Search results for "Losing real" in Home Design Ideas

Kitchen in Trailside View | Refined Transitional Home in Scottsdale, AZ |
Room Type: Whole Home Remodel and Furnishings |
Project Name: Trailside View Residence |
Key Feature: A full home remodel and furnishings project anchored by white oak cabinetry and countertops, where the clients gave Living with Lolo real creative freedom to play with bold fabrics, wallpapers, and drapery that most homeowners would talk themselves out of.
Challenge: Transitional design can play it safe by default, neutral palette, inoffensive finishes, nothing that makes you catch your breath. The remodel needed a strong foundation that felt refined and timeless, but the clients wanted more than that. They wanted a home with personality, and the challenge was channeling that creative openness into something cohesive rather than chaotic.
Solution: Living with Lolo used white oak cabinetry and countertops to ground the remodel in warmth and quiet sophistication, then let the soft goods carry the personality. Bold fabric choices, expressive wallpapers, and thoughtful drapery gave each room its own moment without losing the thread that connected the whole home. Because the remodel and furnishings were managed together under one roof, the bolder design choices landed the way they were intended to rather than feeling like afterthoughts layered onto a finished renovation.
Materials: White oak cabinetry, white oak countertops, curated wallpapers, bold upholstery fabrics, custom drapery, and layered accessories sourced through Living with Lolo's trade relationships.
Budget: $250,000 to $550,000 |
Timeline: Approximately 5 to 9 months from design through completion.

Custom Home Built for Real Life
Our clients came to us with a clear vision: a home that could adapt to their lifestyle and growing family. They needed a home built with intention, designed with the future in mind, and built around the routines they loved and the people they loved more.
Open-Concept Living With Hosting in Mind
Our clients hosted often and lived actively, so the main level had to be flexible for all of life’s moments. The goal was a space that felt grand without losing its warmth.
Cooking together as a family mattered to our clients – the Wolf range, farmhouse sink, integrated appliances, and large island gave them a kitchen that flowed effortlessly while looking beautiful. This space also served as the bridge between other parts of the main level so that they would stay in view of the next. This created the perfect environment for gathering where everyone had their own spot without ever feeling apart from the whole group.
For the living room, our clients wanted space that felt open without losing its warmth. Soaring ceilings created that sense of scale, while warm tones and materials, like the wood coffered ceiling and fireplace wall, kept it grounded. That same warmth carried outside, where an outdoor lounge with a fireplace and dining area made sure guests felt welcomed the moment they stepped out.
A Backyard Built for Real Rest
Every corner of the backyard was designed with one goal: to be the ultimate outdoor retreat. The elevated, white-brick-framed pool and integrated spa hot tub gave them a place to truly exhale. As the sun set, the fire pit lounge next to the pool became the hangout spot when they hosted their youth groups and family gatherings.
Room to Grow
With kids in the house, “custom” had to also mean flexible. Our clients had 2 young sons and needed their rooms to grow with them through the years. The two bedrooms and a full bath sat beside a loft that served as both their hangout-and-homework spot. The guest suite sat on the same level where a four-poster bed, floor-to-ceiling wood-look tile, and a frameless glass shower welcomed their guests from day one.
A Retreat That’s Actually Theirs
Between hosting and raising kids, this couple needed a suite that felt like a true escape. The wood-planked tray ceiling and French doors grounded the room in warmth the moment you walked in, while the ensuite bathroom carried a spa-like feeling with a freestanding soaking tub, custom double vanity, and a glass-enclosed shower.
This Is What Approachable Luxury Looks Like
The approachable luxury experience meant starting with conversations about how they wanted their space to live with them – how they hosted, how their kids played, how they wanted to feel walking through their own front door, and how we took their goals and experience and used it as the foundation of every decision that was made from start to finish. We wanted our clients to feel taken care of through the process and, most importantly, feel heard.

