Lincoln Farmhouse LEED-H Platinum, Net-Positive Energy OVERVIEW. This LEED Platinum certified modern farmhouse ties into the cultural landscape of Lincoln, Massachusetts - a town known for its rich history, farming traditions, conservation efforts, and visionary architecture. The goal was to design and build a new single family home on 1.8 acres that respects the neighborhood’s agrarian roots, produces more energy than it consumes, and provides the family with flexible spaces to live-play-work-entertain. The resulting 2,800 SF home is proof that families do not need to compromise on style, space or comfort in a highly energy-efficient and healthy home. CONNECTION TO NATURE. The attached garage is ubiquitous in new construction in New England’s cold climate. This home’s barn-inspired garage is intentionally detached from the main dwelling. A covered walkway connects the two structures, creating an intentional connection with the outdoors between auto and home. FUNCTIONAL FLEXIBILITY. With a modest footprint, each space must serve a specific use, but also be flexible for atypical scenarios. The Mudroom serves everyday use for the couple and their children, but is also easy to tidy up to receive guests, eliminating the need for two entries found in most homes. A workspace is conveniently located off the mudroom; it looks out on to the back yard to supervise the children and can be closed off with a sliding door when not in use. The Away Room opens up to the Living Room for everyday use; it can be closed off with its oversized pocket door for secondary use as a guest bedroom with en suite bath. NET POSITIVE ENERGY. The all-electric home consumes 70% less energy than a code-built house, and with measured energy data produces 48% more energy annually than it consumes, making it a 'net positive' home. Thick walls and roofs lack thermal bridging, windows are high performance, triple-glazed, and a continuous air barrier yields minimal leakage (0.27ACH50) making the home among the tightest in the US. Systems include an air source heat pump, an energy recovery ventilator, and a 13.1kW photovoltaic system to offset consumption and support future electric cars. ACTUAL PERFORMANCE. -6.3 kBtu/sf/yr Energy Use Intensity (Actual monitored project data reported for the firm’s 2016 AIA 2030 Commitment. Average single family home is 52.0 kBtu/sf/yr.) o 10,900 kwh total consumption (8.5 kbtu/ft2 EUI) o 16,200 kwh total production o 5,300 kwh net surplus, equivalent to 15,000-25,000 electric car miles per year. 48% net positive. WATER EFFICIENCY. Plumbing fixtures and water closets consume a mere 60% of the federal standard, while high efficiency appliances such as the dishwasher and clothes washer also reduce consumption rates. FOOD PRODUCTION. After clearing all invasive species, apple, pear, peach and cherry trees were planted. Future plans include blueberry, raspberry and strawberry bushes, along with raised beds for vegetable gardening. The house also offers a below ground root cellar, built outside the home's thermal envelope, to gain the passive benefit of long term energy-free food storage. RESILIENCY. The home's ability to weather unforeseen challenges is predictable - it will fare well. The super-insulated envelope means during a winter storm with power outage, heat loss will be slow - taking days to drop to 60 degrees even with no heat source. During normal conditions, reduced energy consumption plus energy production means shelter from the burden of utility costs. Surplus production can power electric cars & appliances. The home exceeds snow & wind structural requirements, plus far surpasses standard construction for long term durability planning. ARCHITECT: ZeroEnergy Design http://zeroenergy.com/lincoln-farmhouse CONTRACTOR: Thoughtforms http://thoughtforms-corp.com/ PHOTOGRAPHER: Chuck Choi http://www.chuckchoi.com/

Crisp profiles and advanced performance. | With its crisp profile and choice of faucet styles, Eurodisc Cosmopolitanensures advanced performance for the most design-conscious consumers. Look closer and you will appreciate the finer details – a forward-leaning body to entice interaction and perfectly chamfered edges. Naturally, the collection benefits from two leading GROHE technologies: GROHE SilkMove®for smooth and precise handling, and GROHE StarLight® for a deep luxurious chrome finish. | ShopStudio41.com

This project won in the 2013 Builders Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh Housing Excellence Award for Best Urban Renewal Renovation Project. The glass bowl was made in the glass studio owned by the owner which is adjacent to the residence. The mirror is a repurposed window. The door is repurposed from a boarding house. George Mendel

