Acton, MA 2008 sq ft varies Visioning, programming, concept design, schematic design, construction documentation and construction administration The HingeHouse project was the result of a unique partnership between an independent architect and a pre-fabricated home manufacturer – a partnership among the first of its kind in the country. Today, many pre-fab companies have adopted this collaborative approach recognizing that homeowners are looking for unique, custom homes while taking advantage of reliable and predictable construction methods and costs. In 2008, the partnership was created to rethink pre-engineered post-and-beam and panelized systems to connect clients to a more modern and integrated set of design values. By integrating systems, factory design approach, manufacturing methodologies and construction sequences with design criteria grounded in sustainable planning and rigorous implementation, HingeHouse was developed. HingeHouse is a fully-customizable pre-fab home which can be configured to meet the needs of any site, and any family. It is flexible and expandable using Deck House engineered building components. Starting with basic floor plans that are optimized spatially to Deck’s standard components, the living spaces are rotated around a "hinge” point. This design solution addresses the limitations and challenges of a particular site, while highlighting the best aspects of it. HingeHouse considers passive solar orientation depending on where the home is placed on the site and how it is “hinged”. It provides for maximum cross-ventilation from prevailing winds, preserves existing site formations and trees, and works on sloping grades. It addresses specific desired views while mitigating unwanted adjacencies, and provides great flexibility for entry sequences. HingeHouse uses Deck’s standard sloped roof post-and-beam component system to create a lyrical, light-filled home. The western red cedar exterior is sculptural and dynamic. Interior spaces are lofty, with great view potential using Deck’s own custom-made mahogany windows. The “hinge” of the home, where the two building forms come together, has the added benefit of creating a desirable outdoor living room, complete with an outdoor fireplace. The "hinge” provides both a tool for maximizing customization and spatial orientation and a center of activity at the heart of the home. Since this partnership in 2008, Maryann Thompson Architects and MATHISON | MATHISON ARCHITECTS have worked with Acorn Deck House Company on numerous full or partial pre-fab projects in the Boston Area, Western Massachusetts, Maryland and Michigan. We have become an advocate for their services and products because it offers advantages on a variety of levels including schedule, cost and quality. Services provided included visioning, programming, concept design, schematic design, construction documentation and construction administration. Evan’s Role: Project Designer & Project Manager

There are a small number of cities in the world where luxury and lifestyle enthusiasts would aim to live. One of them is Dubai, a realm of high end living, glamour and complexity. Possessing a luxury address in this culturally rich city is for sure a exceptional treat. For those of you who can actually afford one, this penthouse which is Signature Stagers’ end of the year work of art is a very engaging proposal. This penthouse we staged at the start of November 2015 has been lingering on the market for about 2 years prior to our meeting the owner. It is located in the exclusive Dubai Marina district among a few other select buildings and is currently for sale with Verzun on a POA (Price on application) basis due to its unique stature and lifestyle element which removes it from the “square foot” mentality and elevates it from its competition within the same building. The penthouse was renovated prior to staging, and the apartment itself displays a fresh and modern look whilst keeping its classic and initial fit out and design. Although a few key elements of the penthouse’s original architecture were retained, this neo-classical approach we decided on contributed to the dwellings select and sophisticated appeal numerous novel and sharply modern features which are also present around the residence, thus safeguarding its uniqueness and extremely fascinating form. Swaggering 14,000 square feet this splendid home is apposite to a family as much as it is for the traveling executive who desires an exclusive and ultra-private address in Dubai. Enjoying 5 bedrooms all en-suite including a master bedroom with a sunset that decorates the floor to ceiling windows with a purple-orange and that by itself is a deal closer! Photo credit: Mo Younes

The first goal of this project was to address challenges with the home’s flooring and plumbing system. Additionally, the renovation of the guest and master bathrooms was required to meet the client’s preferences and enhance functionality. Ensuring that the new flooring and foundation repair solved the existing crack issue was a crucial aspect of the project. The remodel of the guest bathroom was aimed at making it more suitable for children’s use, while the overhaul of the master bathroom considered the overall style and functionality preferred by the client. Ultimately, the project aimed to enhance the aesthetic appeal and value of the client’s home while addressing the various renovation requirements.

An expansive front yard that encompasses native grass on the far side with natural tree bluffs as well as natural rock retaining. The front also has large amounts of bedding with lots of grass areas to soften the stucco and brick of the house. Great curb appeal!!

Custom designed bar by Shelley Starr, glass shelving, upholstered swivel chairs.
Mid-sized minimalist single-wall dark wood floor seated home bar photo in Los Angeles with glass-front cabinets

Tucked away mid century modern home. Modern concrete and metal address plate and mailbox, concrete walk, gravel drive, landscape lighting, plantings and fencing.