Dining Room in Trailside View | Refined Transitional Home in Scottsdale, AZ |
Room Type: Whole Home Remodel and Furnishings |
Project Name: Trailside View Residence |
Key Feature: A full home remodel and furnishings project anchored by white oak cabinetry and countertops, where the clients gave Living with Lolo real creative freedom to play with bold fabrics, wallpapers, and drapery that most homeowners would talk themselves out of.
Challenge: Transitional design can play it safe by default, neutral palette, inoffensive finishes, nothing that makes you catch your breath. The remodel needed a strong foundation that felt refined and timeless, but the clients wanted more than that. They wanted a home with personality, and the challenge was channeling that creative openness into something cohesive rather than chaotic.
Solution: Living with Lolo used white oak cabinetry and countertops to ground the remodel in warmth and quiet sophistication, then let the soft goods carry the personality. Bold fabric choices, expressive wallpapers, and thoughtful drapery gave each room its own moment without losing the thread that connected the whole home. Because the remodel and furnishings were managed together under one roof, the bolder design choices landed the way they were intended to rather than feeling like afterthoughts layered onto a finished renovation.
Materials: White oak cabinetry, white oak countertops, curated wallpapers, bold upholstery fabrics, custom drapery, and layered accessories sourced through Living with Lolo's trade relationships.
Budget: $250,000 to $550,000 |
Timeline: Approximately 5 to 9 months from design through completion.
Find the right local pro for your project

Modern Retreat | Safety Habitat, Perched at Heart.
Living in solitude is the lofty ideal of ancient and modern human. The source of Chinese Seclusion Culture is streamed from far away: “As I pick chrysanthemums beneath the eastern fence, my eyes fall leisurely on the Southern Mountain." A paradise-like life lets innumerable people in longing. Looking at current day, privacy has become the expression of an attitude, a lifestyle choice. The real privacy is not about where one lives, but in the internal, physical and mental fatigue that can be placed in a home.
Modern Retreat should be hidden in the heart. For modern people, if one maintains a self-sustaining practice of perseverance, follow morality and good conscience, abstinence, one can also be retained out of a pure world without being in a deep secluded valley .
Real privacy is not to hideaway. The most essential element is the freedom of mind and tranquility. If people can do the things they enjoy, they are quite complete in a perfect world of their own.
The spiritual world, is self-purification, under certain conditions, as long as their individually initiated. The environmental impact can be changed on their own, and can be found everywhere in the joy of life.
In each city, people have a heart over normalized horticultural habitat. Enjoying the quality life does not mean deliberately escaping from the city, across thousands of miles. In the most cosmopolitan cities, it is a bucolic refuge in the midst of a great bustling city. The comfort of a home will expand into the neighbourhood when you meet acquaintances everywhere around where you live.
Modern Retreat should be hidden within the city. The architectural design would have an indoor planting garden of choice. People would go to work, but once they are home and close their doors, it is their own private life where they can pretend that they are sitting in the mountain forests. For a Yin Yang disposition, ambition and pursuing righteousness fit together perfectly.
One house is one world. “Home” is where we can stop to rest and relax, the place one can return to. For home design, it must go beyond being livable, the concept of the “Happy Home” is advanced to the peaceful realm.
To live comfortably and privately at your own home, it is necessary for the modern home to be arranged in a "less is more" philosophy. Home goods should be simple and elegant yet practical, but without losing the taste and style, so that residents of the home can find clear air and quiet freedom. No matter how busy or tiring work is, we will be able to find peace and quiet from your home to heal and release the pressure.
Modern Retreat is not the Valley of Orchards, the seclusion is not free, personalized, romantic and the ideal of Walden, but it is conceptual to the peace of mind and family atmosphere.

What was once a bare wall in this private courtyard was transformed into an immortal showcase by Vistafolia's attractive artificial green walls. The plain brick wall was gone and instead the client has a completely natural looking green wall that is as close to the real thing as is available.
Our ultra-realistic replica green wall panels, customized with lavender foliage, taken from our range of Color boxes of mixed flowers and plants, created the perfect backdrop to the outstanding water feature and provided a burst of greenery without losing out on space.

What was once a bare wall in this private courtyard was transformed into an immortal showcase by Vistafolia's attractive artificial green walls. The plain brick wall was gone and instead the client has a completely natural looking green wall that is as close to the real thing as is available.
Our ultra-realistic replica green wall panels, customized with lavender foliage, taken from our range of Color boxes of mixed flowers and plants, created the perfect backdrop to the outstanding water feature and provided a burst of greenery without losing out on space.

