Modern custom home nestled in quiet Arcadia neighborhood. The expansive glass window wall has stunning views of Camelback Mountain and natural light helps keep energy usage to a minimum. CIP concrete walls also help to reduce the homes carbon footprint while keeping a beautiful, architecturally pleasing finished look to both inside and outside. The artfully blended look of metal, concrete, block and glass bring a natural, raw product to life in both visual and functional way

This one of a kind staircase is made of stained glulam beams and powder-coated iron railing, a truly custom staircase for a custom home. Winner of best staircase in the 2015 Parade of Homes.

Salter Spiral dubbed this "The Mosher Rail" after the gentleman who came up with the idea. The top rail meets the 42" guard rail commercial code and the lower rail meets the 36" handrail code. The treads are called "Fan Cut Tread" with a code compliant riser. Portland Stair Company

Inspiration for a contemporary wooden straight staircase remodel in Denver

Photography by Anna Herbst. This photo was featured in the Houzz Story, "6 Attic Transformations to Inspire Your Own"
Example of a small transitional freestanding desk light wood floor study room design in New York with beige walls

The owners of this New Braunfels house have a love of Spanish Colonial architecture, and were influenced by the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio. The home elegantly showcases their collection of furniture and artifacts. Handmade cement tiles are used as stair risers, and beautifully accent the Saltillo tile floor.

This modern green home offers both a vacation destination on Cape Cod near local family members and an opportunity for rental income. FAMILY ROOTS. A West Coast couple living in the San Francisco Bay Area sought a permanent East Coast vacation home near family members living on Cape Cod. As academic professionals focused on sustainability, they sought a green, energy efficient home that was well-aligned with their values. With no green homes available for sale on Cape Cod, they decided to purchase land near their family and build their own. SLOPED SITE. Comprised of a 3/4 acre lot nestled in the pines, the steeply sloping terrain called for a plan that embraced and took advantage of the slope. Of equal priority was optimizing solar exposure, preserving privacy from abutters, and creating outdoor living space. The design accomplished these goals with a simple, rectilinear form, offering living space on the both entry and lower/basement levels. The stepped foundation allows for a walk-out basement level with light-filled living space on the down-hill side of the home. The traditional basement on the eastern, up-hill side houses mechanical equipment and a home gym. The house welcomes natural light throughout, captures views of the forest, and delivers entertainment space that connects indoor living space to outdoor deck and dining patio. MODERN VISION. The clean building form and uncomplicated finishes pay homage to the modern architectural legacy on the outer Cape. Durable and economical fiber cement panels, fixed with aluminum channels, clad the primary form. Cedar clapboards provide a visual accent at the south-facing living room, which extends a single roof plane to cover the entry porch. SMART USE OF SPACE. On the entry level, the “L”-shaped living, dining, and kitchen space connects to the exterior living, dining, and grilling spaces to effectively double the home’s summertime entertainment area. Placed at the western end of the entry level (where it can retain privacy but still claim expansive downhill views) is the master suite with a built-in study. The lower level has two guest bedrooms, a second full bathroom, and laundry. The flexibility of the space—crucial in a house with a modest footprint—emerges in one of the guest bedrooms, which doubles as home office by opening the barn-style double doors to connect it to the bright, airy open stair leading up to the entry level. Thoughtful design, generous ceiling heights and large windows transform the modest 1,100 sf* footprint into a well-lit, spacious home. *(total finished space is 1800 sf) RENTAL INCOME. The property works for its owners by netting rental income when the owners are home in San Francisco. The house especially caters to vacationers bound for nearby Mayo Beach and includes an outdoor shower adjacent to the lower level entry door. In contrast to the bare bones cottages that are typically available on the Cape, this home offers prospective tenants a modern aesthetic, paired with luxurious and green features. Durable finishes inside and out will ensure longevity with the heavier use that comes with a rental property. COMFORT YEAR-ROUND. The home is super-insulated and air-tight, with mechanical ventilation to provide continuous fresh air from the outside. High performance triple-paned windows complement the building enclosure and maximize passive solar gain while ensuring a warm, draft-free winter, even when sitting close to the glass. A properly sized air source heat pump offers efficient heating & cooling, and includes a carefully designed the duct distribution system to provide even comfort throughout the house. The super-insulated envelope allows us to significantly reduce the equipment capacity, duct size, and airflow quantities, while maintaining unparalleled thermal comfort. ENERGY EFFICIENT. The building’s shell and mechanical systems play instrumental roles in the home’s exceptional performance. The building enclosure reduces the most significant energy glutton: heating. Continuous super-insulation, thorough air sealing, triple-pane windows, and passive solar gain work together to yield a miniscule heating load. All active energy consumers are extremely efficient: an air source heat pump for heating and cooling, a heat pump hot water heater, LED lighting, energy recovery ventilation (ERV), and high efficiency appliances. The result is a home that uses 70% less energy than a similar new home built to code requirements. OVERALL. The home embodies the owners’ goals and values while comprehensively enabling thermal comfort, energy efficiency, a vacation respite, and supplementary income. PROJECT TEAM ZeroEnergy Design - Architect & Mechanical Designer A.F. Hultin & Co. - Contractor Pamet Valley Landscape Design - Landscape & Masonry Lisa Finch - Original Artwork European Architectural Supply - Windows Eric Roth Photography - Photography