Here the native Elbow Valley grass, that we hydroseeded, meets the sod areas with a simple mowers transition. A wide angle shot to show the various aspects of a large project.

The Challenge: Create a rugged yet warm farmhouse feel in a high rise tower. Start with an entire 9600 gross square foot penthouse floor of raw concrete floor, walls and ceiling. Devise inventive ways to address intractable existing conditions including a plumbing layout inconsistent with our Client program, a relatively low ceiling and a massive elevator core and yet take of advantage of panoramic views of the city from all sides. For example, rather than make a bulky drywall enclosure for existing pipes that poke thru the kitchen counter, they are wrapped with antique painted galvanized sheet metal to keep sight lines around the corner as open as possible. Or, transform an unattractive and inconveniently located 24” diameter vertical duct in the middle of Samantha’s and Hannah’s (grandchildren’s) guest bedroom into part of a lovely arched top bed nook. Or, disguise a chase for above floor plumbing runs as the base for an open buffet counter. The oppressive elevator lobby was shortened; terminating in handmade glass and steel garden doors at both ends. Custom details include a groined vaulted ceiling and arched openings with stone pilasters (for future trompe-l’oeil images of a Tuscany countryside). To maximize a feeling of height, the ceilings start low and get higher as they progress to the outside walls. The Program: Create a five bedroom condo for an elderly couple with specific and different needs. Mr. likes his privacy and to stay up late into the night on the internet. He likes order. Mrs. has some physical limits that have been addressed in various ways such as shorter travel distances, a step down shower, raised dishwasher and custom cast (to ensure that they won’t rust) iron grab bars. She prefers more disorder. Spaces should be visually arresting, full of detail and easy to maintain. Private spaces include separate master bathrooms, his and her offices and a multi screened Media Room. The balance of the floor must link spaces into one continuous open room along the south and east elevations using large elements yet keeping an intimate scale, sound control and privacy. For example, a substantial fireplace made of old barn timber framing, country stone and a hammered iron grill is strategically located at the critical Southeast corner. Above, black iron offset pintel hardware allow custom double doors to hide a large flat screen TV. High technology is in place for inconspicuous yet easy use. Icon driven key pads operate lighting, window treatments, audio visual systems with multiple sources and access to movie and music databases and five HVAC zones with independent humidity controls. Outstanding Features: Exterior masonry walls have stone culled from five quarries. Sprinkled throughout are surprises - bricks with words as messages from the past, wood trimmed niches and colored glass. Glass pieces set in window corners offer bursts of color when backlit by the sun. These materials are assembled in a rough irregular fashion to look like the work of a mason from the Italian countryside. Interior ceilings and walls have overlapping layers of two plaster colors. Perimeter ceilings are made of smooth random width cedar. Rough planed cedar beams hide ductwork and allow the maximum ceiling height between them. Custom details are everywhere-consider the ten foot barn doors on overhead track at the service elevator, cedar benches/storage areas that run below window banks, antique air registers, acid washed piano hinges and transom window operators and existing concrete piers that are featured instead of hidden. The floors are made of random width wide plank old oak with hand planed faces and edges. Overall, the elements were carefully selected or painted/stained to form a soft muted gray palate The Country kitchen features an old fashioned style ice box appearance for the refrigerator/freezer, a tin ceiling, a distressed assortment of cabinets in multiple heights, colors and woods such as the cherry wood buffet cabinet with sliding glass doors on both sides. A backlit breakfast counter, a hammered copper hood and chicken wire inserts are part of the effort to make a comfortable, eclectic old fashioned looking Kitchen while containing the latest appliances and storage systems. Awards: This project has won several kitchen and bath awards: Felman Kitchen Awards 2009 St. Louis Homes and Lifestyles Kitchen of the Year – Gold Award 2008-2009 SubZero Wolf Kitchen Design Contest – Regional Winner, Regional Designer’s Choice 2010 NKBA Art of the Industry – Pinnacle of Design Award 2010 NKBA Art of the Industry – First Place Medium Kitchen 2010 NKBA Art of the Industry – Consumer’s Choice Award 2010 K&BB Kitchen of the Year Award Felman Bath Awards 2010 Ladue News Award—Master Bathroom

This condo we addressed the layout and making changes to the layout. By opening up the kitchen and turning the space into a great room. With the dining/bar, lanai, and family adding to the space giving it a open and spacious feeling. Then we addressed the hall with its too many doors. Changing the location of the guest bedroom door to accommodate a better furniture layout. The bathrooms we started from scratch The new look is perfectly suited for the clients and their entertaining lifestyle.

