Photo: Julian Plimley
Example of a large trendy open concept light wood floor and brown floor family room design in Vancouver with white walls, no fireplace and no tv

"I want people to say 'Wow!' when they walk in to my house" This was our directive for this bachelor's newly purchased home. We accomplished the mission by drafting plans for a significant remodel which included removing walls and columns, opening up the spaces between rooms to create better flow, then adding custom furnishings and original art for a customized unique Wow factor! His Christmas party proved we had succeeded as each person 'wowed!' the spaces! Even more meaningful to us, as Designers, was watching everyone converse in the sitting area, dining room, living room, and around the grand island (12'-6" grand to be exact!) and genuinely enjoy all the fabulous, yet comfortable spaces.

Used with permission; photo courtesy of Barn Light Electric Company.
Large elegant backyard patio photo in Orlando with decking and a roof extension

Example of a large minimalist open concept light wood floor living room design in Orlando with white walls

Ryan Patrick Kelly
Example of a large transitional master carpeted bedroom design in Edmonton with gray walls

Home design - coastal home design idea in New York

William Quarles
Inspiration for a mid-sized timeless open concept medium tone wood floor and brown floor family room remodel in Charleston with white walls, a standard fireplace, a brick fireplace and a wall-mounted tv

"I want people to say 'Wow!' when they walk in to my house" This was our directive for this bachelor's newly purchased home. We accomplished the mission by drafting plans for a significant remodel which included removing walls and columns, opening up the spaces between rooms to create better flow, then adding custom furnishings and original art for a customized unique Wow factor! His Christmas party proved we had succeeded as each person 'wowed!' the spaces! Even more meaningful to us, as Designers, was watching everyone converse in the sitting area, dining room, living room, and around the grand island (12'-6" grand to be exact!) and genuinely enjoy all the fabulous, yet comfortable spaces.

This LEED Platinum certified house reflects the homeowner's desire for an exceptionally healthy and comfortable living environment, within a traditional neighborhood. INFILL SITE. The family, who moved from another area of Wellesley, sought out this property to be within walking distance of the high school and downtown area. An existing structure on the tight lot was removed to make way for the new home. 84% of the construction waste, from both the previous structure and the new home, was diverted from a landfill. ZED designed to preserve the existing mature trees on the perimeter of the property to minimize site impacts, and to maintain the character of the neighborhood as well as privacy on the site. EXTERIOR EXPRESSION. The street facade of the home relates to the local New England vernacular. The rear uses contemporary language, a nod to the family’s Californian roots, to incorporate a roof deck, solar panels, outdoor living space, and the backyard swimming pool. ZED’s careful planning avoided to the need to face the garage doors towards the street, a common syndrome of a narrow lot. THOUGHTFUL SPACE. Homes with dual entries can often result in duplicate and unused spaces. In this home, the everyday and formal entry areas are one and the same; the front and garage doors share the entry program of coat closets, mudroom storage with bench for removing your shoes, and a laundry room with generous closets for the children's sporting equipment. The entry area leads directly to the living space, encompassing the kitchen, dining and sitting area areas in an L-shaped open plan arrangement. The kitchen is placed at the south-west corner of the space to allow for a strong connection to the dining, sitting and outdoor living spaces. A fire pit on the deck satisfies the family’s desire for an open flame while a sealed gas fireplace is used indoors - ZED’s preference after omitting gas burning appliances completely from an airtight home. A small study, with a window seat, is conveniently located just off of the living space. A first floor guest bedroom includes an accessible bathroom for aging visitors and can be used as a master suite to accommodate aging in place. HEALTHY LIVING. The client requested a home that was easy to clean and would provide a respite from seasonal allergies and common contaminants that are found in many indoor spaces. ZED selected easy to clean solid surface flooring throughout, provided ample space for cleaning supplies on each floor, and designed a mechanical system with ventilation that provides a constant supply of fresh outdoor air. ZED selected durable materials, finishes, cabinetry, and casework with low or no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and no added urea formaldehyde. YEAR-ROUND COMFORT. The home is super insulated and air-tight, paired with high performance triple-paned windows, to ensure it is draft-free throughout the winter (even when in front of the large windows and doors). ZED designed a right-sized heating and cooling system to pair with the thermally improved building enclosure to ensure year-round comfort. The glazing on the home maximizes passive solar gains, and facilitates cross ventilation and daylighting. ENERGY EFFICIENT. As one of the most energy efficient houses built to date in Wellesley, the home highlights a practical solution for Massachusetts. First, the building enclosure reduces the largest energy requirement for typical houses (heating). Super-insulation, exceptional air sealing, a thermally broken wall assembly, triple pane windows, and passive solar gain combine for a sizable heating load reduction. Second, within the house only efficient systems consume energy. These include an air source heat pump for heating & cooling, a heat pump hot water heater, LED lighting, energy recovery ventilation, and high efficiency appliances. Lastly, photovoltaics provide renewable energy help offset energy consumption. The result is an 89% reduction in energy use compared to a similar brand new home built to code requirements. RESILIENT. The home will fare well in extreme weather events. During a winter power outage, heat loss will be very slow due to the super-insulated and airtight envelope– taking multiple days to drop to 60 degrees even with no heat source. An engineered drainage system, paired with careful the detailing of the foundation, will help to keep the finished basement dry. A generator will provide full operation of the all-electric house during a power outage. OVERALL. The home is a reflection of the family goals and an expression of their values, beautifully enabling health, comfort, safety, resilience, and utility, all while respecting the planet. ZED - Architect & Mechanical Designer Bevilacqua Builders Inc - Contractor Creative Land & Water Engineering - Civil Engineering Barbara Peterson Landscape - Landscape Design Nest & Company - Interior Furnishings Eric Roth Photography - Photography

