The house suffered from years of deferred maintenance and neglect when David Moulton AIA began an interior redesign and whole-house overhaul. Saved were the glorious, soaring clear redwood ceilings, the proportions, and most of the interior walls. Two large windows replaced an entertainment unit and fireplace that stood in the way of the view, thus creating the large, expansive stretch of windows that now take full advantage of the ocean and forest views. Added window seats provide cozy places to watch the scene unfold. A television lifts out of the central cabinet for optimal television viewing with no detraction of the views beyond. New Brazilian cherry floors throughout replaced dated vinyl, parquet and carpet. Removing channel walls on the stairway allowed space to lengthen the lower stair treads into a delightful waterfall of Brazilian hardwood, thereby creating visual interest and greater connection between the natural landscape and upper and lower floors.

Located in Church Hill, Richmond’s oldest neighborhood, this very early 1900s Victorian had tons of historical details, but the house itself had been neglected (badly!). The home had two major renovation periods – one in 1950’s, and then again in the 1980s’s, which covered over or disrupted the original aesthetics of the house (think open ductwork, framing and drywall obscuring the beautiful mantels and moldings, and the hot water heater taking up valuable kitchen space). Our Piperbear team had to “undo” much before we could tackle the restoration of the historical features, while at the same time modernizing the layout.

Our clients knew they wanted to live in Wicker Park, within walking distance of everything the neighborhood has to offer. They found an 1890s cottage-style home on a great street and fell in love with its charm. Unfortunately, the house had fallen into a state of serious neglect and needed significant work. Excited, but also a bit overwhelmed, our clients came to us for help with a gut renovation. We were able to guide them through the entire process from the start of demo through placement of the final decorative object. The process was fun and rewarding and, upon completion, our clients were left with a tailored and sophisticated home that is just as stylish as they are.

This cute beach house in the iconic Pleasure Point neighborhood needed an overhaul after years of salt spray and neglect. My client wanted low-maintenance plants, year-round color and succulents. He also wanted a peaceful, zen-like environment. We chose neutral pavers in greys and tans in a simple pattern for the driveway and flagstone for the patio that matched the new colors of the home. The plant palette is simple yet striking and about as low-maintenance as you can get. A beautiful waterfall cascades over stone and percolates gradually into the drycreek. A perfect spot for unwinding with a glass of wine after a long day.

Neglected Garden bed and pool area resurfaced, cleaned and painted.
This is an example of a mid-sized traditional full sun backyard raised garden bed in Los Angeles for summer.

After decades of neglect left its yard overgrown with weeds and wild flora, we have painstakingly restored the landscapes back to a simple and beautiful state where old growth is enhanced by new additions.

A neglected backyard in deep shade needed a redesign. Clean and usable garden was built full of shade tolerant perennials and shrubs. As this garden will mature in years to come it will provide owners with lush vegetation and plenty of room to entertain and play.

With a restrained hand, out interior designer set about bringing a new life in our clients petite apartment while also introducing easy to maintain, durable surfaces and furnishings as they love to entertain and have a lively St. Bernard. And as they had an extensive book collection and a single three-foot wide closet, the key challenge here was to make the best use of the entire space while injecting it with charming whimsy. After falling in love with our designer’s presentation, our clients went for a complete apartment overhaul and started from scratch. Since the space is small, our designer Anna S. wanted to create an urgent sense of vibrancy without coming off as too heavy handed. So she worked in expressive colors and decorative extras in small doses for subtle impact. Starting the project by changing several of the unit’s light fixtures for brighter, more minimal styles, Anna surveyed the apartment room to room to devise clever storage solutions that are easy on the eye. As they have friends over often, Anna created a warm and inviting living room boasting a slightly feminine take on mid-century modern layered with colorful pillows, patterned rugs, and eclectic art that doesn’t take over the apartment. In the kitchen, she added a strong yet gender neutral burlap wallpaper, floating wooden shelves, and new plumbing fixtures that were more sophisticated than the original, standard ones in place. However, our favorite part of the apartment is the moody, statement-making foyer. Though it was a long and narrow barely used, neglected space, Anna brought in wallpaper from Tempaper that features a matte black background covered with gold bird and floral illustrations, and added a long row of black glass cabinets and several large gold mirrors for an added sense of glamorous drama and an extra amount of storage space to boot.

This home was not even visible from the street because of the overgrown and neglected landscape. There was no obvious entrance to the front door, and the garden area was surprisingly spacious once the over grown brush was removed. We added an arbored and walled patio in the rear garden, near the kitchen, for morning coffee and meditation. .

Your outdoor space is as important as your indoor space, and you should never neglect it. So, this is the perfect time to start thinking about freshening up your deck design to start spending time outdoors this summer. Get top deck remodeling with Michael and Son Remodeling.

A neglected backyard in deep shade needed a redesign. Clean and usable garden was built full of shade tolerant perennials and shrubs. As this garden will mature in years to come it will provide owners with lush vegetation and plenty of room to entertain and play.

