Example of a farmhouse dark wood floor mudroom design in New York with yellow walls and a dark wood front door

The client’s coastal New England roots inspired this Shingle style design for a lakefront lot. With a background in interior design, her ideas strongly influenced the process, presenting both challenge and reward in executing her exact vision. Vintage coastal style grounds a thoroughly modern open floor plan, designed to house a busy family with three active children. A primary focus was the kitchen, and more importantly, the butler’s pantry tucked behind it. Flowing logically from the garage entry and mudroom, and with two access points from the main kitchen, it fulfills the utilitarian functions of storage and prep, leaving the main kitchen free to shine as an integral part of the open living area. An ARDA for Custom Home Design goes to Royal Oaks Design Designer: Kieran Liebl From: Oakdale, Minnesota

Cameron St Photography
Example of a transitional bathroom design in Toronto

Our clients built their Manhattan dream house years ago, but a couple of decades in, the yellow and green palette seemed stale. We brightened the home with new paint and countertops, white oak flooring and updated carpet, custom fixtures and furniture, and new finishes, window treatments, and accessories. For enhanced functionality, we added built-in storage throughout, reupholstered existing furniture and the breakfast nook in performance fabric, and created a custom dining table that seats a dozen. To keep the dining room coastal and informal, we paired plush head chairs with rattan-backed side chairs and accented with sea-foam and sandy-hued floor and window coverings. The addition of a murphy bed, as well as shelving and file storage, made the office more suited to their growing family’s needs. In the second office, a standing desk, as well as a customized craft desk with built-ins for specific supplies, transformed the area into a completely personalized and effective space. New furniture and a ceiling-length fireplace facade of soft ivory and gray stone transformed the family room into a cozy and welcoming retreat. The overall effect is a home that feels spacious, beachy, and comfortable.

Custom wall mounted vanity. Blackstock Photography
Trendy master white tile and subway tile gray floor and slate floor alcove shower photo in New York with flat-panel cabinets, dark wood cabinets, white walls, an undermount sink, marble countertops and a hinged shower door

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

Equally beautiful and functional, this walnut vanity adds natural warmth to the newly renovated master bath. The linear design includes generous drawers fitted with customized storage for grooming accessories. Kara Lashuay

Example of a transitional kitchen design in Detroit

Photo: Robert Radifera - A large garden tub was removed to make space for an enlarged shower. Generous niches were designed with coordinating herringbone marble inset, and are large enough to accommodate bulk-size products.

Clark Dugger Photography
Example of a large trendy backyard concrete patio design in Los Angeles with a fire pit and a roof extension

Located in the idyllic town of Darien, Connecticut, this rustic barn-style home is outfitted with a luxury Kalamazoo outdoor kitchen. Compact in size, the outdoor kitchen is ideal for entertaining family and friends. The Kalamazoo Hybrid Fire Built-in Grill features three seriously powerful gas burners totaling 82,500 BTUs and a generous 726 square inches of primary grilling surface. The Hybrid Grill is not only the “best gas grill” there is – it also cooks with wood and charcoal. This means any grilling technique is at the homeowner’s disposal – from searing and indirect grilling, to rotisserie roasting over a live wood fire. This all stainless-steel grill is hand-crafted in the U.S.A. to the highest quality standards so that it can withstand even the harshest east coast winters. A Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet Built-in Cooktop Cabinet flanks the grill and expands the kitchens cooking capabilities, offering two gas burners. Stainless steel outdoor cabinetry was incorporated into the outdoor kitchen design for ample storage. All Kalamazoo cabinetry is weather-tight, meaning dishes, cooks tools and non-perishable food items can be stored outdoors all year long without moisture or debris seeping in. The outdoor kitchen provides a place from the homeowner’s to grill, entertain and enjoy their picturesque surrounds.

