This bright kitchen used to be anything but, had dark cabinets and floor tiles that the owner said must go! Lightening this working kitchen for this family was a must. Client had an idea of their dream kitchen for this house and we made that happen. The transformation is like night and day, literally! Refacing the existing cabinets with a shaker style door and modern pulls brought this outdated kitchen to the present times. Converted some of the base cabinets to deep fully extending drawers gave more functional storage space for those hard to reach back corners of base door cabinets. We removed some of the closed cabinets and opted for open custom wood shelves to displace everyday dishes and create a pleasing natural feeling area in this kitchen. Behind those shelves we took a skinny white matte finish tile and went to the ceiling with it to make the room feel taller. Using a waterfall edge on the two peninsulas. That creates a nice space to house these two mid century barstools. We built a custom pantry and catch all area with deep drawers, a surface to drop keys or mail at and a tall upper cabinet for those other pantry items. Next to that we did a bench in the breakfast area. The soft gray cushion adds some warmth to the space. The flooring we took through the majority of the house, a wide plank tile that looks like wood! It looks so real people even ask what kind of wood it is when they see it! A smooth walnut coloring and look was perfect for this style of the rest of the home. So happy to help this family love their kitchen and feel like it belongs with the rest of their home!

Photography by John Merkl
Example of a trendy kitchen design in San Francisco

Added cubbies give the children the perfect spot to cuddle up with mom and dad for story time and mud room shelving and hooks to throw their forty-pound back packs after a long day of school Budget analysis and project development by: May Construction

Relaxing Farmhouse design. Front living room and dining room. This is the perfect place for my client-physician, wife and mom to wind down after a long day. These two rooms were your typical drop off rooms. The primary need was storage and style. This is an beautiful historical home with no foyer or hall closet. I added a eye catching arch cabinet that helps hide shoes and coats. I love how the arch design breaks up all of the square angle floor plan. I found a great deal on the 2 timeless design swivel chairs. A fun coffee table/storage ottoman adds additional storage. The large chair and half and ottoman allows for hours of snuggles and reading. The fireplace is now a focal point with new stylish battery wall sconces. Long airy linen panels soften the new woven shades- lining for privacy. The family piano is now appreciated and ready for years of playing.

Relaxing Farmhouse design. Front living room and dining room. This is the perfect place for my client-physician, wife and mom to wind down after a long day. These two rooms were your typical drop off rooms. The primary need was storage and style. This is an beautiful historical home with no foyer or hall closet. I added a eye catching arch cabinet that helps hide shoes and coats. I love how the arch design breaks up all of the square angle floor plan. I found a great deal on the 2 timeless design swivel chairs. A fun coffee table/storage ottoman adds additional storage. The large chair and half and ottoman allows for hours of snuggles and reading. The fireplace is now a focal point with new stylish battery wall sconces. Long airy linen panels soften the new woven shades- lining for privacy. The family piano is now appreciated and ready for years of playing.

Relaxing Farmhouse design. Front living room and dining room. This is the perfect place for my client-physician, wife and mom to wind down after a long day. These two rooms were your typical drop off rooms. The primary need was storage and style. This is an beautiful historical home with no foyer or hall closet. I added a eye catching arch cabinet that helps hide shoes and coats. I love how the arch design breaks up all of the square angle floor plan. I found a great deal on the 2 timeless design swivel chairs. A fun coffee table/storage ottoman adds additional storage. The large chair and half and ottoman allows for hours of snuggles and reading. The fireplace is now a focal point with new stylish battery wall sconces. Long airy linen panels soften the new woven shades- lining for privacy. The family piano is now appreciated and ready for years of playing.

Relaxing Farmhouse design. Front living room and dining room. This is the perfect place for my client-physician, wife and mom to wind down after a long day. These two rooms were your typical drop off rooms. The primary need was storage and style. This is an beautiful historical home with no foyer or hall closet. I added a eye catching arch cabinet that helps hide shoes and coats. I love how the arch design breaks up all of the square angle floor plan. I found a great deal on the 2 timeless design swivel chairs. A fun coffee table/storage ottoman adds additional storage. The large chair and half and ottoman allows for hours of snuggles and reading. The fireplace is now a focal point with new stylish battery wall sconces. Long airy linen panels soften the new woven shades- lining for privacy. The family piano is now appreciated and ready for years of playing.

