A small courtyard garden in San Francisco. • Creative use of space in the dense, urban fabric of hilly SF. • For the last several years the clients had carved out a make shift courtyard garden at the top of their driveway. It was one of the few flat spaces in their yard where they could sit in the sun and enjoy a cup of coffee. We turned the top of a steep driveway into a courtyard garden. • The actual courtyard design was planned for the maximum dimensions possible to host a dining table and a seating area. The space is conveniently located outside their kitchen and home offices. However we needed to save driveway space for parking the cars and getting in and out. • The design, fabrication and installation team was comprised of people we knew. I was an acquaintance to the clients having met them through good friends. The landscape contractor, Boaz Mor, http://www.boazmor.com/, is their neighbor and someone I worked with before. The metal fabricator is Murray Sandford of Moz Designs, https://mozdesigns.com/, https://www.instagram.com/moz_designs/ . Both contractors have long histories of working in the Bay Area on a variety of complex designs. • The size of this garden belies the complexity of the design. We did not want to remove any of the concrete driveway which was 12” or more in thickness, except for the area where the large planter was going. The driveway sloped in two directions. In order to get a “level”, properly, draining patio, we had to start it at around 21” tall at the outside and end it flush by the garage doors. • The fence is the artful element in the garden. It is made of power-coated aluminum. The panels match the house color; and posts match the house trim. The effect is quiet, blending into the overall property. The panels are dramatic. Each fence panel is a different size with a unique pattern. • The exterior panels that you see from the street are an abstract riff on the seasons of the Persian walnut tree in their front yard. The cut-outs illustrate spring bloom when the walnut leafs out to autumn when the nuts drop to the ground and the squirrels eats them, leaving a mess of shells everywhere. Even the pesky squirrel appears on one of the panels. • The interior panels, lining the entry into the courtyard, are an abstraction of the entire walnut tree. • Although the panel design is made of perforations, the openings are designed to retain privacy when you are inside the courtyard. • There is a large planter on one side of the courtyard, big enough for a tree to soften a harsh expanse of a neighboring wall. Light through the branches cast playful shadows on the wall behind. • The lighting, mounted on the house is a nod to the client’s love of New Orleans gas lights. • The paving is black stone from India, dark enough to absorb the warmth of the sun on a cool, summer San Francisco day.

For this job I travelled to the town of Albrighton, which is actually the most easterly settlement in the whole of Shropshire. My client had an issue with their Marble tiled floor which was installed in the kitchen and hallway. They had dropped and broke a bottle of vinegar in the kitchen, and the substance unfortunately came in contact with the tiles. Since Marble is highly sensitive to acid, the vinegar (an acetic acid) had basically etched the surface of the tiles make it impossible clean chemically. Although the tiles were a nice, expensive Marble, the person who had first installed them had done a poor job, leaving lippage of up to 5mm in some areas, which would make work trickier. Undeterred I could see it would be possible to restore the floor using a combination of burnishing for the tiles and cleaning with a high alkaline product for the grout lines. I demonstrated this to my client on one tile which went well and I was then given the go ahead to restore the entire floor. My first task focused on cleaning the grout lines using a solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean worked in with a stiff grout brush. Pro-Clean is a high alkaline cleaner suitable for use on most types of natural stone floor. It helped to alleviate most of the grout staining caused by the vinegar, whilst also lifting out any ingrained dirt and muck, and this left the grout looking a lot cleaner. After cleaning the grout lines I was able to move on to burnishing the tiles. As previously mentioned, no chemical product would be able to have an effect on the damaged tiles, so I resolved to burnish them using a system of four diamond encrusted burnishing pads fitted to a rotary machine. Working first with a coarse burnishing pad, and moving through to medium, fine and very fine pads, lubricated with a little water, I was able to significantly reduce the appearance of the acid stains, while also giving the tiles a nice polished finish. Following the cleaning and burnishing processes I gave the tiles a good rinse to remove any remaining residue and then ensured the floor was completely dry before starting on the sealing. To seal the floor and maximise the appearance I used Tile Doctor Colour Grow and Tile Doctor Shine powder. Colour Grow is an impregnating sealer that seeps into the pores of the stone intensifying and enhancing the natural shades and colours in the stone whilst also providing stain protection; Shine Powder on the other hand is a crystallising powder that is ground directly into the tiles to provide a high shine finish and durable surface protection. My client and her husband were really happy with the results and left the following message on the Tile Doctor Feedback system: “Jozsef was a charming young man in every respect, who worked very hard and achieved an amazing result. The tiles look better than the day they were laid. We are absolutely delighted with the work he has done and will recommend him to all our acquaintances. Thank you, Jozsef!” Jozsef Hoffmann Shropshire Tile Doctor

