Moss Garden: A Living Carpet of Tranquility A moss garden is a serene, low-maintenance landscape feature that evokes a profound sense of calm and natural beauty. Composed of vibrant, velvety mosses that thrive in shaded, humid environments, these gardens offer a soft, carpet-like groundcover that replaces traditional lawns or gravel with rich, green texture. At Westland Design, our moss gardens are thoughtfully integrated into the overall landscape to enhance a feeling of timelessness and stillness. Whether nestled beneath the canopy of trees, edging a stone pathway, or surrounding a tranquil water feature, moss brings subtle movement and color to quiet corners of the garden. Key qualities of a moss garden include: Evergreen softness: Moss provides lush, year-round greenery that requires no mowing or fertilizing. Quiet beauty: It absorbs sound, contributing to a peaceful, contemplative environment. Natural elegance: Ideal for Japanese-style gardens or woodland settings, moss complements stone, water, and wood elements with organic harmony. A moss garden is more than a design choice—it’s an invitation to slow down, observe closely, and appreciate nature’s quiet elegance.

Moss Garden: A Living Carpet of Tranquility A moss garden is a serene, low-maintenance landscape feature that evokes a profound sense of calm and natural beauty. Composed of vibrant, velvety mosses that thrive in shaded, humid environments, these gardens offer a soft, carpet-like groundcover that replaces traditional lawns or gravel with rich, green texture. At Westland Design, our moss gardens are thoughtfully integrated into the overall landscape to enhance a feeling of timelessness and stillness. Whether nestled beneath the canopy of trees, edging a stone pathway, or surrounding a tranquil water feature, moss brings subtle movement and color to quiet corners of the garden. Key qualities of a moss garden include: Evergreen softness: Moss provides lush, year-round greenery that requires no mowing or fertilizing. Quiet beauty: It absorbs sound, contributing to a peaceful, contemplative environment. Natural elegance: Ideal for Japanese-style gardens or woodland settings, moss complements stone, water, and wood elements with organic harmony. A moss garden is more than a design choice—it’s an invitation to slow down, observe closely, and appreciate nature’s quiet elegance.

In wanting to keep the 'farm house feel' with a modern edge, our homeowners out in Wind Gap, Pa loved what we did with their kitchen! Contemplating to do their kitchen for some time, they made the leap with Your Remodeling Guys to trust the project to, and they could not have been happier with the design and the time it took to complete!

A gate of delicate arcs leads into the garden. The new architecture provides many new vantage points to contemplate the garden.
This is an example of a craftsman landscaping in San Francisco.

This captivating photograph captures the ethereal beauty of a single dandelion seed floating against a blurred green background. The delicate fluff and intricate details of the seed are highlighted against the contrasting tones, creating a sense of fragility and fleeting beauty. This image evokes a feeling of hope, wishes, and the transient nature of time, making it a perfect addition to any space seeking a touch of natural wonder and peaceful contemplation. Available in a variety of formats, from art prints to canvases, this photograph can be easily incorporated into your home décor to create a calming and evocative atmosphere. For print options, please visit: https://pipafineart.com/pages/modern-botanical-art-prints-blowing-in-the-wind-botanical-nature-photograph-wall-art-prints

A relaxing space to contemplate everything and nothing. We hope everyone enjoys this holiday weekend. (Photo by RStarovich)
This is an example of a mid-sized traditional shade backyard stone landscaping in Chicago for spring.

After 2 years of painstaking attention and weeding, the blue flax waves in the meadow and the aspens seem happy.
Trendy exterior home photo in Denver

The Belmont's upstairs balcony is a captivating retreat that offers both tranquility and a beautiful view. With its white walls and beige carpet, the balcony exudes a sense of elegance and serenity. Positioned overlooking the entry, it provides a unique vantage point to appreciate the stunning chandelier that graces the space below. Whether enjoying a morning cup of coffee, indulging in a good book, or simply taking in the surrounding scenery, the balcony offers a peaceful escape from the hustle and bustle of daily life. Its neutral color palette and inviting atmosphere create an ideal setting for relaxation and contemplation. The combination of white walls, beige carpet, and the enchanting chandelier makes the Belmont's upstairs balcony a truly special place where one can unwind and appreciate the beauty of their surroundings.

Strinkingly simple, day or night, this two-spillway rock water wall provides a quiet, contemplative setting for a morning cup of Joe.
Photo of a mid-sized side yard landscaping in Orange County.

