Using white throughout this home makes the dining room’s faint taupe walls pop with understated elegance. The beauty continues in the white and stainless kitchen, grounded on hand scraped flooring. Floor: 7” wide-plank Vintage French Oak | Rustic Character | Victorian Collection hand scraped | light distress | pillowed edge | color Bronze | Satin Hardwax Oil. For more information please email us at: sales@signaturehardwoods.com

Windy City: A medium gray paint color from Clare. Beautiful and breezy — just like its namesake! A light to medium gray with a faint hint of warmth. A great fit for spaces that receive lots of light.

The small nook off the family room is the gentlemen's bar, complete with a hammered copper vessel sink with a handle like a bucket, natural stone and glass backsplash, wine cellar, dishwasher for all the bar glasses and an under-counter refrigerator. The design on the cabinets was carefully chosen with the diamond mullions to continue with the Adirondack theme and with the chiseled edge on the granite. As luxurious as the home is, don't forget it is in the mountains among acreage and private lots full of multiple walking trails that are not for the faint of heart. This is a man's home; a place for guys to go and unwind in a posh gentlemen's club that exudes comfort and luxury, but not stuffiness. Designed by Melodie Durham of Durham Designs & Consulting, LLC. Photo by Livengood Photographs [www.livengoodphotographs.com/design].

Esti and Reuven built a spacious custom home for their growing family in the Pikesville area of Baltimore. Construction has already begun when they asked me to design the kitchen. The size and position of the kitchen in a general sense was set, although none of the details were, including the layout, positions of appliances and the shape and positions of the windows. Goals included room for a large refrigerator & freezer, lots of prep space, good workflow, and attention to composition and aesthetics. Building a home is not for the faint of heart, and budget considerations came into play in some of Esti and Reuven's choices.This is a spacious and functional kitchen. It reads big. It IS big. But more than that, it is a serene and enjoyable place to hang out, and to cook with small children nearby.

Once their basement remodel was finished they decided that wasn't stressful enough... they needed to tackle every square inch on the main floor. I joke, but this is not for the faint of heart. Being without a kitchen is a major inconvenience, especially with children. The transformation is a completely different house. The new floors lighten and the kitchen layout is so much more function and spacious. The addition in built-ins with a coffee bar in the kitchen makes the space seem very high end. The removal of the closet in the back entry and conversion into a built-in locker unit is one of our favorite and most widely done spaces, and for good reason. The cute little powder is completely updated and is perfect for guests and the daily use of homeowners. The homeowners did some work themselves, some with their subcontractors, and the rest with our general contractor, Tschida Construction.

small balcony off of the master suite over the garage
Small mountain style backyard deck photo in Burlington

Once their basement remodel was finished they decided that wasn't stressful enough... they needed to tackle every square inch on the main floor. I joke, but this is not for the faint of heart. Being without a kitchen is a major inconvenience, especially with children. The transformation is a completely different house. The new floors lighten and the kitchen layout is so much more function and spacious. The addition in built-ins with a coffee bar in the kitchen makes the space seem very high end. The removal of the closet in the back entry and conversion into a built-in locker unit is one of our favorite and most widely done spaces, and for good reason. The cute little powder is completely updated and is perfect for guests and the daily use of homeowners. The homeowners did some work themselves, some with their subcontractors, and the rest with our general contractor, Tschida Construction.

This is a compact, pre-war urban parlor handled with the confidence of a much larger room, and its success rests on a disciplined negotiation between rectilinear architecture and curvilinear furnishings. The volume is defined by two competing datum lines: a substantial dropped beam and soffit bridging the left-hand window wall, and the crisp stepped architrave of the fireplace surround opposite, which projects into the room as the primary architectural event. That mantel—executed in tiered, chamfered planes with a shallow reveal and a honed black stone hearth extending as a cantilevered shelf—reads as a stripped-classical or Art Deco–inflected aedicule, its symmetry anchoring the seating plan. Circulation is organized on a diagonal: the long axis established by the low, tight-back sofa beneath the fenestration is intercepted by the oval mahogany cocktail table, whose ellipse dissolves the room's orthogonal grid and permits comfortable passage on all sides. Sightlines are deliberately layered—the gilt mirror above the mantel captures a reflected register of the opposing wall's cornice, drapery, and framed art, effectively doubling the perceived depth of the plan and admitting borrowed light. The furniture is uniformly low-slung, an intentional strategy that preserves headroom and visually raises the ceiling plane, while the exposed leg profiles (turned casters, tapered mahogany posts, square-section table legs) keep the floor plane continuous and the composition buoyant rather than freighted. The palette is a masterclass in tonal modulation within a narrow chromatic band—warm ivory plaster walls with a faintly pinkish undertone provide the neutral ground against which a family of golds, ochres, and honeyed camels is arranged in ascending saturation. The sofa's cut velvet in a deep saffron-caramel is the room's chromatic keystone, echoed in the club chair at right and moderated by two temperature-shifting accents: sage and moss velvet cushions that introduce a cool, desaturated counterpoint, and a damask-woven celadon slipper chair with matching ottoman whose subtle jacquard relief supplies pattern without noise. Textiles are stratified by pile depth and light response—the matte, slightly slubbed linen of the box-pleated pelmet and floor-length panels absorbs light, while the velvets refract it, producing that characteristic gilded bloom along the seat rolls and cushion edges. Against these soft goods, the designer sets three hard, contrasting registers: the French-polished mahogany table, whose figured, mirror-like top functions as a horizontal reflector; the water-gilded, deeply carved acanthus mirror frame, its burnished high points offering the room's only true metallic brilliance; and the patinated bronze bulldog andirons and blackened firebox, which supply necessary chromatic weight. Underfoot, a coarse woven sisal or seagrass rug provides the essential textural antithesis—dry, granular, and vernacular—as do the loose-woven rush baskets flanking the window, grounding the room's refinement in something agrarian and unpretentious. Daylighting is generous but rigorously controlled: the twin windows are filtered through translucent roller blinds that diffuse direct sun into an even, high-key wash, and the pelmet with its softly gathered box pleats crops the aperture to conceal hardware and reinforce the horizontal. The result is a luminous, almost overexposed north-facing quality along the left flank that gradates into softer shadow at the hearth wall—a chiaroscuro that gives the room its sense of depth and repose. Artificial illumination is deliberately architectural and understated rather than decorative: a swing-arm picture light above the abstract framed work at left, a second slim picture light on the return wall, and an articulating chrome task/floor lamp with a polished conical shade positioned to serve the reading corner. Notably, there is no central fixture; the strategy is entirely peripheral and layered, calibrated for evening intimacy at cushion height. Stylistically, the room synthesizes into what one might call Restrained American Traditionalism, or more precisely a Warm Modern Classicism—the vocabulary of a New York or London town-house drawing room, edited of clutter and pattern, retaining the ceremonial gestures (gilt overmantel mirror, tailored drapery, symmetrical hearth) while adopting modernist restraint in silhouette, chromatic economy, and the absence of ornament on the case goods. The reference points span Deco, Regency, and mid-century upholstery forms, yet the assembly feels neither eclectic nor historicist. It is, instead, a quietly authoritative interior—luxurious in material and light, ascetic in gesture, and calibrated for daily habitation rather than display.

