this custom designed changing dresser in mango yellow was made to fit the perfect needs of a newborn baby, and have enough storage area for diapers, changing utensils, bigger and smaller items. two narrow drawers and four pull outs give practical use of the space. the rounded aluminum handles give an optimum of handling and the rounded shape prevent from unwanted bumps along the way. the furniture can be re used as regular storage cabinet for toys and the parents once baby grows up.

Front screened porch with ipe framing and porcelain tile floor. Beadboard ceiling. Photographer: Patrick Wong, Atelier Wong
Inspiration for a craftsman tile front porch remodel in Portland with a roof extension

Inspiration for a rustic laundry room remodel in Austin

This narrow-lot home plan has a hillside walkout foundation with a basement entry garage at the rear and a convenient home elevator. A mix of stone and siding, along with a deep front porch and prominent gables, creates a welcoming Craftsman exterior. The island kitchen is flanked by the dining room and breakfast room with pantry, e-space, and window shelves. The master suite and bedroom/study complete the main floor, while the second floor includes a loft, two bedrooms, and a bathroom.

Landscape & Pool Design: Root Design Company Photo credits: Jessica Carr
Design ideas for a mediterranean landscaping in Austin.

With a listing price of just under $4 million, this gorgeous row home located near the Convention Center in Washington DC required a very specific look to attract the proper buyer. The home has been completely remodeled in a modern style with bamboo flooring and bamboo kitchen cabinetry so the furnishings and decor needed to be complimentary. Typically, transitional furnishings are used in staging across the board, however, for this property we wanted an urban loft, industrial look with heavy elements of reclaimed wood to create a city, hotel luxe style. As with all DC properties, this one is long and narrow but is completely open concept on each level, so continuity in color and design selections was critical. The row home had several open areas that needed a defined purpose such as a reception area, which includes a full bar service area, pub tables, stools and several comfortable seating areas for additional entertaining. It also boasts an in law suite with kitchen and living quarters as well as 3 outdoor spaces, which are highly sought after in the District.

Conceptual design 1600 is an updated version of The Prynwood house plan 818. This narrow, modern farmhouse design has a board-and-batten façade and a front entry garage. Decorative gable brackets and metal accent roofing enhance curb appeal. The front porch opens to a foyer and the dining room is adjoining with columns to define the space. A coat closet and powder room are available for guests. The great room enjoys a coffered ceiling and a fireplace while double doors lead to a spacious rear porch. An island and breakfast nook highlight the kitchen. The master suite is downstairs and features a dramatic tray ceiling, dual walk-in closets, and a luxurious bathroom with a dual sink vanity, a freestanding bathtub, and a walk-in shower. Upstairs, find two additional bedrooms with a full bathroom and an optional bonus room and bathroom for a media room, guest suite, or future expansion.

Kimberly Gavin
Trendy dark wood floor hallway photo in Denver with white walls

Photo of a mid-sized contemporary full sun front yard concrete paver formal garden in San Diego.

This beautiful home located near a central Connecticut wine vineyard was purchased by a growing family as their dream home. They decided to make their informal entry into their home a priority. We truly are believers in combining function with elegance. This mudroom opens up to their kitchen so why not create some amazing storage that looks great too! This space speaks to their transitional style with a touch of tradition. From mixing the metal finishes to the herringbone floor pattern we were able to create a timeless, functional first impression to a beautiful home. Every family can benefit from having a space called “Home Central” from pre-school on…come in and take your shoes off. Custom designed by Hartley and Hill Design. All materials and furnishings in this space are available through Hartley and Hill Design. www.hartleyandhilldesign.com 888-639-0639

Two Toned Kitchen Cabinets in black and white
Example of a transitional l-shaped medium tone wood floor eat-in kitchen design in DC Metro with recessed-panel cabinets and stainless steel appliances

Mudroom - small transitional medium tone wood floor and brown floor mudroom idea in New York with gray walls and a white front door

Converted a tired two-flat into a transitional single family home. The very narrow staircase was converted to an ample, bright u-shape staircase, the first floor and basement were opened for better flow, the existing second floor bedrooms were reconfigured and the existing second floor kitchen was converted to a master bath. A new detached garage was added in the back of the property. Architecture and photography by Omar Gutiérrez, Architect

