Inspiration for a small modern drought-tolerant and partial sun front yard gravel garden path in Denver.

A top to bottom renovation of a 1939 bungalow in Bethesda, MD totally transformed a dark and dated house into an open, bright and welcoming home. The old basement was a warren of oddly placed and shaped rooms with low bulkheads throughout that resulted in awkward, claustrophobic spaces. We completely gutted and reimagined the layout, relocating the laundry room (formerly just a closet off the family room), expanding the bathroom, removing a stair wall, replacing windows and resizing/raising the ductwork to make the space feel open and inviting. Removing the old laundry closet created the perfect spot for an art nook, a great place for budding artists to create and display their art projects. The custom under-stair storage cubbies can be used to stow away kids’ toys, extra linens, and other odds and ends. Replacing the solid stair wall with an open wood slat wall provides sightlines while the natural wood gives a nod to the light oak floors above.

Inspiration for a small modern drought-tolerant and partial sun front yard gravel garden path in Denver.

Maestro Hellebore/ Helleborus x ballardiae Gold Collection® Maestro Creamy white flowers with dusty rose reverse. Compact, with deep green leaves, lighter veins and red stems. Skagit Gardens

This is an example of a landscaping.

Photo by Pete Cadieux
Inspiration for a small traditional partial sun front yard landscaping in Boston for spring.

Barrington This beautiful home has many deer visit everyday that ate everything previously planted. Desperate for foliage- we designed the gardens to be mostly deer resistant. We also planted a few roses to try our luck at deterring the deer. The home owner was willing to spray "anti deer spray" on the roses in hopes she could grow blooms without the buds being eaten. It worked as long as no one took a vacation and there wasn't many rain days.

zaguan at the Pottery House in Santa Fe designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the early 1940's and built in the early 1980's.
Example of a classic exterior home design in Albuquerque

Photo of a southwestern landscaping in Phoenix.

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

Tuscan corner shower photo in Los Angeles with an undermount tub

A top to bottom renovation of a 1939 bungalow in Bethesda, MD totally transformed a dark and dated house into an open, bright and welcoming home. The old basement was a warren of oddly placed and shaped rooms with low bulkheads throughout that resulted in awkward, claustrophobic spaces. We completely gutted and reimagined the layout, relocating the laundry room (formerly just a closet off the family room), expanding the bathroom, removing a stair wall, replacing windows and resizing/raising the ductwork to make the space feel open and inviting. Removing the old laundry closet created the perfect spot for an art nook, a great place for budding artists to create and display their art projects. The custom under-stair storage cubbies can be used to stow away kids’ toys, extra linens, and other odds and ends. Replacing the solid stair wall with an open wood slat wall provides sightlines while the natural wood gives a nod to the light oak floors above.

A top to bottom renovation of a 1939 bungalow in Bethesda, MD totally transformed a dark and dated house into an open, bright and welcoming home. The old basement was a warren of oddly placed and shaped rooms with low bulkheads throughout that resulted in awkward, claustrophobic spaces. We completely gutted and reimagined the layout, relocating the laundry room (formerly just a closet off the family room), expanding the bathroom, removing a stair wall, replacing windows and resizing/raising the ductwork to make the space feel open and inviting. Removing the old laundry closet created the perfect spot for an art nook, a great place for budding artists to create and display their art projects. The custom under-stair storage cubbies can be used to stow away kids’ toys, extra linens, and other odds and ends. Replacing the solid stair wall with an open wood slat wall provides sightlines while the natural wood gives a nod to the light oak floors above.

Example of a mid-sized trendy galley porcelain tile enclosed kitchen design in New York with an undermount sink, flat-panel cabinets, dark wood cabinets, quartz countertops, white backsplash, paneled appliances and no island

A top to bottom renovation of a 1939 bungalow in Bethesda, MD totally transformed a dark and dated house into an open, bright and welcoming home. The old basement was a warren of oddly placed and shaped rooms with low bulkheads throughout that resulted in awkward, claustrophobic spaces. We completely gutted and reimagined the layout, relocating the laundry room (formerly just a closet off the family room), expanding the bathroom, removing a stair wall, replacing windows and resizing/raising the ductwork to make the space feel open and inviting. Removing the old laundry closet created the perfect spot for an art nook, a great place for budding artists to create and display their art projects. The custom under-stair storage cubbies can be used to stow away kids’ toys, extra linens, and other odds and ends. Replacing the solid stair wall with an open wood slat wall provides sightlines while the natural wood gives a nod to the light oak floors above.

Inspiration for a small modern drought-tolerant and partial sun front yard gravel garden path in Denver.

Eastern Red Bud tree.
Inspiration for a huge traditional drought-tolerant and full sun front yard brick garden path in Los Angeles for spring.

A top to bottom renovation of a 1939 bungalow in Bethesda, MD totally transformed a dark and dated house into an open, bright and welcoming home. The old basement was a warren of oddly placed and shaped rooms with low bulkheads throughout that resulted in awkward, claustrophobic spaces. We completely gutted and reimagined the layout, relocating the laundry room (formerly just a closet off the family room), expanding the bathroom, removing a stair wall, replacing windows and resizing/raising the ductwork to make the space feel open and inviting. Removing the old laundry closet created the perfect spot for an art nook, a great place for budding artists to create and display their art projects. The custom under-stair storage cubbies can be used to stow away kids’ toys, extra linens, and other odds and ends. Replacing the solid stair wall with an open wood slat wall provides sightlines while the natural wood gives a nod to the light oak floors above.

© Alyssa Rosenheck 2016
Inspiration for a contemporary bathroom remodel in Nashville