Example of a 1950s pink tile multicolored floor and single-sink bathroom design in Los Angeles with an undermount tub, a vessel sink and a floating vanity

Handcrafted Log Convention and Conference Center
Example of a mountain style exterior home design in Other

Bathroom - modern bathroom idea in Atlanta

Home design - contemporary home design idea in Toronto

Maree Wilkinson
Inspiration for a contemporary entryway remodel in Hamilton

Chris Lovi
Craftsman exterior home idea in Philadelphia

This very large corner site was shrouded in tired and thirsty conventional lawn. Really a bland, uninteresting monoculture—impossible to maintain especially in light of our dwindling resources and our growing understanding about sustainable practices. We chose to approach this project not with the idea that existing lawn is bad, but with respect for what lawn has historically represented: a socially connective tissue. Instead of conventional grass requiring endlessly large amounts of water, chemicals and mowing, this lawn conversion shifts to a naturalistic native meadow mix splashed with wildflowers and drought tolerant native shrubs. It was the clients’ desire to be wrapped by a garden attracting native pollinators and beneficial insects. A wildlife photographer, they wanted the opportunity to open windows and doors and feel immediately connected to a coastal native environment. The handsome new stone walls, stairs and massive boulders became the structural framework containing the loose, coastal sage scrub plant community, holding the landscape together during the dormant months. As we continue to grow our acceptance of and appreciation for climate appropriate California gardens, and embrace the paradigm shift, let us graciously bid adieu to our home’s unsustainable velvet robe.

This North Dartmouth, MA homeowner is enjoying her beautiful year round sunroom! After years of wanting a sunny retreat for her home – this customer finally hired Care Free Homes to make that sunroom dream a reality! Featuring Low E Argon, insulated, double pane windows and a scenisunroom dartmouth, mac view of her backyard, the homeowner chose sliding windows (one active and one fixed) to invite a gentle breeze in warmer weather. A single, full view, thermal insulated passage door steps out to the backyard. Trapezoid openings are currently enclosed with insulated foam panels that can be upgraded to insulated glass in the future. Tongue and groove pine panels, installed both vertically and horizontally, were painted white to add a coastal New England flair. Past customers have also added the warmth of wood to their sunroom by opting for beautiful wood plank ceilings. To accommodate the homeowners request for a large sunroom, engineering required the construction of both a conventionally framed asphalt roof and an aluminum clad 6-inch foam filled structural roof panel. The conventionally framed roof is a GAF Timberline HD Lifetime roofing system which boasts a 50 year, factory registered warranty. (Interested in a GAF Timberline HD Lifetime roof? Learn more about the anatomy of a GAF roof with this blog.) This room features a non pro-rated, transferable 50 year structural warranty which adds value to the home by giving the next homeowner the same sense of security.

Photo: Janis Nicolay A partial renovation and complete furniture package for this home in Vancouver delivered modern and authentic spaces for a young family. The craftsman bones of the house were honoured and a 90’s fireplace was replaced with a modern version that blends into the wainscotting and allows the TV to be recessed above. Modern furniture and lighting were kept in a light neutral palette to emphasize the space and create a feeling of calm treasured after a busy day at the office. A mix of Italian and locally crafted pieces create a layered sense of home and a unique balance of sophistication and casualness. Falken Reynolds added a unique take on Holiday decorating for a feature in Western Living Magazine.

Handcrafted Log Convention and Conference Center
Rustic exterior home idea in Other

This elegant home by Alair Homes, Nanaimo, features our timber work in the main living area/great room, and the exterior covered deck. In the great room the timber system is structural, in that it supports the conventional truss system above, but it is not the primary roof structure. The exterior deck cover is a fully self-supporting timber system. We also provided the timber posts and braces to support the deck. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Builder: Alair Homes This elegant home by Alair Homes, Nanaimo, features our timber work in the main living area/great room, and the exterior covered deck. In the great room the timber system is structural, in that it supports the conventional truss system above, but it is not the primary roof structure. The exterior deck cover is a fully self-supporting timber system. We also provided the timber posts and braces to support the deck.

This elegant home by Alair Homes, Nanaimo, features our timber work in the main living area/great room, and the exterior covered deck. In the great room the timber system is structural, in that it supports the conventional truss system above, but it is not the primary roof structure. The exterior deck cover is a fully self-supporting timber system. We also provided the timber posts and braces to support the deck. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Builder: Alair Homes This elegant home by Alair Homes, Nanaimo, features our timber work in the main living area/great room, and the exterior covered deck. In the great room the timber system is structural, in that it supports the conventional truss system above, but it is not the primary roof structure. The exterior deck cover is a fully self-supporting timber system. We also provided the timber posts and braces to support the deck.

