This modern green home offers both a vacation destination on Cape Cod near local family members and an opportunity for rental income. FAMILY ROOTS. A West Coast couple living in the San Francisco Bay Area sought a permanent East Coast vacation home near family members living on Cape Cod. As academic professionals focused on sustainability, they sought a green, energy efficient home that was well-aligned with their values. With no green homes available for sale on Cape Cod, they decided to purchase land near their family and build their own. SLOPED SITE. Comprised of a 3/4 acre lot nestled in the pines, the steeply sloping terrain called for a plan that embraced and took advantage of the slope. Of equal priority was optimizing solar exposure, preserving privacy from abutters, and creating outdoor living space. The design accomplished these goals with a simple, rectilinear form, offering living space on the both entry and lower/basement levels. The stepped foundation allows for a walk-out basement level with light-filled living space on the down-hill side of the home. The traditional basement on the eastern, up-hill side houses mechanical equipment and a home gym. The house welcomes natural light throughout, captures views of the forest, and delivers entertainment space that connects indoor living space to outdoor deck and dining patio. MODERN VISION. The clean building form and uncomplicated finishes pay homage to the modern architectural legacy on the outer Cape. Durable and economical fiber cement panels, fixed with aluminum channels, clad the primary form. Cedar clapboards provide a visual accent at the south-facing living room, which extends a single roof plane to cover the entry porch. SMART USE OF SPACE. On the entry level, the “L”-shaped living, dining, and kitchen space connects to the exterior living, dining, and grilling spaces to effectively double the home’s summertime entertainment area. Placed at the western end of the entry level (where it can retain privacy but still claim expansive downhill views) is the master suite with a built-in study. The lower level has two guest bedrooms, a second full bathroom, and laundry. The flexibility of the space—crucial in a house with a modest footprint—emerges in one of the guest bedrooms, which doubles as home office by opening the barn-style double doors to connect it to the bright, airy open stair leading up to the entry level. Thoughtful design, generous ceiling heights and large windows transform the modest 1,100 sf* footprint into a well-lit, spacious home. *(total finished space is 1800 sf) RENTAL INCOME. The property works for its owners by netting rental income when the owners are home in San Francisco. The house especially caters to vacationers bound for nearby Mayo Beach and includes an outdoor shower adjacent to the lower level entry door. In contrast to the bare bones cottages that are typically available on the Cape, this home offers prospective tenants a modern aesthetic, paired with luxurious and green features. Durable finishes inside and out will ensure longevity with the heavier use that comes with a rental property. COMFORT YEAR-ROUND. The home is super-insulated and air-tight, with mechanical ventilation to provide continuous fresh air from the outside. High performance triple-paned windows complement the building enclosure and maximize passive solar gain while ensuring a warm, draft-free winter, even when sitting close to the glass. A properly sized air source heat pump offers efficient heating & cooling, and includes a carefully designed the duct distribution system to provide even comfort throughout the house. The super-insulated envelope allows us to significantly reduce the equipment capacity, duct size, and airflow quantities, while maintaining unparalleled thermal comfort. ENERGY EFFICIENT. The building’s shell and mechanical systems play instrumental roles in the home’s exceptional performance. The building enclosure reduces the most significant energy glutton: heating. Continuous super-insulation, thorough air sealing, triple-pane windows, and passive solar gain work together to yield a miniscule heating load. All active energy consumers are extremely efficient: an air source heat pump for heating and cooling, a heat pump hot water heater, LED lighting, energy recovery ventilation (ERV), and high efficiency appliances. The result is a home that uses 70% less energy than a similar new home built to code requirements. OVERALL. The home embodies the owners’ goals and values while comprehensively enabling thermal comfort, energy efficiency, a vacation respite, and supplementary income. PROJECT TEAM ZeroEnergy Design - Architect & Mechanical Designer A.F. Hultin & Co. - Contractor Pamet Valley Landscape Design - Landscape & Masonry Lisa Finch - Original Artwork European Architectural Supply - Windows Eric Roth Photography - Photography

CHAD CHENIER PHOTOGRAPHY
Inspiration for a timeless living room remodel in New Orleans

An eye catching workshop that sports rugged durability and lots of "curb appeal"
Example of a large trendy attached two-car garage workshop design in Boston

