This piece of furniture was incredibly fun to build and help design. We partnered with the talented Christine Harris of Tracy Lynn Studios who had the vision of colors, textures and dimensions. We sat down together and helped her finalize her vision, supporting structure and proportions in CAD. The result was a one of a kind piece that was so much fun to build and admire once complete. The chartreuse high polished lacquer finish gives it a playful and retro feel. The inside is lined with a beautiful Pierre Frey wallpaper. The colors are complimented by remote control, recessed LED lights. We concealed the battery power pack inside a soft close drawer so there are not any unsightly cords running down the wall. Since our client is a connoisseur of fine spirits, we wanted to give him a place to make his drinks right where he stores them. So we created a walnut and black limba end grain cutting board pullout for him to enjoy. The Soss brass hinges allow the beveled glass panel doors to bi-fold and simultaneously expose a nice detail of the building process. The brass supports that hold the glass shelving are like icing on the cake of this creative piece. The Barber Bar Cabinet stands 90 inches tall and 4 feet wide and is made of solid hardwood. To give it the structure it needed to support a completely stocked bar of heavy glass bottles, we laced section between the cabinet and the base with 1x4 steel tubing. We also did a steel mortise bar stretcher between each leg and then welded a steel bar between the legs to keep the legs from racking. This piece was an incredibly challenging piece to build but we couldn’t be happier with how this turned out and our clients felt the same!

M-S Pro Architects announce the completion of an indoor swimming pool in a state-of-the-art, single storey family home set in a picturesque location on the outskirts of Bratislava - one of Europe’s youngest capital cities. Kebony, a beautiful wood recommended by leading architects, was chosen to craft the ceiling of the swimming pool, which is designed to emulate rippling waves as well as for the terrace deck and structural beams. Sustainability and a desire to recreate the close proximity often seen between wood and water in the natural environment were primary focuses in the design of this project. This led a requirement for a low maintenance wood, compatible humidity and with advanced durability, for the swimming pool ceiling. In addition, a high level of precision when cutting the wood was required in order to achieve the desired appearance of waves. Supplied by Leading Market, Kebony was carefully selected for the pool ceiling, which consists of 490 lamellae of timber, due to its versatility, durability and environmental credentials. Kebony was also installed throughout the exterior of this property, both for the spacious outdoor terrace and the exterior and interior beams. One of the reasons to choose Kebony was the unified look of wood in all these different applications. Developed in Norway, the patented Kebony technology uses an environmentally friendly process, which permanently enhances the properties of sustainable softwood with a bio-based liquid derived from agricultural crop waste. By polymerising the wood’s cell wall with furfuryl alcohol, the wood gains greatly improved durability and dimensional stability, giving it characteristics similar to those of tropical hardwood. In creating a wood with comparable properties to tropical hardwood that can be grown in a FSC certified, sustainably managed forest, the demand for tropical woods is reduced, allowing timber to once again be an important part of sustainable construction. Tomáš Hubinský, Lead Architect at M-S Pro, commented: “From conception through to completion, the creation of this ceiling has been a real feat. Despite the challenges faced by such an intricate design, Kebony was the perfect material to convey our desired effect of waves rippling along the ceiling. We will continue to incorporate Kebony into our interior and exterior designs, with wood fast becoming the first choice material for all architects.” Mette Valen, Sales Manager Norway at Kebony, explained: “The distinctive nature of this design cleverly portrays the capability of Kebony, demonstrating both the aesthetic and performance qualities of the product. We would be honoured to work with M-S Pro in the future and look forward to seeing how they utilise Kebony in their future projects.”