The owners of this kitchen had spent the money to upgrade the finishes in their kitchen upon building the home 12 years ago, but after living in the space for several years they realized how nonfunctional the layout really was. The (then) two preschool aged children had grown into busy, hungry teenagers with many friends who also liked to hang out at the house. So the family needed a more functional kitchen with better traffic flow, space for daily activities revolving around the kitchen at different times of day, and a kitchen that could accommodate cooking for and serving large groups. Furthermore, the dark, traditional finishes no longer reflected the homeowners’ style. They requested a brighter, more relaxed, coastal style that reflected their love of the seaside cities they like to visit. Originally, the kitchen was U-shaped with a narrow island in the middle. The island created narrow aisles that bottle-necked at the dishwasher, refrigerator, and cooktop areas. There was a pass-through from the foyer into the kitchen, but the owners never liked that the pass-through was also located so close to the powder room. The awkward proximity was unappealing and made guests feel uncomfortable. The kitchen’s storage was made up of lots of narrow cabinets, apothecary drawers, clipped corner units, and very few drawers. It lacked useful storage for the larger items the family used on a daily basis. And the kitchen’s only pantry was small closet that had only builder-grade, narrow shelving with no illumination to be able to see the contents inside. Overall, the kitchen’s lighting plan was poorly executed. Only six recessed cans illuminated the entire kitchen and nook areas. The under cabinet lighting was not evenly distributed either. In fact, the builder had mis-placed the under cabinet lighting around the decorative pilasters which made for choppy, dark cubbies. Further, the builder didn’t include any lighting over the sink or the bar area, which meant whoever was doing the dishes was always in their own shadow. That, coupled with the steep overhang of the game room above made the bar area feel like a dim, cavernous space that wasn’t inviting or task oriented. The kitchen looked out into the main living space, but the raised bar and a narrow wall (which held the only large cabinet in the kitchen) created more of a barrier than a relationship to the living room or breakfast nook. In fact, one couldn’t even see the breakfast nook from the cooktop or sink areas due to its orientation. The raised bar top was too narrow to comfortably sit to either dine at or chat from due to the lack of knee space. The the homeowners confided that the kitchen felt more like a dark, dirty prison than place where the family, or their guests, wanted to gather and commune. The clients' needs and desires were: ➢ to create a kitchen that would be a space the family loved to be in; to relate to the adjacent spaces all around, and to have better flow for entertaining large groups ➢ to remove the walls between the breakfast nook and living area and to be able to utilize the natural light from the windows in both those areas ➢ to incorporate a functional chopping block for prepping fresh food for home cooked meals, an island with a large sink and drain board, 2 pull out trash cans, and seating for at least the 2 teens to eat or do homework ➢ to design a kitchen and breakfast nook with an airy, coastal, relaxed vibe that blended with the rest of the house's coastal theme ➢ to integrate a layered lighting plan which would include ample general illumination, specific task lighting, decorative lighting, and lots of illuminated storage ➢ to design a kitchen with not only more storage for all the husband’s kitchen gadgets and collection of oils and spices, but smart storage, including a coffee/breakfast bar and a place to store and conceal the toaster oven and microwave ➢ to find a way to utilize the large open space between the kitchen, pantry area, and breakfast nook Twelve Stones Designs achieved the owner's goals by: ➢ removing the walls between the kitchen and living room to allow the natural light to filter in from the adjacent rooms and to create a connection between the kitchen, nook, and living spaces for a sense of unity and communion ➢ removing the existing pantry and designing 3 large pantry style cabinets with LED tape lights and rollout drawers to house lots of kitchen appliances, gadgets, and tons of groceries. We also took the cabinets all the way up to the 9’ ceiling for additional storage for seasonal items and bulk storage. ➢ designing 2 islands - 1 with a gorgeous black walnut chopping block that houses a drawer for chopping and carving knives and a custom double pull out trash unit for point of use utilization - and 1 that houses the dishwasher, a large Blanco Gourmet sink with integrated drain board, woven baskets for fresh root vegetables and kitchen towels, plenty of drawer storage for kitchen items, and bar seating for up to 4 diners. ➢ closing off the space between the kitchen and the powder room to create a beautiful new private alcove for the powder room as well as adding some decorative storage. This also gave us space to include more tall storage near the new range for precision placement of the husband’s extensive oil and spice collection as well as a location for a combo-steam oven the wife wanted for baking and cooking healthy meals. The project is enhanced functionally by: ➢ incorporated USB and standard receptacles for the kids’ laptops and phone charging in the large island ➢ designing the small island to include additional open shelving for items used on a daily basis such as a variety of bowls, plates, and colanders. This set up also works well for the husband who prefers to “plate” his dinners in restaurant-style fashion before presenting them