This project encompasses the renovation of two aging metal warehouses located on an acre just North of the 610 loop. The larger warehouse, previously an auto body shop, measures 6000 square feet and will contain a residence, art studio, and garage. A light well puncturing the middle of the main residence brightens the core of the deep building. The over-sized roof opening washes light down three masonry walls that define the light well and divide the public and private realms of the residence. The interior of the light well is conceived as a serene place of reflection while providing ample natural light into the Master Bedroom. Large windows infill the previous garage door openings and are shaded by a generous steel canopy as well as a new evergreen tree court to the west. Adjacent, a 1200 sf building is reconfigured for a guest or visiting artist residence and studio with a shared outdoor patio for entertaining. Photo by Peter Molick, Art by Karin Broker

Black and white en suite bathroom with twin vanities, relaxing bathing alcove, and generous shower. Details like craftsman feet on the vanities and versailles tile floor create the distinguished character of this bathroom. Photography by Spacecrafting

Transitional bathroom photo in Salt Lake City

Mid-sized trendy master gray tile, white tile and stone slab porcelain tile alcove shower photo in San Francisco with shaker cabinets, gray cabinets, an undermount tub, a two-piece toilet, white walls, an undermount sink and marble countertops

Kitchen
Mountain style u-shaped dark wood floor and brown floor kitchen photo in Houston with a farmhouse sink, shaker cabinets, distressed cabinets, multicolored backsplash, stainless steel appliances and an island

Regan Wood photo credit
Transitional medium tone wood floor and brown floor entry hall photo in New York with gray walls and a white front door

This 1930's Barrington Hills farmhouse was in need of some TLC when it was purchased by this southern family of five who planned to make it their new home. The renovation taken on by Advance Design Studio's designer Scott Christensen and master carpenter Justin Davis included a custom porch, custom built in cabinetry in the living room and children's bedrooms, 2 children's on-suite baths, a guest powder room, a fabulous new master bath with custom closet and makeup area, a new upstairs laundry room, a workout basement, a mud room, new flooring and custom wainscot stairs with planked walls and ceilings throughout the home. The home's original mechanicals were in dire need of updating, so HVAC, plumbing and electrical were all replaced with newer materials and equipment. A dramatic change to the exterior took place with the addition of a quaint standing seam metal roofed farmhouse porch perfect for sipping lemonade on a lazy hot summer day. In addition to the changes to the home, a guest house on the property underwent a major transformation as well. Newly outfitted with updated gas and electric, a new stacking washer/dryer space was created along with an updated bath complete with a glass enclosed shower, something the bath did not previously have. A beautiful kitchenette with ample cabinetry space, refrigeration and a sink was transformed as well to provide all the comforts of home for guests visiting at the classic cottage retreat. The biggest design challenge was to keep in line with the charm the old home possessed, all the while giving the family all the convenience and efficiency of modern functioning amenities. One of the most interesting uses of material was the porcelain "wood-looking" tile used in all the baths and most of the home's common areas. All the efficiency of porcelain tile, with the nostalgic look and feel of worn and weathered hardwood floors. The home’s casual entry has an 8" rustic antique barn wood look porcelain tile in a rich brown to create a warm and welcoming first impression. Painted distressed cabinetry in muted shades of gray/green was used in the powder room to bring out the rustic feel of the space which was accentuated with wood planked walls and ceilings. Fresh white painted shaker cabinetry was used throughout the rest of the rooms, accentuated by bright chrome fixtures and muted pastel tones to create a calm and relaxing feeling throughout the home. Custom cabinetry was designed and built by Advance Design specifically for a large 70” TV in the living room, for each of the children’s bedroom’s built in storage, custom closets, and book shelves, and for a mudroom fit with custom niches for each family member by name. The ample master bath was fitted with double vanity areas in white. A generous shower with a bench features classic white subway tiles and light blue/green glass accents, as well as a large free standing soaking tub nestled under a window with double sconces to dim while relaxing in a luxurious bath. A custom classic white bookcase for plush towels greets you as you enter the sanctuary bath.

For our client, who had previous experience working with architects, we enlarged, completely gutted and remodeled this Twin Peaks diamond in the rough. The top floor had a rear-sloping ceiling that cut off the amazing view, so our first task was to raise the roof so the great room had a uniformly high ceiling. Clerestory windows bring in light from all directions. In addition, we removed walls, combined rooms, and installed floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall sliding doors in sleek black aluminum at each floor to create generous rooms with expansive views. At the basement, we created a full-floor art studio flooded with light and with an en-suite bathroom for the artist-owner. New exterior decks, stairs and glass railings create outdoor living opportunities at three of the four levels. We designed modern open-riser stairs with glass railings to replace the existing cramped interior stairs. The kitchen features a 16 foot long island which also functions as a dining table. We designed a custom wall-to-wall bookcase in the family room as well as three sleek tiled fireplaces with integrated bookcases. The bathrooms are entirely new and feature floating vanities and a modern freestanding tub in the master. Clean detailing and luxurious, contemporary finishes complete the look.