This unique project involved furnishing a 700 square foot terrace in the east end of the city (and getting our hands dirty with lots of plants!). Taking advantage of this private oasis in the city was our client’s number one goal. Using high quality outdoor furnishings meant to stand the test of time (and Canadian winters!) we created separate dining and living areas to maximize entertaining space and added a significant amount of storage. A neutral palette of grey and blue lets the surrounding greenery and city views take centre stage. Planters in a variety of shapes and sizes will allow the client to experiment with different plants and flowers each year, moving them around the terrace as the light changes from Spring to Fall.

This project was the design and delivery of a flexible and fault-tolerant main equipment closet (MEC) housing an enterprise-class infrastructure that services a 20,000 square foot home, a vibrant business, and a world-class home theater. In Boca Theater and Automation’s experience, the three cornerstones of any successful project in South Florida involve clean power, proper management of heat, and ANSI/TIA certified copper and fiber terminations; enterprise-class systems add in redundancy where it matters. To achieve this level of performance, the MEC and all endpoints are powered by a RoseWater HUB20 system backed up by a large-scale generator. The MEC is cooled using a dedicated air conditioner with four backup 300CFM exhaust fans triggered by temperature sensors. Both systems send alerts monitoring key parameters such as heat, moisture, incoming power, battery health, and more. Every rack-mounted device can be individually rebooted using the custom-designed touch panel interface, or from sixty-four labeled buttons on the user side of the rack. BTA designed patch bays provide professional landing points for 11.7 miles of low voltage copper and fiber runs servicing the entire campus, and each termination was tested using a Fluke DSX8000 system following extended ANSI/TIA guidelines for 10GB permalink installations.

Also known as Seabreeze, this award-winning custom home, in collaboration with Andrea Burrell Design, has been featured in the Spring 2020 edition of Boulevard Magazine. Our Genoa Bay Custom Home sits on a beautiful oceanfront lot in Maple Bay. The house is positioned high atop a steep slope and involved careful tree clearing and excavation. With three bedrooms and two full bathrooms and a powder room for a total of 2,278 square feet, this well-designed home offers plenty of space. Interior Design was completed by Andrea Burrell Design, and includes many unique features. The hidden pantry and fridge, ship-lap styling, hallway closet for the master bedroom, and reclaimed vanity are all very impressive. But what can’t be beat are the ocean views from the three-tiered deck. Photos By: Luc Cardinal