Handcrafted Log Convention and Conference Center
Rustic exterior home idea in Other

This very large corner site was shrouded in tired and thirsty conventional lawn. Really a bland, uninteresting monoculture—impossible to maintain especially in light of our dwindling resources and our growing understanding about sustainable practices. We chose to approach this project not with the idea that existing lawn is bad, but with respect for what lawn has historically represented: a socially connective tissue. Instead of conventional grass requiring endlessly large amounts of water, chemicals and mowing, this lawn conversion shifts to a naturalistic native meadow mix splashed with wildflowers and drought tolerant native shrubs. It was the clients’ desire to be wrapped by a garden attracting native pollinators and beneficial insects. A wildlife photographer, they wanted the opportunity to open windows and doors and feel immediately connected to a coastal native environment. The handsome new stone walls, stairs and massive boulders became the structural framework containing the loose, coastal sage scrub plant community, holding the landscape together during the dormant months. As we continue to grow our acceptance of and appreciation for climate appropriate California gardens, and embrace the paradigm shift, let us graciously bid adieu to our home’s unsustainable velvet robe.

Handcrafted Log Convention and Conference Center
Inspiration for a rustic home design remodel in Other

Richard Herman is in the hospitality business and owns several upscale hotels in Florida and in other states as well as cattle ranches in both Florida and Missouri. Their farm in Ocala is by farm their most unique. The property serves as a 4-H demonstration project for the purpose of children’s education. They have been working with the Academy Prep of St. Pete which is dedicated to inner-city youths that are selected on the basis of need and achievement. Wife Diane spends her time on the farm raising Gypsy Vanners, a diminutive draft horse named after the job they did in Eastern Europe, pulling the wagons (vans) for gypsies that wandered across the continent. On the Ocala farm, there are several mules with a unique profession. Richard had visited the Hearthstone display at a Log & Timber Home Shows at the Orlando Convention Center many years ago. He was impressed that Hearthstone had stayed in touch with him over the years by mailings, invitations to shows, and periodic phone calls. When the time came to start serious consideration of the design of barn, Hearthstone responded promptly and professionally to Richard and Diane’s requests for information and a review of their ideas for their barn, which would serve as the centerpiece for their new farm. They wanted a multipurpose facility that could accommodate an educational environment and a large hall suitable for the fundraising events for his charities. Richard wanted a barn that reflected the look and feel of barns built at the dawn of the 20th century. Besides the rustic chicken houses and vegetable gardens, they have completely renovated a 1020’s era farmhouse to be as historically correct as possible and serves as the entry to the farm. “They very careful to feel us out, get comfortable with our capabilities, and be convinced that we could perform as promised,” said Project Manager John Ricketson of Hearthstone. Design Process There were some initial drawings that gave us a start on the basic shape and size of the barn. From there, it was a process of narrowing down the uses of each area and the spans that could be achieved. The barn was going to have the traditional “board & batten” exterior siding and a metal roof. There is a cantilevered ‘hay hood” on the north gable end above the large sliding barn doors that open into the foyer and horse stalls. The wings house a combination of areas, beginning with the large restrooms to accommodate crowds for events. Other parts of the wings have garage areas for the farm vehicles, feed room, tack room, wash rack, storage, offices, and smaller restrooms. Keeping with the look and feel of the turn of the century, Hearthstone developed a process for giving the timbers a surface texture that mimicked the circular cuts of timbers that had just come out of an old sawmill. This was easier said than done. Randy Giles guided his millwright (Wolfgang) in designing a machine that would do this effectively. The barn was delivered in October of 2014 and was erected over the course of two weeks, thanks to a hardworking crew (Eric Foster) and near-perfect weather. After the Hearthstone crew completed the erection and roof dry-in, it was time for the local carpenters to step up and install some light conventional framing on the gable ends before applying the roof fascia and exterior board & batten siding. Next came the big sliding barn doors, plumbing, electrical, heating, and cooling. Large rustic fixtures were hung from the great hall roof timbers. Exterior The board & batten siding was cypress and allowed to turn color naturally as rain hit it and the sun started working on it with UV rays. This method causes a much grayer look closer to the ground and less so where the roof overhang provides protection. The North end has some large limestone boulders and planters arranged around the pad with tall pampas grass. The planters provide casual seating before events and during outside receptions. The entire area was sodded with lush St. Augustine grass and split rail fences were added to enclose the barn area. The corrugated metal roof was a special order material that immediately rusted after being exposed to moisture. The layer of rust protects the metal from the elements. Interior The board & batten theme was carried throughout most of the interior with the timbers left natural to show off the circular saw texture. All of the tongue & groove decking was shipped in advance to allow the local painter to pre-stain it with a dark brown transparent stain that is a beautiful background to the light color Eastern White Pine timbers. “Everything was unique in this project” said Project Manager John Ricketson. “The setting on a small demonstration farm close to Ocala, the multipurpose design, the circular saw texture on the timbers.” The Hermans are very proud of their farm’s outcome. Richard sent a note to Randy Giles, owner of Hearthstone: “The Barn is fantastic, not a single problem, period. Next month, we have Jo Dee Messina coming in to help with a fundraiser for a local center for abused kids. Folks love the farm, ...... but that barn gets all of the attention. I would encourage you to use me as a reference for your sales team, feel free to extend my cell phone to any prospective purchasers.”

