Complete renovation of a barn into a recreational building comprising a music room, exercise room, mezzanine, and restrooms. A living screen covers part of the south elevation, west elevation, and roof acting as a growing blanket of shade. Two operable skylights were installed to evacuate warm air from the building. Fenestration was strategically placed to take advantage of the high sun and views of the natural setting.

Bathroom in enclosed breezeway. With a focus on their passions of beekeeping and herb gardening, this retired couple saw potential in this rural home they bought in 2013. They asked us for suggestions on how best to enclose and expand a breezeway from the home to the garage to include two stories, add a room over the garage, and nearly double the size of the kitchen. The lowered “biscuit counter” in the island is an ideal height for rolling out dough and getting help from the grandkids. Pantry access is through a screen door. Load-bearing walls were removed, the stairway was reconstructed, the previous breezeway was transformed into a small bathroom and a mud/laundry space. Above that was added another small bathroom, an herb prep room, complete with a stove, double sink and small fridge, plus another bedroom. Exterior drainage issues also needed attention, so we dug out along the back of the home, added French drains to evacuate the excess water, plus and a small, rock retaining wall.

Dug-out drainage with French drains and rock wall. With a focus on their passions of beekeeping and herb gardening, this retired couple saw potential in this rural home they bought in 2013. They asked us for suggestions on how best to enclose and expand a breezeway from the home to the garage to include two stories, add a room over the garage, and nearly double the size of the kitchen. The lowered “biscuit counter” in the island is an ideal height for rolling out dough and getting help from the grandkids. Pantry access is through a screen door. Load-bearing walls were removed, the stairway was reconstructed, the previous breezeway was transformed into a small bathroom and a mud/laundry space. Above that was added another small bathroom, an herb prep room, complete with a stove, double sink and small fridge, plus another bedroom. Exterior drainage issues also needed attention, so we dug out along the back of the home, added French drains to evacuate the excess water, plus and a small, rock retaining wall.

Remodel: enclosed breezeway. With a focus on their passions of beekeeping and herb gardening, this retired couple saw potential in this rural home they bought in 2013. They asked us for suggestions on how best to enclose and expand a breezeway from the home to the garage to include two stories, add a room over the garage, and nearly double the size of the kitchen. The lowered “biscuit counter” in the island is an ideal height for rolling out dough and getting help from the grandkids. Pantry access is through a screen door. Load-bearing walls were removed, the stairway was reconstructed, the previous breezeway was transformed into a small bathroom and a mud/laundry space. Above that was added another small bathroom, an herb prep room, complete with a stove, double sink and small fridge, plus another bedroom. Exterior drainage issues also needed attention, so we dug out along the back of the home, added French drains to evacuate the excess water, plus and a small, rock retaining wall.

This loft was a gut renovation of a two-bedroom loft in a landmark building in the heart of Soho, NYC. Each floor of this building, which had been used to process molasses until in the 1890s, was sloped toward a large central drain designed to evacuate waste. To remedy this issue, we elevated and leveled the floors throughout the apartment. All new plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and rift white oak flooring were installed. Architecture & Interiors: DHD Contractor: Aries Builders www.ariesbuildersnyc.com Photography: Rinze van Brug www.rinze.com

Photo: Anna Addison Photography © 2013 Houzz
Bedroom - rustic bedroom idea in New Orleans

This loft was a gut renovation of a two-bedroom loft in a landmark building in the heart of Soho, NYC. Each floor of this building, which had been used to process molasses until in the 1890s, was sloped toward a large central drain designed to evacuate waste. To remedy this issue, we elevated and leveled the floors throughout the apartment. All new plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and rift white oak flooring were installed. Architecture & Interiors: DHD Contractor: Aries Builders www.ariesbuildersnyc.com Photography: Rinze van Brug www.rinze.com

Screen pantry door. With a focus on their passions of beekeeping and herb gardening, this retired couple saw potential in this rural home they bought in 2013. They asked us for suggestions on how best to enclose and expand a breezeway from the home to the garage to include two stories, add a room over the garage, and nearly double the size of the kitchen. The lowered “biscuit counter” in the island is an ideal height for rolling out dough and getting help from the grandkids. Pantry access is through a screen door. Load-bearing walls were removed, the stairway was reconstructed, the previous breezeway was transformed into a small bathroom and a mud/laundry space. Above that was added another small bathroom, an herb prep room, complete with a stove, double sink and small fridge, plus another bedroom. Exterior drainage issues also needed attention, so we dug out along the back of the home, added French drains to evacuate the excess water, plus and a small, rock retaining wall.

This loft was a gut renovation of a two-bedroom loft in a landmark building in the heart of Soho, NYC. Each floor of this building, which had been used to process molasses until in the 1890s, was sloped toward a large central drain designed to evacuate waste. To remedy this issue, we elevated and leveled the floors throughout the apartment. All new plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and rift white oak flooring were installed. Architecture & Interiors: DHD Contractor: Aries Builders www.ariesbuildersnyc.com Photography: Rinze van Brug www.rinze.com

Complete renovation of a barn into a recreational building comprising a music room, exercise room, mezzanine, and restrooms. A living screen covers part of the south elevation, west elevation, and roof acting as a growing blanket of shade. Two operable skylights were installed to evacuate warm air from the building. Fenestration was strategically placed to take advantage of the high sun and views of the natural setting.