PRIMARY COLORS The Noakeses are not afraid of color, which found an outlet in the brilliant red, orange and blue of the Tufenkian Borealis Pacific Fire rug anchoring the living room. On the following spread, the homeowners’ art hangs on a dining room wall and is the soulmate to the living room rug’s deeply saturated colors as well as to the bright oranges in the wool and silk rug under the dining table. Glamour is a driving force in the house, but it never overwhelms. As a backdrop in the dining room, golden Lori Weitzner wallpaper lines the display shelf where Perry and Suzy Noakes display treasures from their travels. In the kitchen, a grouping of seeded blown glass cylinder pendants illuminates Bright Group stools and a generously proportioned island that’s big enough to seat eight guests. The entry’s bright-red lacquered console is a place for the homeowners’ Buddha collection to get attention. Pieces from Laura Britt’s sustainable furniture line Vervano populate the bedroom, including the Noakeses use for media storage. Pieces from Laura Britt’s sustainable furniture line Vervano populate the bedroom, including the chair underneath the windows The gray theme continues in the master bath, where vein-cut travertine slabs on the floor set off the sculptural flair of the bathtub. “Homes didn’t mean anything to us,” says Perry Noakes, “except as a place to put our keys and get ready for the next journey.” The retired high-tech company executive and his wife, Suzy, are avid globe-trotters. The couple had also lived in Asia for 15 years as part of Perry’s work. Finding a place to live was a well-rehearsed exercise that figured into their system for settling in to a foreign country. But all that changed when Perry and Suzy decided to downsize to a new house in Austin. A friend told them about a spec house under construction, the project of a dream team of Austin-based design professionals that included builder Keith Husbands, architect Bob Wetmore of Cornerstone Architects, and interior designer Laura Britt and her staff. “We went to see it,” says Perry, “and loved it.” The couple quickly bought the framed-out 5,800-square-foot building. The fact that the two-story dwelling was near a golf course was a bonus for the two golfers, but the low-slung four-bedroom, four-bath house also backs up onto a nature preserve. “The land offered us great opportunity to nestle the house into the topography, giving us both privacy and stunning views,” says Wetmore, who had to negotiate his design for the native stone, stucco and metal house to fit onto the steeply sloping and oddly elongated lot. The Hill Country contemporary house stretches out just below the rim of the slope, comfortably settled into the topography courtesy of terraced landscaping that defines the front approach to the house. “We turned a negative into a positive,” says Wetmore about the difficult site. The rough-and-ready landscape accounts for the building’s quiet dynamics, which Wetmore chronicled with the roofline, a series of horizontal areas that correspond to transitional spaces inside, interrupted by a clerestory that caps the entry and living room. The process of taking a house from the framing stage to completion was a new experience for the couple. “We had never participated in the building process,” says Suzy. They threw themselves into it as if it were just another one of their adventures. “I think of it as my first project after I retired,” says Perry. The budding design enthusiast so endeared himself to Britt that she and her staff awarded him with a beret to wear to design meetings, in honor of his artistic verve. “We were able to redesign a lot of the house since we came into the process so early,” says Suzy. “The house started as a spec house,” says Britt, “but it quickly became a custom home with the Noakeses’ involvement.” Britt started the process by helping the couple select materials and lighting, opting for an earthy glamour that became the touchstone of the house. For pure wow factor, the living room’s stone and steel fireplace—sliced horizontally by three massive wood beams—is a tour de force of drama. In the kitchen, an oversize island (big enough to seat eight) is topped with a slab of dramatically veined marble; the countertops are a quieter quartzite. In the master bath, bold vein-cut travertine pavers on the floor are a counterpoint to the linear-cut mosaic tiles that back the vanity and reach all the way to the skylit ceiling. The pièce de résistance is the shimmering white pebble wall behind the free-standing tub that creates the effect of water frozen in free fall. Britt used contrast as a backdrop to all the drama, opting for a forged metal chandelier in the shape of a lotus leaf in the entry—a worthy match to the darkened-steel front door. She designed a dining room table (through Vervano, her furniture design company) topped with patinaed steel; overhead, a massive steel-framed drum pendant with mica panels casts a delicate glow over the room. The designer was careful to leave wall space for the homeowners’ art collection, as well as to add space wherever possible. The dining room’s asymmetrical built-in is a place to display Buddhas and other pieces the couple has collected in their travels. “We wanted this house to be about us and who we are,” says Suzy. That’s understandable since, after 16 previous homes that were really just places to live, the freedom of expression is obviously a thrill. Maybe even too much of a thrill—although this house is the couple’s dream home, they were completely enthralled with the design process. Could house No. 17 be the best and last? Maybe not. But if there is another house in the Noakeses’ future, one thing is certain, says Perry: “We won’t make a move without consulting Laura first.” https://modernluxury.com/interiors-texas/story/smooth-move

Full kitchen renovation. Simple, clean straight lines, crisp colors bring the craftsman / mission style kitchen to life. This project involved closing one entry to the kitchen to provide more counter space, and increasing the main entry, for a better flow. Craftsman style oak inset cabinets in traditional paprika stain, square glass panels on top allow for decorative pieces to be displayed. Custom built-in pantry in contrasting color provides extra storage and compliments crisp design. Under cabinet and in cabinet lighting included. Calacatta Gold Suede Silestone Counter tops. Italian Alps subway tile backsplash. Jenn Air & Sharp appliances.

Entertaining friends and family doesn't work well when rooms are small and closed off. So when our clients decided to remodel, they knew they wanted to open up the space to accommodate large gatherings. Also important were ample storage and quality appliances that would hold up to the demands of cooking creative meals several nights a week. As is sometimes the case with remodeling, solving one problem can create another. Opening up the space involved removing a wall, which sacrificed critical square footage for cabinetry and appliances. We knew the wall needed to come down so we were challenged with making sure every available cabinet space in the kitchen was being utilized as thoughtfully and creatively as possible. A tall pantry was added next to the refrigerator to allow for storage of pots and pans, as well as food, while another pantry in the adjacent dining room housed all dishes and silverware. A small bar area was created in an unused section in the back of the home to store coffee and tea accessories and drinkware. Finally, a small island in the center of the kitchen offered the ideal location for the microwave and most-used pots and pans. With the expanded space, smart use of storage options and top-notch appliances, our clients are enjoying working in their new kitchen and have already hosted a ravioli-making class! Matt Villano Photography