A small courtyard garden in San Francisco. • Creative use of space in the dense, urban fabric of hilly SF. • For the last several years the clients had carved out a make shift courtyard garden at the top of their driveway. It was one of the few flat spaces in their yard where they could sit in the sun and enjoy a cup of coffee. We turned the top of a steep driveway into a courtyard garden. • The actual courtyard design was planned for the maximum dimensions possible to host a dining table and a seating area. The space is conveniently located outside their kitchen and home offices. However we needed to save driveway space for parking the cars and getting in and out. • The design, fabrication and installation team was comprised of people we knew. I was an acquaintance to the clients having met them through good friends. The landscape contractor, Boaz Mor, http://www.boazmor.com/, is their neighbor and someone I worked with before. The metal fabricator is Murray Sandford of Moz Designs, https://mozdesigns.com/, https://www.instagram.com/moz_designs/ . Both contractors have long histories of working in the Bay Area on a variety of complex designs. • The size of this garden belies the complexity of the design. We did not want to remove any of the concrete driveway which was 12” or more in thickness, except for the area where the large planter was going. The driveway sloped in two directions. In order to get a “level”, properly, draining patio, we had to start it at around 21” tall at the outside and end it flush by the garage doors. • The fence is the artful element in the garden. It is made of power-coated aluminum. The panels match the house color; and posts match the house trim. The effect is quiet, blending into the overall property. The panels are dramatic. Each fence panel is a different size with a unique pattern. • The exterior panels that you see from the street are an abstract riff on the seasons of the Persian walnut tree in their front yard. The cut-outs illustrate spring bloom when the walnut leafs out to autumn when the nuts drop to the ground and the squirrels eats them, leaving a mess of shells everywhere. Even the pesky squirrel appears on one of the panels. • The interior panels, lining the entry into the courtyard, are an abstraction of the entire walnut tree. • Although the panel design is made of perforations, the openings are designed to retain privacy when you are inside the courtyard. • There is a large planter on one side of the courtyard, big enough for a tree to soften a harsh expanse of a neighboring wall. Light through the branches cast playful shadows on the wall behind. • The lighting, mounted on the house is a nod to the client’s love of New Orleans gas lights. • The paving is black stone from India, dark enough to absorb the warmth of the sun on a cool, summer San Francisco day.

Modern Retreat | Safety Habitat, Perched at Heart. Living in solitude is the lofty ideal of ancient and modern human. The source of Chinese Seclusion Culture is streamed from far away: “As I pick chrysanthemums beneath the eastern fence, my eyes fall leisurely on the Southern Mountain." A paradise-like life lets innumerable people in longing. Looking at current day, privacy has become the expression of an attitude, a lifestyle choice. The real privacy is not about where one lives, but in the internal, physical and mental fatigue that can be placed in a home. Modern Retreat should be hidden in the heart. For modern people, if one maintains a self-sustaining practice of perseverance, follow morality and good conscience, abstinence, one can also be retained out of a pure world without being in a deep secluded valley . Real privacy is not to hideaway. The most essential element is the freedom of mind and tranquility. If people can do the things they enjoy, they are quite complete in a perfect world of their own. The spiritual world, is self-purification, under certain conditions, as long as their individually initiated. The environmental impact can be changed on their own, and can be found everywhere in the joy of life. In each city, people have a heart over normalized horticultural habitat. Enjoying the quality life does not mean deliberately escaping from the city, across thousands of miles. In the most cosmopolitan cities, it is a bucolic refuge in the midst of a great bustling city. The comfort of a home will expand into the neighbourhood when you meet acquaintances everywhere around where you live. Modern Retreat should be hidden within the city. The architectural design would have an indoor planting garden of choice. People would go to work, but once they are home and close their doors, it is their own private life where they can pretend that they are sitting in the mountain forests. For a Yin Yang disposition, ambition and pursuing righteousness fit together perfectly. One house is one world. “Home” is where we can stop to rest and relax, the place one can return to. For home design, it must go beyond being livable, the concept of the “Happy Home” is advanced to the peaceful realm. To live comfortably and privately at your own home, it is necessary for the modern home to be arranged in a "less is more" philosophy. Home goods should be simple and elegant yet practical, but without losing the taste and style, so that residents of the home can find clear air and quiet freedom. No matter how busy or tiring work is, we will be able to find peace and quiet from your home to heal and release the pressure. Modern Retreat is not the Valley of Orchards, the seclusion is not free, personalized, romantic and the ideal of Walden, but it is conceptual to the peace of mind and family atmosphere.