These clients bought a Mid-century house with a vintage landscape that left something to be desired. Both the clients as well as myself have a great appreciation for midcentury design and its clean lines but the majority of the landscapes found in Mid-century housing developments across America miss the mark when it comes to more current sensibilities. The midcentury American philosophy was that man should exert dominance over the land and that hedge trimmers and lawn mowers are mans best friends. Today more enlighten landscape designers strive to create landscapes that work with nature and not dominate it. In this project we did just that. These home owners loved the view of the mountains from their back yard in Santa Barbara, the way the warm colored sand stone boulders peak through muted greens of the Chaparral. We designed this landscape to be of its place. Sourcing local sandstone boulders like to ones found in the mountains behind the house we used then to build a low retaining wall. By breaking the sloping land into two flatter sections we are able to slow down the speed at which water evacuates the property giving it a chance to soak into the soil. This allows the landscape to work like a natural mini water shed, keeping the storm drains and then the oceans overwhelmed with polluted water and providing more water to the plants with less irrigation. When it came to the plants, the clients wanted low water color and texture. To celebrate the fact that the house is located in Santa Barbara county we wanted to incorporate the muted green tones, with pops of colorful foliage. Using a mix of course lots of California native plants and Mediterranean adapted plants we created a plant plate that is beautiful, low maintenance and flutters with native fauna such as bird, and butterflies and bees.

Photo: Kayla Stark © 2015 Houzz
Inspiration for a 1960s living room remodel in New Orleans

These clients bought a Mid-century house with a vintage landscape that left something to be desired. Both the clients as well as myself have a great appreciation for midcentury design and its clean lines but the majority of the landscapes found in Mid-century housing developments across America miss the mark when it comes to more current sensibilities. The midcentury American philosophy was that man should exert dominance over the land and that hedge trimmers and lawn mowers are mans best friends. Today more enlighten landscape designers strive to create landscapes that work with nature and not dominate it. In this project we did just that. These home owners loved the view of the mountains from their back yard in Santa Barbara, the way the warm colored sand stone boulders peak through muted greens of the Chaparral. We designed this landscape to be of its place. Sourcing local sandstone boulders like to ones found in the mountains behind the house we used then to build a low retaining wall. By breaking the sloping land into two flatter sections we are able to slow down the speed at which water evacuates the property giving it a chance to soak into the soil. This allows the landscape to work like a natural mini water shed, keeping the storm drains and then the oceans overwhelmed with polluted water and providing more water to the plants with less irrigation. When it came to the plants, the clients wanted low water color and texture. To celebrate the fact that the house is located in Santa Barbara county we wanted to incorporate the muted green tones, with pops of colorful foliage. Using a mix of course lots of California native plants and Mediterranean adapted plants we created a plant plate that is beautiful, low maintenance and flutters with native fauna such as bird, and butterflies and bees.

This is a 50'' Orton Style Rumford Fireplace at my home in Oxford,CT. A Rumford Firplace is made with either a straight rear wall or a slanted one. The slanted ones are the better heaters and I just proved "the more efficient" as they do not have a bigger throat area than the straight variety. The book "The Forgotten Art of Building a Good Fireplace" written bu Vrest Orton in the late 60's descibes the slanted variety well and that is where they picked up the name. He did not invent them rather he wrote of what he witnessed as being nice enjoyable good heating Rumfords . It uses my self made damper and burns all winter long with the damper blade at only a 1-3/4'''' gap opening. This represents a throat area to fireplace opening area of 1 to 30 a achievement that recently left the top authority on Rumford Fireplaces in awe and disbelief as his straight backed Rumfords only get to a 1:20 ratio. Although he remained skeptical and wanting more explicit videos and refusing to sign a nondisclosure agreement, he wanted to know if I could do the same with his chosen styled Rumfords. With a large or small fire the damper stays fixed. Weather is a non issue, even foggy drizzly nights do not effect this fireplace. There are videos at FCasini on You Tube showing the 50'' burning along with my basement 36'' Orton which I did experimenting last winter . The basement [never used before] has no face, so I affixed a steel panel on it to see if it could burn at the same ratio as my 50'' which uses my self made 30 year old damper. Iinstead it has a custom vestal damper which I cut the front off as I occasionally do when the budget is limited. It burned good at a 1 to 26 ratio which is way above the 1/17 that Straight Back Rumfords normally do although their very best is 1/20 ..both of which depend on the use of the highly suggested Tee Pee Fire which will assist any fireplace in smoke evacuation due to solely emitting the smoke form the high end of the standing logs! Both of my fireplaces certainly can use this style fire but I enjoy the horizontal log cabin style because of the easy loading and longer lasting fire per load. This winter I am going to affix a glass panel to get a good look at the throat and inner breast chamber while the fireplace is burning. This will be done in my third [ also un faced like the basement] Rumford. This one uses an outside chimney that is about 18' tall, much shorter than the other two and not as warm an environment being the other two are interior chimneys. I am anxious to see if it will compete with a lesser draft ? I have been searching the patent data base and to date there is nothing close to even resemble the way I get these slanted fireplaces to pass the smoke through such a ridiculously thin throat which I call "The Gates Of Hell". The prototype is complete and installed into this fireplace which is in it's second year of performance testing and doing better than I expected, in fact before installing it last week I cleaned the throat and chimney and damper blade which hasn't been done in 6 years. This did help the performance a lot as the passage is so thin any build up greatly slows it down from the added viscosity ie flow drag. For those that don't understand the benefit of a 1:30 ratio it is half the loss of heated air up the chimney and results in a 50% increase in heat efficiency. This equals a 100% enjoyment factor for anyone whom takes fireplace burning seriously like have done and do for the past 30 years! The house doesn't get sucked cold!