Relaxing Farmhouse design. Front living room and dining room. This is the perfect place for my client-physician, wife and mom to wind down after a long day. These two rooms were your typical drop off rooms. The primary need was storage and style. This is an beautiful historical home with no foyer or hall closet. I added a eye catching arch cabinet that helps hide shoes and coats. I love how the arch design breaks up all of the square angle floor plan. I found a great deal on the 2 timeless design swivel chairs. A fun coffee table/storage ottoman adds additional storage. The large chair and half and ottoman allows for hours of snuggles and reading. The fireplace is now a focal point with new stylish battery wall sconces. Long airy linen panels soften the new woven shades- lining for privacy. The family piano is now appreciated and ready for years of playing.

A bright and cheery home in North Park. This homeowner was all about color & prints. Most of her furniture was existing, so it was mostly about pulling everything together and styling it. We began by selecting a white wall color that would accentuate the light provided by the living room's clerestory windows. An awkward angled wall was made into a feature gallery wall. Draperies with a bright, mid-century modern print were added to give the space some flair.

Relaxing Farmhouse design. Front living room and dining room. This is the perfect place for my client-physician, wife and mom to wind down after a long day. These two rooms were your typical drop off rooms. The primary need was storage and style. This is an beautiful historical home with no foyer or hall closet. I added a eye catching arch cabinet that helps hide shoes and coats. I love how the arch design breaks up all of the square angle floor plan. I found a great deal on the 2 timeless design swivel chairs. A fun coffee table/storage ottoman adds additional storage. The large chair and half and ottoman allows for hours of snuggles and reading. The fireplace is now a focal point with new stylish battery wall sconces. Long airy linen panels soften the new woven shades- lining for privacy. The family piano is now appreciated and ready for years of playing.

The client requested a kitchen that would not only provide a great space to cook and enjoy family meals but one that would fit in with her unique design sense. An avid collector of contemporary art, she wanted something unexpected in her 100-year-old home in both color and finishes but still providing a great layout with improved lighting, storage, and superior cooking abilities. The existing kitchen was in a closed off space trapped between the family room and the living. If you were in the kitchen, you were isolated from the rest of the house. Making the kitchen an integrated part of the home was a paramount request. Step one, remove the wall separating the kitchen from the other rooms in the home which allowed the new kitchen to become an integrated space instead of an isolation room for the cook. Next, we relocated the pantry access which was in the family room to the kitchen integrating a poorly used recess which had become a catch all area which did not provide any usable space for storage or working area. To add valuable function in the kitchen we began by capturing unused "cubbies", adding a walk-in pantry from the kitchen, increasing the storage lost to un-needed drop ceilings and bring light and design to the space with a new large awning window, improved lighting, and combining interesting finishes and colors to reflect the artistic attitude of the client. A bathroom located above the kitchen had been leaking into the plaster ceiling for several years. That along with knob and tube wiring, rotted beams and a brick wall from the back of the fireplace in the adjacent living room all needed to be brought to code. The walls, ceiling and floors in this 100+ year old home were completely out of level and the room’s foot print could not be increased. The choice of a Sub-Zero wolf product is a standard in my kitchen designs. The quality of the product, its manufacturing and commitment to food preservation is the reason I specify Sub Zero Wolf. For the cook top, the integrated line of the contemporary cooktop and the signature red knobs against the navy blue of the cabinets added to the design vibe of the kitchen. The cooking performance and the large continuous grate on the cooktop makes it an obvious choice for a cook looking for a great cook top with professional results in a more streamlined profile. We selected a Sharp microwave drawer for the island, an XO wine refrigerator, Bosch dishwasher and Kitchen Aid double convection wall ovens to round out the appliance package. A recess created by the fireplace was outfitted with a cabinet which now holds small appliances within easy reach of my very petite client. Natural maple accents were used inside all the wall cabinets and repeated on the front of the hood and for the sliding door appliance cabinet and the floating shelves. This allows a brighter interior for the painted cabinets instead of the traditional same interior as exterior finish choice. The was an amazing transformation from the old to the new. The final touches are the honey bronze hardware from Top Knobs, Mitzi pendants from Hudson Valley Lighting group, a fabulous faucet from Brizo. To eliminate the old freestanding bottled water cooler, we specified a matching water filter faucet.

This bright kitchen used to be anything but, had dark cabinets and floor tiles that the owner said must go! Lightening this working kitchen for this family was a must. Client had an idea of their dream kitchen for this house and we made that happen. The transformation is like night and day, literally! Refacing the existing cabinets with a shaker style door and modern pulls brought this outdated kitchen to the present times. Converted some of the base cabinets to deep fully extending drawers gave more functional storage space for those hard to reach back corners of base door cabinets. We removed some of the closed cabinets and opted for open custom wood shelves to displace everyday dishes and create a pleasing natural feeling area in this kitchen. Behind those shelves we took a skinny white matte finish tile and went to the ceiling with it to make the room feel taller. Using a waterfall edge on the two peninsulas. That creates a nice space to house these two mid century barstools. We built a custom pantry and catch all area with deep drawers, a surface to drop keys or mail at and a tall upper cabinet for those other pantry items. Next to that we did a bench in the breakfast area. The soft gray cushion adds some warmth to the space. The flooring we took through the majority of the house, a wide plank tile that looks like wood! It looks so real people even ask what kind of wood it is when they see it! A smooth walnut coloring and look was perfect for this style of the rest of the home. So happy to help this family love their kitchen and feel like it belongs with the rest of their home!

