Bedroom - mid-sized coastal master carpeted and beige floor bedroom idea in Grand Rapids with blue walls and no fireplace

Custom designed cabinetry and bookshelves, energy efficient insulation and hot water radiant heat makes this new basement family room inviting and cozy and increases the living space of the house by over 400 square feet. We added 4 large closets for organization and storage. Lower cabinet stereo storage is pre-wired for future home theater use.

Timber frame homes offer unique challenges during a remodel. What often makes them beautiful and attractive to most homeowners, also makes them challenging for space requirements. Context: The lovely couple that owned this home were struggling with some interesting floor plan challenges that just didn't work for their family. The loved the beautiful timbers and woodwork of their home, but the dramatically sloping ceilings on the second floor, particularly in the bathroom, just didn't work for this 1 1/2 bath home. Needing to use the skylight to approach the toilet was a less then ideal scenario. Although the bathroom footprint was more then adequate, the sloped ceiling only made half of the space useable. Check out the Before/After post on our blog to see the photos of the house pre-renovation. As much as they loved all the wood features in their home, another challenge they had was light. The wood ceiling made everything inside the house darker, even with a fantastic array of south facing windows, there were spaces in the home that felt dark and small. When they contacted us they wanted to know how could they make their brighter and more inviting, were there solutions to the 2nd floor sloped ceiling issues, and if they were going to do all of this work, how could they make their home more comfortable and efficient. A nagging water leak in the upstairs bathroom spurred them into action and here is how we solved their dilemma. Conclusion: First, we added a little dormer to the rear of the house so we could get full headroom in nearly all of the upstairs bathroom! Then we decided to extend that dormer one more timber bay over to create a walk in closet with natural light and plenty of space. Since we were contemplating energy efficiency, we resolved a nagging issue that is present in a lot of timber frame construction, air tightness. Commonly found in timber frame construction, fiberglass insulation is installed in the rafter bays and board ceilings are installed over top. Unfortunately, board ceilings are anything but air tight, and fiberglass insulation needs to be in an airtight cavity for maximum effectiveness. So we were able to solve two issues at the same time for this homeowner. We removed the board ceiling and fiberglass insulation, we dense packed the rafter bays with cellulose insulation, and installed sheetrock in place of the boards. The boards were salvaged for re-use by the homeowner, and the space and light quality was dramatically improved. Some may think that losing the board ceiling took something away from the space, but what you'll see in the pictures is that it highly accentuates the heavy timbers and really makes them stand out in a beautiful way. Now with this added airtightness, better insulation, and brighter space, the homeowner hardly runs their wood stove, and it's so quiet in the space, an added bonus from changing the insulation. It became necessary to also add a sheetrock ceiling to the living room to hide the plumbing from the new bathroom layout above. Changing this ceiling gave the homeowner some real quality lighting that was lacking in the living room before. The brighter ceiling and new lighting layout completely transforms the living room into a space you want to hang out, even though the layout didn't change at all. When the homeowner saw the finished spaces she said "I can't believe this is my house, I want to live in this house" Energy Efficiency: I touched a little on the efficiency above, but like all projects done with Mottram Architecture, we always want to leave you with a little extra. Timber frame construction with board ceilings and fiberglass insulation are notoriously leaky! If you want to know what we think about fiberglass insulation, check our our blog post on Why Fiberglass Insulation Sucks. By installing cellulose insulation and covering it with sheetrock we were able to greatly reduce the heat flowing out of this home. It not only improves cashflow it improves the comfort level in the space. Who wants to sit in their living room and feel a draft? Let us remind you, we are not saying cellulose insulation is an air barrier, we use the sheetrock to help with that, but it does significantly reduce the air flow over fiberglass insulation. And when we reduce the airflow, we reduce the heat flow. And when we reduce the heat flow, we reduce the need to re-heat that drafty air from outside. When it comes to energy efficiency the first and best place to start is air infiltration. We greatly reduced the air infiltration with the new insulation, but we also added a hat and warm boots. What I mean by that is, we improved the insulation in the roof, and we installed insulation in the basement. Maybe it's a silly analogy, but when you think about keeping warm, we always start with the hat and boots! With sustainability in mind, the next project will be to add a deck to the front of this house with rain catchment barrels from the metal roof. They are planning to plant a garden in the spring and the rain catchment system will help to irrigate the new garden. Builder: East Shore Builders Photographer: Michael Eric Berube