Our client’s charming cottage was no longer meeting the needs of their family. We needed to give them more space but not lose the quaint characteristics that make this little historic home so unique. So we didn’t go up, and we didn’t go wide, instead we took this master suite addition straight out into the backyard and maintained 100% of the original historic façade.
Master Suite
This master suite is truly a private retreat. We were able to create a variety of zones in this suite to allow room for a good night’s sleep, reading by a roaring fire, or catching up on correspondence. The fireplace became the real focal point in this suite. Wrapped in herringbone whitewashed wood planks and accented with a dark stone hearth and wood mantle, we can’t take our eyes off this beauty. With its own private deck and access to the backyard, there is really no reason to ever leave this little sanctuary.
Master Bathroom
The master bathroom meets all the homeowner’s modern needs but has plenty of cozy accents that make it feel right at home in the rest of the space. A natural wood vanity with a mixture of brass and bronze metals gives us the right amount of warmth, and contrasts beautifully with the off-white floor tile and its vintage hex shape. Now the shower is where we had a little fun, we introduced the soft matte blue/green tile with satin brass accents, and solid quartz floor (do you see those veins?!). And the commode room is where we had a lot fun, the leopard print wallpaper gives us all lux vibes (rawr!) and pairs just perfectly with the hex floor tile and vintage door hardware.
Hall Bathroom
We wanted the hall bathroom to drip with vintage charm as well but opted to play with a simpler color palette in this space. We utilized black and white tile with fun patterns (like the little boarder on the floor) and kept this room feeling crisp and bright.

Sponsored
Sunbury, OH
J.Holderby - Renovations
Franklin County's Leading General Contractors - 2X Best of Houzz!

Bathroom in Trailside View | Refined Transitional Home in Scottsdale, AZ |
Room Type: Whole Home Remodel and Furnishings |
Project Name: Trailside View Residence |
Key Feature: A full home remodel and furnishings project anchored by white oak cabinetry and countertops, where the clients gave Living with Lolo real creative freedom to play with bold fabrics, wallpapers, and drapery that most homeowners would talk themselves out of.
Challenge: Transitional design can play it safe by default, neutral palette, inoffensive finishes, nothing that makes you catch your breath. The remodel needed a strong foundation that felt refined and timeless, but the clients wanted more than that. They wanted a home with personality, and the challenge was channeling that creative openness into something cohesive rather than chaotic.
Solution: Living with Lolo used white oak cabinetry and countertops to ground the remodel in warmth and quiet sophistication, then let the soft goods carry the personality. Bold fabric choices, expressive wallpapers, and thoughtful drapery gave each room its own moment without losing the thread that connected the whole home. Because the remodel and furnishings were managed together under one roof, the bolder design choices landed the way they were intended to rather than feeling like afterthoughts layered onto a finished renovation.
Materials: White oak cabinetry, white oak countertops, curated wallpapers, bold upholstery fabrics, custom drapery, and layered accessories sourced through Living with Lolo's trade relationships.
Budget: $250,000 to $550,000 |
Timeline: Approximately 5 to 9 months from design through completion.

