Built in 1910, this charming DC row house is located in the historic Bloomingdale neighborhood. At some point, the home had been converted into two separate apartments and, in doing so, the previous owners had removed the connecting stairs and made some other problematic design decisions. When our clients purchased the home in 2017, it required a full gut renovation in order to bring it up to code and return it to a single family residence. A set of internal stairs were built from scratch to reconnect the upper and lower levels. The old basement’s choppy layout made it a very dark and unwelcoming space. The fully renovated basement is now open and inviting and the reconfigured and multi-functional floor plan complete with a second full bathroom allows the lower level to be used as an au pair or in-law suite, as needed.

Built in 1910, this charming DC row house is located in the historic Bloomingdale neighborhood. At some point, the home had been converted into two separate apartments and, in doing so, the previous owners had removed the connecting stairs and made some other problematic design decisions. When our clients purchased the home in 2017, it required a full gut renovation in order to bring it up to code and return it to a single family residence. A set of internal stairs were built from scratch to reconnect the upper and lower levels. The old basement’s choppy layout made it a very dark and unwelcoming space. The fully renovated basement is now open and inviting and the reconfigured and multi-functional floor plan complete with a second full bathroom allows the lower level to be used as an au pair or in-law suite, as needed.

Traditional wood and wrought iron staircase installation completed in Commack, NY. This classic design features solid wood newel posts, decorative wrought iron balusters, and smooth hardwood handrails. The elegant detailing adds warmth, character, and timeless appeal while maintaining durability and safety. Our team handled custom fabrication and professional installation to ensure structural strength and code compliance. We specialize in modern stair and railing systems across Long Island (Nassau & Suffolk County), all five boroughs of New York City — Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island — as well as nearby areas of Upstate New York. Contact us today for a free estimate.

A newly rebuilt and code compliant stair replaced the illegal and dangerous stair entry that pre-existed the project. Raised from grade and covered to resist overland and overhead water flowing into the building.

Built in 1910, this charming DC row house is located in the historic Bloomingdale neighborhood. At some point, the home had been converted into two separate apartments and, in doing so, the previous owners had removed the connecting stairs and made some other problematic design decisions. When our clients purchased the home in 2017, it required a full gut renovation in order to bring it up to code and return it to a single family residence. A set of internal stairs were built from scratch to reconnect the upper and lower levels. The old basement’s choppy layout made it a very dark and unwelcoming space. The fully renovated basement is now open and inviting and the reconfigured and multi-functional floor plan complete with a second full bathroom allows the lower level to be used as an au pair or in-law suite, as needed.

This residence was a complete gut renovation of a 4-story row house in Park Slope, and included a new rear extension and penthouse addition. The owners wished to create a warm, family home using a modern language that would act as a clean canvas to feature rich textiles and items from their world travels. As with most Brooklyn row houses, the existing house suffered from a lack of natural light and connection to exterior spaces, an issue that Principal Brendan Coburn is acutely aware of from his experience re-imagining historic structures in the New York area. The resulting architecture is designed around moments featuring natural light and views to the exterior, of both the private garden and the sky, throughout the house, and a stripped-down language of detailing and finishes allows for the concept of the modern-natural to shine. Upon entering the home, the kitchen and dining space draw you in with views beyond through the large glazed opening at the rear of the house. An extension was built to allow for a large sunken living room that provides a family gathering space connected to the kitchen and dining room, but remains distinctly separate, with a strong visual connection to the rear garden. The open sculptural stair tower was designed to function like that of a traditional row house stair, but with a smaller footprint. By extending it up past the original roof level into the new penthouse, the stair becomes an atmospheric shaft for the spaces surrounding the core. All types of weather – sunshine, rain, lightning, can be sensed throughout the home through this unifying vertical environment. The stair space also strives to foster family communication, making open living spaces visible between floors. At the upper-most level, a free-form bench sits suspended over the stair, just by the new roof deck, which provides at-ease entertaining. Oak was used throughout the home as a unifying material element. As one travels upwards within the house, the oak finishes are bleached to further degrees as a nod to how light enters the home. The owners worked with CWB to add their own personality to the project. The meter of a white oak and blackened steel stair screen was designed by the family to read “I love you” in Morse Code, and tile was selected throughout to reference places that hold special significance to the family. To support the owners’ comfort, the architectural design engages passive house technologies to reduce energy use, while increasing air quality within the home – a strategy which aims to respect the environment while providing a refuge from the harsh elements of urban living. This project was published by Wendy Goodman as her Space of the Week, part of New York Magazine’s Design Hunting on The Cut. Photography by Kevin Kunstadt