Earthshade Safeshade Roller; Single Shade; Privacy Screen: Autumn Mist; Outside Mount; Regular Roll; Privacy: 9-10** Shading: 80% Insulating: r2.25 Light control: 12%*** 100% Polyester incl. Recycled No added Formaldehyde, No Chlorine Privacy, Daylighting, Heat & Fade Reduction, Glare Control EURO Clutch; Right; Color: Stainless Steel (STS): our new Euro Clutch system balances stunning visual design in an efficient and compact package

This Master Bedroom was partially designed and installed in Alexandria, VA, as seen in my project "Jewel Box, Art Deco Inspired, but later the client moved to Tulsa, OK. We added the second Jessica Charles swivel chair (on the right) in the new larger bedroom, and designed this arched window treatment, inspired by a vintage ballgown. Custom Comfortex Odyssee insulating blinds when closed are like a cellular shade. Custom Lumbar pillows add interest and additional lower back support to the chairs. Photography by Scott Miller, Miller Photography, Inc., Tulsa, OK.

Example of a huge urban detached four-car garage workshop design

This beautiful home features a 16′ x 7′ Carriage House Collection garage door which help accent the home’s character. The Overhead Door™ Carriage House Collection features sleek insulated steel construction allowing for elegance, strength, and long term durability. Model style 303 was chosen with a baked-on walnut stain finish and 1/2″ insulated plain windows. Our wall mounted Infinity® 2000 Direct Drive Operator powers the door electrically and a wireless keypad was added to the outside for convenience. Finally, decorative handles were installed to complete this beautiful upgrade!

MGC lowered the basement by approx. 3 feet, going from a 7ft. height to 9.5ft and added and extension to the back and front of the basement to double the living space. Wonder where the 6" went? We insulated the sub flooring and added radiant heat for the entire area. This adds for a very comfortable basement.

MGC lowered the basement by approx. 3 feet, going from a 7ft. height to 9.5ft and added and extension to the back and front of the basement to double the living space. Wonder where the 6" went? We insulated the sub flooring and added radiant heat for the entire area. This adds for a very comfortable basement.

Built a powder room in an existing mudroom. Began by leveling floors, adding insulation and framing, adding a new window, as well as connecting to existing plumbing to install a sink and toilet. Added "fun" design elements to give a small space lots of character. The ceiling features cedar planks, behind the sink, and extending to the 8ft ceiling is white penny tile, geometric -shaped lighting, a black accent wall, and a repurposed dresser as a vanity to add a touch of vintage.

We added a ventless fireplace not only for aesthetics and ambiance, but also for true function. The basement was previously not insulated properly which led to the addition of the fireplace to make the room temperature more comfortable. Photo Credit: Mike Irby

The two new exterior decks finished off the project nicely. Loaded with great views, Ipe decking and custom sprial steel stair-case and guard-rails its a awesome hangout spot.