Timber frame homes offer unique challenges during a remodel. What often makes them beautiful and attractive to most homeowners, also makes them challenging for space requirements.
Context: The lovely couple that owned this home were struggling with some interesting floor plan challenges that just didn't work for their family. The loved the beautiful timbers and woodwork of their home, but the dramatically sloping ceilings on the second floor, particularly in the bathroom, just didn't work for this 1 1/2 bath home. Needing to use the skylight to approach the toilet was a less then ideal scenario. Although the bathroom footprint was more then adequate, the sloped ceiling only made half of the space useable. Check out the Before/After post on our blog to see the photos of the house pre-renovation. As much as they loved all the wood features in their home, another challenge they had was light. The wood ceiling made everything inside the house darker, even with a fantastic array of south facing windows, there were spaces in the home that felt dark and small. When they contacted us they wanted to know how could they make their brighter and more inviting, were there solutions to the 2nd floor sloped ceiling issues, and if they were going to do all of this work, how could they make their home more comfortable and efficient. A nagging water leak in the upstairs bathroom spurred them into action and here is how we solved their dilemma.
Conclusion: First, we added a little dormer to the rear of the house so we could get full headroom in nearly all of the upstairs bathroom! Then we decided to extend that dormer one more timber bay over to create a walk in closet with natural light and plenty of space. Since we were contemplating energy efficiency, we resolved a nagging issue that is present in a lot of timber frame construction, air tightness. Commonly found in timber frame construction, fiberglass insulation is installed in the rafter bays and board ceilings are installed over top. Unfortunately, board ceilings are anything but air tight, and fiberglass insulation needs to be in an airtight cavity for maximum effectiveness. So we were able to solve two issues at the same time for this homeowner. We removed the board ceiling and fiberglass insulation, we dense packed the rafter bays with cellulose insulation, and installed sheetrock in place of the boards. The boards were salvaged for re-use by the homeowner, and the space and light quality was dramatically improved. Some may think that losing the board ceiling took something away from the space, but what you'll see in the pictures is that it highly accentuates the heavy timbers and really makes them stand out in a beautiful way. Now with this added airtightness, better insulation, and brighter space, the homeowner hardly runs their wood stove, and it's so quiet in the space, an added bonus from changing the insulation. It became necessary to also add a sheetrock ceiling to the living room to hide the plumbing from the new bathroom layout above. Changing this ceiling gave the homeowner some real quality lighting that was lacking in the living room before. The brighter ceiling and new lighting layout completely transforms the living room into a space you want to hang out, even though the layout didn't change at all. When the homeowner saw the finished spaces she said "I can't believe this is my house, I want to live in this house"
Energy Efficiency: I touched a little on the efficiency above, but like all projects done with Mottram Architecture, we always want to leave you with a little extra. Timber frame construction with board ceilings and fiberglass insulation are notoriously leaky! If you want to know what we think about fiberglass insulation, check our our blog post on Why Fiberglass Insulation Sucks. By installing cellulose insulation and covering it with sheetrock we were able to greatly reduce the heat flowing out of this home. It not only improves cashflow it improves the comfort level in the space. Who wants to sit in their living room and feel a draft? Let us remind you, we are not saying cellulose insulation is an air barrier, we use the sheetrock to help with that, but it does significantly reduce the air flow over fiberglass insulation. And when we reduce the airflow, we reduce the heat flow. And when we reduce the heat flow, we reduce the need to re-heat that drafty air from outside. When it comes to energy efficiency the first and best place to start is air infiltration. We greatly reduced the air infiltration with the new insulation, but we also added a hat and warm boots. What I mean by that is, we improved the insulation in the roof, and we installed insulation in the basement. Maybe it's a silly analogy, but when you think about keeping warm, we always start with the hat and boots! With sustainability in mind, the next project will be to add a deck to the front of this house with rain catchment barrels from the metal roof. They are planning to plant a garden in the spring and the rain catchment system will help to irrigate the new garden.
Builder: East Shore Builders
Photographer: Michael Eric Berube

Bathroom in Trailside View | Refined Transitional Home in Scottsdale, AZ |
Room Type: Whole Home Remodel and Furnishings |
Project Name: Trailside View Residence |
Key Feature: A full home remodel and furnishings project anchored by white oak cabinetry and countertops, where the clients gave Living with Lolo real creative freedom to play with bold fabrics, wallpapers, and drapery that most homeowners would talk themselves out of.
Challenge: Transitional design can play it safe by default, neutral palette, inoffensive finishes, nothing that makes you catch your breath. The remodel needed a strong foundation that felt refined and timeless, but the clients wanted more than that. They wanted a home with personality, and the challenge was channeling that creative openness into something cohesive rather than chaotic.
Solution: Living with Lolo used white oak cabinetry and countertops to ground the remodel in warmth and quiet sophistication, then let the soft goods carry the personality. Bold fabric choices, expressive wallpapers, and thoughtful drapery gave each room its own moment without losing the thread that connected the whole home. Because the remodel and furnishings were managed together under one roof, the bolder design choices landed the way they were intended to rather than feeling like afterthoughts layered onto a finished renovation.
Materials: White oak cabinetry, white oak countertops, curated wallpapers, bold upholstery fabrics, custom drapery, and layered accessories sourced through Living with Lolo's trade relationships.
Budget: $250,000 to $550,000 |
Timeline: Approximately 5 to 9 months from design through completion.