Example of a trendy kitchen design in New York

Photo: Robert Burns ˙© 2015 Houzz
Shed - industrial shed idea in Portland

With adjacent neighbors within a fairly dense section of Paradise Valley, Arizona, C.P. Drewett sought to provide a tranquil retreat for a new-to-the-Valley surgeon and his family who were seeking the modernism they loved though had never lived in. With a goal of consuming all possible site lines and views while maintaining autonomy, a portion of the house — including the entry, office, and master bedroom wing — is subterranean. This subterranean nature of the home provides interior grandeur for guests but offers a welcoming and humble approach, fully satisfying the clients requests. While the lot has an east-west orientation, the home was designed to capture mainly north and south light which is more desirable and soothing. The architecture’s interior loftiness is created with overlapping, undulating planes of plaster, glass, and steel. The woven nature of horizontal planes throughout the living spaces provides an uplifting sense, inviting a symphony of light to enter the space. The more voluminous public spaces are comprised of stone-clad massing elements which convert into a desert pavilion embracing the outdoor spaces. Every room opens to exterior spaces providing a dramatic embrace of home to natural environment. Grand Award winner for Best Interior Design of a Custom Home The material palette began with a rich, tonal, large-format Quartzite stone cladding. The stone’s tones gaveforth the rest of the material palette including a champagne-colored metal fascia, a tonal stucco system, and ceilings clad with hemlock, a tight-grained but softer wood that was tonally perfect with the rest of the materials. The interior case goods and wood-wrapped openings further contribute to the tonal harmony of architecture and materials. Grand Award Winner for Best Indoor Outdoor Lifestyle for a Home This award-winning project was recognized at the 2020 Gold Nugget Awards with two Grand Awards, one for Best Indoor/Outdoor Lifestyle for a Home, and another for Best Interior Design of a One of a Kind or Custom Home. At the 2020 Design Excellence Awards and Gala presented by ASID AZ North, Ownby Design received five awards for Tonal Harmony. The project was recognized for 1st place – Bathroom; 3rd place – Furniture; 1st place – Kitchen; 1st place – Outdoor Living; and 2nd place – Residence over 6,000 square ft. Congratulations to Claire Ownby, Kalysha Manzo, and the entire Ownby Design team. Tonal Harmony was also featured on the cover of the July/August 2020 issue of Luxe Interiors + Design and received a 14-page editorial feature entitled “A Place in the Sun” within the magazine.

Emily Hagopian, Leger Wanaselja Architecture
Inspiration for a contemporary full sun rooftop landscaping in San Francisco.

Renovated an optometry office into a casual quick service restaurant.
Minimalist home design photo in Denver

Photo: Ten Ten Creative
Wet bar - transitional single-wall dark wood floor and brown floor wet bar idea in Dallas with shaker cabinets, black cabinets, black backsplash, subway tile backsplash and gray countertops

This backsplash tile from Pratt & Larson was custom made for this kitchen. The client wanted something unique and traditional, but with a contemporary twist. The countertops are made of engineered quartz. Photo Credit: Jeff Freeman Photography (See his full gallery on Houzz.com)

Latch hardware in upper cabinets.
Inspiration for a mid-sized craftsman u-shaped medium tone wood floor eat-in kitchen remodel in San Francisco with a single-bowl sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, quartz countertops, green backsplash, ceramic backsplash, stainless steel appliances and a peninsula

Powder room with glam geometric wallpaper complimented with a vessel sink rustic vanity with riveted hardware. Counter top is quartz Viatera - Truffle. Mirror framed wall mirror. Ryan Hainey

Great room - tropical great room idea in Miami with white walls

We used: Custom cherry cabinetry in Arts & Crafts Shaker style by Kabinart in Boulder and Espresso stains. Liberty Hardware Venetian bronze 1-1/2" cabinet knobs. KitchenAid Architect II Series 22 CF counter-depth French door refrigerator. KitchenAid Architect Series II 27" convection single wall oven. KitchenAid 36" 6-burner dual fuel freestanding commercial-style range. KitchenAid Architect II Series 24" dishwasher. Sharp Insight Pro Series 24" built-in microwave drawer (Model #KB6524PS). Crystorama Solaris 12" wide pendant lights in English bronze. Granite countertops in Brown Fantasy. 3"x6" polished marble backsplash. Paint colors: Walls: Glidden Silver Cloud 30YY 63/024 Ceilings/Trims/Doors: Glidden Swan White GLC23 Robert B. Narod Photography

Meet the Pros: Sound Design To celebrate it's 20th anniversary, Sound Design built a 6,500-square-foot showroom in Horseshoe Bay, Texas to demo technology in a "relaxing, luxurious ambience that appeals to our local clientele." “We’ve learned a lot over the years, and our experience helped us design the new showroom in a way that presents a relaxing, luxurious ambience that appeals to our local clientele,” says Sound Design owner Chris Bean. “We used the best-of-the-best in every category, from the Runco 63-inch plasma TV framed and hidden by a VisionArt motorized art print to the ultra-high-end CAT MBX Sequoia speakers and of course the ELAN g! system.” The showroom’s entrance living room features A/V and lighting control from an Elan TS10 10-inch in-wall touchscreen, an Elan TS2 in-wall touchscreen and Elan HR2 handheld remote. The system distributes audio and video content to a system consisting of a Runco V63 63-inch plasma display, a Planar 2×3 Matrix Wall with six 46-inch panels, a Planar Mosaic wall with four 46-inch panels and four 15-inch square panels, a two-channel audio system that uses two 7-foot-tall CAT MBX Sequoia’s, and a surround system that includes an Integra DTR 50.4 receiver, Newport speakers and two Sunfire HRS-12 subwoofers. “Many of our clients are tech-savvy homeowners who have become mobile tech enthusiasts through their everyday interactions with iPhones and tablets, and they want that same instant satisfaction to apply to their household media and home functions,” says Bean. “Just a few years ago, the most common client request was for an amazing home theater to enjoy the newest DVDs or Blu-rays. Consumer culture is now moving beyond just high-quality audio and video and our clients are demanding easy, fast, total control of everything in the home from their touch panels, smartphone or tablet.” The most unique part of the new showroom, Bean says, will be the 640-square-foot simulation room, which is still under construction. Featuring AboutGolf’s newest three-projector continuous curve screen golf simulator, a LaserShot shooting simulator with five-channel surround and 30 competitive games for two players, and a VRX iMotion triple-LCD display driving & flight simulator, this room is a virtual playground. “The simulation room is a step forward for CI showroom design and for our company, and it allows us to open the imagination of our clients to show them that anything is possible,” says Bean. “Homeowners in Horseshoe Bay are all about recreation and a luxury lifestyle, so we wanted to show the unique ways people could enhance their home’s fun factor. From controlling lighting, heating and surveillance cameras on an iPhone to a hyper-realistic golf simulator that makes you feel like you’re really teeing off on the course, our Horseshoe Bay showroom is as state-of-the-art as it can be.” Sound Design also built a commercial-quality home theater that uses a Display Development HD3 projector, a 184-inch Stewart Filmscreen Luxus Deluxe screen, a Kaleidescape M300 player connected to a Kaleidescape CinemaOne server in the lobby, a Theta Casablanca III preamp/processor, Theta Compli-blu Blu-ray player, a PrimaCinema server, and a bevy of California Audio Technology speakers, subwoofers and amplifiers.