Striking Modern Transformation: From Bungalow to Two-Story Home This image showcases the impressive transformation of a small bungalow into a modern two-story residence. The design cleverly integrates the original structure, retaining 50% of the existing exterior walls, while dramatically expanding both upwards and outwards. The lower level features a rich, dark brick facade, hinting at the original bungalow's footprint. Above, the new second story makes a bold architectural statement with a contrasting dark grey frame encasing large, geometric windows and warm wood paneling. This juxtaposition of materials and forms creates a visually dynamic and contemporary aesthetic. The conversion also involved underpinning the basement to maximize living space below grade and adding an extension to the back of the house, further expanding the home's square footage. The front entrance is marked by a sleek, light wood door, and concrete steps lead up from the driveway. A modern wooden fence encloses a small front yard with a patch of green grass. Key Features Highlighting the Conversion: Conversion of a small bungalow into a two-story house Retention of 50% of original exterior walls Underpinned basement Addition to the back of the house Modern second-story addition with large geometric windows and wood paneling Contrasting dark brick on the original lower level Sleek front entrance and landscaping

The owners of this 1930’s craftsman home in West Lafayette were ready to fall in love with their home all over again. To do so, they had to remove the giraffe-inspired flooring, dated wallpaper, and stucco soffits. Beyond the aesthetic appeal of a retro style kitchen design, these homeowners turned to Riverside Construction to plan their kitchen remodel for maximum efficiency—to create useful and efficient storage space, larger countertops, and improve traffic flow. This complete kitchen gut and remodel involved tearing down walls, including removing a small partition near the stove, to gain much needed square footage. The existing peninsula was relocated to the opposite side of the kitchen, and the range and refrigerator exchanged places for improved functionality. White Shaker style Wellborn cabinets, yellow Retro “Big Chill” appliances and a retro pendant light/fan combo by Fanimation rounded out this bright and airy kitchen remodel.

Designed with Winslow Architects Inc., this gut renovation involved partial demolition of an existing structure and a full interior gut renovation plus a 750 square foot addition including new two-car garage, living spaces and bonus room.

The owners of this 1930’s craftsman home in West Lafayette were ready to fall in love with their home all over again. To do so, they had to remove the giraffe-inspired flooring, dated wallpaper, and stucco soffits. Beyond the aesthetic appeal of a retro style kitchen design, these homeowners turned to Riverside Construction to plan their kitchen remodel for maximum efficiency—to create useful and efficient storage space, larger countertops, and improve traffic flow. This complete kitchen gut and remodel involved tearing down walls, including removing a small partition near the stove, to gain much needed square footage. The existing peninsula was relocated to the opposite side of the kitchen, and the range and refrigerator exchanged places for improved functionality. White Shaker style Wellborn cabinets, yellow Retro “Big Chill” appliances and a retro pendant light/fan combo by Fanimation rounded out this bright and airy kitchen remodel.

