Example of a large minimalist foyer design in Austin with white walls

Inspiration for a modern kitchen remodel in Miami with raised-panel cabinets and gray cabinets

**Project Overview** This new construction home built next to a serene lake features a gorgeous, large-scale kitchen that also connects to a bar, home office, breakfast room and great room. The homeowners sought the warmth of traditional styling, updated for today. In addition, they wanted to incorporate unexpected touches that would add personality. Strategic use of furniture details combined with clean lines brings the traditional style forward, making the kitchen feel fresh, new and timeless. **What Makes This Project Unique?* Three finishes, including vintage white paint, stained cherry and textured painted gray oak cabinetry, work together beautifully to create a varied, unique space. Above the wall cabinets, glass cabinets with X mullions add interest and decorative storage. Single ovens are tucked in cabinets under a window, and a warming drawer under one perfectly matches the cabinet drawer under the other. Matching furniture-style armoires flank the wall ovens, housing the freezer and a pantry in one and custom designed large scale appliance garage with retractable doors in the other. Other furniture touches can be found on the sink cabinet and range top cabinet that help complete the look. The variety of colors and textures of the stained and painted cabinetry, custom dark finish copper hood, wood ceiling beams, glass cabinets, wood floors and sleek backsplash bring the whole look together. **Design Challenges* Even though the space is large, we were challenged by having to work around the two doorways, two windows and many traffic patterns that run through the kitchen. Wall space for large appliances was quickly in short supply. Because we were involved early in the project, we were able to work with the architect to expanded the kitchen footprint in order to make the layout work and get appliance placement just right. We had other architectural elements to work with that we wanted to compliment the kitchen design but also dictated what we could do with the cabinetry. The wall cabinet height was determined based on the beams in the space. The oven wall with furniture armoires was designed around the window with the lake view. The height of the oven cabinets was determined by the window. We were able to use these obstacles and challenges to design creatively and make this kitchen one of a kind. Photo by MIke Kaskel

Mid-sized farmhouse white three-story wood gable roof photo in Columbus

In this 1905 Tudor home, the intent of this design was to take advantage of the classic architecture of the home and incorporate modern conveniences. Located in the Joseph Berry Subdivision in Detroit, this stellar home presented several design challenges. The most difficult challenge to overcome was the 11” slope from one end of the kitchen to the other, caused by 110 years of settling. All new floor joists were installed and the floor by the side door was then recessed down one step. This created a cozy nook when you first enter the kitchen. A tiered ceiling with strategically planned cabinetry heights and crown molding concealed the slope of the walls at the ceiling level. The second challenge in this historic home was the awkward foot print of the kitchen. It’s likely that this kitchen had a butler’s pantry originally. However it was remodeled sometime in the 70’s and all original character was erased. Clever pantry storage was added to an awkward corner creating a space that mimicked the essence of a butler’s pantry, while providing storage desired in kitchens today. Keeping the large footprint of the kitchen presented obstacles with the working triangle; the distance from the sink to the cooktop is several feet. The solution was installation of a pot filler over the cooktop that added convenience and elegance (not sure about this word). Not everything in this project was a challenge; the discovery of a brick chimney hiding behind plaster was a welcome surprise and brought character back honoring the historic charm of this beautiful home. Kitchen Designer: Rebekah Tull of Whiski Kitchen Design Studio Remodeling Contractor: Renaissance Restorations, Inc. Counter Top Fabricator: Lakeside Solid Surfaces - Cambria Cabinetry: Legacy Crafted Cabinets Photographer: Shermin Photography Lighting: Rejuvenation Cabinet Accessories: Rev-A-Shelf

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Inspiration for a rustic backyard patio kitchen remodel in Nashville with decking and a roof extension

Stephen Long Photography
Example of a classic backyard patio kitchen design in Nashville with decking and no cover

Premium American Crafted Aluminum Cabinets. Durable, Weatherproof, Customizable, Easy Maintenance.
Example of a large transitional l-shaped and backyard stamped concrete patio kitchen design with a roof extension

Architect: Patrick Ahearn Architect LLC Construction: Rosbeck BuildersInteriors: Slifer Designs Photography By: Greg Premru “Rigorously symmetrical yet relaxed in shape and proportions, this house is very well executed inside and out. It feels appropriately sized for its site and is well detailed. It’s by far the best of the Shingle Style submittals.” The project is a new construction of a family compound consisting of two new houses and associated site development along South Beach. Due to the topography of the nearby dunes, the living spaces of the main and guest houses were located on the second floor in order to gain the panoramic views of the ocean and extended coastline beyond. The challenge was to create a shingle-style island vernacular architecture that did not reflect the upside-down nature of the primary living space. The inspiration was based on the desire to take a large program and break it into smaller architectural elements based on the idea that the homes could have originally been constructed in the 1920s or 1930s and then added onto over time. This concept of "implied history" is one that creates a legacy of a seaside architecture from the rich history of New England’s past, yet has evolved into how people want to live today. The Marvin products, with their hurricane-resistant capabilities, were a clear choice based on this locale. The use of the folding door systems allowed for the ease of flow from indoor to outdoor spaces in a timeless way.

Premium American Crafted Aluminum Cabinets. Durable, Weatherproof, Customizable, Easy Maintenance.
Example of a large transitional l-shaped and backyard stamped concrete patio kitchen design with a roof extension

The builder laid custom wide plank flooring in the upstairs hall and flex space stained to match the existing woodwork of the timber frame construction. 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

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Example of a trendy backyard patio kitchen design in Nashville with decking and a roof extension

Patio kitchen - mid-sized traditional backyard concrete patio kitchen idea with no cover

Custom build for a client who loves the brown tones. It was a challenge to work with a limited color pallet on this build. Having to work around the trim, cabinets, and wall colors within a similar color pallet was challenging in that the designer didn't want to have these items fighting against the lighting fixtures, plumbing fixtures, or even the other materials such as tile and hardwood. We also had the same challenge on the exterior with the brick, stone, roofing, and trim items. The home turned out to be a beauty, but the challenge of working with a set color pallet was one that we had not had to deal with before this build. Philip Slowiak

Challenge: Make a tilted, trapezoidal backyard work Solved: No easy challenge, this property perches atop an 18-foot (yes foot) retaining wall with a grade falling away at 18” of slope per 12’. The tilted landscape seemed hell-bent on flooding the back yard. So… engineering challenge accepted! From the iridescent glass tile and volcanic basalt stone verticals of the spa, negative edge wall, and coping—to the smart-phone-controlled LED lighting and bespoke, California-crafted fire pit—we think we met the challenge! Beautifully, in fact. What a magical setting this family now enjoys.

Garage - industrial garage idea