Photo: Sarah Greenman © 2013 Houzz
Eat-in kitchen - traditional eat-in kitchen idea in Dallas with a farmhouse sink, flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets and stainless steel appliances

Elegant beige tile corner shower photo in New York with an undermount tub and gray walls

Functional Utility Room, located just off the Dressing Room in the Master Suite allows quick access for the owners and a view of the private garden. Room size: 7'8" x 8' Ceiling height: 11'

Luxury living done with energy-efficiency in mind. From the Insulated Concrete Form walls to the solar panels, this home has energy-efficient features at every turn. Luxury abounds with hardwood floors from a tobacco barn, custom cabinets, to vaulted ceilings. The indoor basketball court and golf simulator give family and friends plenty of fun options to explore. This home has it all. Elise Trissel photograph

This Cole Valley home is transformed through the integration of a skylight shaft that brings natural light to both stories and nearly all living space within the home. The ingenious design creates a dramatic shift in volume for this modern, two-story rear addition, completed in only four months. In appreciation of the home’s original Victorian bones, great care was taken to restore the architectural details of the front façade.

Beach style medium tone wood floor kitchen/dining room combo photo in Charleston with white walls

Jeff Herr Photography
Inspiration for a country wooden metal railing staircase remodel in Atlanta

2-Panel Monroe barn door
Farmhouse 2-panel, dark wood floor and brown floor eat-in kitchen photo in Chicago

The Aspect Window Series has been independently tested to meet strict energy efficiency standards and is ENERGY STAR® certified. Aspect brand custom vinyl windows come standard with an innovative, multi-chambered frame and sash design, triple weather-stripping and ComforTech™ Warm Edge Glazing, a high-tech glass package that measurably improves thermal performance—for less heat loss, warmer glass temperatures and reduced interior condensation.

Inspiration for a timeless single-wall dedicated laundry room remodel in New York with open cabinets, beige cabinets, beige walls, a side-by-side washer/dryer and beige countertops

Modern family loft renovation in the South End of Boston, Massachusetts. Open concept kitchen with custom cabinetry. Reconfigured for increased functionality, including more storage, larger prep surfaces, and new energy efficient appliances. A walnut element wraps the up wall and ceiling above the kitchen, adding much needed warmth, scale, and lighting to the space with its twenty foot ceiling. Eric Roth Photography Construction by Ralph S. Osmond Company. Green architecture by ZeroEnergy Design. http://www.zeroenergy.com

One of our favourite efficiency measures is adding these beautiful pull-outs to flank the stove. ( Designer: Nicole Muzechka Calgary Photos)
Inspiration for a large transitional l-shaped dark wood floor open concept kitchen remodel in Calgary with an undermount sink, recessed-panel cabinets, white cabinets, stainless steel appliances, an island, white backsplash, ceramic backsplash and quartzite countertops

Our homeowner had dreamt about one day redoing her beyond outdated kitchen since they day her husband carried her over the threshold. Vinyl flooring used for a backsplash, dingy carpeting, laminate with no sheen left to speak of and mismatched cabinetry…. it was time to make it happen. A year’s worth of planning later, her time capsule became one dreamy kitchen. Functionality reigns supreme in this small, but efficient kitchen where every cabinet has a story to tell and a place to store it. Countertop space to the right of the stove was an added necessity for function and safety. The raised snack bar is perfect for day to day meals and the lowered countertop was a must for this petite baker. A new lighting plan includes recessed lights, under-cabinet and accent lights, while new lighting fixtures reflect the client’s sense of style. Dingy brick patterned carpet was removed making way for new hardwood floors toothed in from the dining room. An airy palette gained some weight with the use of larger details; the oversized hood, beefy turned posts, prominent apron front sink and a grouping of tall cabinets on the refrigerator wall. Glass cabinet fronts, shiny beveled subway tile, and granite countertops allow light to dance around the space. Zachary Seib Photography

