Dining room - eclectic dining room idea in DC Metro

A 6,000 square foot 2-story new home complex in Milpitas was designed to facilitate the owners’ large business parties and gatherings, to have rooms for the kids to come back to upstairs, and a ground floor master suite with a huge walk-in closet. Several separate structures make up the dwelling: The main house, 3-car garage with carport for overflow parking, and a separate entertainment and recreation building separated by a courtyard from the main house. The business activities include gatherings in the hundreds of people, so parking was maximized and guests can flow in through a separate gate to party in the courtyard and recreation building. Inside this structure is a wet bar, billiard room, workout gym and home theater. The main house ground floor has formal and informal living rooms, open kitchen and master suite with views and expansive windows in every direction. The house is sited on the crestline of a hill with views of the San Francisco Bay and private golf course below. The indoor-outdoor aspect of the house is further accentuated with outside living and dining areas. High ceilings and expansive glass walls dissolve the sense of enclosure taking advantage of the site’s openness and privacy. The owner’s suite is downstairs in anticipation of aging-in-place, and upstairs there are three bedrooms and four bathrooms plus a sitting area lounge and casual TV loft area. The house sits on one acre at the top of a low hill range overlooking Milpitas. The city was very cognizant of the importance of keeping a low profile at this crestline and required extensive story poles and photo evidence of the proper height and siting so as not to be seen from certain selected vantage points. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: JCD Builders Inc. LANDSCAPE DESIGN: Morf Chang Landscape Architecture / ODS Architecture PHOTOGRAPHS: Paul Dyer Photography

Epic’s goal was to transform a dark and dated kitchen into a spacious, modern hub for everyday life and family gatherings. Functionality and flow were top priorities. The clients needed more storage, better circulation, and designated zones for cooking, dining, and relaxing—all within a unified, open plan. To achieve these goals, Epic reconfigured the layout to maximize openness and natural light. A large custom island was created to anchor the space, providing additional storage, casual seating, and room for the new cooktop. The appliance wall housed everything from a column fridge and freezer to a double oven and a wine cooler, featuring an integrated corner "appliance garage" that concealed the toaster, blender, and other countertop items. A standout solution was the custom floating ceiling above the island. It allowed for proper ducting while eliminating the need for a bulky stainless hood, often a visual disruption in open-plan spaces. Instead, a light walnut surround was created for the hood, offering a sculptural, integrated focal point.

This modern green home offers both a vacation destination on Cape Cod near local family members and an opportunity for rental income. FAMILY ROOTS. A West Coast couple living in the San Francisco Bay Area sought a permanent East Coast vacation home near family members living on Cape Cod. As academic professionals focused on sustainability, they sought a green, energy efficient home that was well-aligned with their values. With no green homes available for sale on Cape Cod, they decided to purchase land near their family and build their own. SLOPED SITE. Comprised of a 3/4 acre lot nestled in the pines, the steeply sloping terrain called for a plan that embraced and took advantage of the slope. Of equal priority was optimizing solar exposure, preserving privacy from abutters, and creating outdoor living space. The design accomplished these goals with a simple, rectilinear form, offering living space on the both entry and lower/basement levels. The stepped foundation allows for a walk-out basement level with light-filled living space on the down-hill side of the home. The traditional basement on the eastern, up-hill side houses mechanical equipment and a home gym. The house welcomes natural light throughout, captures views of the forest, and delivers entertainment space that connects indoor living space to outdoor deck and dining patio. MODERN VISION. The clean building form and uncomplicated finishes pay homage to the modern architectural legacy on the outer Cape. Durable and economical fiber cement panels, fixed with aluminum channels, clad the primary form. Cedar clapboards provide a visual accent at the south-facing living room, which extends a single roof plane to cover the entry porch. SMART USE OF SPACE. On the entry level, the “L”-shaped living, dining, and kitchen space connects to the exterior living, dining, and grilling spaces to effectively double the home’s summertime entertainment area. Placed at the western end of the entry level (where it can retain privacy but still claim expansive downhill views) is the master suite with a built-in study. The lower level has two guest bedrooms, a second full bathroom, and laundry. The flexibility of the space—crucial in a house with a modest footprint—emerges in one of the guest bedrooms, which doubles as home office by opening the barn-style double doors to connect it to the bright, airy open stair leading up to the entry level. Thoughtful design, generous ceiling heights and large windows transform the modest 1,100 sf* footprint into a well-lit, spacious home. *(total finished space is 1800 sf) RENTAL INCOME. The property works for its owners by netting rental income when the owners are home in San Francisco. The house especially caters to vacationers bound for nearby Mayo Beach and includes an outdoor shower adjacent to the lower level entry door. In contrast to the bare bones cottages that are typically available on the Cape, this home offers prospective tenants a modern aesthetic, paired with luxurious and green features. Durable finishes inside and out will ensure longevity with the heavier use that comes with a rental property. COMFORT YEAR-ROUND. The home is super-insulated and air-tight, with mechanical ventilation to provide continuous fresh air from the outside. High performance triple-paned windows complement the building enclosure and maximize passive solar gain while ensuring a warm, draft-free winter, even when sitting close to the glass. A properly sized air source heat pump offers efficient heating & cooling, and includes a carefully designed the duct distribution system to provide even comfort throughout the house. The super-insulated envelope allows us to significantly reduce the equipment capacity, duct size, and airflow quantities, while maintaining unparalleled thermal comfort. ENERGY EFFICIENT. The building’s shell and mechanical systems play instrumental roles in the home’s exceptional performance. The building enclosure reduces the most significant energy glutton: heating. Continuous super-insulation, thorough air sealing, triple-pane windows, and passive solar gain work together to yield a miniscule heating load. All active energy consumers are extremely efficient: an air source heat pump for heating and cooling, a heat pump hot water heater, LED lighting, energy recovery ventilation (ERV), and high efficiency appliances. The result is a home that uses 70% less energy than a similar new home built to code requirements. OVERALL. The home embodies the owners’ goals and values while comprehensively enabling thermal comfort, energy efficiency, a vacation respite, and supplementary income. PROJECT TEAM ZeroEnergy Design - Architect & Mechanical Designer A.F. Hultin & Co. - Contractor Pamet Valley Landscape Design - Landscape & Masonry Lisa Finch - Original Artwork European Architectural Supply - Windows Eric Roth Photography - Photography

