After view of exterior
Example of a cottage exterior home design in Boston

Example of a mountain style kitchen design in Other

HardiePlank Cedarmill 7" Exposure (Light Mist) Hardie NT3 Trim (Arctic White) AZEK Full Cellulose PVC Trim ProVia Signet Fiberglass Front Entry Door 6" Gutters & Downspouts (White) LeafTech Gutter Guards Installed by American Home Contractors, Florham Park, NJ Property located in Florham Park, NJ www.njahc.com

HardiePlank Cedarmill 7" Exposure (Light Mist) Hardie NT3 Trim (Arctic White) AZEK Full Cellulose PVC Trim ProVia Signet Fiberglass Front Entry Door 6" Gutters & Downspouts (White) LeafTech Gutter Guards Installed by American Home Contractors, Florham Park, NJ Property located in Florham Park, NJ www.njahc.com

Stand Alone Tub Northern Virginia
Bathroom - 1950s bathroom idea in St Louis

Example of a mountain style living room design in Other

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

Double sink farmhouse vanity in black with decorative knobs. Gold faucets and black square mirrors. Photos: Jody Kmetz
Inspiration for a large country master white tile and subway tile mosaic tile floor, white floor and double-sink bathroom remodel in Chicago with recessed-panel cabinets, black cabinets, a two-piece toilet, white walls, an undermount sink, quartzite countertops, gray countertops and a freestanding vanity

Stainless Steel Cable Rail with Timbertech decking & handrail cap, Redwood posts painted to match. Custom Design Build. This material is full PVC and will last forever unlike many composites which are cellulose based fiber.

Danish living room photo in New York

This 3,700 SF high performance, net-zero home built by Dwell Development achieved 5-Star Built Green certification. The home includes solar panels and an electric vehicle charging station. It also includes efficient heating and cooling through use of a Heat Recovery Ventilation System, which also provides the highest level of indoor air quality. The exterior walls of the house have a total thickness of 12”, which is then packed with blown-in cellulose insulation for a very efficient envelope, making it consistent and comfortable no matter the season. The floors are solid hardwood and polished concrete, while the tile and countertops throughout the house are made of recycled contents. The paint and grout were specifically chosen for the house to have no VOC’s.

This 3,700 SF high performance, net-zero home built by Dwell Development achieved 5-Star Built Green certification. The home includes solar panels and an electric vehicle charging station. It also includes efficient heating and cooling through use of a Heat Recovery Ventilation System, which also provides the highest level of indoor air quality. The exterior walls of the house have a total thickness of 12”, which is then packed with blown-in cellulose insulation for a very efficient envelope, making it consistent and comfortable no matter the season. The floors are solid hardwood and polished concrete, while the tile and countertops throughout the house are made of recycled contents. The paint and grout were specifically chosen for the house to have no VOC’s.

Mountain style dining room photo in Other

This current custom single family home project features Aiki Homes standards for advanced framing, air and water purification, and the use of non-toxic materials wherever possible. Additional specs include: . Radiant floor heating . Blown-in batt wall and R-49 cellulose insulation . Zehnder system for heating and cooling . Pre-wired for solar panels . Custom local cabinets and woodwork . Quartz countertops

Helynn Ospina Photography
Large transitional formal and enclosed living room photo in San Francisco with white walls, a standard fireplace and a stone fireplace

Up close of mahogany decking
Inspiration for a farmhouse porch remodel in Boston

This 2020-2021 custom single family home project features Aiki Homes standards for advanced framing, air and water purification, and the use of non-toxic materials wherever possible. Additional specs include: Radiant floor heating. Blown-in batt wall and R-49 cellulose insulation. Zehnder system for heating and cooling. Pre-wired for solar panels. Custom local cabinets and woodwork.

Kiera Marie Condrey
Example of an eclectic l-shaped kitchen design in San Francisco with an undermount sink, flat-panel cabinets, medium tone wood cabinets, wood countertops, blue backsplash, glass sheet backsplash, stainless steel appliances and an island

Example of a 1950s living room design in DC Metro