Living Room in Trailside View | Refined Transitional Home in Scottsdale, AZ |
Room Type: Whole Home Remodel and Furnishings |
Project Name: Trailside View Residence |
Key Feature: A full home remodel and furnishings project anchored by white oak cabinetry and countertops, where the clients gave Living with Lolo real creative freedom to play with bold fabrics, wallpapers, and drapery that most homeowners would talk themselves out of.
Challenge: Transitional design can play it safe by default, neutral palette, inoffensive finishes, nothing that makes you catch your breath. The remodel needed a strong foundation that felt refined and timeless, but the clients wanted more than that. They wanted a home with personality, and the challenge was channeling that creative openness into something cohesive rather than chaotic.
Solution: Living with Lolo used white oak cabinetry and countertops to ground the remodel in warmth and quiet sophistication, then let the soft goods carry the personality. Bold fabric choices, expressive wallpapers, and thoughtful drapery gave each room its own moment without losing the thread that connected the whole home. Because the remodel and furnishings were managed together under one roof, the bolder design choices landed the way they were intended to rather than feeling like afterthoughts layered onto a finished renovation.
Materials: White oak cabinetry, white oak countertops, curated wallpapers, bold upholstery fabrics, custom drapery, and layered accessories sourced through Living with Lolo's trade relationships.
Budget: $250,000 to $550,000 |
Timeline: Approximately 5 to 9 months from design through completion.

Bedroom in Trailside View | Refined Transitional Home in Scottsdale, AZ |
Room Type: Whole Home Remodel and Furnishings |
Project Name: Trailside View Residence |
Key Feature: A full home remodel and furnishings project anchored by white oak cabinetry and countertops, where the clients gave Living with Lolo real creative freedom to play with bold fabrics, wallpapers, and drapery that most homeowners would talk themselves out of.
Challenge: Transitional design can play it safe by default, neutral palette, inoffensive finishes, nothing that makes you catch your breath. The remodel needed a strong foundation that felt refined and timeless, but the clients wanted more than that. They wanted a home with personality, and the challenge was channeling that creative openness into something cohesive rather than chaotic.
Solution: Living with Lolo used white oak cabinetry and countertops to ground the remodel in warmth and quiet sophistication, then let the soft goods carry the personality. Bold fabric choices, expressive wallpapers, and thoughtful drapery gave each room its own moment without losing the thread that connected the whole home. Because the remodel and furnishings were managed together under one roof, the bolder design choices landed the way they were intended to rather than feeling like afterthoughts layered onto a finished renovation.
Materials: White oak cabinetry, white oak countertops, curated wallpapers, bold upholstery fabrics, custom drapery, and layered accessories sourced through Living with Lolo's trade relationships.
Budget: $250,000 to $550,000 |
Timeline: Approximately 5 to 9 months from design through completion.

Our client’s charming cottage was no longer meeting the needs of their family. We needed to give them more space but not lose the quaint characteristics that make this little historic home so unique. So we didn’t go up, and we didn’t go wide, instead we took this master suite addition straight out into the backyard and maintained 100% of the original historic façade.
Master Suite
This master suite is truly a private retreat. We were able to create a variety of zones in this suite to allow room for a good night’s sleep, reading by a roaring fire, or catching up on correspondence. The fireplace became the real focal point in this suite. Wrapped in herringbone whitewashed wood planks and accented with a dark stone hearth and wood mantle, we can’t take our eyes off this beauty. With its own private deck and access to the backyard, there is really no reason to ever leave this little sanctuary.
Master Bathroom
The master bathroom meets all the homeowner’s modern needs but has plenty of cozy accents that make it feel right at home in the rest of the space. A natural wood vanity with a mixture of brass and bronze metals gives us the right amount of warmth, and contrasts beautifully with the off-white floor tile and its vintage hex shape. Now the shower is where we had a little fun, we introduced the soft matte blue/green tile with satin brass accents, and solid quartz floor (do you see those veins?!). And the commode room is where we had a lot fun, the leopard print wallpaper gives us all lux vibes (rawr!) and pairs just perfectly with the hex floor tile and vintage door hardware.
Hall Bathroom
We wanted the hall bathroom to drip with vintage charm as well but opted to play with a simpler color palette in this space. We utilized black and white tile with fun patterns (like the little boarder on the floor) and kept this room feeling crisp and bright.