to the table. ➢ the integration of specific storage units, such as double stacked cutlery drawers, a custom spice pull-out, a Kuerig coffee and tea pod drawer, and custom double stacked utensil drawers ➢ moving the refrigerator to the old oven location - this eliminated the bottle neck as well as created a better relationship to the eating table. It also utilizes the floor space between the pantry, nook, and kitchen ➢ creating a banquet style breakfast nook - this banquette seating not only doubles the amount of seating for large gatherings but it better utilizes the odd space between the kitchen and the previous nook area. It also helps to create a distinct pathway from the mudroom room through the pantry area, kitchen, nook, and living room. ➢ the coffee/breakfast bar area which includes the perfect location for the concealed microwave and toaster oven, convenient storage for the coffee pods and tea accoutrements. Roll-out drawers below also house the smoothie maker, hot water kettle, and a plethora of smoothie-making ingredients such as protein powders, smoothie additives, etc. Furthermore, the drawers below the Keurig house measuring utensil, cutlery, baking supplies and tupperware storage. ➢ incorporating lots of wide drawers and pullouts to accommodate large cookware. ➢ utilizing as much vertical space as possible by building storage to the ceiling which accommodates the family’s abundant amount of serving platters, baking sheets, bakeware, casserole dishes, and additional cutting boards. The project is enhanced aesthetically by: ➢ new 5-piece Versailles pattern porcelain tile that now seamlessly joins the entire down stairs area together creating a bright, cohesiveness feeling instead of choppy separated spaces - it also adds a coastal feeling ➢ designing a cabinet to conceal the microwave and toaster oven ➢ the coastal influenced light fixtures over the nook table and island ➢ the sandy colors of the Langdon Cambria countertops. The swirling pattern and sparkling quartz pieces remind the homeowner of black-and-tan sandy beaches ➢ the striped banquet seating whose creamy white background and blue-green stripes were the inspiration for the cabinet and wall colors. ➢ All the interior doors were painted black to coordinate with the blacks and grays in the backsplash tile and countertop. This also adds a hint of tailored formality to an otherwise casual space. ➢ the use of WAC's Oculux small aperture LED units for the overhead lighting complimented with Diode LED strips for task lighting under the cabinets and inside the pantry and glass wall cabinets. All of the lighting applications are on separate dimmer switches. Innovative uses of materials or construction methods by Realty Restoration LLC: ➢ Each 1-1/2” x 3” block of reclaimed end-grain black walnut that makes up the center island chopping block was hand milled and built in the shop. It was designed to look substantial and proportional to the surrounding elements, executed by creating the 4 inch tall top with a solid wood chamfered edge band. ➢ The metal doors on either side of the vent hood were also custom designed for this project and built in the Realty Restoration LLC shop. They are made 1x2, 11-gauge mild steel with ribbed glass. Weighing 60 lbs a piece, heavy duty cabinet hinges were added to support the weight of the door and keep them from sagging. ➢ Under-cabinet receptacles were added along the range wall in order to have a clean, uninterrupted backsplash. Design obstacles to overcome: ➢ Because we were removing the demising walls between the kitchen and living room, we had to find a way to plumb and vent the new island. We did this by tunneling through the slab (the slab had post tension cables which prevented us from just trenching) to run a new wet vent through a nearby structural wall. We pulled the existing hot and cold lines between upper floor joists and ran them down the structural wall as well and up through a conduit in the tunnel. ➢ Since we were converting from wall overs to a gas range it allowed us to utilize the 220 feed for the wall ovens to provide a new sub panel for all the new kitchen circuits ➢ Due to framing deficiencies inherited from the original build there was a 1-1/2” differential in the floor-to-ceiling height over a 20 foot span; by utilizing the process of cutting and furring coupled with the crown moulding details on the cabinet elevations we were able to mask the problem and provide seamless transitions between the cabinet components. Evidence of superior craftsmanship: ➢ uniquely designed, one-of-a-kind metal “X” end panels on the large island. The end panels were custom made in the Realty Restoration LLC shop and fitted to the exact dimensions of the island. The welding seams are completely indistinguishable - the posts look like they are cut from a single sheet of metal ➢ square metal posts on the small island were also custom made and designed to compliment and carry through the metal element s throughout the kitchen ➢ the beautiful, oversized end panels on the pantry cabinets which give the breakfast nook a tailored look ➢ integrating a large format 5 piece Versailles tile pattern to seamlessly flow from the existing spaces into the new kitchen space ➢ By constructing a custom cabinet that jogged around a corner we could not remodel (housing the entry way coat closet) we were able to camouflage the adjacent wall offset within the upper and lower cabinets. By designing around the existing jog in the structural walls we accomplished a few things: we were able to find the space to house, and hide, the microwave and toaster oven yet still have a clean cohesive appearance from the kitchen side. Additionally, the owners were able to keep their much needed coat closet and we didn’t have to increase the budget with unnecessary structural work.