A complete kitchen and powder room remodel in Herndon, Virginia, designed around two clear priorities: open up the kitchen to the rest of the main level, and create an experience that felt warm and timeless rather than trendy. The original layout had a wall separating the kitchen from the dining room and an awkward fridge wall that limited both storage and traffic flow. Our solution involved removing the dividing wall (confirmed non-load-bearing), tightening the new dining room opening to 66 inches, and extending the fridge wall 25 inches into the kitchen to create a proper full-height pantry run. The result is a kitchen that breathes — open to the dining and living areas, with clear sight lines from the island to the bay windows at the far end. Design Approach The clients came in knowing they didn't want white. They didn't want navy. They wanted something with real wood character — the kind of finish that ages well and looks more like furniture than stock kitchen cabinetry. Cherry was the answer to that question. We anchored the room around contrast: warm cherry cabinetry against clean white walls and white quartz, black hardware grounding the cherry's warmth, and a single waterfall island acting as the architectural focal point. Stainless appliances, brushed gold pendant accents, and the herringbone hardwood floor pull the room together without any one element shouting for attention. The Cabinetry Medallion Gold Line Sonoma Cappuccino — a stained cherry finish that catches light differently throughout the day. All-plywood box construction, solid wood doors and drawer fronts, soft close everywhere, US-made with a lifetime warranty. Four pull-out drawers built into the pantry bottoms keep the deep storage actually usable rather than a black hole. Cabinet hardware is Top Knobs Riverside Pulls in flat black — 40 pulls across drawers and doors, plus three longer pulls on the 36-inch base drawers. The black was a deliberate decision: with cherry and stainless already providing warm and cool tones, brass or gold would have been one warm tone too many. Black grounds the cabinetry and gives the kitchen its architectural definition. The Island and Countertops MSI Calacatta Miraggio Gold quartz throughout — perimeter counters, island, waterfall ends, and the powder room. The Gold variant has subtle warm veining that pairs with cherry where cooler whites would have fought the wood tone. The island gets a full waterfall edge — slabs book-matched, miters precise, the finished edge essentially seamless. Treating the island as architectural sculpture rather than just functional storage. The black undermount farmhouse-style sink ties back to the hardware throughout the rest of the kitchen. The Backsplash MSI Metro Gold tile — small format white and gold tiles in a herringbone-adjacent pattern with intermittent gold accents. Full height, continuous behind the floating shelves and behind the hood. Four custom floating shelves are spaced above a 3-inch countertop ledge: first shelf 18 inches above the ledge, second shelf 9 inches above that, third 18 inches above the second. The shelves are stained to match the cabinetry. The backsplash continues behind the shelves and behind the hood, so the wall reads as a continuous textured surface that the shelves and hood float in front of. The Appliances This is a serious cooking kitchen. The clients chose a 48-inch Wolf gas range, a Sub-Zero built-in refrigerator integrated into the cherry cabinet wall, a Wolf microwave drawer in the island base, and a Bosch dishwasher. For ventilation, we installed a 1200 CFM hood paired with a make-up air system to balance the negative pressure that hood pulls. New ducting was routed through the exterior siding on the side of the house. The Flooring MSI engineered hardwood throughout the entire main level — approximately 800 square feet — installed in a Bramlett herringbone pattern. Herringbone adds roughly 15-20 percent to material and labor costs because of the angled cuts and waste factor, but the result is a floor that reads as more considered and luxurious than standard plank flooring. Finished with 4.5-inch white wood baseboards throughout. The Powder Room A small room with a big personality. The clients chose a deep blue and teal scallop pattern wallpaper (client-supplied, we installed) and paired it with the same Sonoma Cappuccino cherry vanity used in the kitchen — material continuity between the spaces. Powder room countertop is the same MSI Calacatta Miraggio Gold quartz from the kitchen with a rectangular white undermount sink. Hardware on the powder room vanity is Top Knobs Riverside in honey bronze rather than the kitchen's flat black — the warm bronze pulls the brass tones from the faucet into the millwork and complements the wallpaper. New sconce, kept the existing toilet (refinishing or replacing a working toilet is wasted money in a powder room remodel), and a Panasonic Whisper Green exhaust fan. Project Specs Location: Herndon, Virginia Project type: Combined kitchen and powder room remodel Project duration: Approximately 4 to 6 weeks Style: Transitional, Modern Farmhouse, Warm Wood Contemporary Color palette: Cherry, white, black, brushed gold, deep blue (powder room) Materials Cabinetry (kitchen and powder room): Medallion Gold Line Sonoma Cappuccino cherry, Shaker-style, all-plywood box construction, lifetime warranty Kitchen hardware: Top Knobs Riverside Pulls in flat black (TK1014BLK and TK1017BLK) Powder room hardware: Top Knobs Riverside Pulls in honey bronze (TK1012HB) Counter tops: MSI Calacatta Miraggio Gold Quartz, pencil edge, waterfall island Backsplash: MSI Metro Gold tile, full height Floating shelves: 4 custom shelves at 48" by 9", stained to match cabinets Range: 48-inch Wolf gas range Refrigerator: Sub-Zero built-in Microwave: Wolf microwave drawer (island base) Hood: 1200 CFM with make-up air system Kitchen sink: Kohler farmhouse-style, 36-inch base, black Kitchen faucet: Brizo (homeowner-supplied) Flooring: MSI engineered hardwood in Bramlett herringbone pattern, approximately 800 sq ft Baseboards: 4.5-inch white wood throughout Powder room wallpaper: Client-supplied scallop pattern in blues and teals Powder room exhaust fan: Panasonic Whisper Green Paint: Benjamin Moore Designed and built by My Kitchen and Bath out of our Herndon showroom at 285 Sunset Park Drive. We've been designing and building kitchens, bathrooms, and full home renovations across Northern Virginia and the DMV since 1994.

Also known as Seabreeze, this award-winning custom home, in collaboration with Andrea Burrell Design, has been featured in the Spring 2020 edition of Boulevard Magazine. Our Genoa Bay Custom Home sits on a beautiful oceanfront lot in Maple Bay. The house is positioned high atop a steep slope and involved careful tree clearing and excavation. With three bedrooms and two full bathrooms and a powder room for a total of 2,278 square feet, this well-designed home offers plenty of space. Interior Design was completed by Andrea Burrell Design, and includes many unique features. The hidden pantry and fridge, ship-lap styling, hallway closet for the master bedroom, and reclaimed vanity are all very impressive. But what can’t be beat are the ocean views from the three-tiered deck. Photos By: Luc Cardinal