Ann Kenkel Interiors. Gwin Hunt Photography Complete gut of Watergate Penthouse and renovation. Ann Kenkel gutted a very contemporary Penthouse which had no molding and concrete floors. Installed Walnut flooring, redesigned space, designed all built ins, and decorated PH. Space was for a middle aged bachelor who wanted the spaces to have multi function. He wanted the Living Room to function as a library as well as a formal living room. I designed very elegant walnut bookcases with built in sound speakers. The furniture is comfortable yet upholstered in elegant fabrics. The coffee table was a high end custom Minton Spidell coffee table which elevates the space to a more formal look. The entry hall showcases a very fine antique mirror over a console with fine inlaid banding. The living room has rich chenille fabrics, ultra suede pillows with trim and a tapestry chenille on the chairs. Kenkel designed a white wood mantle deep enough that weighty accessories. There needed to be greater division between the living room and dining. AK designed an open etagere to contain large crystal pieces with beautiful lighting. It created enough of a screen to provide some privacy between the rooms in addition to making both rooms appear longer. The dining room needed to serve as a home office with a computer station and two comfortable chairs for the client to hold a business meeting. I also needed to function as a dining room. AK designed a built in unit which housed glass shelf cabinets on either side of an open space. The open space had a counter which was appropriate height for a computer as well as a a serving service at dinner time. Office equipment, printer, fax, router was all housed in a lower cabinet. The pendant chandelier is a very fine antique french piece. AK designed a built in unit for clothes, a flat screen tv and speakers. There was a large roof top patio which had beautiful views of the Washington Monument. AK created a thorough design for extensive entertaining, in her 3d drafting program. The client moved before the patio could be built out. Draperies are made out of Jim Thompson raw silk. Antique bronze dore candelsticks, bronze urn on fireplace, telescope to see city in etagere.

William Quarles
Mid-sized elegant front porch photo in Charleston with decking and a roof extension

"I want people to say 'Wow!' when they walk in to my house" This was our directive for this bachelor's newly purchased home. We accomplished the mission by drafting plans for a significant remodel which included removing walls and columns, opening up the spaces between rooms to create better flow, then adding custom furnishings and original art for a customized unique Wow factor! His Christmas party proved we had succeeded as each person 'wowed!' the spaces! Even more meaningful to us, as Designers, was watching everyone converse in the sitting area, dining room, living room, and around the grand island (12'-6" grand to be exact!) and genuinely enjoy all the fabulous, yet comfortable spaces.

