Inspiration for a transitional medium tone wood floor living room remodel in Orange County with beige walls and a standard fireplace

Bathroom - large modern master blue tile and mosaic tile concrete floor and gray floor bathroom idea in New York with brown walls and a hinged shower door

Side porch at the 2012 Southern Living Idea House in Senoia, Georgia, with a traditional "haint blue" ceiling. Photo: Laurey W. Glenn (courtesy Southern Living) Interior Design: Tracery

Example of a mid-sized transitional master carpeted bedroom design in Salt Lake City with beige walls

Marc Boisclair
Example of a french country medium tone wood floor bedroom design in Phoenix with a standard fireplace, a brick fireplace and gray walls

Family Room
Living room - contemporary living room idea in DC Metro with white walls

Master bedroom with a South Atlantic Coast inspired, aqua-hued color scheme. Floors made from reclaimed hand-scraped barn wood red oak.
Beach style master light wood floor bedroom photo in DC Metro with multicolored walls

Turn your garage into a dream garage. Let Garage Envy help you MASTER THE MESS!
Example of a classic one-car garage design in Los Angeles

A local Houston art collector hired us to create a low maintenance, sophisticated, contemporary landscape design. She wanted her property to compliment her eclectic taste in architecture, outdoor sculpture, and modern art. Her house was built with a minimalist approach to decoration, emphasizing right angles and windows instead of architectural keynotes. The west wing of the house was only one story, while the east wing was two-story. The windows in both wings were larger than usual, so that visitors could see her art collection from the home’s exterior. Near one of the large rear windows, there was an abstract metal sculpture designed in the form of a spiral. When she initially contacted us, the surrounding property had only a few trees and indigenous grass as vegetation. This was actually a good beginning point with us, because it allowed us to develop a contemporary landscape design that featured a very linear, crisp look supportive of the home and its contents. We began by planting a garden around the large contemporary sculpture near the window. Landscape designers planted horsetail reed under windows, along the sides of the home, and around the corners. This vegetation is very resilient and hardy, and requires little trimming, weeding, or mulching. This helped unite the diverse elements of sculpture, contemporary architecture, and landscape design into a more fluid harmony that preserved the proportions of each unique element, but eliminated any tendency for the elements to clash with one another. We then added two stonework designs to the landscape surrounding the contemporary art collection and home. The first was a linear walkway we build from concrete pads purchased through a retail vendor as a cost-saving benefit to our client. We created this walkway to follow the perimeter of the home so that visitors could walk around the entire property and admire the outdoor sculptures and the collections of modern art visible through the windows. This was especially enjoyable at night, when the entire home was brightly lit from within. To add a touch of tranquility and quite repose to the stark right angles of the home and surrounding contemporary landscape, we designed a special seating area toward the northwest corner of the property. We wanted to create a sense of contemplation in this area, so we departed from the linear and angular designs of the surrounding landscape and established a theme of circular geometry. We laid down gravel as ground cover, then placed large, circular pads arranged like giant stepping stones that led up to a stone patio filled with chairs. The shape of the granite pads and the contours of the graveled area further complimented the spirals and turns in the outdoor metal sculpture, and balanced the entire contemporary landscape design with proportional geometric forms of lines, angles, and curves. This particular contemporary landscape design also has a sense of movement attached to it. All stonework leads to a destination of some sort. The linear pathway provides a guided tour around the home, garden, and modern art collection. The granite pathway stones create movement toward separate space where the entire experience of art, vegetation, and architecture can be viewed and experienced as a unity. Contemporary landscaping designs like create form out of feeling by using basic geometric forms and variations of forms. Sometimes very stark forms are used to create a sense of absolutism or contrast. At other times, forms are blended, or even distorted to suggest a sense of complex emotion, or a sense of multi-dimensional reality. The exact nature of the design is always highly subjective, and developed on a case-by-case basis with the client.

Photo by Alexandra DeFurio. Aidan is a 12-year-old girl who lives with her father half of the time. Her parents are divorced and her father wanted his daughter to be at home in his new bachelor house. He wanted her to feel “understood” and validated as a girl entering into her teen years. The room therefore is sophisticated, yet still young and innocent. It may have “grown up” attributes such as chic English paisley wallpaper by Osborne and Little and a sassy “Like Forever” poster, but it is still comfortable enough to hang out on the flokati rug or on the vintage revamped chair. Aidan was very involved in providing the design inspiration for the room. She had asked for a “beachy” feel and as design professionals know, what takes over in the creative process is the ideas evolve and many either are weeded out or enhanced. It was our job as designers to introduce to Aidan a world beyond Pottery Barn Kids. We incorporated her love of the ocean with a custom, mixed Benjamin Moore paint color in a beautiful turquoise blue. The turquoise color is echoed in the tufted buttons on the custom headboard and trim around the linen roman shades on the window. Aidan wanted a hangout room for her friends. We provided extra seating by adding a vintage revamped chair accessorized with a Jonathan Adler needle point “Love” pillow and a Moroccan pouf from Shabby chic. The desk from West Elm from their Parson’s collection expresses a grown up feel accompanied with the Saarinen Tulip chair. It’s easier for Aidan to do her homework when she feels organized and clutter free. Organization was a big factor is redesigning the room. We had to work around mementos that soon-to-be teenagers collect by the truckloads. A custom bulletin board above the desk is a great place to tack party invitations and notes from friends. Also, the small Moda dresser from Room and Board stores books, magazines and makeup stored in baskets from the Container Store. Aidan loves her room. It is bright and cheerful, yet cheeky and fun. It has a touch of sass and a “beachy” feel. This room will grow with her until she leaves for college and then comes back as a guest. Thanks to her father who wanted her to feel special, she is able to spend half her time in a room that reflects who she is.

Inspiration for a rustic kids' bathroom remodel in Other with a trough sink and brown walls

Nancy Nolan Photography
Large minimalist master beige tile and glass tile porcelain tile doorless shower photo in Little Rock with flat-panel cabinets, medium tone wood cabinets, an undermount tub, a two-piece toilet, beige walls, an undermount sink and quartz countertops

A focused design transformed a small half bath into an updated Victorian beauty. Small details like crown molding, bead board paneling, a chair rail and intricate tile pattern on the floor are the key elements that make this small bath unique and fresh.

Custom Cupboards
Example of a classic laundry room design in Chicago

Powder room - mid-sized contemporary powder room idea in Boston with an undermount sink, flat-panel cabinets, blue cabinets, quartz countertops and white countertops

One-of-a-kind and other very rare plants are around every corner. The view from any angle offers something new and interesting. The property is a constant work in progress as planting beds and landscape installations are in constant ebb and flow.

Example of a mid-sized classic backyard stone patio design in Seattle with a fire pit and a gazebo

Laundry, clean and organized space
Laundry room - transitional laundry room idea in Seattle with a stacked washer/dryer

Photography by Michael J. Lee
Inspiration for a transitional dark wood floor dining room remodel in Boston with blue walls