Garage storage cabinets, workbench, storage closets, and slotwall storage.
Garage workshop - large transitional attached garage workshop idea in Kansas City

Retro home bowling alley installed in a family recreation building in central Minnesota. Most of the bowling components were salvaged from an old commercial bowling center, and were restored to like-new, or in some technical aspects, better-than-new, condition. The over-lane ball return riser, rack, and capping were originally manufactured in the 1950s. The automatic pinsetter machines are Brunswick A-2 models, which were totally dismantled, cleaned, painted, and rebuilt piece-by-piece with the addition of many new parts. The masking units are Brunswick Gold Crown single-lane models, which were refinished with Granny Smith Apple Green vinyl, and outfitted with a modern LED "pindicator" system. The bowling alley features built-in shoe and ball storage, and a restored manual scorer's table with custom scoresheets.

custom work station for the play room.
Kids' room - large modern kids' room idea in Dallas

Our client Jenny wanted to transform her garage into a professional home gym. Our team handled the flooring and installed our signature 100% polyester product LifeTiles. LifeTiles are mold and mildew resistant, safe, and easy to clean, making it an ideal flooring solution for garages and gyms.

Inspiration for a kitchen remodel in Grand Rapids

Mid-sized trendy brick townhouse exterior photo in London

Family room - large contemporary enclosed concrete floor family room idea in Seattle with a bar, white walls, no fireplace and a wall-mounted tv

This award winning minimalist condo hides the entertainment system when it's not in use. The big screen smart TV, invisible surround sound & equipment rack are out of site/out of mind. A Future Automation lift moves the art at the push of a button, revealing cinema quality sound & picture. The custom built wall unit hides all the of the necessary equipment and storage space behind the fireplace and smart TV. See more & take a video tour : http://www.seriousaudiovideo.com/portfolios/minimalist-smart-condo-hoboken-nj-urc-total-control/ Photos by Anthony Torsiello

Mid-sized elegant entryway photo in Edmonton with gray walls and a brown front door

Organized Living freedomRail Garage storage is not just for tools but can be for all of your pool equipment to. By placing pool products in the garage you will not only maximize the space around your area but you'll keep it neat and orderly for all of the surprise guests!

Photography by Matthew Bolt
Inspiration for a coastal bedroom remodel in San Francisco

FITNESS ROOM Interior Designer: The Interior Design Group Contractor: HOMES BY KIMBERLY Photos: SHERI JACKSON
Inspiration for a mid-sized contemporary medium tone wood floor multiuse home gym remodel in Vancouver with gray walls

This project was designed to accommodate the client’s wish to have a traditional and functional barn that could also serve as a backdrop for social and corporate functions. Several years after it’s completion, this has become just the case as the clients routinely host everything from fundraisers to cooking demonstrations to political functions in the barn and outdoor spaces. In addition to the barn, Axial Arts designed an indoor arena, cattle & hay barn, and a professional grade equipment workshop with living quarters above it. The indoor arena includes a 100′ x 200′ riding arena as well as a side space that includes bleacher space for clinics and several open rail stalls. The hay & cattle barn is split level with 3 bays on the top level that accommodates tractors and front loaders as well as a significant tonnage of hay. The lower level opens to grade below with cattle pens and equipment for breeding and calving. The cattle handling systems and stocks both outside and inside were designed by Temple Grandin- renowned bestselling author, autism activist, and consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior. This project was recently featured in Cowboy & Indians Magazine. As the case with most of our projects, Axial Arts received this commission after being recommended by a past client.

Inspiration for a coastal shed remodel in Columbus

A unique 2-level pool-house-pavilion and storage-shed project we built onto a hillside at a client's pool in Loudoun County Va. We built our pavilion part to join seamlessly with the "newly poured" concrete pad surrounding the new pool. Provides a space for entertaining pool-side & getting out of the sun, AND an elegant place for the client to store his farm equipment & tractor & misc equipment on the lower level storage shed side. Built unique cross-buck stable doors for the shed side, and matched the cedar shake gable with an cedar covered awning over the stable doors.

This is another view of the family room entertainment center with a tv hung above the fireplace and wired to a technology closet. The home owners also placed in ceiling surround sound speakers. Photo Credits: Simaen Skolfield