This new primary suite closet is part of a larger remodeling project that also involved a new primary bathroom, an additional bathroom and a large kitchen. The master suite remodel included converting a long and narrow master bath, a large closet and two awkward baths into a true primary bath oasis. The closet was moved to a new location. The goal was to create a modern his and hers closet that offered thoughtful organization while maximizing the storage potential of the space. Other needs included space for hampers, a place to iron and a designated space for Indian saris without natural light. Design challenges: -Arranging everything: hanging bars, drawers, shoe storage and safes Design solutions and nice touches: -Bench in front of the window with shoe storage in drawers -Two floor-to-ceiling mirrors -Two tall closet cabinets for storing saris -She is shorter so hanging clothes on her side are easier to reach -Plenty of drawer storage -Two hampers behind doors -Island in the middle for more storage, with a countertop handy for daily dressing assistance, folding, packing, etc. -Outlet inside island for collapsible ironing board -Fully accessorized with valet rods, belt pull-outs -Rotating tie hangers

With a two-story floor plan and a limited width, this modest cottage is at home on a narrow lot. Open living spaces include a great room with fireplace, an island kitchen with a sun tunnel, and a spacious dining room with access to the rear porch. Thoughtful amenities include a mudroom with built-in bench, a pantry, a laundry sink in the utility room, and a powder room. The elegant master suite enjoys a tray ceiling, a walk-in closet, and an efficient bathroom with a walk-in shower and dual vanity. Upstairs, two additional bedrooms share a full bathroom. Find an e-space and a sun tunnel in the hallway and an optional bonus room for expansion.

James Stewart
Urban home design photo in Toronto

This lovely little modern farmhouse is located at the base of the foothills in one of Boulder’s most prized neighborhoods. Tucked onto a challenging narrow lot, this inviting and sustainably designed 2400 sf., 4 bedroom home lives much larger than its compact form. The open floor plan and vaulted ceilings of the Great room, kitchen and dining room lead to a beautiful covered back patio and lush, private back yard. These rooms are flooded with natural light and blend a warm Colorado material palette and heavy timber accents with a modern sensibility. A lyrical open-riser steel and wood stair floats above the baby grand in the center of the home and takes you to three bedrooms on the second floor. The Master has a covered balcony with exposed beamwork & warm Beetle-kill pine soffits, framing their million-dollar view of the Flatirons. Its simple and familiar style is a modern twist on a classic farmhouse vernacular. The stone, Hardie board siding and standing seam metal roofing create a resilient and low-maintenance shell. The alley-loaded home has a solar-panel covered garage that was custom designed for the family’s active & athletic lifestyle (aka “lots of toys”). The front yard is a local food & water-wise Master-class, with beautiful rain-chains delivering roof run-off straight to the family garden.

Transitional white tile multicolored floor corner bathtub photo in Boston with shaker cabinets, white cabinets, white walls, a console sink and white countertops