This proposal is for a new two-story home on the vacant heavily wooded lot with an existing 150-foot-long driveway lined by several beautiful oak trees culminating in a behemoth 43-inch oak tree where the driveway meets the main lot. The far end of the driveway terminates in a grove of three 43/40/43-inch redwoods and at the very center of the vacant lot stands a gargantuan V-twin 59-inch redwood tree paired with a “small” 29-inch redwood tree. The owners want to build a beautiful contemporary-styled home for their family that fully enjoys and embraces the mature trees on their cozy 65-foot by 100-foot lot. As with all small, constrained lots, this project’s site design started first with meeting the relatively large parking and car maneuvering requirements. Menlo Park’s Department of Transportation typically requires side-facing garages to have 24-feet of backup space. So that they could give the largest feature redwood tree on site an added four feet (50%) of clearance outside of its critical root zone, the owners agreed to install a vehicle turntable at the end of their driveway to eliminate the extra four feet of space needed to back up and turnaround. This allowed them to pull their garage forward an additional four feet towards the front property line on the panhandle side, drastically reducing the rest of the home’s impact on the gargantuan V-Twin paired redwood tree at the center of the lot. One of the owners has mobility issues, and accordingly, they first sought to design a one-story floor plan that incorporated all their family’s needs including plenty of covered patio and deck space to enjoy our fantastic California weather. But that single-story footprint spread too far into the critical root zones of several of the redwood trees on site, even despite the use of the vehicle turntable. During my interview process with the owners, they made it clear to me that one of their primary concerns is ensuring that the largest trees on site would thrive and become features of their new home after construction is complete. The single-story designs that removed the grove of three huge redwood trees were non-starters, as was the skimpy 5x10 master bath I designed when trying to squeeze the whole house program into an overly compromised single-story design. It was therefore deemed necessary to go with a two-story design despite the owner’s mobility issues. This two-story design has a much more compact ground floor footprint and has no bedrooms downstairs, other than the detached ADU. The owners must give up the floor area and incur the costs to install a residential elevator to access their upstairs master suite. Our ground floor footprint is smaller due to the two-story design decision, and our foundation is pulled away from the trees thanks to the vehicle turntable. Yet, a tiny portion of the home’s ground floor footprint still encroaches into the critical root zones of the largest 59” redwood tree. Therefore, as outlined in the Arborist Report prepared by Aesculus Arboricultural Consulting, the structural engineers are incorporating an array of drilled piers and shallow-grade beams for the main home’s foundation and deck area nearest the redwood’s critical root zone. This drilled piers and grade beam foundation is a type of “bridging” foundation as outlined in Aesculus’ report to preserve the health of these trees that the property was designed around. The rest of the foundation will be constructed as an insulated slab-on-grade foundation to minimize the number of steps and ramps needed for the owners to enjoy their home and patio areas. Despite the owner’s desire to keep as many trees as possible on site, and despite the smaller ground floor footprint and the advantage of the vehicle turntable, the need for a 20x20-foot garage and 20x20/25-foot guest parking space on our panhandle lot requires the removal of two heritage trees in the required driveway, a 16” coast redwood, and a 17” coast redwood. An alternate design, such as swapping the garage and guest parking locations north-to-south, still requires the removal of these two trees for vehicle maneuvering but has the added disadvantage of cutting off the home’s sightlines to the behemoth 43” oak tree just outside the currently proposed front patio space and living room. Jim Redman of Elements Landscape is proposing 13 new trees be planted on site to replace the lost value of these two heritage coast redwood trees. This contemporary architectural design features clean lines, and an abundance of full-height windows and large skylights to best take in the immense trees on site. To blend in with the forest-like setting, the home boasts a mix of rich textures and features a color palette of natural wood tones contrasted with dark blue and black. Once through the new steel gate at the street and down the 150-foot tree-lined driveway, a large covered front patio becomes visible past the neighbor’s detached accessory structure. The covered patio is just across the driveway from the beautiful 43” behemoth coast live oak. The single plane of the covered patio roof is delicately supported by a pair of steel posts in a “V-twin” configuration much like the largest redwood trees that tower over the center of the lot and will still be visible above the new two-story home, even from the front yard. The patio is covered in a dark-colored standing seam roof, with steel C-channel fascias, and tongue-and-groove wood ceiling planks on the underside. Generously sized skylights on the patio roof and inside the living area allow for impressive views of the amazing oak canopy as well as precious natural light. Supporting the sloped covered patio on the other side is the two-car garage with a secondary bedroom suite stacked above the garage. This two-story volume is to be clad in vertical clear-coated redwood siding, to tie in with the grove of three 43-inch redwood trees just beyond. The garage door, and the bank of windows for Bedroom#2 above feature a steel fascia eyebrow header feature to provide shade and overhang protection, as we are not proposing a large overhang at this “redwood trunk”. The garage and bedroom volume are pulled 16 feet away from the side property line, instead of the minimum required setback of 6’-6”, thus leaving plenty of room for the redwood grove and existing mature pear tree to continue to thrive. This existing mature green screen in this 16-foot-wide side yard is a feature worth soaking in, which is why tall windows with low sill heights are proposed for both the stairs and the upstairs hallway. Though it may be infrequent to approve side-facing 2nd floor windows with sill heights as low as what we’re proposing, we are confident that the mature green screen and the over 16-foot-wide side yard are sufficient to provide for the continued privacy of our neighbor’s rear yard space, especially considering theses windows are in walkway zones. The covered patio at the front entry is also bound by the 10-foot-tall living room. The great room is clad in a dark blue brick veneer, which wraps around all three sides of the living room. Upon entering the home from the covered patio, you are immediately greeted with one of the most impressive features of the home’s design: a 10-foot-tall by 24-foot-wide set of sliding glass doors. From the entry, this huge opening gives merely an initial glimpse of the massive trunks of the gargantuan V-twin redwoods sitting at the center of the lot. All three sliding glass panels open directly out into the smaller partially covered deck in the rear. This roof overhang element matches the design of the front patio with a steel C-channel fascia and a large skylight. But the rear deck’s roof element is set flat at a ten-foot ceiling height so that the living room’s ceiling seems to float above and out beyond the expanse of full-height sliding doors, thus creating an indoor-outdoor living space that will feel much larger than the home’s actual footprint. This rear covered deck is smaller than the patio in the front and also has a mix of solid and open-slatted roofing to allow for more solar access for the relatively small amount of open sky available. The downstairs living room is open to the dining and kitchen areas, as well as the stair-and-elevator tower beyond. The stair tower is very open and glassy, and the stairs wind up and around the redwood-clad elevator tower. From certain perspectives in the 16-foot-wide side yard, it will almost seem as if the grove of three redwoods has a fourth tree that the house and the stairs were carefully built around. Other than the 3-foot-wide windows, the exterior walls of the stair tower, downstairs utility spaces, and Bedroom#3 above are finished in cement plaster, painted dark blue and black. The sloped roof over the stair-and-elevator tower continues cleanly over the area of upstairs Bedroom#3. This roof level is set by the side daylight plane and only yields an inside wall height of just under 6 feet in height. The owners are satisfied that the rest of this upstairs room has a nice vaulted ceiling to make up for the one short wall under the daylight plane. The rest of the ground floor adjacent to the stair tower consists of a small utility wing containing a half-bath, laundry, storage area, and an exterior alcove for the electric heat pump HVAC unit. This short wing also gives more accessible access to the rear yard deck, as well as a backdrop for an outdoor kitchen. The bright white stone backsplash for the outdoor kitchen provides contrast to the otherwise consistent use of cement plaster painted dark blue and black for the two-story wing closest to the detached ADU. Though Bedroom#3 is stacked directly above this small wing, it is relatively short to comply with the side daylight plane of this narrow lot. Still, to further help break up the scale of this wall, another steel fascia eyebrow element is set about 8 feet above the rear deck. The master suite sits centered above the ten-foot-tall great room. The master bedroom and its balcony, as well as the master bathtub area, have a commanding view of the central redwood trees and their impressive canopy, though the balcony is mostly recessed and should pose no privacy concerns to the neighbor’s rear yards. The master balcony parapet is clad in the same brick veneer continuing up from the living room below. A dark-painted metal rail makes up the rest of the open guardrail height. The entire length of the master balcony is comprised of 9-foot-tall sliding glass doors, but the area above the doors, as well as the area below the master bathroom windows, is accented with more redwood siding. The remainder of the master suite bathroom and walk-in closet is finished in cement plaster painted dark blue. The master bathroom has one side yard-facing window but will be frosted glass for both the owner’s and the neighbor’s privacy. The 2nd floor is capped under a simple gable roof design with one roof ridge and varying eave and rake overhangs depending on the 2nd-floor layout and solar orientation. Since these roof planes are quite difficult to see in the middle of the heavily wooded panhandle lot, we are proposing a white TPO roofing for these two upper roof planes as a more sustainable choice compared to more dark-colored roofing like the covered patios and detached ADU. The owners also wish to build a detached 292-square-foot Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) as an office and guest suite. For the ADU foundation to be situated outside the central redwood tree’s critical root zone, this relatively tiny structure takes advantage of the narrower 4-foot side and rear setbacks allowed for ADUs smaller than 800 square feet. The small L-shaped detached ADU frames a wonderful quasi-courtyard around the gargantuan V-twin redwoods at the center of the lot. The ADU shares a matching material palette consisting of cement plaster painted blue and black, vertical redwood siding and soffits, and thin brick veneer. The ADU also features large full-height windows. The only difference between the main home and the ADU material palette is that the roofing will be a dark composition shingle roofing since it will be quite visible from the master balcony.