Timber frame homes offer unique challenges during a remodel. What often makes them beautiful and attractive to most homeowners, also makes them challenging for space requirements. Context: The lovely couple that owned this home were struggling with some interesting floor plan challenges that just didn't work for their family. The loved the beautiful timbers and woodwork of their home, but the dramatically sloping ceilings on the second floor, particularly in the bathroom, just didn't work for this 1 1/2 bath home. Needing to use the skylight to approach the toilet was a less then ideal scenario. Although the bathroom footprint was more then adequate, the sloped ceiling only made half of the space useable. Check out the Before/After post on our blog to see the photos of the house pre-renovation. As much as they loved all the wood features in their home, another challenge they had was light. The wood ceiling made everything inside the house darker, even with a fantastic array of south facing windows, there were spaces in the home that felt dark and small. When they contacted us they wanted to know how could they make their brighter and more inviting, were there solutions to the 2nd floor sloped ceiling issues, and if they were going to do all of this work, how could they make their home more comfortable and efficient. A nagging water leak in the upstairs bathroom spurred them into action and here is how we solved their dilemma. Conclusion: First, we added a little dormer to the rear of the house so we could get full headroom in nearly all of the upstairs bathroom! Then we decided to extend that dormer one more timber bay over to create a walk in closet with natural light and plenty of space. Since we were contemplating energy efficiency, we resolved a nagging issue that is present in a lot of timber frame construction, air tightness. Commonly found in timber frame construction, fiberglass insulation is installed in the rafter bays and board ceilings are installed over top. Unfortunately, board ceilings are anything but air tight, and fiberglass insulation needs to be in an airtight cavity for maximum effectiveness. So we were able to solve two issues at the same time for this homeowner. We removed the board ceiling and fiberglass insulation, we dense packed the rafter bays with cellulose insulation, and installed sheetrock in place of the boards. The boards were salvaged for re-use by the homeowner, and the space and light quality was dramatically improved. Some may think that losing the board ceiling took something away from the space, but what you'll see in the pictures is that it highly accentuates the heavy timbers and really makes them stand out in a beautiful way. Now with this added airtightness, better insulation, and brighter space, the homeowner hardly runs their wood stove, and it's so quiet in the space, an added bonus from changing the insulation. It became necessary to also add a sheetrock ceiling to the living room to hide the plumbing from the new bathroom layout above. Changing this ceiling gave the homeowner some real quality lighting that was lacking in the living room before. The brighter ceiling and new lighting layout completely transforms the living room into a space you want to hang out, even though the layout didn't change at all. When the homeowner saw the finished spaces she said "I can't believe this is my house, I want to live in this house" Energy Efficiency: I touched a little on the efficiency above, but like all projects done with Mottram Architecture, we always want to leave you with a little extra. Timber frame construction with board ceilings and fiberglass insulation are notoriously leaky! If you want to know what we think about fiberglass insulation, check our our blog post on Why Fiberglass Insulation Sucks. By installing cellulose insulation and covering it with sheetrock we were able to greatly reduce the heat flowing out of this home. It not only improves cashflow it improves the comfort level in the space. Who wants to sit in their living room and feel a draft? Let us remind you, we are not saying cellulose insulation is an air barrier, we use the sheetrock to help with that, but it does significantly reduce the air flow over fiberglass insulation. And when we reduce the airflow, we reduce the heat flow. And when we reduce the heat flow, we reduce the need to re-heat that drafty air from outside. When it comes to energy efficiency the first and best place to start is air infiltration. We greatly reduced the air infiltration with the new insulation, but we also added a hat and warm boots. What I mean by that is, we improved the insulation in the roof, and we installed insulation in the basement. Maybe it's a silly analogy, but when you think about keeping warm, we always start with the hat and boots! With sustainability in mind, the next project will be to add a deck to the front of this house with rain catchment barrels from the metal roof. They are planning to plant a garden in the spring and the rain catchment system will help to irrigate the new garden. Builder: East Shore Builders Photographer: Michael Eric Berube

This double garage door looks like a swing out type when actually it's a modern overhead, steel, carriage house garage door with four layer construction. The door is low maintenance and extremely durable but has the charming resemblance to a painted wooden door from times past. Notice the panel design and decorative hardware that add interest and style as well. | Photo and Project Credits: Pro-Lift Garage Doors Savannah

This 1890 rowhouse had been renovated over time, most recently in the 70s. Our clients wanted to renovate every floor. The floors and walls were out of level, and most of the systems were old. We gutted the structure to the studs, leveled and reframed the walls and floors, added insulation and updated the plumbing, electrical and HVAC. Once the structural and systems work was complete, our crew installed a new expanded kitchen, updated all the bathrooms, and updated the basement. HDBros

Hammer & Hand and architect Mitch Snyder transformed a hot, cramped, non-code-compliant attic space into a bright and functional master suite. The existing upstairs attic space had two small and hard-to-access bedrooms and a dangerous staircase. The team added a new dormer on the west side of the house which added an additional 195 square feet to the home. The new space includes a master bedroom, master bathroom with vanity and shower, separate water closet, laundry, walk-in master closet, and option to add a small bedroom (the space is currently being used as an open office area). Additional improvements to the home include an upgraded building envelope, insulation, high efficiency water heater, and minisplit heat pump. Photography by Mitchell Snyder Architecture.

Sven Erik Alstrom AIA new stone veneer and one inch rigid insulation were added over building sheathing. all framing was improved and the building was insulated with all new materials and windows.

MGC lowered the basement by approx. 3 feet, going from a 7ft. height to 9.5ft and added and extension to the back and front of the basement to double the living space. Wonder where the 6" went? We insulated the sub flooring and added radiant heat for the entire area. This adds for a very comfortable basement.

With a simple elegance, this white faux wood carriage house garage door adds both energy efficiency and plenty of style to the home's exterior. It is built with four layers of construction for insulation, durability and quiet operation too. The decorative handles and hinges are a nice finishing touch to provide the charm of a 'swing out barn door' but with the ease and convenience of today's overhead door operation. | Project and Photo Credits: ProLift Garage Doors of Savannah