A new traditional style home in the city of Brookhaven in North Atlanta. The exterior consists of Hardiplank shake siding, hand chiseled granite, custom shutters, built-in window boxes and a planting trellis above the garage. Built by Epic Development; Photo by Brian Gassel

The master bedroom suite combines a home office with a sleeping area and intimate reading corner. Exterior views are private and take advantage of natural wooded landscaping. Rift cut oak veneer with its linear horizontal graining is used on all custom designed millwork. Flush millwork design is consistent with the minimalist aesthetic intent. Hedrich Blessing Photography

Transitional kitchen photo in DC Metro

A complete gut and basement addition on a historical Joseph Esherick house in Pacific Heights. Highlights include an award-winning “green wall” consisting of rough-hewn planks that form a relief of a tree and custom furniture pieces.

alyssa kirsten
Small transitional u-shaped medium tone wood floor eat-in kitchen photo in New York with a single-bowl sink, recessed-panel cabinets, white cabinets, quartz countertops, white backsplash, ceramic backsplash, stainless steel appliances and a peninsula

Inspiration for a rustic beige tile powder room remodel in New York with flat-panel cabinets, brown cabinets, brown walls, a vessel sink and beige countertops

Our pioneer project, Casita de Tierra in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, showcases the natural building techniques of a rubble trench foundation, earthbag construction, natural plasters, earthen floors, and a composting toilet. Our earthbag wall system consists of locally available, cost-efficient, polypropylene bags that are filled with a formula of clay and aggregate unearthed from our building site. The bags are stacked like bricks in running bonds, which are strengthened by courses of barbed wire laid between each row, and tamped into place. The walls are then plastered with a mix composed of clay, sand, soil and straw, and are followed by gypsum and lime renders to create attractive walls. The casita exhibits a load-bearing wall system demonstrating that thick earthen walls, with no rebar or cement, can support a roofing structure. We, also, installed earthen floors, created an indoor dry-composting toilet system, utilized local woods for the furniture, routed all grey water to the outdoor garden, and maximized air flow by including cross-ventilating screened windows below the natural palm frond and cane roof. Casita de Tierra exemplifies an economically efficient, structurally sound, aesthetically pleasing, environmentally kind, and socially responsible home.

Photo: Mariko Reed
Inspiration for a 1950s bathroom remodel in San Francisco

3,900 SF home that has achieved a LEED Silver certification. The house is sited on a wooded hill with southern exposure and consists of two 20’ x 84’ bars. The second floor is rotated 15 degrees beyond ninety to respond to site conditions and animate the plan. Materials include a standing seam galvalume roof, native stone, and rain screen cedar siding. Feyerabend Photoartists

Design ideas for a southwestern drought-tolerant and partial sun backyard retaining wall landscape in San Diego.

Soapstone sink original to the propery was repurposed.
Beach style deck photo

A basement sports bar! In this house, is definitely a great addition. Also that you can watch mutliple games at once and keep everyone happy! No more expensive beers out at the busy bars, you can sit and relax and enjoy it all from home. Loving the detail of the decor sheet metal around the front of the raise bar top. Also that the bar stools are the same as what is in the kitchen, just a darker grey. Again bringing consistency throughout a home just brings all the rooms together, especially with the open concept home being so popular at this time.

Example of a transitional open concept dark wood floor and brown floor living room design in Atlanta with gray walls, a standard fireplace, a brick fireplace and a wall-mounted tv

Inspiration for a transitional kitchen remodel in Phoenix

John Dolan
Inspiration for a mid-sized contemporary formal and loft-style living room remodel in New York with yellow walls

This is an example of a mid-sized coastal drought-tolerant and partial sun side yard concrete paver and wood fence garden path in Tampa for summer.

This 5,000 square-foot project consisted of a new barn structure on a sloping waterfront property. The structure itself is tucked into the hillside to allow direct access to an upper level space by driveway. The forms and details of the barn are in keeping with the existing, century-old main residence, located down-slope, and adjacent to the water’s edge. The program included a lower-level three-bay garage, and an upper-level multi-use room both sporting polished concrete floors. Strong dedication to material quality and style provided the chance to introduce modern touches while maintaining the maturity of the site. Combining steel and timber framing brought the two styles together and offered the chance to utilize durable wood paneling on the interior and create an air-craft cable metal staircase linking the two levels. Whether using the space for work or play, this one-of-a-kind structure showcases all aspects of a personalized, functional barn. Photographer: MTA

Situated on the edge of New Hampshire’s beautiful Lake Sunapee, this Craftsman-style shingle lake house peeks out from the towering pine trees that surround it. When the clients approached Cummings Architects, the lot consisted of 3 run-down buildings. The challenge was to create something that enhanced the property without overshadowing the landscape, while adhering to the strict zoning regulations that come with waterfront construction. The result is a design that encompassed all of the clients’ dreams and blends seamlessly into the gorgeous, forested lake-shore, as if the property was meant to have this house all along. The ground floor of the main house is a spacious open concept that flows out to the stone patio area with fire pit. Wood flooring and natural fir bead-board ceilings pay homage to the trees and rugged landscape that surround the home. The gorgeous views are also captured in the upstairs living areas and third floor tower deck. The carriage house structure holds a cozy guest space with additional lake views, so that extended family and friends can all enjoy this vacation retreat together. Photo by Eric Roth

Photographer-Janet Mesic Mackie
Inspiration for a mid-sized transitional formal and enclosed carpeted living room remodel in Chicago with a standard fireplace, no tv and gray walls