Our Chateau Collection consists of cut/sawn/chopped or hand selected stone that is placed in a tumbler which rotates the stones against each other. This tumbling process produces a variety of edges including smooth, softened and rounded edging finishes.

Hallmark Floors Courtier Sovereign, Oak Premium Vinyl Flooring is 7" wide and was created to replicate contemporary hardwood floors. The innovative process provides the most natural wood visuals and textures – you won’t believe it isn’t real wood. The depth of color in this diverse collection is unlike any other vinyl flooring product, but it’s still completely waterproof, durable, easy to clean, FloorScore Certified and made using 100% pure virgin vinyl. Courtier PVP is the most elegant and dependable wood alternative. Courtier has a 20 mil wear layer is 100% waterproof and is built with Purcore Ultra. The EZ Loc installation system makes it easy to install and provides higher locking integrity. The higher density of the floor provides greater comfort for feet and spine. Courtier is healthy and certified, contains no formaldehyde, has neutral VOC and Micro Nanocontrol technology effectively kills micro organisms.

The once dark wood paneled kitchen was removed to create this bright, open, kitchen. We relocated the basement stair in the process which cut through the kitchen were the current mechanical room door is located to the left.

There were some druthers with the kitchen and there was a desire to make certain rooms more grown-up again. Unlike some of our clients who get rid of their formal dining rooms, this family wanted to keep theirs. They saw it as good space for entertaining and doing work – why not make it more stylish and purposeful? THE REMODEL Design Objectives Keep the craftsman style of the home but make it more modern Update the dining room to be more formal for entertaining and provide storage for china, stemware, wine, etc. Open up the kitchen to improve flow Incorporate new decorative lighting throughout the home to accent the home’s style Transform the staircase into a statement piece that greets visitors – redesign it with arts & crafts details in the balusters, newel posts and handrails Design Challenges: Open up the dining room window for more light and a better view of the backyard. The previous window felt closed in with heavy shutters. Improve kitchen flow without making the footprint larger Make the entire home feel updated and cohesive while staying true to the house’s style. THE RENEWED SPACES We bumped out the dining room window to make a new bay window. The glass mullion design mimics the craftsman style, setting the tone for the room while letting plenty of light in. It really opened up that end of the dining room. The view of the backyard is much bigger now, too. It’s also a great nook for playing board games, doing puzzles and playing with Legos. We actually got rid of a walk-in pantry that had cut off a corner of the kitchen, and were able to keep all the main walls intact. The old pantry room is where the fridge is now, as well as a tall pantry cabinet, some additional cabinets and a new countertop surface. The flow is much better and it’s roomy now, with a kitchen table that’s great for informal meals, homework and kids seating when adults are entertaining in the dining room. The cabinet, tile and countertop colors are still neutral but offer a more muted palette. To bring in the craftsman style, simple architectural details were added such as the hood and window valance, decorative furniture toes, a shaker door on the perimeter cabinets and a more modern cabinet door style on the island, pantry and refrigerator areas. New decorative lighting was added in the kitchen, dining room, living room, foyer and second-floor hallway to make the entire first floor feel updated. Also, the entire staircase was revamped. The existing hardwood was kept in place but stained medium brown to bring in some warmth. “The Drury process made this project turn out better than we imagined,” one of the homeowners told us during the final photoshoot. “There were so many features we didn’t know about – like charging drawers – and ways of going about the remodel that didn’t come to us naturally. We’re so glad Alicia had so much experience and so many checklists. We got to think through everything and arrive at the best possible design for our family.”

Step into a custom Modern home we designed for a client in the Mercer Island area. This home offers a lighter warm palette with large windows and an open feel. Flat panel cabinets were chosen in the design process along with ledge cut stone for the fireplace and a large kitchen with stainless steel appliances. Photography: Layne Freedle

