Photo of a contemporary landscaping in DC Metro.

While homes in the urban wildlife interface (UWI) face greater fire dangers, homeowners can choose to make them much safer. By conscientiously addressing architectural vulnerabilities (home hardening), homeowners protect firefighters and reduce their chances of losing a home. An ember resistant Zone 0, effectively spaced and placed foliage supported with smart irrigation, and conscientious maintenance can add further defenses. Photo: Lesly Hall Photography

Our client in Emerson has a beautiful home, perched on a magnificent mountain slope with incredible views. They asked Dreamscapes to design outdoor living spaces for them in order to fully utilize the property. Their wish list included a water feature, a deck for outdoor living, a patio to take in the distant views of the mountains, a place to garden, and a natural and native planting design to fit into the existing southeastern native woodlands and mountain environment. Living on the side of a mountain means bedrock. The design incorporates the natural slope and stone and works with the terrain. A new deck was constructed to extend out from the house, floating over the bedrock where it meets the new pond. From the top of the hill, a waterfall cascades down through the native plantings into the pond below. Natural boulders were used to build seating along the pond’s edge, where you can watch the fish, tend to the aquatic plants, listen to the frogs, and even take a dip to cool off. Two natural flagstone patios were built at two different elevations to sit and enjoy the views of the landscape and the mountains. Both patios are accessible by cut stone crab orchard steps set into the slope. The space at the end of the driveway was a blank canvas and the perfect place to design and build a garden of raised beds, enclosed in a traditional picket fence. It is now filled with vegetables, herbs, and cutting flowers. The local bees and butterflies love it too. And the beautiful landscape takes on a magical look after sunset. Landscape lighting was expertly placed, using a variety of fixture types to enhance the pond, waterfalls, trees and plants, bringing the spaces to life after dark. The homeowners are both multi-talented and wanted a place to incorporate their skills. They create original art, build detailed wood work and plant edible gardens, just to name a few. This new landscape gives them and their family and friends a place to work and play and relax. It has become a haven for people and wildlife alike. Outdoor living at its finest!

For this family home we were inspired by a ‘boutique hotel’ modern aesthetic. Creating playful, colorful moments throughout the home with punches of chartreuse, purple, and peacock blue along with geometric patterns, this space becomes a sophisticated yet funky extension of the homeowners. Interior design by Robin Colton Studio Photographer : Casey Woods

Contemporary Clubhouse Bringing the outdoors inside for a bright and colorful indoor playroom perfect for playtime, arts and crafts or schoolwork. Theme: The theme for this inviting and playful space is a creative take on a functional playroom blending the contemporary and functional base of the room with the playful and creative spirit that will engage these lucky children. Focus: The playroom centers on an amazing lofted clubhouse perched against a custom painted pasture and perched on makeshift trees boasting the perfect place for creative adventures or quiet reading and setting the inviting feel for the entire room. The creative and playful feeling is expanded throughout the space with bright green patches of shag carpet invoking the feel of the pasture continuing off the wall and through the room. The space is then flanked with more contemporary and functional elements perfect for children ages 2-12 offering endless hours of play. Storage: This playroom offers storage options on every wall, in every corner and even on the floor. The myWall storage and entertainment unit offers countless storage options and configurations along the main wall with open shelving, hanging buckets, closed shelves and pegs, anything you want to store or hang can find a home. Even the floor under the myWall panel is a custom floordrobe perfect for all those small floor toys or blankets. The pasture wall has a shelving unit cloaked as another tree in the field offering opened and closed cubbies for books or toys. The sink and craft area offers a home to all the kids craft supplies nestled right into the countertop with colorful containers and buckets. Growth: While this playroom provides fun and creative options for children from 2-12 it can adapt and grow with this family as their children grow and their interests or needs change. The myWall system is developed to offer easy and immediate customization with simple adjustments every element of the wall can be moved offering endless possibilities. The full myWall structure can be moved along with the family if necessary. The sink offers steps for the small children but as they grow they can be removed. Safety: The playroom is designed to keep the main space open to allow for creative and safe playtime without obstacles. The myWall system uses a custom locking mechanism to ensure that all elements are securely locked into place not to fall or become loose from wear. Custom cushioned floor rugs offer another level of safety and comfort to the little ones playing on the floor.

The kitchen was part of a much larger remodel that included 5 bathrooms, two laundry rooms, an office and a guest house all of which was driven by the ideals harmony and peace through the philosophy of Feng Shui. Every room in the house was altered in some way. Design and remodel by Design Studio West Brady Architectural Photography The homeowner, Pam , hired Melissa Main, a Feng Shui consultant to evaluate her home. Much of the design was driven by Melissa’s evaluation and principles of Feng Shui. Between the kitchen and breakfast nook, there are three Feng Shui zones. The cook top run is where abundance and prosperity is activated. The recommendation was to have Metal, Earth and Wood elements. The copper hood satisfied the metal. For the earth element, we used the stone counter top, and for the wood component we chose solid wood cabinets as well as the existing oak floor. The sink run activates fame and recognition and is activated by Fire. It was recommended to have fire elements that included the color red, candles and light. We choose Cherry cabinets in its natural red finish and the red tones of the marble counter tops to satisfy this recommendation. We planned on having a few candles sit on the counter top as a decorative and functional element of fire as well. The breakfast nook and part of the island activates marriage and partnership, which is represented by the Circle shape and Metals. We incorporated this by the curve of the island as well as the metal in the overhead light. We also choose the curved side panels to further integrate the flow of energy throughout the space. There are usually two cooks in the kitchen at a time so the prep sink was added in the island. The electric cook top was traded for a more efficient gas cook top set along the wall so that we could create a beautiful focal point for the kitchen with the use of the copper hood and of the hand crafted tile. The existing desk was stained to match the color of the cherry cabinets. The existing floor was patched and re-stained to blend better with the new cabinets.