Bathroom in Trailside View | Refined Transitional Home in Scottsdale, AZ |
Room Type: Whole Home Remodel and Furnishings |
Project Name: Trailside View Residence |
Key Feature: A full home remodel and furnishings project anchored by white oak cabinetry and countertops, where the clients gave Living with Lolo real creative freedom to play with bold fabrics, wallpapers, and drapery that most homeowners would talk themselves out of.
Challenge: Transitional design can play it safe by default, neutral palette, inoffensive finishes, nothing that makes you catch your breath. The remodel needed a strong foundation that felt refined and timeless, but the clients wanted more than that. They wanted a home with personality, and the challenge was channeling that creative openness into something cohesive rather than chaotic.
Solution: Living with Lolo used white oak cabinetry and countertops to ground the remodel in warmth and quiet sophistication, then let the soft goods carry the personality. Bold fabric choices, expressive wallpapers, and thoughtful drapery gave each room its own moment without losing the thread that connected the whole home. Because the remodel and furnishings were managed together under one roof, the bolder design choices landed the way they were intended to rather than feeling like afterthoughts layered onto a finished renovation.
Materials: White oak cabinetry, white oak countertops, curated wallpapers, bold upholstery fabrics, custom drapery, and layered accessories sourced through Living with Lolo's trade relationships.
Budget: $250,000 to $550,000 |
Timeline: Approximately 5 to 9 months from design through completion.

Bedroom in Trailside View | Refined Transitional Home in Scottsdale, AZ |
Room Type: Whole Home Remodel and Furnishings |
Project Name: Trailside View Residence |
Key Feature: A full home remodel and furnishings project anchored by white oak cabinetry and countertops, where the clients gave Living with Lolo real creative freedom to play with bold fabrics, wallpapers, and drapery that most homeowners would talk themselves out of.
Challenge: Transitional design can play it safe by default, neutral palette, inoffensive finishes, nothing that makes you catch your breath. The remodel needed a strong foundation that felt refined and timeless, but the clients wanted more than that. They wanted a home with personality, and the challenge was channeling that creative openness into something cohesive rather than chaotic.
Solution: Living with Lolo used white oak cabinetry and countertops to ground the remodel in warmth and quiet sophistication, then let the soft goods carry the personality. Bold fabric choices, expressive wallpapers, and thoughtful drapery gave each room its own moment without losing the thread that connected the whole home. Because the remodel and furnishings were managed together under one roof, the bolder design choices landed the way they were intended to rather than feeling like afterthoughts layered onto a finished renovation.
Materials: White oak cabinetry, white oak countertops, curated wallpapers, bold upholstery fabrics, custom drapery, and layered accessories sourced through Living with Lolo's trade relationships.
Budget: $250,000 to $550,000 |
Timeline: Approximately 5 to 9 months from design through completion.