Inspiration for a mid-sized timeless gender-neutral porcelain tile walk-in closet remodel in DC Metro with raised-panel cabinets

Located in a neighborhood characterized by traditional bungalow style single-family residences, Orange Grove is a new landmark for the City of West Hollywood. The building is sensitively designed and compatible with the neighborhood, but differs in material palette and scale from its neighbors. Referencing architectural conventions of modernism rather than the pitched roof forms of traditional domesticity, the project presents a characteristic that is consistent with the eclectic and often unconventional demographic of West Hollywood. Distinct from neighboring structures, the building creates a strong relationship to the street by virtue of its large amount of highly usable balcony area in the front façade. While there are dramatic and larger scale elements that define the building, it is also broken down into comprehensible human scale parts, and is itself broken down into two different buildings. Orange Grove displays a similar kind of iconoclasm as the Schindler House, an icon of California modernism, located a short distance away. Like the Schindler House, the conventional architectural elements of windows and porches become part of an abstract sculptural ensemble. At the Schindler House, windows are found in the gaps between structural concrete wall panels. At Orange Grove, windows are inserted in gaps between different sections of the building. The design of Orange Grove is generated by a subtle balance of tensions. Building volumes and the placement of windows, doors and balconies are not static but rather constitute an active three-dimensional composition in motion. Each piece of the building is a strong and clearly defined shape, such as the corrugated metal surround that encloses the second story balcony in the east and north facades. Another example of this clear delineation is the use of two square profile balcony surrounds in the front façade that set up a dialogue between them—one is small, the other large, one is open at the front, the other is veiled with stainless steel slats. At the same time each balcony is balanced and related to other elements in the building, the smaller one to the driveway gate below and the other to the roll-up door and first floor balcony. Each building element is intended to read as an abstract form in itself—such as a window becoming a slit or windows becoming a framed box, while also becoming part of a larger whole. Although this building may not mirror the status quo it answers to the desires of consumers in a burgeoning niche market who want large, simple interior volumes of space, and a paradigm based on space, light and industrial materials of the loft rather than the bungalow.

The SIX is a 52-unit affordable housing project provides a home, support services and rehabilitation for disabled veterans. It is located in the MacArthur Park area of Los Angeles. McArthur Park has one of the highest densities in the USA with over 38,000 people per square mile and a total population of 120,000 people in 2.72 square miles. Offering shelter and comfort, the SIX breaks the prescriptive mold of the traditional shelter by creating public and private "zones" in which private space is deemphasized, in favor of large public areas. The organization of the space is intended to transform the way people live-away from a reclusive, isolating layout towards a community-oriented, interactive space. The ground level contains offices, support spaces for the veterans, bike storage and parking while the second level has a large public courtyard. Surrounded by four levels of housing units with balconies wrapped with a wood screen made from recycle planking the courtyard has large openings with green roofs that visually connects the space to the street on the lower level beyond. This allows the tenants to enjoy a secured open space while still connecting to the larger community. The uppermost level has a green roof, large public patio and edible garden with panoramic views of the area. The SIX distinguishes itself from most conventionally developed projects in that it incorporates energy efficient measures that exceed standard practice, optimize building performance, and ensure reduced energy use during all phases of construction and occupancy. The planning and design emerged from close consideration and employment of passive design strategies. These strategies include: locating and orienting the building to control solar cooling loads; shaping and orienting the building for exposure to prevailing winds; shaping the building to induce buoyancy for natural ventilation; designing windows to maximize day lighting; shading south facing windows and minimizing west-facing glazing; designing windows to maximize natural ventilation; utilizing low flow fixtures and storm water management; shaping and planning the interior to enhance daylight and natural air flow distribution. These passive strategies alone make this building 50% more efficient than a conventionally designed structure.