This proposal is for a new two-story home on the vacant heavily wooded lot with an existing 150-foot-long driveway lined by several beautiful oak trees culminating in a behemoth 43-inch oak tree where the driveway meets the main lot. The far end of the driveway terminates in a grove of three 43/40/43-inch redwoods and at the very center of the vacant lot stands a gargantuan V-twin 59-inch redwood tree paired with a “small” 29-inch redwood tree. The owners want to build a beautiful contemporary-styled home for their family that fully enjoys and embraces the mature trees on their cozy 65-foot by 100-foot lot. As with all small, constrained lots, this project’s site design started first with meeting the relatively large parking and car maneuvering requirements. Menlo Park’s Department of Transportation typically requires side-facing garages to have 24-feet of backup space. So that they could give the largest feature redwood tree on site an added four feet (50%) of clearance outside of its critical root zone, the owners agreed to install a vehicle turntable at the end of their driveway to eliminate the extra four feet of space needed to back up and turnaround. This allowed them to pull their garage forward an additional four feet towards the front property line on the panhandle side, drastically reducing the rest of the home’s impact on the gargantuan V-Twin paired redwood tree at the center of the lot. One of the owners has mobility issues, and accordingly, they first sought to design a one-story floor plan that incorporated all their family’s needs including plenty of covered patio and deck space to enjoy our fantastic California weather. But that single-story footprint spread too far into the critical root zones of several of the redwood trees on site, even despite the use of the vehicle turntable. During my interview process with the owners, they made it clear to me that one of their primary concerns is ensuring that the largest trees on site would thrive and become features of their new home after construction is complete. The single-story designs that removed the grove of three huge redwood trees were non-starters, as was the skimpy 5x10 master bath I designed when trying to squeeze the whole house program into an overly compromised single-story design. It was therefore deemed necessary to go with a two-story design despite the owner’s mobility issues. This two-story design has a much more compact ground floor footprint and has no bedrooms downstairs, other than the detached ADU. The owners must give up the floor area and incur the costs to install a residential elevator to access their upstairs master suite. Our ground floor footprint is smaller due to the two-story design decision, and our foundation is pulled away from the trees thanks to the vehicle turntable. Yet, a tiny portion of the home’s ground floor footprint still encroaches into the critical root zones of the largest 59” redwood tree. Therefore, as outlined in the Arborist Report prepared by Aesculus Arboricultural Consulting, the structural engineers are incorporating an array of drilled piers and shallow-grade beams for the main home’s foundation and deck area nearest the redwood’s critical root zone. This drilled piers and grade beam foundation is a type of “bridging” foundation as outlined in Aesculus’ report to preserve the health of these trees that the property was designed around. The rest of the foundation will be constructed as an insulated slab-on-grade foundation to minimize the number of steps and ramps needed for the owners to enjoy their home and patio areas. Despite the owner’s desire to keep as many trees as possible on site, and despite the smaller ground floor footprint and the advantage of the vehicle turntable, the need for a 20x20-foot garage and 20x20/25-foot guest parking space on our panhandle lot requires the removal of two heritage trees in the required driveway, a 16” coast redwood, and a 17” coast redwood. An alternate design, such as swapping the garage and guest parking locations north-to-south, still requires the removal of these two trees for vehicle maneuvering but has the added disadvantage of cutting off the home’s sightlines to the behemoth 43” oak tree just outside the currently proposed front patio space and living room. Jim Redman of Elements Landscape is proposing 13 new trees be planted on site to replace the lost value of these two heritage coast redwood trees. This contemporary architectural design features clean lines, and an abundance of full-height windows and large skylights to best take in the immense trees on site. To blend in with the forest-like setting, the home boasts a mix of rich textures and features a color palette of natural wood tones contrasted with dark blue and black. Once through the new steel gate at the street and down the 150-foot tree-lined driveway, a large covered front patio becomes visible past the neighbor’s detached accessory structure. The covered patio is just across the driveway from the beautiful 43” behemoth coast live oak. The single plane of the covered patio roof is delicately supported by a pair of steel posts in a “V-twin” configuration much like the largest redwood trees that tower over the center of the lot and will still be visible above the new two-story home, even from the front yard. The patio is covered in a dark-colored standing seam roof, with steel C-channel fascias, and tongue-and-groove wood ceiling planks on the underside. Generously sized skylights on the patio roof and inside the living area allow for impressive views of the amazing oak canopy as well as precious natural light. Supporting the sloped covered patio on the other side is the two-car garage with a secondary bedroom suite stacked above the garage. This two-story volume is to be clad in vertical clear-coated redwood siding, to tie in with the grove of three 43-inch redwood trees just beyond. The garage door, and the bank of windows for Bedroom#2 above feature a steel fascia eyebrow header feature to provide shade and overhang protection, as we are not proposing a large overhang at this “redwood trunk”. The garage and bedroom volume are pulled 16 feet away from the side property line, instead of the minimum required setback of 6’-6”, thus leaving plenty of room for the redwood grove and existing mature pear tree to continue to thrive. This existing mature green screen in this 16-foot-wide side yard is a feature worth soaking in, which is why tall windows with low sill heights are proposed for both the stairs and the upstairs hallway. Though it may be infrequent to approve side-facing 2nd floor windows with sill heights as low as what we’re proposing, we are confident that the mature green screen and the over 16-foot-wide side yard are sufficient to provide for the continued privacy of our neighbor’s rear yard space, especially considering theses windows are in walkway zones. The covered patio at the front entry is also bound by the 10-foot-tall living room. The great room is clad in a dark blue brick veneer, which wraps around all three sides of the living room. Upon entering the home from the covered patio, you are immediately greeted with one of the most impressive features of the home’s design: a 10-foot-tall by 24-foot-wide set of sliding glass doors. From the entry, this huge opening gives merely an initial glimpse of the massive trunks of the gargantuan V-twin redwoods sitting at the center of the lot. All three sliding glass panels open directly out into the smaller partially covered deck in the rear. This roof overhang element matches the design of the front patio with a steel C-channel fascia and a large skylight. But the rear deck’s roof element is set flat at a ten-foot ceiling height so that the living room’s ceiling seems to float above and out beyond the expanse of full-height sliding doors, thus creating an indoor-outdoor living space that will feel much larger than the home’s actual footprint. This rear covered deck is smaller than the patio in the front and also has a mix of solid and open-slatted roofing to allow for more solar access for the relatively small amount of open sky available. The downstairs living room is open to the dining and kitchen areas, as well as the stair-and-elevator tower beyond. The stair tower is very open and glassy, and the stairs wind up and around the redwood-clad elevator tower. From certain perspectives in the 16-foot-wide side yard, it will almost seem as if the grove of three redwoods has a fourth tree that the house and the stairs were carefully built around. Other than the 3-foot-wide windows, the exterior walls of the stair tower, downstairs utility spaces, and Bedroom#3 above are finished in cement plaster, painted dark blue and black. The sloped roof over the stair-and-elevator tower continues cleanly over the area of upstairs Bedroom#3. This roof level is set by the side daylight plane and only yields an inside wall height of just under 6 feet in height. The owners are satisfied that the rest of this upstairs room has a nice vaulted ceiling to make up for the one short wall under the daylight plane. The rest of the ground floor adjacent to the stair tower consists of a small utility wing containing a half-bath, laundry, storage area, and an exterior alcove for the electric heat pump HVAC unit. This short wing also gives more accessible access to the rear yard deck, as well as a backdrop for an outdoor kitchen. The bright white stone backsplash for the outdoor kitchen provides contrast to the otherwise consistent use of cement plaster painted dark blue and black for the two-story wing closest to the detached ADU. Though Bedroom#3 is stacked directly above this small wing, it is relatively short to comply with the side daylight plane of this narrow lot. Still, to further help break up the scale of this wall, another steel fascia eyebrow element is set about 8 feet above the rear deck. The master suite sits centered above the ten-foot-tall great room. The master bedroom and its balcony, as well as the master bathtub area, have a commanding view of the central redwood trees and their impressive canopy, though the balcony is mostly recessed and should pose no privacy concerns to the neighbor’s rear yards. The master balcony parapet is clad in the same brick veneer continuing up from the living room below. A dark-painted metal rail makes up the rest of the open guardrail height. The entire length of the master balcony is comprised of 9-foot-tall sliding glass doors, but the area above the doors, as well as the area below the master bathroom windows, is accented with more redwood siding. The remainder of the master suite bathroom and walk-in closet is finished in cement plaster painted dark blue. The master bathroom has one side yard-facing window but will be frosted glass for both the owner’s and the neighbor’s privacy. The 2nd floor is capped under a simple gable roof design with one roof ridge and varying eave and rake overhangs depending on the 2nd-floor layout and solar orientation. Since these roof planes are quite difficult to see in the middle of the heavily wooded panhandle lot, we are proposing a white TPO roofing for these two upper roof planes as a more sustainable choice compared to more dark-colored roofing like the covered patios and detached ADU. The owners also wish to build a detached 292-square-foot Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) as an office and guest suite. For the ADU foundation to be situated outside the central redwood tree’s critical root zone, this relatively tiny structure takes advantage of the narrower 4-foot side and rear setbacks allowed for ADUs smaller than 800 square feet. The small L-shaped detached ADU frames a wonderful quasi-courtyard around the gargantuan V-twin redwoods at the center of the lot. The ADU shares a matching material palette consisting of cement plaster painted blue and black, vertical redwood siding and soffits, and thin brick veneer. The ADU also features large full-height windows. The only difference between the main home and the ADU material palette is that the roofing will be a dark composition shingle roofing since it will be quite visible from the master balcony.