Eat-in kitchen - 1950s l-shaped light wood floor eat-in kitchen idea in Other with a farmhouse sink, shaker cabinets, blue cabinets, wood countertops, white backsplash, subway tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances and an island

Here you can see that the homeowner decided to make a great use of the space beneath her cooktop. Consider drawers as a convenient way to store your pots and pans. This allows for easier access, as opposed to having to precariously stack pots on shelves. Tabitha Stephens

Our client requested a dining room that could be both grand and inviting. Our solution to this was to add comfortable seating along with rustic finishes and organic elements and shapes to soften the lines of the space. This combination makes for a warm and inviting, yet formal space with its large chandelier, accessories, and proper place settings. Photos by Susan Go Photography

Our client requested a dining room that could be both grand and inviting. Our solution to this was to add comfortable seating along with rustic finishes and organic elements and shapes to soften the lines of the space. This combination makes for a warm and inviting, yet formal space with its large chandelier, accessories, and proper place settings. Photos by Susan Go Photography

Our client requested a dining room that could be both grand and inviting. Our solution to this was to add comfortable seating along with rustic finishes and organic elements and shapes to soften the lines of the space. This combination makes for a warm and inviting, yet formal space with its large chandelier, accessories, and proper place settings. Photos by Susan Go Photography

Our client requested a dining room that could be both grand and inviting. Our solution to this was to add comfortable seating along with rustic finishes and organic elements and shapes to soften the lines of the space. This combination makes for a warm and inviting, yet formal space with its large chandelier, accessories, and proper place settings. Photos by Susan Go Photography

Designed and built by Terramor Homes in Raleigh, NC. This open design concept was an exciting challenge. Kitchen, Family Room and Large Eat in Kitchen are entirely open to each other for family enjoyment. When we enjoy a large family gathering, we envisioned it to be while enjoying the view of the woods, greenway and river seen from the back of the home. Since most of our gatherings extend past single table seating spaces, we wanted to plan properly for spill over onto the huge screened porch that adjoins all of the rooms for extended seating that remains all-inclusive. The screened porch is accessible from the dining area, but more impressively, by a 16 foot wide sliding glass door across the back wall of the Family Room. When fully opened, an 8 foot wide opening is created- making a complete extension of our living and eating areas fully integrated. Photography: M. Eric Honeycutt

Modern dining room with feature lighting and custom seating
Example of a mid-sized minimalist medium tone wood floor and brown floor kitchen/dining room combo design in Austin with white walls

A modern dining nook with a feature light fixture in this modern condo.
Inspiration for a mid-sized contemporary light wood floor and brown floor kitchen/dining room combo remodel in Austin with white walls and no fireplace

Bender was able to take an old, closed in 1927 kitchen and transform it into an open transitional kitchen that functions properly for a 2014 family. Durable and washable cabinets make for ease of use, while sealed marble countertops give this space a luxurious feel. Photo Credit: Jim Fuhrmann

DeWils custom cabinets
Example of a large transitional dark wood floor eat-in kitchen design in Albuquerque with an undermount sink, flat-panel cabinets, medium tone wood cabinets, quartz countertops, green backsplash, glass tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances and no island

This kitchen has a new layout which resulted in more organized storage and work space. A flush mounted ceiling hood give it an open feel. A custom baking center keeps like items in their proper place and accessible. Off white glazed cabinets and ogee edged quartz countertops make an elegant statement. A raised live-edge bar and beverage cooler make entertaining a breeze.

This dining room looks really unusual: the room is full of colorful hand-made pieces. We would say that this dining room is a great place in the home where the home owners can invite their neighbors, colleagues, friends and even VIPs. Note the many orange pieces and surfaces in the dining room that is bound to make the room stand out. Orange is known to increase appetite before meals and is the perfect color solution for all dining rooms. Try using orange in your own dining room as well with the idea of making your dining room stand out. Grandeur Hills Group is always ready to help you do it properly.

Country style kitchen design at its finest! lots of dining space in this enclosed kitchen. Stainless steel appliances create the best of quality in this stunning design-build.

Large l-shaped light wood floor and brown floor eat-in kitchen photo in Dallas with green cabinets, an island, gray countertops, shaker cabinets, white backsplash, ceramic backsplash, colored appliances, an undermount sink and quartz countertops