and require smart thinking, and frankly it looks like Marvin Windows is doing the right thing — not the easiest,” she wrote. “I love that Marvin Windows is called a ‘throwback to another era’ — that is a compliment!”

We think our no-layoff stance is good for business, too. We’re gaining market share from competitors that have cut back on workers, product development and investment in growing their sales. When this downturn ends — and it will end — we’re going to come out as one of the strongest players in the business.

Happy Labor Day, everyone! We hope you enjoy the holiday weekend, and we’ll see you back here on Tuesday.

Until then, be sure to make some time for one last summer grill-out — before fall grilling season begins!

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