Timber frame homes offer unique challenges during a remodel. What often makes them beautiful and attractive to most homeowners, also makes them challenging for space requirements.
Context: The lovely couple that owned this home were struggling with some interesting floor plan challenges that just didn't work for their family. The loved the beautiful timbers and woodwork of their home, but the dramatically sloping ceilings on the second floor, particularly in the bathroom, just didn't work for this 1 1/2 bath home. Needing to use the skylight to approach the toilet was a less then ideal scenario. Although the bathroom footprint was more then adequate, the sloped ceiling only made half of the space useable. Check out the Before/After post on our blog to see the photos of the house pre-renovation. As much as they loved all the wood features in their home, another challenge they had was light. The wood ceiling made everything inside the house darker, even with a fantastic array of south facing windows, there were spaces in the home that felt dark and small. When they contacted us they wanted to know how could they make their brighter and more inviting, were there solutions to the 2nd floor sloped ceiling issues, and if they were going to do all of this work, how could they make their home more comfortable and efficient. A nagging water leak in the upstairs bathroom spurred them into action and here is how we solved their dilemma.
Conclusion: First, we added a little dormer to the rear of the house so we could get full headroom in nearly all of the upstairs bathroom! Then we decided to extend that dormer one more timber bay over to create a walk in closet with natural light and plenty of space. Since we were contemplating energy efficiency, we resolved a nagging issue that is present in a lot of timber frame construction, air tightness. Commonly found in timber frame construction, fiberglass insulation is installed in the rafter bays and board ceilings are installed over top. Unfortunately, board ceilings are anything but air tight, and fiberglass insulation needs to be in an airtight cavity for maximum effectiveness. So we were able to solve two issues at the same time for this homeowner. We removed the board ceiling and fiberglass insulation, we dense packed the rafter bays with cellulose insulation, and installed sheetrock in place of the boards. The boards were salvaged for re-use by the homeowner, and the space and light quality was dramatically improved. Some may think that losing the board ceiling took something away from the space, but what you'll see in the pictures is that it highly accentuates the heavy timbers and really makes them stand out in a beautiful way. Now with this added airtightness, better insulation, and brighter space, the homeowner hardly runs their wood stove, and it's so quiet in the space, an added bonus from changing the insulation. It became necessary to also add a sheetrock ceiling to the living room to hide the plumbing from the new bathroom layout above. Changing this ceiling gave the homeowner some real quality lighting that was lacking in the living room before. The brighter ceiling and new lighting layout completely transforms the living room into a space you want to hang out, even though the layout didn't change at all. When the homeowner saw the finished spaces she said "I can't believe this is my house, I want to live in this house"
Energy Efficiency: I touched a little on the efficiency above, but like all projects done with Mottram Architecture, we always want to leave you with a little extra. Timber frame construction with board ceilings and fiberglass insulation are notoriously leaky! If you want to know what we think about fiberglass insulation, check our our blog post on Why Fiberglass Insulation Sucks. By installing cellulose insulation and covering it with sheetrock we were able to greatly reduce the heat flowing out of this home. It not only improves cashflow it improves the comfort level in the space. Who wants to sit in their living room and feel a draft? Let us remind you, we are not saying cellulose insulation is an air barrier, we use the sheetrock to help with that, but it does significantly reduce the air flow over fiberglass insulation. And when we reduce the airflow, we reduce the heat flow. And when we reduce the heat flow, we reduce the need to re-heat that drafty air from outside. When it comes to energy efficiency the first and best place to start is air infiltration. We greatly reduced the air infiltration with the new insulation, but we also added a hat and warm boots. What I mean by that is, we improved the insulation in the roof, and we installed insulation in the basement. Maybe it's a silly analogy, but when you think about keeping warm, we always start with the hat and boots! With sustainability in mind, the next project will be to add a deck to the front of this house with rain catchment barrels from the metal roof. They are planning to plant a garden in the spring and the rain catchment system will help to irrigate the new garden.
Builder: East Shore Builders
Photographer: Michael Eric Berube

Living Room in Trailside View | Refined Transitional Home in Scottsdale, AZ |
Room Type: Whole Home Remodel and Furnishings |
Project Name: Trailside View Residence |
Key Feature: A full home remodel and furnishings project anchored by white oak cabinetry and countertops, where the clients gave Living with Lolo real creative freedom to play with bold fabrics, wallpapers, and drapery that most homeowners would talk themselves out of.
Challenge: Transitional design can play it safe by default, neutral palette, inoffensive finishes, nothing that makes you catch your breath. The remodel needed a strong foundation that felt refined and timeless, but the clients wanted more than that. They wanted a home with personality, and the challenge was channeling that creative openness into something cohesive rather than chaotic.
Solution: Living with Lolo used white oak cabinetry and countertops to ground the remodel in warmth and quiet sophistication, then let the soft goods carry the personality. Bold fabric choices, expressive wallpapers, and thoughtful drapery gave each room its own moment without losing the thread that connected the whole home. Because the remodel and furnishings were managed together under one roof, the bolder design choices landed the way they were intended to rather than feeling like afterthoughts layered onto a finished renovation.
Materials: White oak cabinetry, white oak countertops, curated wallpapers, bold upholstery fabrics, custom drapery, and layered accessories sourced through Living with Lolo's trade relationships.
Budget: $250,000 to $550,000 |
Timeline: Approximately 5 to 9 months from design through completion.

Sponsored
Sunbury, OH
J.Holderby - Renovations
Franklin County's Leading General Contractors - 2X Best of Houzz!