A small courtyard garden in San Francisco. • Creative use of space in the dense, urban fabric of hilly SF. • For the last several years the clients had carved out a make shift courtyard garden at the top of their driveway. It was one of the few flat spaces in their yard where they could sit in the sun and enjoy a cup of coffee. We turned the top of a steep driveway into a courtyard garden. • The actual courtyard design was planned for the maximum dimensions possible to host a dining table and a seating area. The space is conveniently located outside their kitchen and home offices. However we needed to save driveway space for parking the cars and getting in and out. • The design, fabrication and installation team was comprised of people we knew. I was an acquaintance to the clients having met them through good friends. The landscape contractor, Boaz Mor, http://www.boazmor.com/, is their neighbor and someone I worked with before. The metal fabricator is Murray Sandford of Moz Designs, https://mozdesigns.com/, https://www.instagram.com/moz_designs/ . Both contractors have long histories of working in the Bay Area on a variety of complex designs. • The size of this garden belies the complexity of the design. We did not want to remove any of the concrete driveway which was 12” or more in thickness, except for the area where the large planter was going. The driveway sloped in two directions. In order to get a “level”, properly, draining patio, we had to start it at around 21” tall at the outside and end it flush by the garage doors. • The fence is the artful element in the garden. It is made of power-coated aluminum. The panels match the house color; and posts match the house trim. The effect is quiet, blending into the overall property. The panels are dramatic. Each fence panel is a different size with a unique pattern. • The exterior panels that you see from the street are an abstract riff on the seasons of the Persian walnut tree in their front yard. The cut-outs illustrate spring bloom when the walnut leafs out to autumn when the nuts drop to the ground and the squirrels eats them, leaving a mess of shells everywhere. Even the pesky squirrel appears on one of the panels. • The interior panels, lining the entry into the courtyard, are an abstraction of the entire walnut tree. • Although the panel design is made of perforations, the openings are designed to retain privacy when you are inside the courtyard. • There is a large planter on one side of the courtyard, big enough for a tree to soften a harsh expanse of a neighboring wall. Light through the branches cast playful shadows on the wall behind. • The lighting, mounted on the house is a nod to the client’s love of New Orleans gas lights. • The paving is black stone from India, dark enough to absorb the warmth of the sun on a cool, summer San Francisco day.

A small courtyard garden in San Francisco. • Creative use of space in the dense, urban fabric of hilly SF. • For the last several years the clients had carved out a make shift courtyard garden at the top of their driveway. It was one of the few flat spaces in their yard where they could sit in the sun and enjoy a cup of coffee. We turned the top of a steep driveway into a courtyard garden. • The actual courtyard design was planned for the maximum dimensions possible to host a dining table and a seating area. The space is conveniently located outside their kitchen and home offices. However we needed to save driveway space for parking the cars and getting in and out. • The design, fabrication and installation team was comprised of people we knew. I was an acquaintance to the clients having met them through good friends. The landscape contractor, Boaz Mor, http://www.boazmor.com/, is their neighbor and someone I worked with before. The metal fabricator is Murray Sandford of Moz Designs, https://mozdesigns.com/, https://www.instagram.com/moz_designs/ . Both contractors have long histories of working in the Bay Area on a variety of complex designs. • The size of this garden belies the complexity of the design. We did not want to remove any of the concrete driveway which was 12” or more in thickness, except for the area where the large planter was going. The driveway sloped in two directions. In order to get a “level”, properly, draining patio, we had to start it at around 21” tall at the outside and end it flush by the garage doors. • The fence is the artful element in the garden. It is made of power-coated aluminum. The panels match the house color; and posts match the house trim. The effect is quiet, blending into the overall property. The panels are dramatic. Each fence panel is a different size with a unique pattern. • The exterior panels that you see from the street are an abstract riff on the seasons of the Persian walnut tree in their front yard. The cut-outs illustrate spring bloom when the walnut leafs out to autumn when the nuts drop to the ground and the squirrels eats them, leaving a mess of shells everywhere. Even the pesky squirrel appears on one of the panels. • The interior panels, lining the entry into the courtyard, are an abstraction of the entire walnut tree. • Although the panel design is made of perforations, the openings are designed to retain privacy when you are inside the courtyard. • There is a large planter on one side of the courtyard, big enough for a tree to soften a harsh expanse of a neighboring wall. Light through the branches cast playful shadows on the wall behind. • The lighting, mounted on the house is a nod to the client’s love of New Orleans gas lights. • The paving is black stone from India, dark enough to absorb the warmth of the sun on a cool, summer San Francisco day.

Gorgeous master bath finished with Dal-Tile's Fabrique porcelain tile in the color Noir Linen polished. Tile size is 12"x24" installed in a brick joint pattern. The floor boasts underfloor heating on a timed thermostat.

This compact Master Bathroom features many space saving ideas to create a spacious underwater theme. Shelves are made from recycle wood and can be purchased from Kevin Anderson, SilicateStudio on Etsy. Space saving features include: Cut away shelves, wall mounted vanity, wall mounted toilet and barn door entry. Ann Sack tile in matte accented with glossy mosaic to give the shower an underwater waterfall feel. Large Ann Sack "sand" themed floor tile help enlarge the room. Duel shower heads and trench drain add to the extra's as well as a hair dryer holder and unique three in one wall hooks. The picture was purchased from Small Hope Bay Lodge in Andros Island in the Bahamas. All inclusive dive, fishing, kayak resort. Island is loaded with beautiful inland and ocean blue holes. SmallHope.com Builder: Shami Studio shamiweb.com Designer: Viz-Art-Dance & Design Viz-Art-Dance.info Photo by: Carol Heimann

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Rain water moves within the trough of perforated stainless steel and river rock. Water collects and drips like water through a large strainer, diffusing flow that ultimately collects at the base of the forest escarpment and into an existing bog. Photo Credit :Chipper Hatter

This railing was the first planned update of the Fort Collins, CO couples home renovation. The wavy lines give the room a natural feel. Design and fabrication by Hueber Industries LLC. Photo: Rory Schaar.

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