Traditional wood and wrought iron staircase installation completed in Commack, NY. This classic design features solid wood newel posts, decorative wrought iron balusters, and smooth hardwood handrails. The elegant detailing adds warmth, character, and timeless appeal while maintaining durability and safety. Our team handled custom fabrication and professional installation to ensure structural strength and code compliance. We specialize in modern stair and railing systems across Long Island (Nassau & Suffolk County), all five boroughs of New York City — Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island — as well as nearby areas of Upstate New York. Contact us today for a free estimate.

This tiny house is a remodel project on a house with two bedrooms, plus a sleeping loft, as photographed. It was originally built in the 1970's, converted to serve as an Air BnB in a resort community. It is in-the-works to remodel again, this time coming up to current building codes including a conventional switchback stair and full bath on each floor. Upon completion it will become a plan for sale on the website Down Home Plans.

Built in 1910, this charming DC row house is located in the historic Bloomingdale neighborhood. At some point, the home had been converted into two separate apartments and, in doing so, the previous owners had removed the connecting stairs and made some other problematic design decisions. When our clients purchased the home in 2017, it required a full gut renovation in order to bring it up to code and return it to a single family residence. A set of internal stairs were built from scratch to reconnect the upper and lower levels. The old basement’s choppy layout made it a very dark and unwelcoming space. The fully renovated basement is now open and inviting and the reconfigured and multi-functional floor plan complete with a second full bathroom allows the lower level to be used as an au pair or in-law suite, as needed.

This tiny house is a remodel project on a house with two bedrooms, plus a sleeping loft, as photographed. It was originally built in the 1970's, converted to serve as an Air BnB in a resort community. It is in-the-works to remodel again, this time coming up to current building codes including a conventional switchback stair and full bath on each floor. Upon completion it will become a plan for sale on the website Down Home Plans.

This fun project turned a cold, drafty attic into a family gathering space which functions as an effective “hat” on the house. Structural, mechanical, and spatial gymnastics were required to beef up the floor joists and rafters, relocate ducts, and provide a code-approved stair. The old subfloor was repurposed as interior cladding, contrasting nicely with the painted built-ins. We were fortunate to collaborate with Home Ec (interior design), as their signature eclectic style makes all their projects come to life. Photographer: Michael Kohnhorst

Traditional wood and wrought iron staircase installation completed in Commack, NY. This classic design features solid wood newel posts, decorative wrought iron balusters, and smooth hardwood handrails. The elegant detailing adds warmth, character, and timeless appeal while maintaining durability and safety. Our team handled custom fabrication and professional installation to ensure structural strength and code compliance. We specialize in modern stair and railing systems across Long Island (Nassau & Suffolk County), all five boroughs of New York City — Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island — as well as nearby areas of Upstate New York. Contact us today for a free estimate.

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

Hiroyuki Hirai
Minimalist staircase photo in DC Metro

This tiny house is a remodel project on a house with two bedrooms, plus a sleeping loft, as photographed. It was originally built in the 1970's, converted to serve as an Air BnB in a resort community. It is in-the-works to remodel again, this time coming up to current building codes including a conventional switchback stair and full bath on each floor. Upon completion it will become a plan for sale on the website Down Home Plans.

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.

Jane Spencer
Transitional light wood floor single front door photo in Denver with beige walls and a white front door

Olga Soboleva
Inspiration for a contemporary family room remodel in San Francisco

Example of a large minimalist carpeted curved wood railing staircase design in Chicago with carpeted risers