The Randolph flip is another successful project by an energetic client always looking to fix up a very uncared home and flip it to a lucky buyer. The end result is a very open clean house with many beautiful features. THis home had been neglected for years starting on the outside with very overgrown landscaping making it a very unfriendly looking home nobody would want to approach. We cleaned up the yard gave it some new bright siding. But the real magic happened on the inside by opening up the living room, kitchen and dining area creating a welcome and entertaining amenable space. We relocated the kitchen to give it a better flow and allowing for the kitchen to enlarge in size. Created a more friendly family room by refacing the fireplace in stone and giving everything a fresh look. Upstairs we expanded the master bedroom and gave it a beautiful master bathroom. Take a look and see the transformation! Front door photography, llc

2011 NARI CAPITAL COTY FINALIST AWARD WINNER This 1970’s split-level single-family home in an upscale Arlington neighborhood had been neglected for years. With his surrounding neighbors all doing major exterior and interior remodeling, however, the owner decided it was time to renovate his property as well. After several consultation meetings with the design team at Michael Nash Design, Build & Homes, he settled on an exterior layout to create an Art & Craft design for the home. It all got started by excavating the front and left side of the house and attaching a wrap-around stone porch. Key design attributes include a black metal roof, large tapered columns, blue and grey random style flag stone, beaded stain ceiling paneling and an octagonal seating area on the left side of this porch. The front porch has a wide stairway and another set of stairs leads to the back yard. All exterior walls of the home were modified with new headers to allow much larger custom-made windows, new front doors garage doors, and French side and back doors. A custom-designed mahogany front door with leaded glass provides more light and offers a wider entrance into the home’s living area. Design challenges included removing the entire face of the home and then adding new insulation, Tyvek and Hardiplank siding. The use of high-efficiency low-e windows makes the home air tight. The Arts & Crafts design touches include the front gable over the front porch, the prairie-style grill pattern on the windows and doors, the use of tapered columns sitting over stone columns and the leaded glass front door. Decorative exterior lighting provides the finishing touches to this look. Inside, custom woodwork, crown molding, custom glass cabinets and interior pillars carry the design. Upon entering the space, visitors face a large partition that separates the living area from a gourmet Arts & Crafts kitchen and dining room. The home’s signature space, the kitchen offers contrasting dark and light cherry cabinets. Wide plank hard wood floors, exotic granite counters and stainless steel professional-grade appliances make this a kitchen fit for any chef.

2011 NARI CAPITAL COTY FINALIST AWARD WINNER This 1970’s split-level single-family home in an upscale Arlington neighborhood had been neglected for years. With his surrounding neighbors all doing major exterior and interior remodeling, however, the owner decided it was time to renovate his property as well. After several consultation meetings with the design team at Michael Nash Design, Build & Homes, he settled on an exterior layout to create an Art & Craft design for the home. It all got started by excavating the front and left side of the house and attaching a wrap-around stone porch. Key design attributes include a black metal roof, large tapered columns, blue and grey random style flag stone, beaded stain ceiling paneling and an octagonal seating area on the left side of this porch. The front porch has a wide stairway and another set of stairs leads to the back yard. All exterior walls of the home were modified with new headers to allow much larger custom-made windows, new front doors garage doors, and French side and back doors. A custom-designed mahogany front door with leaded glass provides more light and offers a wider entrance into the home’s living area. Design challenges included removing the entire face of the home and then adding new insulation, Tyvek and Hardiplank siding. The use of high-efficiency low-e windows makes the home air tight. The Arts & Crafts design touches include the front gable over the front porch, the prairie-style grill pattern on the windows and doors, the use of tapered columns sitting over stone columns and the leaded glass front door. Decorative exterior lighting provides the finishing touches to this look. Inside, custom woodwork, crown molding, custom glass cabinets and interior pillars carry the design. Upon entering the space, visitors face a large partition that separates the living area from a gourmet Arts & Crafts kitchen and dining room. The home’s signature space, the kitchen offers contrasting dark and light cherry cabinets. Wide plank hard wood floors, exotic granite counters and stainless steel professional-grade appliances make this a kitchen fit for any chef.

Neglected Garden bed and pool area resurfaced, cleaned and painted.
This is an example of a mid-sized traditional full sun backyard raised garden bed in Los Angeles for summer.

The front entrance; this area is often an area that is neglected but it’s ultimately the first impression you give anyone who walks in a home. We transformed this space and it’s just so pretty! Squeaking in the little console table, adding two little cubes that not only look great but double as a functional stoop to sit and put on a pair of shoes.

Neglected Garden bed and pool area resurfaced, cleaned and painted.
Design ideas for a mid-sized traditional full sun backyard raised garden bed in Los Angeles for summer.

A neglected commercial building was transformed into a multi-level living space with the street level purposed for entertaining. "Our Special Place" is a creative solution to the need for privacy and desire for beauty in an urban domicile. This design maintains a visual connection to the outdoor environment and urban activity. The design provides a meaningful memory for the residents while providing a vision of nature and beauty for both owners and the public. In harmony with urban life, ever-changing daylight and artificial light bring a dynamic range of character to the design at all times of the day. A twenty-five foot curtain wall divided pedestrian and vehicular traffic physically and visually from the large dining room of a new street level urban home. It was important not to close the residence off from city living, or to loose the daylight filtering through the curtain wall. The primary goal was to provide privacy from the public while still retaining a view of the sky, weather and activity on the street. It was also important to mantain the legibility of the design throughout the day and night. With a close up view from the inside, one can see through tiny untreated areas to see street activity. A close up view looking in from the outside is not possible due to buttresses from the street level. A clean frameless installation with low maintenance was also required.

Neglected Garden bed and pool area resurfaced, cleaned and painted.
This is an example of a mid-sized traditional full sun backyard raised garden bed in Los Angeles for summer.