Photo: A Darling Felicity Photography © 2015 Houzz
Example of a mid-sized country porcelain tile mudroom design in Seattle with green walls

By Steve Crowe, March 08, 2013 Sound Design Builds State-of-the-Art Showroom for 20th Anniversary To celebrate it's 20th anniversary, Sound Design built a 6,500-square-foot showroom in Horseshoe Bay, Texas to demo technology in a "relaxing, luxurious ambience that appeals to our local clientele." Sound Design, a custom installer with offices in Horseshoe Bay and Lakeway, Texas, is celebrating its 20th anniversary in a big way: with the opening of a 4,500-square-foot showroom on April 1, 2013. The state-of-the-art space will be a “veritable candy land” that includes Elan g!, Planar, Runco, Sunfire and many more top-of-the-line brands. “We’ve learned a lot over the years, and our experience helped us design the new showroom in a way that presents a relaxing, luxurious ambience that appeals to our local clientele,” says Sound Design owner Chris Bean. “We used the best-of-the-best in every category, from the Runco 63-inch plasma TV framed and hidden by a VisionArt motorized art print to the ultra-high-end CAT MBX Sequoia speakers and of course the ELAN g! system.” The showroom’s entrance living room features A/V and lighting control from an Elan TS10 10-inch in-wall touchscreen, an Elan TS2 in-wall touchscreen and Elan HR2 handheld remote. The system distributes audio and video content to a system consisting of a Runco V63 63-inch plasma display, a Planar 2x3 Matrix Wall with six 46-inch panels, a Planar Mosaic wall with four 46-inch panels and four 15-inch square panels, a two-channel audio system that uses two 7-foot-tall CAT MBX Sequoia’s, and a surround system that includes an Integra DTR 50.4 receiver, Newport speakers and two Sunfire HRS-12 subwoofers. “Many of our clients are tech-savvy homeowners who have become mobile tech enthusiasts through their everyday interactions with iPhones and tablets, and they want that same instant satisfaction to apply to their household media and home functions,” says Bean. “Just a few years ago, the most common client request was for an amazing home theater to enjoy the newest DVDs or Blu-rays. Consumer culture is now moving beyond just high-quality audio and video and our clients are demanding easy, fast, total control of everything in the home from their touch panels, smartphone or tablet.” The most unique part of the new showroom, Bean says, will be the 640-square-foot simulation room, which is still under construction. Featuring AboutGolf’s newest three-projector continuous curve screen golf simulator, a LaserShot shooting simulator with five-channel surround and 30 competitive games for two players, and a VRX iMotion triple-LCD display driving & flight simulator, this room is a virtual playground. “The simulation room is a step forward for CI showroom design and for our company, and it allows us to open the imagination of our clients to show them that anything is possible,” says Bean. “Homeowners in Horseshoe Bay are all about recreation and a luxury lifestyle, so we wanted to show the unique ways people could enhance their home’s fun factor. From controlling lighting, heating and surveillance cameras on an iPhone to a hyper-realistic golf simulator that makes you feel like you’re really teeing off on the course, our Horseshoe Bay showroom is as state-of-the-art as it can be.” Sound Design also built a commercial-quality home theater that uses a Display Development HD3 projector, a 184-inch Stewart Filmscreen Luxus Delux screen, a Kaleidescape M300 player connected to a Kaleidescape CinemaOne server in the lobby, a Theta Casablanca III preamp/processor, Theta Compli-blu Blu-ray player, a PrimaCinema server, and a bevy of California Audio Technology speakers, subwoofers and amplifiers.

Rob Karosis
Example of a classic hallway design in New York

Photo: Nanette Wong © 2014 Houzz
Example of an eclectic home design design in San Francisco