Inspiration for an asian landscaping in Vancouver.

Zen enSuite Bath + Steam Shower Portland, OR type: remodel credits design: Matthew O. Daby - m.o.daby design interior design: Angela Mechaley - m.o.daby design construction: Hayes Brothers Construction photography: Kenton Waltz - KLIK Concepts While the floorplan of their primary bath en-suite functioned well, the clients desired a private, spa-like retreat & finishes that better reflected their taste. Guided by existing Japanese & mid-century elements of their home, the materials and rhythm were chosen to contribute to a contemplative and relaxing environment. One of the major upgrades was incorporating a steam shower to lend to their spa experience. Existing dark, drab cabinets that protruded into the room too deep, were replaced with a custom, white oak slatted vanity & matching linen cabinet. The lighter wood & the additional few inches gained in the walkway opened the space up visually & physically. The slatted rhythm provided visual interest through texture & depth. Custom concrete countertops with integrated, ramp sinks were selected for their wabi-sabi, textural quality & ability to have a single-material, seamless transition from countertop to sink basin with no presence of a traditional drain. The darker grey color was chosen to contrast with the cabinets but also to recede from the darker patination of the backsplash tile & matched to the grout. A pop of color highlights the backsplash pulling green from the canopy of trees seen out the window. The tile offers subtle texture & pattern reminiscent of a raked, zen, sand garden (karesansui gardens). XL format tile in a warm, sandy tone with stone effect was selected for all floor & shower wall tiles, minimizing grout lines. A deeper, textured tile accents the back shower wall, highlighted with wall-wash recessed lighting.

This is an example of a mid-sized transitional backyard landscaping in Vancouver.

This half bath was converted into a full bath by adding a shower and changing the location of the existing fixtures. Now these homeowners have a first floor bedroom/bath space. 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 Michael Eric Berube, Maine Virtual Home Tours

Rustic and refined meet to give a mountaintop home in Portola Valley, California, classic charm. They say the best things in life come to those who wait. So when a Bay Area couple purchased a rare set of adjoining lots overlooking Windy Hill in Portola Valley, they made frequent visits to the site where they absorbed the views while listening to the land as they contemplated building a home there. The intent: to create a home that would celebrate the scenic beauty of the San Mateo County region. Long before the design process began, the couple committed themselves to preserving as many trees on the land as possible. These trees, two majestic, centuries-old Blue Oaks in particular, ultimately became the impetus for the home’s orientation and the inspiration for its design. Detailed discussions and brainstorming sessions led the owners to discover their own unique tastes: “cozy” and “rustic“ while “contemporary, but not minimal.” The result? Sophisticated style comprised of simple, honest materials.

"About this Home: This custom luxury home isn't just a house; it's an homage to the art of coastal living. Offering over 2,500 square feet of meticulously crafted living space, three bedrooms, and three bathrooms, this residence is an invitation to the timeless allure of coastal life. One of the standout features of this home is the screened porch, a tranquil oasis that invites you to embrace the coastal breeze and the soothing sounds of nature. It's here that you can savor the beauty of the outdoors while being sheltered from the elements—an ideal spot for relaxation and contemplation. MMD is a member of the Certified Luxury Builders Network. Certified Luxury Builders is a network of leading custom home builders and luxury home and condo remodelers who create 5-Star experiences for luxury home and condo owners from New York to Los Angeles and Boston to Naples. As a Certified Luxury Builder, MMD is proud to feature photos of select projects from our members around the country to inspire you with design ideas. Please feel free to contact the specific Certified Luxury Builder with any questions or inquiries you may have about their projects. Please visit www.CLBNetwork.com for a directory of CLB members featured on Houzz and their contact information."

Inspiration for a craftsman landscaping in Vancouver.

Inspiration for an asian landscaping in Vancouver.

We created an urban jungle with colorful flowering edges.
This is an example of a mid-sized craftsman partial sun backyard formal garden in New York with decking.

The Treehouse serves as an artist’s studio. The natural light filtering through the northern, woodchip wall provides excellent illumination for art production. The space is divided into three platforms that respond to three functions: entrance, art production, and research/reading/contemplation. The structure is positioned at the threshold of a forest and a field. In one direction a horizontal window frames a green pasture, in the other direction vertical windows frame the forest of trees.