A colorful, lush but still drought tolerant garden with with agave americana variegated, red hot poker (knifophia), ice plant, cordyline "Festival," assorted succulents and sedums, festula glauca (Elijah Blue), carex tumulicola, looking towards the front porch Izumi Tanaka Photography

Photo of a small traditional backyard landscaping in Vancouver.

The artist's rendition shows the Unity Home, which was built on site at the Greenbuild 2015 conference in Washington, D.C. SunPower's all-black high efficiency solar panels can be seen on the lower roof at left, helping this LEED-certified home achieve net zero energy, meaning it generates as much power as it uses.

Bluestone patio fence with Egg Chairs
Photo of a modern landscaping in New York.

We retained the existing Japanese maple for its red foliage and made it the perfect visual anchor off the mitered glass picture window on the home. The foliage also reflects a red painted detail on the home. Renn Kuhnen Photography

Casual Backyard Design, private Newport residence with dining area and fire pit seating. Charles Earl Landscape Architecture
Inspiration for a small farmhouse shade backyard stone landscaping in Providence for fall.

Patrick J. Hamilton, Sitting Room Holiday: St. Patrick's Day Photo: Rikki Snyder © 2013 Houzz
Example of an eclectic living room design in New York

Photo of a mediterranean landscaping in Phoenix.

EOV Works
Inspiration for a craftsman landscaping in San Luis Obispo.

Before: cherry cabinetry, dark granite and a peninsula that closed off the room.
Kitchen - transitional kitchen idea in Boston

Example of a beach style exterior home design in San Diego

Contemporary Clubhouse Bringing the outdoors inside for a bright and colorful indoor playroom perfect for playtime, arts and crafts or schoolwork. Theme: The theme for this inviting and playful space is a creative take on a functional playroom blending the contemporary and functional base of the room with the playful and creative spirit that will engage these lucky children. Focus: The playroom centers on an amazing lofted clubhouse perched against a custom painted pasture and perched on makeshift trees boasting the perfect place for creative adventures or quiet reading and setting the inviting feel for the entire room. The creative and playful feeling is expanded throughout the space with bright green patches of shag carpet invoking the feel of the pasture continuing off the wall and through the room. The space is then flanked with more contemporary and functional elements perfect for children ages 2-12 offering endless hours of play. Storage: This playroom offers storage options on every wall, in every corner and even on the floor. The myWall storage and entertainment unit offers countless storage options and configurations along the main wall with open shelving, hanging buckets, closed shelves and pegs, anything you want to store or hang can find a home. Even the floor under the myWall panel is a custom floordrobe perfect for all those small floor toys or blankets. The pasture wall has a shelving unit cloaked as another tree in the field offering opened and closed cubbies for books or toys. The sink and craft area offers a home to all the kids craft supplies nestled right into the countertop with colorful containers and buckets. Growth: While this playroom provides fun and creative options for children from 2-12 it can adapt and grow with this family as their children grow and their interests or needs change. The myWall system is developed to offer easy and immediate customization with simple adjustments every element of the wall can be moved offering endless possibilities. The full myWall structure can be moved along with the family if necessary. The sink offers steps for the small children but as they grow they can be removed. Safety: The playroom is designed to keep the main space open to allow for creative and safe playtime without obstacles. The myWall system uses a custom locking mechanism to ensure that all elements are securely locked into place not to fall or become loose from wear. Custom cushioned floor rugs offer another level of safety and comfort to the little ones playing on the floor.

This kitchen in Lexington came together in BSI Zurich granite, and it's the kind of stone that does a lot of the work in a room just by sitting there. Zurich has a cool gray background with movement that breaks up into darker flecks and softer crystal patches, so it reads calm from across the room but keeps your eye busy up close. That range makes it easy to live with next to most cabinet colors, whether the boxes are painted white, a soft gray, or a warmer wood tone. Granite like this is quarried in big blocks and cut into slabs, and no two slabs come out exactly the same. That's part of why we template each kitchen on site instead of working off a generic plan. We measure the actual cabinets, account for the sink and cooktop cutouts, and lay out the slabs so the veining and pattern flow the way they should across the island and the runs of counter, especially where two pieces meet at a seam. Getting that seam tight and matched so it disappears into the pattern takes a steady hand and slabs picked with the layout in mind from the start. Granite is one of the toughest countertop materials you can put in a kitchen. It shrugs off hot pans, resists scratching from everyday knife work, and holds up to the kind of daily traffic a real kitchen sees, dishes, coffee, kids doing homework at the island, all of it. It does need to be sealed, and staying on top of that keeps it looking like day one for years. We finished this one with an eased edge, clean and simple, which is the right call for a stone with this much going on in the surface. It doesn't need extra shaping to look finished. Lexington's seen a lot of kitchens go through updates like this one, and granite remains a favorite around the Midlands because it holds up to how people actually cook and live. This Zurich kitchen is a good example of why: a stone with real character, installed tight and clean, that's going to keep earning its keep for a long time.