The finished patio after the first application of Polymeric Sand. Lightly wetting down the brick paver patio to dampen the polymeric sand to start the setting/curing process.

The client’s request was quite common - a typical 2800 sf builder home with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, living space, and den. However, their desire was for this to be “anything but common.” The result is an innovative update on the production home for the modern era, and serves as a direct counterpoint to the neighborhood and its more conventional suburban housing stock, which focus views to the backyard and seeks to nullify the unique qualities and challenges of topography and the natural environment. The Terraced House cautiously steps down the site’s steep topography, resulting in a more nuanced approach to site development than cutting and filling that is so common in the builder homes of the area. The compact house opens up in very focused views that capture the natural wooded setting, while masking the sounds and views of the directly adjacent roadway. The main living spaces face this major roadway, effectively flipping the typical orientation of a suburban home, and the main entrance pulls visitors up to the second floor and halfway through the site, providing a sense of procession and privacy absent in the typical suburban home. Clad in a custom rain screen that reflects the wood of the surrounding landscape - while providing a glimpse into the interior tones that are used. The stepping “wood boxes” rest on a series of concrete walls that organize the site, retain the earth, and - in conjunction with the wood veneer panels - provide a subtle organic texture to the composition. The interior spaces wrap around an interior knuckle that houses public zones and vertical circulation - allowing more private spaces to exist at the edges of the building. The windows get larger and more frequent as they ascend the building, culminating in the upstairs bedrooms that occupy the site like a tree house - giving views in all directions. The Terraced House imports urban qualities to the suburban neighborhood and seeks to elevate the typical approach to production home construction, while being more in tune with modern family living patterns. Overview: Elm Grove Size: 2,800 sf, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms Completion Date: September 2014 Services: Architecture, Landscape Architecture Interior Consultants: Amy Carman Design

This piece of furniture was incredibly fun to build and help design. We partnered with the talented Christine Harris of Tracy Lynn Studios who had the vision of colors, textures and dimensions. We sat down together and helped her finalize her vision, supporting structure and proportions in CAD. The result was a one of a kind piece that was so much fun to build and admire once complete. The chartreuse high polished lacquer finish gives it a playful and retro feel. The inside is lined with a beautiful Pierre Frey wallpaper. The colors are complimented by remote control, recessed LED lights. We concealed the battery power pack inside a soft close drawer so there are not any unsightly cords running down the wall. Since our client is a connoisseur of fine spirits, we wanted to give him a place to make his drinks right where he stores them. So we created a walnut and black limba end grain cutting board pullout for him to enjoy. The Soss brass hinges allow the beveled glass panel doors to bi-fold and simultaneously expose a nice detail of the building process. The brass supports that hold the glass shelving are like icing on the cake of this creative piece. The Barber Bar Cabinet stands 90 inches tall and 4 feet wide and is made of solid hardwood. To give it the structure it needed to support a completely stocked bar of heavy glass bottles, we laced section between the cabinet and the base with 1x4 steel tubing. We also did a steel mortise bar stretcher between each leg and then welded a steel bar between the legs to keep the legs from racking. This piece was an incredibly challenging piece to build but we couldn’t be happier with how this turned out and our clients felt the same!

Recently, Certified Arborist and Urban Forester, Micah Pace, was called upon to assess and remove three trees that a home was built around 35 years ago. The family fell in love with this McKinney, Texas property because of the large cedar elms that filled the neighborhood. Instead of removing the trees to make room for the home, the family hired an architect to build the home around the trees (THAT's dedication!). They knew they’d eventually have to remove the trees due to construction and environmental damage, but they just couldn’t bear to part with them at the time of the home build. First, we began with the removal of the large cedar elm in the center of the home. The tree’s canopy was sectioned out making the pre-selected picks accounting for weight and balance. The material was then lifted and placed in the street next to the chipper where crew members were ready to cut and chip the small diameter material. Large diameter branch and trunk material were lifted and placed onto a trailer stationed directly by the crane. This process was then continued for each of the three remaining trees.

This beautiful dutch colonial style home showcases the Quarry Mill's Avondale natural thin stone veneer. Avondale is a colorful blend of real thin cut limestone veneer. This natural stone is unique in that the pieces of stone showcase a large color variation but all come from the same quarry. Avondale’s unique color variation comes from using different parts of the quarried slabs of natural stone. The quarry is naturally layered and the stone slabs or sheets are peeled up by pushing a wedge between the layers. The sheets vary in size with the largest being roughly 12’x2’ with a thickness ranging from 1”-12”. The outer portion of the sheets of stone are colorful due to the rainwater washing in minerals over millennia. The interior portion is the grey unadulterated limestone. We use hydraulic presses to process the slabs and expose the inner part of the limestone.

This piece of furniture was incredibly fun to build and help design. We partnered with the talented Christine Harris of Tracy Lynn Studios who had the vision of colors, textures and dimensions. We sat down together and helped her finalize her vision, supporting structure and proportions in CAD. The result was a one of a kind piece that was so much fun to build and admire once complete. The chartreuse high polished lacquer finish gives it a playful and retro feel. The inside is lined with a beautiful Pierre Frey wallpaper. The colors are complimented by remote control, recessed LED lights. We concealed the battery power pack inside a soft close drawer so there are not any unsightly cords running down the wall. Since our client is a connoisseur of fine spirits, we wanted to give him a place to make his drinks right where he stores them. So we created a walnut and black limba end grain cutting board pullout for him to enjoy. The Soss brass hinges allow the beveled glass panel doors to bi-fold and simultaneously expose a nice detail of the building process. The brass supports that hold the glass shelving are like icing on the cake of this creative piece. The Barber Bar Cabinet stands 90 inches tall and 4 feet wide and is made of solid hardwood. To give it the structure it needed to support a completely stocked bar of heavy glass bottles, we laced section between the cabinet and the base with 1x4 steel tubing. We also did a steel mortise bar stretcher between each leg and then welded a steel bar between the legs to keep the legs from racking. This piece was an incredibly challenging piece to build but we couldn’t be happier with how this turned out and our clients felt the same!