Our client’s charming cottage was no longer meeting the needs of their family. We needed to give them more space but not lose the quaint characteristics that make this little historic home so unique. So we didn’t go up, and we didn’t go wide, instead we took this master suite addition straight out into the backyard and maintained 100% of the original historic façade.
Master Suite
This master suite is truly a private retreat. We were able to create a variety of zones in this suite to allow room for a good night’s sleep, reading by a roaring fire, or catching up on correspondence. The fireplace became the real focal point in this suite. Wrapped in herringbone whitewashed wood planks and accented with a dark stone hearth and wood mantle, we can’t take our eyes off this beauty. With its own private deck and access to the backyard, there is really no reason to ever leave this little sanctuary.
Master Bathroom
The master bathroom meets all the homeowner’s modern needs but has plenty of cozy accents that make it feel right at home in the rest of the space. A natural wood vanity with a mixture of brass and bronze metals gives us the right amount of warmth, and contrasts beautifully with the off-white floor tile and its vintage hex shape. Now the shower is where we had a little fun, we introduced the soft matte blue/green tile with satin brass accents, and solid quartz floor (do you see those veins?!). And the commode room is where we had a lot fun, the leopard print wallpaper gives us all lux vibes (rawr!) and pairs just perfectly with the hex floor tile and vintage door hardware.
Hall Bathroom
We wanted the hall bathroom to drip with vintage charm as well but opted to play with a simpler color palette in this space. We utilized black and white tile with fun patterns (like the little boarder on the floor) and kept this room feeling crisp and bright.

Living Room in Trailside View | Refined Transitional Home in Scottsdale, AZ |
Room Type: Whole Home Remodel and Furnishings |
Project Name: Trailside View Residence |
Key Feature: A full home remodel and furnishings project anchored by white oak cabinetry and countertops, where the clients gave Living with Lolo real creative freedom to play with bold fabrics, wallpapers, and drapery that most homeowners would talk themselves out of.
Challenge: Transitional design can play it safe by default, neutral palette, inoffensive finishes, nothing that makes you catch your breath. The remodel needed a strong foundation that felt refined and timeless, but the clients wanted more than that. They wanted a home with personality, and the challenge was channeling that creative openness into something cohesive rather than chaotic.
Solution: Living with Lolo used white oak cabinetry and countertops to ground the remodel in warmth and quiet sophistication, then let the soft goods carry the personality. Bold fabric choices, expressive wallpapers, and thoughtful drapery gave each room its own moment without losing the thread that connected the whole home. Because the remodel and furnishings were managed together under one roof, the bolder design choices landed the way they were intended to rather than feeling like afterthoughts layered onto a finished renovation.
Materials: White oak cabinetry, white oak countertops, curated wallpapers, bold upholstery fabrics, custom drapery, and layered accessories sourced through Living with Lolo's trade relationships.
Budget: $250,000 to $550,000 |
Timeline: Approximately 5 to 9 months from design through completion.

Our client’s charming cottage was no longer meeting the needs of their family. We needed to give them more space but not lose the quaint characteristics that make this little historic home so unique. So we didn’t go up, and we didn’t go wide, instead we took this master suite addition straight out into the backyard and maintained 100% of the original historic façade.
Master Suite
This master suite is truly a private retreat. We were able to create a variety of zones in this suite to allow room for a good night’s sleep, reading by a roaring fire, or catching up on correspondence. The fireplace became the real focal point in this suite. Wrapped in herringbone whitewashed wood planks and accented with a dark stone hearth and wood mantle, we can’t take our eyes off this beauty. With its own private deck and access to the backyard, there is really no reason to ever leave this little sanctuary.
Master Bathroom
The master bathroom meets all the homeowner’s modern needs but has plenty of cozy accents that make it feel right at home in the rest of the space. A natural wood vanity with a mixture of brass and bronze metals gives us the right amount of warmth, and contrasts beautifully with the off-white floor tile and its vintage hex shape. Now the shower is where we had a little fun, we introduced the soft matte blue/green tile with satin brass accents, and solid quartz floor (do you see those veins?!). And the commode room is where we had a lot fun, the leopard print wallpaper gives us all lux vibes (rawr!) and pairs just perfectly with the hex floor tile and vintage door hardware.
Hall Bathroom
We wanted the hall bathroom to drip with vintage charm as well but opted to play with a simpler color palette in this space. We utilized black and white tile with fun patterns (like the little boarder on the floor) and kept this room feeling crisp and bright.
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