Enclosed kitchen - mid-sized contemporary u-shaped light wood floor and brown floor enclosed kitchen idea in New York with an undermount sink, raised-panel cabinets, white cabinets, solid surface countertops, multicolored backsplash, ceramic backsplash, stainless steel appliances and an island

Once their basement remodel was finished they decided that wasn't stressful enough... they needed to tackle every square inch on the main floor. I joke, but this is not for the faint of heart. Being without a kitchen is a major inconvenience, especially with children. The transformation is a completely different house. The new floors lighten and the kitchen layout is so much more function and spacious. The addition in built-ins with a coffee bar in the kitchen makes the space seem very high end. The removal of the closet in the back entry and conversion into a built-in locker unit is one of our favorite and most widely done spaces, and for good reason. The cute little powder is completely updated and is perfect for guests and the daily use of homeowners. The homeowners did some work themselves, some with their subcontractors, and the rest with our general contractor, Tschida Construction.

Bold, dramatic, inspiring. With color variation that never grows old, this floor is not for the faint of heart. But for those who follow where Dover leads, there is nothing quite like it.

Urban Diversions brings to life the true meaning of bringing the outdoors in, creating a warm inviting atmosphere. We pulled two cedar trees out of the river, roots and all, stripped them with potato peelers, cut the roots level to the floor so they would free stand and dyed them a faint green so as to appear alive. Furnished the room with panoramic settings to enjoy both the indoors and out. This space affords our client an infinite view of nature at its best. Photo credit goes to Bill Milne of Milne Studios NY.

Kitchen island refinished in BM 2129-20 Soot with a faint rub through. Island countertop replaced with Cambria Torquay, basin profile. Perimeter cabinets refinished in White Dove. Perimeter countertops replaced with Cambria Templeton, Ridgeline profile. Backsplash replaced with MSI Dove Gray glazed ceramic subway tile with White Dove grout.

Once their basement remodel was finished they decided that wasn't stressful enough... they needed to tackle every square inch on the main floor. I joke, but this is not for the faint of heart. Being without a kitchen is a major inconvenience, especially with children. The transformation is a completely different house. The new floors lighten and the kitchen layout is so much more function and spacious. The addition in built-ins with a coffee bar in the kitchen makes the space seem very high end. The removal of the closet in the back entry and conversion into a built-in locker unit is one of our favorite and most widely done spaces, and for good reason. The cute little powder is completely updated and is perfect for guests and the daily use of homeowners. The homeowners did some work themselves, some with their subcontractors, and the rest with our general contractor, Tschida Construction.

For the flooring, the homeowners worked with Brad Warburton. Onyx Stone in the color Ice from Tesoro was used in the kitchen/dining area and continued throughout the hallway and foyer of the home. The faint tones of grey and beige go well with the colors used throughout the kitchen design and really unify the overall space.

The latte finish is not for the faint of heart, with A 4 step finishing process that our team at Gravelle woodworking has honed over the years to make for one of the most unique finishes in the industry. Stefanie Daugilis photography

Coral Sea Style Bathroom in Clayeystone This is a stunning marine landscape, where the sun's rays glisten upon the blue ocean, illuminating the faint coral reefs and enhancing the already captivating scenery.

- Ash gray vinyl flooring, simulating a wooden finish - Faint white walls - Framed windows to open the room
Example of a vinyl floor and gray floor bedroom design in Toronto