Eckelhoff Electric used the SLABlite light guide system for this backlighting project on this two-tier bar using natural quartz slab material. There was little difficulty in finishing a successful project and no disruption to the typical fabrication/installation process. The company simply cut the panels to size on location and placed them between the substrate and the slab.

The Quarry Mill's Smokey Gold natural low height ledgestone thin stone veneer creates stunning and stately pillars and wainscoting on this home's front entrance. Smokey Gold real stone veneer is a natural low height ledgestone. The stone itself is a natural quartzite and the thin veneer is cut from the edges of the sheets of stone as they are quarried. The process of sawing the raw stone into natural thin veneer turns the diamond blade bright red due to heat that is generated and the density of the natural quartzite. Smokey gold is predominantly gold but also showcases some grey and white pieces giving it a subtle range of color. The textures are mainly smooth with some rippling. Although all of our natural stone veneers are high density, low water absorption, and approved for use in all climates, Smokey Gold is exceptionally hard and sturdy.

Brownie granite is shown in this project! Search "Brownie" granite, see more granite or other stone options: http://www.stoneaction.com Learn more about granite to see if it’s right for you: Granite countertops can last a lifetime. It contains no harmful chemicals and do not emit harmful radiation or gasses. Granite is heat resistant and is one of the most heat-resistant countertops on the market. You can place a hot pan out of the oven directly onto the countertop surface. Experts do recommend the use of a trivet when using appliances that emit heat for long periods of time, such as crockpots. Since the material is so dense, there is a small possibility heating one area of the top and not the entire thing, could cause the countertop to crack. Granite is scratch resistant. You can cut on it, but it will dull your knives! Granite scores a seven on Moh’s hardness scale. Granite countertops are considered to be a low maintenance countertop surface. The likelihood of needing to be repaired or resurfaced is low. Granite is a porous material. Most fabricators will apply a sealer to granite countertops before they are installed which will protect them from absorbing liquids too quickly. Many sealers last more than 10 years before needing to be reapplied. When they do need to be reapplied, it is something that most homeowners can do on their own as the process is similar to cleaning. Darker granites are very dense and sometimes don’t even require a sealer. When it comes to pricing, there are a lot of variables such as edge profile, total square footage, backsplash, etc. Don’t be fooled by the stereotype that all granite is expensive. Lower-range granites will cost less than high-range laminate. Though granite countertops are not considered “low range” in pricing, there are a lot of affordable options. If you are looking for something truly unique, consider an exotic granite. Some quarries are not easily accessible and/or only able to be quarried for short periods of time throughout the year. If these circumstances exist in a quarry with gorgeous stone, the price will be driven upward. You won’t find a lot of solid patterns or bright colors, but both do exist. Also, watch for a large range of color and pattern within the same color of stone. It’s always a good idea to view the exact slab(s) that will be fabricated for your kitchen to make sure they are what you expected to see from the sample. Another factor is that many exotic types of granite have huge flowing waves, and a small sample will not be an accurate representation of the whole slab. Granite countertops are very resistant to chemicals. Acids and bases will not harm the material.

This Live Edge Coffee Table is handmade using Collectors Grade Burled Oregon Black Walnut. These are highly figured rare walnut slabs for the top, the base is tapered maple burl which gives this table a very sleek rustic feel. (SHOWN PIECE HAS SOLD) _____________________________________________________________________ PROCESS // These pieces undergo a 5 layer satin hardwax finish (OSMO Polyx) this helps protect from any spills or stains or sun fade and will keep the overall beauty of the wood. Dimensions on shown piece are 48"W x 42"L x 16.5"T (SHOWN PIECE HAS SOLD) Have other slabs that could be used to create your own table. We use bowties to fill voids and cracks to prevent cracks from growing and to stabilize the wood. Top is made from 1 solid cross cut slab (cookie) of amazing figured Oregon Black Walnut with tons of Curling and Birdseye. All Slabs are Kiln or air dried to stable moisture levels to create long lasting quality slabs of the finest hardwoods. Hardwoods are locally sourced.