This project hits very close to home for us. Not your typical office space, we re-purposed a 19th century carriage barn into our office and workshop. With no heat, minimum electricity and few windows (most of which were broken), a priority for CEO and Designer Jason Hoffman was to create a space that honors its historic architecture, era and purpose but still offers elements of understated sophistication. The building is nearly 140 years old, built before many of the trees towering around it had begun growing. It was originally built as a simple, Victorian carriage barn, used to store the family’s horse and buggy. Later, it housed 2,000 chickens when the Owners worked the property as their farm. Then, for many years, it was storage space. Today, it couples as a workshop for our carpentry team, building custom projects and storing equipment, as well as an office loft space ready to welcome clients, visitors and trade partners. We added a small addition onto the existing barn to offer a separate entry way for the office. New stairs and an entrance to the workshop provides for a small, yet inviting foyer space. From the beginning, even is it’s dark state, Jason loved the ambiance of the old hay loft with its unfinished, darker toned timbers. He knew he wanted to find a way to refinish the space with a focus on those timbers, evident in the statement they make when walking up the stairs. On the exterior, the building received new siding, a new roof and even a new foundation which is a story for another post. Inside, we added skylights, larger windows and a French door, with a small balcony. Along with heat, electricity, WiFi and office furniture, we’re ready for visitors!

William Quarles
Inspiration for a mid-sized timeless open concept medium tone wood floor and brown floor family room remodel in Charleston with white walls, a standard fireplace, a brick fireplace and a wall-mounted tv

"I want people to say 'Wow!' when they walk in to my house" This was our directive for this bachelor's newly purchased home. We accomplished the mission by drafting plans for a significant remodel which included removing walls and columns, opening up the spaces between rooms to create better flow, then adding custom furnishings and original art for a customized unique Wow factor! His Christmas party proved we had succeeded as each person 'wowed!' the spaces! Even more meaningful to us, as Designers, was watching everyone converse in the sitting area, dining room, living room, and around the grand island (12'-6" grand to be exact!) and genuinely enjoy all the fabulous, yet comfortable spaces. Success all around!

Who said that a Burbank bungalow home needs to be doll and old fashioned. In this Burbank remodeling project we took this 1200sq. bungalow home and turned it to a wonderful mixture of European modern kitchen space and calm transitional modern farmhouse furniture and flooring. The kitchen was a true challenge since space was a rare commodity, but with the right layout storage and work space became abundant. A floating 5' long sitting area was constructed and even the back face of the cabinets was used for wine racks. Exterior was updated as well with new black windows, new stucco over layer and new light fixtures all around. both bedrooms were fitted with huge 10' sliding doors overlooking the green backyard.

Bedroom - mid-sized traditional master carpeted and brown floor bedroom idea in Salt Lake City with beige walls and no fireplace

This once traditional bedroom received a modern update by the team at Perceptions. Transforming this space into a corporate hub was no small feat! Sliding glass doors create a work out nook to house the family's bulky treadmill. A multi-function media wall helps the homeowners keep up with world events, while a sleek walnut table serves as a conference center for meetings. When hosting visitors cozy seating and a comfy sleeper sofa instantly transform the space into a visitors retreat.

Complete overhaul of the common area in this wonderful Arcadia home. The living room, dining room and kitchen were redone. The direction was to obtain a contemporary look but to preserve the warmth of a ranch home. The perfect combination of modern colors such as grays and whites blend and work perfectly together with the abundant amount of wood tones in this design. The open kitchen is separated from the dining area with a large 10' peninsula with a waterfall finish detail. Notice the 3 different cabinet colors, the white of the upper cabinets, the Ash gray for the base cabinets and the magnificent olive of the peninsula are proof that you don't have to be afraid of using more than 1 color in your kitchen cabinets. The kitchen layout includes a secondary sink and a secondary dishwasher! For the busy life style of a modern family. The fireplace was completely redone with classic materials but in a contemporary layout. Notice the porcelain slab material on the hearth of the fireplace, the subway tile layout is a modern aligned pattern and the comfortable sitting nook on the side facing the large windows so you can enjoy a good book with a bright view. The bamboo flooring is continues throughout the house for a combining effect, tying together all the different spaces of the house. All the finish details and hardware are honed gold finish, gold tones compliment the wooden materials perfectly.