David Burroughs
Example of a beach style home design design in Baltimore

A before photo of the renovation clearly shows how this system was installed incorrectly, notice the knee wall transition from this to the rebuild on the renovated photo Balusters are out of code, rail height 3" shorter than code, numerous code violations but still passed inspection when built home is 12 years old, renovation occurred during the Covid-19, 2020.

Staircase - mid-sized traditional wooden straight staircase idea in Seattle with wooden risers

Michele Lee Wilson
Large craftsman brown three-story wood gable roof idea in San Francisco

ZeroEnergy Design (ZED) created this modern home for a progressive family in the desirable community of Lexington. Thoughtful Land Connection. The residence is carefully sited on the infill lot so as to create privacy from the road and neighbors, while cultivating a side yard that captures the southern sun. The terraced grade rises to meet the house, allowing for it to maintain a structured connection with the ground while also sitting above the high water table. The elevated outdoor living space maintains a strong connection with the indoor living space, while the stepped edge ties it back to the true ground plane. Siting and outdoor connections were completed by ZED in collaboration with landscape designer Soren Deniord Design Studio. Exterior Finishes and Solar. The exterior finish materials include a palette of shiplapped wood siding, through-colored fiber cement panels and stucco. A rooftop parapet hides the solar panels above, while a gutter and site drainage system directs rainwater into an irrigation cistern and dry wells that recharge the groundwater. Cooking, Dining, Living. Inside, the kitchen, fabricated by Henrybuilt, is located between the indoor and outdoor dining areas. The expansive south-facing sliding door opens to seamlessly connect the spaces, using a retractable awning to provide shade during the summer while still admitting the warming winter sun. The indoor living space continues from the dining areas across to the sunken living area, with a view that returns again to the outside through the corner wall of glass. Accessible Guest Suite. The design of the first level guest suite provides for both aging in place and guests who regularly visit for extended stays. The patio off the north side of the house affords guests their own private outdoor space, and privacy from the neighbor. Similarly, the second level master suite opens to an outdoor private roof deck. Light and Access. The wide open interior stair with a glass panel rail leads from the top level down to the well insulated basement. The design of the basement, used as an away/play space, addresses the need for both natural light and easy access. In addition to the open stairwell, light is admitted to the north side of the area with a high performance, Passive House (PHI) certified skylight, covering a six by sixteen foot area. On the south side, a unique roof hatch set flush with the deck opens to reveal a glass door at the base of the stairwell which provides additional light and access from the deck above down to the play space. Energy. Energy consumption is reduced by the high performance building envelope, high efficiency mechanical systems, and then offset with renewable energy. All windows and doors are made of high performance triple paned glass with thermally broken aluminum frames. The exterior wall assembly employs dense pack cellulose in the stud cavity, a continuous air barrier, and four inches exterior rigid foam insulation. The 10kW rooftop solar electric system provides clean energy production. The final air leakage testing yielded 0.6 ACH 50 - an extremely air tight house, a testament to the well-designed details, progress testing and quality construction. When compared to a new house built to code requirements, this home consumes only 19% of the energy. Architecture & Energy Consulting: ZeroEnergy Design Landscape Design: Soren Deniord Design Paintings: Bernd Haussmann Studio Photos: Eric Roth Photography

Located in Menlo Park, California, this 3,000 sf. remodel was carefully crafted to generate excitement and make maximum use of the owner’s strict budget and comply with the city’s stringent planning code. It was understood that not everything was to be redone from a prior owner’s quirky remodel which included odd inward angled walls, circular windows and cedar shingles. Remedial work to remove and prevent dry rot ate into the budget as well. Studied alterations to the exterior include a new trellis over the garage door, pushing the entry out to create a new soaring stair hall and stripping the exterior down to simplify its appearance. The new steel entry stair leads to a floating bookcase that pivots to the family room. For budget reasons, it was decided to keep the existing cedar shingles. Upstairs, a large oak multi-level staircase was replaced with the new simple run of stairs. The impact of angled bedroom walls and circular window in the bathroom were calmed with new clean white walls and tile. Photo Credit: John Sutton Photography.

The stair was squeezed into the front room. Because it is a new stair, it had to meet all the modern code requirements.
Country staircase photo in DC Metro

Open Stair. Chad Melon
Example of a mid-sized cottage wooden straight open and wood railing staircase design

Inspiration for a contemporary wooden open and mixed material railing staircase remodel

Example of a mid-sized beach style look-out light wood floor and beige floor family room design in San Diego with white walls

new stairs are code compliant