The view of the lake as seen from the client's yard at the top of the hill. Wow! Showcased in this project is a “Lakeside Landscape” created for a homeowner who purchased an old vacant lot on the banks of Lake Erie on the near west side of Cleveland. The lot was attractive given its location and potential for lakeside access, yet it presented some major challenges. First and foremost, the lay of the land was unfavorable, dropping 50 feet from the front of the house to the lake in just 175 linear feet. Erosion wasn’t the only concern in this case, as the space also needed to be functional. The result was over 1300 tons of locally-mined sandstone top rock and a strategic placement of each boulder to create a winding grass path to the lake and tiered entertaining spaces. One such space serves as a natural bluestone patio for unparalleled views of the lake, complimented by a decorative fountain sculpted by a local artist. The lower space is used as a secluded fire pit carved into the hillside with a bench overlooking the western horizon to catch the spectacular Lake Erie sunsets. The addition of 34 natural sandstone steps from the top patio to a reinforced concrete break wall meanders through a landscape with over 625 flowering trees, shrubs and perennials. Below the surface is a series of drains, tile, low-voltage lighting, and irrigation, all designed to maximize every square foot of usable space. What began as a cliff ended as a unique lakeside living space used for recreation, entertaining, and more importantly, as a retreat for family and friends alike.

7 Days to Complete, Total Cost Of Project: $4,700 Power washed entire building to clean all surfaces of loose dirt, dust, grime and contaminants Sanded to remove all loose paint Removed loose window putty and glazed windows with new material Trenched the entire perimeter to protect from water penetrating the building. Sprayed chemical solution to kill mold, mildew and prevent musty odors. Opened up stucco cracks, refilled and blended the texture to match existing stucco. Maliciously caulked around windows and where the stucco meets the under-hang. Covered project area with paper, plastic and canvas drops to catch paint drips,sprays and splatters Applied primer to repaired areas which insured uniform appearance and adhesion to the finish top coat. Sanded window sills and frames with multiple grits of sand paper to eliminate old paint and achieve a smooth paint ready surface. Applied two finish top coats on stucco,windows,doors,trim, gutters, railing and fascia

This august negative edge pool was built between a rock and a hard place. We built the pool on a steep topographical slope. I decided to build a radius footing under the radius weir wall prior to building the pool. We installed vertical rebar precisely where we would build the radius weir wall so that we could secure the weir wall to the footing. We used all indigenous stone on the veneers. The excavation required a fair amount of rock hammering. Every bit of rock was used on site. If you note the rim, it is composed of a field stone that was chiseled on site to produce a smooth, level and even spill. From downhill, the pool is equally spectacular in that all the walls are finished with indigenous field stone. This project was designed in house. Because of the topographical slope, the landscape begged for a negative edge. The home owner wanted a naturalistic setting. The indigenous veneer stone was used on all walls and rim coping. The patio is composed of Norwegian Buff stone, which is a natural cleft green, gold, brown hard stone but soft in color. The coping was bull nosed in order to soften the long lines. This pool is harmonious with the whole mature landscape. The vista from the pool was focused on the landscape afar and the reservoir. The home owner said to me that the project was dead if we had to cut down trees. I was forced to work around run of the mill evergreens. We were facing a wetland setback to one side, a rear yard setback to another side and a customer who insisted that we not cut down trees. I personally appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals to argue the case that we needed relief because of constraints some real and imposed. I positioned and designed the pool on a steep slope because there were no trees. Once I committed the design to the steep slope, I incorporated all of the natural landscape settings into the poolscape.The pool is detached from the home. We build numerous natural steps to transition from house elevation to pool elevation. From the house the steps are less formal. As the walkway meanders through the wooded tree setting, the pathway was designed to be casual and inviting in order to create a garden space that was independent of the poolscape below but tangent. As you approach the pool, we built a structured all natural stone and Norwegian Buff grand stair with piers and lights that opens up to the poolscape. We incorporated a simple cabana and outdoor kitchen. We built wing walls on the far side to accentuate the rim of the negative edge and to provide a safety barrier between the patio and the elevation below. In the wing walls, there are fountains that are cascading opposite to the negative edge. The catch pool is 5 above grade and finished in indigenous stone. We specifically designed the catch pool walls to satisfy the barrier requirement into the catch pool.