Nobody would be foolish enough to knowingly purchase PIZZA using a third party call-center middleman.But every day, thousands of people do exactly that when they purchase flowers for delivery! That’s because a NEW TYPE of “florist” has appeared on the scene. And that means most flower buyers pay as much as 50% MORE than they should pay! Finding A Floral Supplier When a prospective flower buyer wants to buy flowers, his first stop is usually the internet. The author’s flower shop is in Charlotte, NC and the two most widely used search terms in this area are: “Charlotte flowers” and “Charlotte florist.” When the customer searches for either of these terms, he will get a list of results. Paid results (advertising) are usually shown first. Organic (website) results come after the advertisements. When a customer clicks on an advertisement, he is usually taken to a beautiful website owned by a call-center floral middleman offering beautiful flowers, hand-delivered by a LOCAL florist. And the products are sales TAX FREE. But what is not revealed is that the middle man does not actually have a flower shop in Charlotte! The Difference Between Toasters and Flowers With “durable” products like toasters and sweaters, the location of the seller isn’t terribly important. That’s because the products will be shipped from a warehousevia USPS, UPS or FedEx. But flower arrangements are *fragile* and cannot be shipped that way! Instead, they must be locally custom-hand-crafted and hand-delivered! And this means that if a customer orders from a middleman’s website, the order must – somehow – be passed from the middleman’s company to a REAL local florist in, for example, Charlotte, NC. This “order transfer” is done by one of the three florist-to-florist networks: FTD, Teleflora and Bloomnet (1-800-Flowers). Too Many FEES and COMMISSIONS Membership in these networks is not free, so the middleman always adds a “handling charge” – typically about $15 -- to the customer’s bill to help pay for hiscosts to access to the network. Please note that the $15 handling charge usually far exceedsany TAX FREE “savings!” But the “handling charge” only helps pay for *access* to the network. The florist-to-florist network also takes a 7% commission, and also credits a 20% selling commission back to the middleman! What this means is that, for a typical online floral purchase, just under HALF of the customer’s money vanishes in unnecessary FEES and COMMISSIONS. By comparison, when a customer buys a toaster from an independent business listing it on Amazon, only a few percent of the purchase price goes to fees and commissions. With this huge profit potential available to third party floral marketers, it is not surprising that these middlemen spend huge sums on advertising and sales promotion. A few years back, one even took an ad during the Super Bowl! Buy Direct For Better Value Clearly, the consumer will always get His Best Floral Value by placing his floral order DIRECT with a Real Florist n the City where the flowers will be delivered. Sometimes it may be difficult to tell whether a Flower Supplier is located “in town.”Here are three easy ways to separate a “real” florist from a floral middleman: 1. Look for the street address, city and state on the website. Often this will be found on a tab labeled “About Us” or “Contact Us.” If you cannot find an address at all, then this is almost certainly a middleman! 2. Look at the telephone number. If the only number on the website is a TOLL FREE “800” number, then the floral supplier is probably not local. 3. Look at the invoice (before you click the BUY NOW button!) for any “Handling” or “Service” charges. A REAL florist will never add these charges to your bill! For more information about Charlotte Flowers and Charlotte Florist, please visit the author’s Flower Hut website at http://flowerhut.com. BUT, if you do not want flowers delivered to Charlotte, Matthews, Mint Hill or Pineville, NC, please do NOT order from us! Take the time to find a REAL florist in the town where you need flowers delivered. You’ll be glad you did!

Example of a large minimalist beige one-story stone house exterior design in Orange County with a shed roof, a metal roof and a gray roof