This loft was a gut renovation of a two-bedroom loft in a landmark building in the heart of Soho, NYC. Each floor of this building, which had been used to process molasses until in the 1890s, was sloped toward a large central drain designed to evacuate waste. To remedy this issue, we elevated and leveled the floors throughout the apartment. All new plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and rift white oak flooring were installed. Architecture & Interiors: DHD Contractor: Aries Builders www.ariesbuildersnyc.com Photography: Rinze van Brug www.rinze.com

With a focus on their passions of beekeeping and herb gardening, this retired couple saw potential in this rural home they bought in 2013. They asked us for suggestions on how best to enclose and expand a breezeway from the home to the garage to include two stories, add a room over the garage, and nearly double the size of the kitchen. The lowered “biscuit counter” in the island is an ideal height for rolling out dough and getting help from the grandkids. Pantry access is through a screen door. Load-bearing walls were removed, the stairway was reconstructed, the previous breezeway was transformed into a small bathroom and a mud/laundry space. Above that was added another small bathroom, an herb prep room, complete with a stove, double sink and small fridge, plus another bedroom. Exterior drainage issues also needed attention, so we dug out along the back of the home, added French drains to evacuate the excess water, plus and a small, rock retaining wall.

These clients bought a Mid-century house with a vintage landscape that left something to be desired. Both the clients as well as myself have a great appreciation for midcentury design and its clean lines but the majority of the landscapes found in Mid-century housing developments across America miss the mark when it comes to more current sensibilities. The midcentury American philosophy was that man should exert dominance over the land and that hedge trimmers and lawn mowers are mans best friends. Today more enlighten landscape designers strive to create landscapes that work with nature and not dominate it. In this project we did just that. These home owners loved the view of the mountains from their back yard in Santa Barbara, the way the warm colored sand stone boulders peak through muted greens of the Chaparral. We designed this landscape to be of its place. Sourcing local sandstone boulders like to ones found in the mountains behind the house we used then to build a low retaining wall. By breaking the sloping land into two flatter sections we are able to slow down the speed at which water evacuates the property giving it a chance to soak into the soil. This allows the landscape to work like a natural mini water shed, keeping the storm drains and then the oceans overwhelmed with polluted water and providing more water to the plants with less irrigation. When it came to the plants, the clients wanted low water color and texture. To celebrate the fact that the house is located in Santa Barbara county we wanted to incorporate the muted green tones, with pops of colorful foliage. Using a mix of course lots of California native plants and Mediterranean adapted plants we created a plant plate that is beautiful, low maintenance and flutters with native fauna such as bird, and butterflies and bees.

With a focus on their passions of beekeeping and herb gardening, this retired couple saw potential in this rural home they bought in 2013. They asked us for suggestions on how best to enclose and expand a breezeway from the home to the garage to include two stories, add a room over the garage, and nearly double the size of the kitchen. The lowered “biscuit counter” in the island is an ideal height for rolling out dough and getting help from the grandkids. Pantry access is through a screen door. Load-bearing walls were removed, the stairway was reconstructed, the previous breezeway was transformed into a small bathroom and a mud/laundry space. Above that was added another small bathroom, an herb prep room, complete with a stove, double sink and small fridge, plus another bedroom. Exterior drainage issues also needed attention, so we dug out along the back of the home, added French drains to evacuate the excess water, plus and a small, rock retaining wall.

With a focus on their passions of beekeeping and herb gardening, this retired couple saw potential in this rural home they bought in 2013. They asked us for suggestions on how best to enclose and expand a breezeway from the home to the garage to include two stories, add a room over the garage, and nearly double the size of the kitchen. The lowered “biscuit counter” in the island is an ideal height for rolling out dough and getting help from the grandkids. Pantry access is through a screen door. Load-bearing walls were removed, the stairway was reconstructed, the previous breezeway was transformed into a small bathroom and a mud/laundry space. Above that was added another small bathroom, an herb prep room, complete with a stove, double sink and small fridge, plus another bedroom. Exterior drainage issues also needed attention, so we dug out along the back of the home, added French drains to evacuate the excess water, plus and a small, rock retaining wall.