Disappearing or Pond-less Waterfalls allow you to enjoy the look and sound of moving water without the maintenance of a pond. A waterfall is undoubtedly the most beautiful and coveted feature in a landscape. The Pond-less Waterfall has made many Texans who were previously unable to relax to the sweet sounds of falling water very happy. It's a great alternative for those who are just trying to 'get their feet wet' or looking to fit a little piece of paradise into their own backyard. If your Texas Landscape lacks the space or if you have safety concerns about a pond, then a Pond-less Waterfall is perfect for you.

The winding walkway (complete with stone stairways) from the house down to the lake is decorated with large boulders and perennial plants for both beauty and erosion control (as seen from the break wall.) Showcased in this project is a “Lakeside Landscape” created for a homeowner who purchased an old vacant lot on the banks of Lake Erie on the near west side of Cleveland. The lot was attractive given its location and potential for lakeside access, yet it presented some major challenges. First and foremost, the lay of the land was unfavorable, dropping 50 feet from the front of the house to the lake in just 175 linear feet. Erosion wasn’t the only concern in this case, as the space also needed to be functional. The result was over 1300 tons of locally-mined sandstone top rock and a strategic placement of each boulder to create a winding grass path to the lake and tiered entertaining spaces. One such space serves as a natural bluestone patio for unparalleled views of the lake, complimented by a decorative fountain sculpted by a local artist. The lower space is used as a secluded fire pit carved into the hillside with a bench overlooking the western horizon to catch the spectacular Lake Erie sunsets. The addition of 34 natural sandstone steps from the top patio to a reinforced concrete break wall meanders through a landscape with over 625 flowering trees, shrubs and perennials. Below the surface is a series of drains, tile, low-voltage lighting, and irrigation, all designed to maximize every square foot of usable space. What began as a cliff ended as a unique lakeside living space used for recreation, entertaining, and more importantly, as a retreat for family and friends alike.

This bright kitchen used to be anything but, had dark cabinets and floor tiles that the owner said must go! Lightening this working kitchen for this family was a must. Client had an idea of their dream kitchen for this house and we made that happen. The transformation is like night and day, literally! Refacing the existing cabinets with a shaker style door and modern pulls brought this outdated kitchen to the present times. Converted some of the base cabinets to deep fully extending drawers gave more functional storage space for those hard to reach back corners of base door cabinets. We removed some of the closed cabinets and opted for open custom wood shelves to displace everyday dishes and create a pleasing natural feeling area in this kitchen. Behind those shelves we took a skinny white matte finish tile and went to the ceiling with it to make the room feel taller. Using a waterfall edge on the two peninsulas. That creates a nice space to house these two mid century barstools. We built a custom pantry and catch all area with deep drawers, a surface to drop keys or mail at and a tall upper cabinet for those other pantry items. Next to that we did a bench in the breakfast area. The soft gray cushion adds some warmth to the space. The flooring we took through the majority of the house, a wide plank tile that looks like wood! It looks so real people even ask what kind of wood it is when they see it! A smooth walnut coloring and look was perfect for this style of the rest of the home. So happy to help this family love their kitchen and feel like it belongs with the rest of their home!

The stone stairway down the hillside leads to a concrete/stone storage house with wooden "roof" picnic patio. Showcased in this project is a “Lakeside Landscape” created for a homeowner who purchased an old vacant lot on the banks of Lake Erie on the near west side of Cleveland. The lot was attractive given its location and potential for lakeside access, yet it presented some major challenges. First and foremost, the lay of the land was unfavorable, dropping 50 feet from the front of the house to the lake in just 175 linear feet. Erosion wasn’t the only concern in this case, as the space also needed to be functional. The result was over 1300 tons of locally-mined sandstone top rock and a strategic placement of each boulder to create a winding grass path to the lake and tiered entertaining spaces. One such space serves as a natural bluestone patio for unparalleled views of the lake, complimented by a decorative fountain sculpted by a local artist. The lower space is used as a secluded fire pit carved into the hillside with a bench overlooking the western horizon to catch the spectacular Lake Erie sunsets. The addition of 34 natural sandstone steps from the top patio to a reinforced concrete break wall meanders through a landscape with over 625 flowering trees, shrubs and perennials. Below the surface is a series of drains, tile, low-voltage lighting, and irrigation, all designed to maximize every square foot of usable space. What began as a cliff ended as a unique lakeside living space used for recreation, entertaining, and more importantly, as a retreat for family and friends alike.