Also known as Seabreeze, this award-winning custom home, in collaboration with Andrea Burrell Design, has been featured in the Spring 2020 edition of Boulevard Magazine. Our Genoa Bay Custom Home sits on a beautiful oceanfront lot in Maple Bay. The house is positioned high atop a steep slope and involved careful tree clearing and excavation. With three bedrooms and two full bathrooms and a powder room for a total of 2,278 square feet, this well-designed home offers plenty of space. Interior Design was completed by Andrea Burrell Design, and includes many unique features. The hidden pantry and fridge, ship-lap styling, hallway closet for the master bedroom, and reclaimed vanity are all very impressive. But what can’t be beat are the ocean views from the three-tiered deck. Photos By: Luc Cardinal

McKinlay Rose, led by the dynamic duo Kristen McKinlay and Melanie Rose, is a premier full-service interior design and project management firm specializing in luxury interiors, new construction design, and high-end renovations. As award-winning interior designers, they create custom residential and commercial spaces that are both functional and opulent, with a strong focus on space planning, furnishings, finishes, and turn-key project coordination. From initial concept through final styling, McKinlay Rose delivers a seamless, personalized design experience that keeps clients informed and involved at every step. Their 3,500+ square foot interior design studio and boutique offers access to curated furnishings, lighting, textiles, and one-of-a-kind pieces, supported by cutting-edge design software and detailed presentations that make it easy to visualize each space. "It’s all in how you put it together" is more than a motto—it reflects their commitment to thoughtful, cohesive interiors that reflect each client’s lifestyle, elevate everyday living, and redefine what luxury interior design can be.

This project was the design and delivery of a flexible and fault-tolerant main equipment closet (MEC) housing an enterprise-class infrastructure that services a 20,000 square foot home, a vibrant business, and a world-class home theater. In Boca Theater and Automation’s experience, the three cornerstones of any successful project in South Florida involve clean power, proper management of heat, and ANSI/TIA certified copper and fiber terminations; enterprise-class systems add in redundancy where it matters. To achieve this level of performance, the MEC and all endpoints are powered by a RoseWater HUB20 system backed up by a large-scale generator. The MEC is cooled using a dedicated air conditioner with four backup 300CFM exhaust fans triggered by temperature sensors. Both systems send alerts monitoring key parameters such as heat, moisture, incoming power, battery health, and more. Every rack-mounted device can be individually rebooted using the custom-designed touch panel interface, or from sixty-four labeled buttons on the user side of the rack. BTA designed patch bays provide professional landing points for 11.7 miles of low voltage copper and fiber runs servicing the entire campus, and each termination was tested using a Fluke DSX8000 system following extended ANSI/TIA guidelines for 10GB permalink installations.

This one bedroom apartment is located in a converted loft building in the Flatiron District of Manhattan overlooking Madison Square, the start of Madison Avenue and the Empire State Building. The project involved a gut renovation interior fit-out including the replacement of the windows. In order to maximize natural light and open up views from the apartment, the layout is divided into three "layers" from enclosed to semi-open to open. The bedroom is set back as far as possible within the central layer so that the living room can occupy the entire width of the window wall. The bedroom was designed to be a flexible space that can be completely open to the living room and kitchen during the day, creating one large space, but enclosed at night. This is achieved with sliding and folding glass doors on two sides of the bedroom that can be partially or completely opened as required. The open plan kitchen is focused on a long island that acts as a food preparation area, workspace and can be extended to create a dining table projecting into the living room. The bathroom acts as a counterpoint to the light, open plan design of the rest of the apartment, with a sense of luxury provided by the finishes, the generous shower and bath and three separate lighting systems that can be used together or individually to define the mood of the space. The materials throughout the apartment are a simple palette of glass, metal, stone and wood. www.archphoto.com

Full kitchen renovation. Simple, clean straight lines, crisp colors bring the craftsman / mission style kitchen to life. This project involved closing one entry to the kitchen to provide more counter space, and increasing the main entry, for a better flow. Craftsman style oak inset cabinets in traditional paprika stain, square glass panels on top allow for decorative pieces to be displayed. Custom built-in pantry in contrasting color provides extra storage and compliments crisp design. Under cabinet and in cabinet lighting included. Calacatta Gold Suede Silestone Counter tops. Italian Alps subway tile backsplash. Jenn Air & Sharp appliances.

After: Dining Room The original wide-plank pine boards in the living room were carefully salvaged, squared, reinstalled, and sanded. It was a labor of love, but everyone involved in the project agrees it was well worth it. Photo by: Susan Teare

Transitional exterior home idea in Los Angeles