Hillcrest Construction designed and executed a complete facelift for these West Chester clients’ master bathroom. The sink/toilet/shower layout stayed relatively unchanged due to the limitations of the small space, but major changes were slated for the overall functionality and aesthetic appeal. The bathroom was gutted completely, the wiring was updated, and minor plumbing alterations were completed for code compliance. Bathroom waterproofing was installed utilizing the state-of-the-industry Schluter substrate products, and the feature wall of the shower is tiled with a striking blue 12x12 tile set in a stacked pattern, which is a departure of color and layout from the staggered gray-tome wall tile and floor tile. The original bathroom lacked storage, and what little storage it had lacked practicality. The original 1’ wide by 4’ deep “reach-in closet” was abandoned and replaced with a custom cabinetry unit that featured six 30” drawers to hold a world of personal bathroom items which could pulled out for easy access. The upper cubbie was shallower at 13” and was sized right to hold a few spare towels without the towels being lost to an unreachable area. The custom furniture-style vanity, also built and finished at the Hillcrest custom shop facilitated a clutter-free countertop with its two deep drawers, one with a u-shaped cut out for the sink plumbing. Considering the relatively small size of the bathroom, and the vanity’s proximity to the toilet, the drawer design allows for greater access to the storage area as compared to a vanity door design that would only be accessed from the front. The custom niche in the shower serves and a consolidated home for soap, shampoo bottles, and all other shower accessories. Moen fixtures at the sink and in the shower and a Toto toilet complete the contemporary feel. The controls at the shower allow the user to easily switch between the fixed rain head, the hand shower, or both. And for a finishing touch, the client chose between a number for shower grate color and design options to complete their tailor-made sanctuary.

Daniel Girard
Small rustic two-story wood gable roof idea in Burlington

With details original to the home, such as the chair rail, oversized arched windows and ornate plaster scroll on the ceiling, there’s an obvious nod to the Hollywood Regency style. It’s this combination of details with modern updates that gives the kitchen its current and distinctive personality. Understated and confident, the kitchen’s palette is comprised of lightly stained wood, classic flecked-quartz countertops, saturated walls painted in Benjamin Moore® Silver Fox 2108-50 and attention-grabbing Suede sinks. It’s not hard to imagine this glamorous kitchen as the scene of many posh dinner parties. Guests can converse around the large island and Porto Fino™ bar sink—the perfect size for chilling bottles of wine while hors d’oeuvres are prepared near the main Indio® sink.

The seamless lines of the curb less shower are a real feature in this home. A wonderful design that helps people live in their homes even when mobility becomes and issue. Dirk Heydemann from HA Photography

Photo by Mike Casey Cramped, uncomfortable, and out of date: when the owners of this home approached us about renovating their kitchen and adjoining sunroom, these were high on their list of complaints. OPENING UP THE KITCHEN Our plan kept the kitchen in the same location but took down the walls between both the dining room and the sunroom to create an expansive multi-purpose space with spectacular views to conservation land along the back of the property. We removed the powder room and in its place created a window-lined hallway to the living room—opening up direct access between these two previously disconnected spaces. We then built a new half bath between these two rooms, with a door along the back hallway. The result is a more private powder room that is easier to access than before. Significantly improved cabinetry provides ample storage for both human and canine needs. An island countertop is functional and pleasant, enabling the owners to prep for and clean up from dinner all while enjoying the view of the woods behind their house. CREATING COMFORT We also completely rebuilt the sunroom, thickening the framing to allow for extra insulation and raising the roof to accommodate a higher ceiling and tall windows that let in as much natural light as the skylights they replaced, but much less of the solar gain that had made the room so intolerable in the summer. We improved visual connections between spaces and admitted more natural light by converting the framing of the main stairway from full to half walls. We also insulated the attic and replaced an aging, inefficient central air conditioning system with ductless minisplit heat pumps, which can also be used as supplemental heat. All in all, this was our kind of project: we made the home more attractive, more comfortable, and more energy-efficient—all over the course of a single, well-integrated project.