These clients reached out to Hillcrest Construction when their family began out-growing their Phoenixville-area home. Through a comprehensive design phase, opportunities to add square footage were identified along with a reorganization of the typical traffic flow throughout the house. All household traffic into the hastily-designed, existing family room bump-out addition was funneled through a 3’ berth within the kitchen making meal prep and other kitchen activities somewhat similar to a shift at a PA turnpike toll booth. In the existing bump-out addition, the family room was relatively tight and the dining room barely fit the 6-person dining table. Access to the backyard was somewhat obstructed by the necessary furniture and the kitchen alone didn’t satisfy storage needs beyond a quick trip to the grocery store. The home’s existing front door was the only front entrance, and without a foyer or mudroom, the front formal room often doubled as a drop-zone for groceries, bookbags, and other on-the-go items. Hillcrest Construction designed a remedy to both address the function and flow issues along with adding square footage via a 150 sq ft addition to the family room and converting the garage into a mudroom entry and walk-through pantry. - The project’s addition was not especially large but was able to facilitate a new pathway to the home’s rear family room. The existing brick wall at the bottom of the second-floor staircase was opened up and created a new, natural flow from the second-floor bedrooms to the front formal room, and into the rear family hang-out space- all without having to cut through the often busy kitchen. The dining room area was relocated to remove it from the pathway to the door to the backyard. Additionally, free and clear access to the rear yard was established for both two-legged and four-legged friends. The existing chunky slider door was removed and in its place was fabricated and installed a custom centerpiece that included a new gas fireplace insert with custom brick surround, two side towers for display items and choice vinyl, and two base cabinets with metal-grated doors to house a subwoofer, wifi equipment, and other stow-away items. The black walnut countertops and mantle pop from the white cabinetry, and the wall-mounted TV with soundbar complete the central A/V hub. The custom cabs and tops were designed and built at Hillcrest’s custom shop. The farmhouse appeal was completed with distressed engineered hardwood floors and craftsman-style window and door trim throughout. - Another major component of the project was the conversion of the garage into a pantry+mudroom+everyday entry. The clients had used their smallish garage for storage of outdoor yard and recreational equipment. With those storage needs being addressed at the exterior, the space was transformed into a custom pantry and mudroom. The floor level within the space was raised to meet the rest of the house and insulated appropriately. A newly installed pocket door divided the dining room area from the designed-to-spec pantry/beverage center. The pantry was designed to house dry storage, cleaning supplies, and dry bar supplies when the cleaning and shopping are complete. A window seat with doggie supply storage below was worked into the design to accommodate the existing elevation of the original garage window. A coat closet and a small set of steps divide the pantry from the mudroom entry. The mudroom entry is marked with a striking combo of the herringbone thin-brick flooring and a custom hutch. Kids returning home from school have a designated spot to hang their coats and bookbags with two deep drawers for shoes. A custom cherry bench top adds a punctuation of warmth. The entry door and window replaced the old overhead garage doors to create the daily-used informal entry off the driveway. With the house being such a favorable area, and the clients not looking to pull up roots, Hillcrest Construction facilitated a collaborative experience and comprehensive plan to change the house for the better and make it a home to grow within.

When an expanding family outgrew its beloved A frame vacation home, chaos followed. Outdoor gear multiplied exponentially, while any organized spot to stow it did not. Expected amenities were non-existent for needs of the crowd of outdoor enthusiasts. SV Design addressed the lacking elements and added practicality, with style: the multigenerational family members and friends can now appreciate space for the variety of hobbies and interests they pursue. Having worked with Siemasko + Verbridge in the past, the family turned to SV once again knowing we would design solution to address the growing list of concerns. SV’s design of a three-story addition with a relatively small footprint was just what the home needed. A covered entry now provides the option of entering the main house or stopping off in the mud room to remove boots, drop off skis, and hang up wet clothes. Regardless of the way you enter the main house you will be greeted with a naturally lit, welcoming staircase of reclaimed white oak timber treads and steel stringers and rails. Each newel post is capped off with a polished granite sphere to pay homage to the Granite State in which the house resides. The open stair invites you up to a spacious family space for playing board games, listening to music, gazing at the stars, or just lounging about in the warm comfort of the home. Traveling downstairs from the main level is a new, kid friendly media room for popcorn and movies, or a little video game sibling competition. Perhaps the most striking new feature of the home is the custom designed Adirondack style bar built of varying tones of willow branches and bank. Topped off with a contrasting aged zinc counter, backsplash and shelf the bar is the perfect spot for the resident bar tender to mix up a tasty concoction for sitting by the crackling fire just steps away. This home will provide comfort and ease for the family to relax and enjoy their getaway for years to come.

This kitchen included an odd-sized double-oven with shattered glass and appliance interference, wasted soffit space, inadequate lighting, and more. The client also faced issues with the laundry closet, storage, and countertops. We addressed these concerns by adjusting the layout. Featured changes include an integrated micro-convection double-oven, a counter-depth refrigerator, the removal of soffits, an expanded cabinetry footprint, a built-in laundry, relocating the electrical panel, and adding solid-surface countertops. Design elements include cabinet-mounted remote switches, a built-in wine refrigerator, two-tone cabinetry, all LED lighting, a pull-down swivel faucet, fully functional storage, and virtually seamless countertops. These changes addressed all of the clients’ pain points and improved the kitchen’s functionality, efficiency, and aesthetic.

Orris Maple Hardwood– Unlike other wood floors, the color and beauty of these are unique, in the True Hardwood flooring collection color goes throughout the surface layer. The results are truly stunning and extraordinarily beautiful, with distinctive features and benefits.

We built many seating areas on this project including a separate patio behind the garage on the upper side of the natural rock retaining wall. We also built a wood pergola over the spa and another decorative pergola to incorporate the outdoor fireplace that we matched the stucco and brick on the house.

Inspiration for a contemporary kids' room remodel in Dallas

An area for the trampoline that can easily transition to a fire pit area down the road.
Inspiration for a mid-sized modern landscaping in Calgary.