photo by Ryann Ford. Paint color on base cabinets is Benjamin Moore, Dolphin. House white is Benjamin Moore, White Dove
Country eat-in kitchen photo in Austin with a farmhouse sink, recessed-panel cabinets, gray cabinets, beige backsplash, subway tile backsplash and stainless steel appliances

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

A 43” diameter heritage pecan guided the plan of this neighborhood-scaled, modestly-priced, single-story, L-shaped house. In Austin’s seemingly perpetual drought, the goal was to create a symbiotic relationship between house and tree: to complement, not combat each other. The roof’s east/west parallel ridges create a valley directly across from the base, where water is collected at a grate, nourishing the tree. The roof also maximizes south facing surfaces, elevated at 15 degrees for future solar collection. The open, public spaces of the home maximize the north-south light. The private zone of the bedrooms and bathrooms include a generous gallery; its angled walls and large sliding doors are faceted about the tree. The pecan becomes a central focus for indoor and outdoor living, participating in the house in both plan and section. The design welcomes and nurtures the tree as integral to its success. Photo Credit: Chris Diaz

The rich ipe paneling leads to the entrance of this modern ranch home. The large house numbers are a graphic and functional addition.
Mid-sized modern red one-story wood exterior home idea in Los Angeles

6"x15" SoCal Aluminum Modern House Numbers- Plaque (modernhousenumbers.com) Available in 4”, 6”, 8”, 12” or 15” high. Aluminum numbers are 3/8” thick, brushed aluminum with a high quality clear coat and a ½” standoff providing a subtle shadow.

Palm Springs Modern House Number - Plaque and 6" Numbers (modernhousenumbers.com) Brushed 3/8" thick aluminum with a high quality clear coat and 1/2" standoffs providing a subtle shadow.

SoCal Modern House Number - Plaque (modernhousenumbers.com) Brushed 3/8" thick aluminum with a high quality clear coat and 1/2" standoffs providing a subtle shadow.

Patio - contemporary patio idea in San Francisco

Solar backlit house number sign 5 inches digits. Solar panel fully integrated with 2,200 mAh hybrid super capacitor (battery never need to be replaced). $599.50 USD (this model cost less now)

We took advantage of the double volume ceiling height in the living room and added millwork to the stone fireplace, a reclaimed wood beam and a gorgeous, chandelier. The sliding doors lead out to the sundeck and the lake beyond. TV's mounted above fireplaces tend to be a little high for comfortable viewing from the sofa, so this tv is mounted on an adjustable pull down bracket for use when the fireplace is not turned on. Floating white oak shelves replaced upper cabinets above the bar area.

Front view of the gorgeous house, with the backlit lighted house numbers sign's temperature matching perfectly the main lamp. The flush underline was the best alignment for it's location.

The Mazama house is located in the Methow Valley of Washington State, a secluded mountain valley on the eastern edge of the North Cascades, about 200 miles northeast of Seattle. The house has been carefully placed in a copse of trees at the easterly end of a large meadow. Two major building volumes indicate the house organization. A grounded 2-story bedroom wing anchors a raised living pavilion that is lifted off the ground by a series of exposed steel columns. Seen from the access road, the large meadow in front of the house continues right under the main living space, making the living pavilion into a kind of bridge structure spanning over the meadow grass, with the house touching the ground lightly on six steel columns. The raised floor level provides enhanced views as well as keeping the main living level well above the 3-4 feet of winter snow accumulation that is typical for the upper Methow Valley. To further emphasize the idea of lightness, the exposed wood structure of the living pavilion roof changes pitch along its length, so the roof warps upward at each end. The interior exposed wood beams appear like an unfolding fan as the roof pitch changes. The main interior bearing columns are steel with a tapered “V”-shape, recalling the lightness of a dancer. The house reflects the continuing FINNE investigation into the idea of crafted modernism, with cast bronze inserts at the front door, variegated laser-cut steel railing panels, a curvilinear cast-glass kitchen counter, waterjet-cut aluminum light fixtures, and many custom furniture pieces. The house interior has been designed to be completely integral with the exterior. The living pavilion contains more than twelve pieces of custom furniture and lighting, creating a totality of the designed environment that recalls the idea of Gesamtkunstverk, as seen in the work of Josef Hoffman and the Viennese Secessionist movement in the early 20th century. The house has been designed from the start as a sustainable structure, with 40% higher insulation values than required by code, radiant concrete slab heating, efficient natural ventilation, large amounts of natural lighting, water-conserving plumbing fixtures, and locally sourced materials. Windows have high-performance LowE insulated glazing and are equipped with concealed shades. A radiant hydronic heat system with exposed concrete floors allows lower operating temperatures and higher occupant comfort levels. The concrete slabs conserve heat and provide great warmth and comfort for the feet. Deep roof overhangs, built-in shades and high operating clerestory windows are used to reduce heat gain in summer months. During the winter, the lower sun angle is able to penetrate into living spaces and passively warm the exposed concrete floor. Low VOC paints and stains have been used throughout the house. The high level of craft evident in the house reflects another key principle of sustainable design: build it well and make it last for many years! Photo by Benjamin Benschneider

Photography: Paul Dyer
Trendy white two-story mixed siding exterior home photo in San Francisco with a shed roof

Vertical engraved slate house numbers mounted on a brick mailbox pillar, a classic feature of many American homes. This format provides excellent visibility from the street, making it easy for visitors, deliveries, and emergency services to locate the property. Crafted from natural slate and deeply engraved for long-term durability, the design combines clean, modern typography with a layout suited to driveway entrances and front yard features. Ideal for suburban homes across the United States, this style offers a practical and architectural approach to displaying house numbers.

The key design driver for the project was to create a simple but contemporary extension that responded to the existing dramatic topography in the property’s rear garden. The concept was to provide a single elegant form, cantilevering out into the tree canopies and over the landscape. Conceived as a house within the tree canopies the extension is clad in sweet chestnut which enhances the relationship to the surrounding mature trees. Large sliding glass panels link the inside spaces to its unique environment. Internally the design successfully resolves the Client’s brief to provide an open plan and fluid layout, that subtly defines distinct living and dining areas. The scheme was completed in April 2016

Backlit house numbers sign made of three separates individual 10 inches height digits. The light diffuser on the back is not noticeable unless you look at a norrow angle from the wall. In this project, a built-in hidden dusk to dawn daylight sensor is installed inside the first digit and control the others. $399.68 USD including installation hardware, stencil, a dusk to dawn daylight sensor, a power adapter and the shipping.

Front view of the house holding the lighted house numbers sign that stay automatically off during the day.
Minimalist home design photo in Montreal

Backlit house number sign with 5 inches digits and a long underline bar. $222 USD including shipping
Inspiration for a modern porch remodel in Montreal

The key design driver for the project was to create a simple but contemporary extension that responded to the existing dramatic topography in the property’s rear garden. The concept was to provide a single elegant form, cantilevering out into the tree canopies and over the landscape. Conceived as a house within the tree canopies the extension is clad in sweet chestnut which enhances the relationship to the surrounding mature trees. Large sliding glass panels link the inside spaces to its unique environment. Internally the design successfully resolves the Client’s brief to provide an open plan and fluid layout, that subtly defines distinct living and dining areas. The scheme was completed in April 2016