Design Builders & Remodeling is a one stop shop operation. From the start, design solutions are strongly rooted in practical applications and experience. Project planning takes into account the realities of the construction process and mindful of your established budget. All the work is centralized in one firm reducing the chances of costly or time consuming surprises. A solid partnership with solid professionals to help you realize your dreams for a new or improved home. This classic Connecticut home was bought by a growing family. The house was in an ideal location but needed to be expanded. Design Builders & Remodeling almost doubled the square footage of the home. Creating a new sunny and spacious master bedroom, new guestroom, laundry room, garage, kids bathroom, expanded and renovated the kitchen, family room, and playroom. The upgrades and addition is seamlessly and thoughtfully integrated to the original footprint.

Corri Sandwick Architecture Location: Bellaire, MI, USA Sitting on the banks of the Intermediate River, this house is designed to be a Green Star Silver retreat. Integrating and expanding on the expression of the original modern house and inspired by Joseph Eichler, this house incorporates simple lines, and clean details. With the goal of going to net-zero in a few years, the house is well air-sealed and insulated to reduce energy consumption as a first step in achieving the goal. Using the Green Star program helped to guide the design and construction team to achieve a home that addresses sustainability in all aspects. Photographed by: Endura Homes

The site is a single-story mid-century residence that fronts Urbana's historic Carle Park. The owners are an academic couple with a young family who originally wanted to replace their dilapidated garage with one that would also contain a family gym. After discussing their priorities, we decided to eliminate the garage altogether, and replace it with a two-story tower. On the ground floor is a fully equipped gym, with a power rack, Peloton bike, treadmill, and bike storage. Above the gym is an office for Professor Clancy. The raised office has a striking view of the park, as well as the surrounding landscape. Proximity to their university jobs allowed the family to reduce their vehicles to a single electric crossover. The tower includes an EV charger adjacent to the driveway

In the master bedroom, the floral pattern on the Romo wallpaper and Clarissa Hulse curtain fabric add a soft feminine feel to the space, as well as biophilic elements. These have been paired with a rose pink velvet from Kravet for the headboard. The bedside lamps from Original BTC are wall mounted to reduce clutter on the bedside tables Pink was chosen as the main colour for the master bedroom as this is the colour of a nurturing, caring and empathetic love. This was paired with a mentally soothing petrol blue to add contrast and balance. The bespoke joinery is mirrored to bounce light around the room, and to create the illusion of a bigger space. The petrol blues flow into the en-suite shower room.

In the master bedroom, the floral pattern on the Romo wallpaper and Clarissa Hulse curtain fabric add a soft feminine feel to the space, as well as biophilic elements. These have been paired with a rose pink velvet from Kravet for the headboard. The bedside lamps from Original BTC are wall mounted to reduce clutter on the bedside tables Pink was chosen as the main colour for the master bedroom as this is the colour of a nurturing, caring and empathetic love. This was paired with a mentally soothing petrol blue to add contrast and balance. The bespoke joinery is mirrored to bounce light around the room, and to create the illusion of a bigger space. The petrol blues flow into the en-suite shower room.

In the master bedroom, the floral pattern on the Romo wallpaper and Clarissa Hulse curtain fabric add a soft feminine feel to the space, as well as biophilic elements. These have been paired with a rose pink velvet from Kravet for the headboard. The bedside lamps from Original BTC are wall mounted to reduce clutter on the bedside tables Pink was chosen as the main colour for the master bedroom as this is the colour of a nurturing, caring and empathetic love. This was paired with a mentally soothing petrol blue to add contrast and balance. The bespoke joinery is mirrored to bounce light around the room, and to create the illusion of a bigger space. The petrol blues flow into the en-suite shower room.

In the master bedroom, the floral pattern on the Romo wallpaper and Clarissa Hulse curtain fabric add a soft feminine feel to the space, as well as biophilic elements. These have been paired with a rose pink velvet from Kravet for the headboard. The bedside lamps from Original BTC are wall mounted to reduce clutter on the bedside tables Pink was chosen as the main colour for the master bedroom as this is the colour of a nurturing, caring and empathetic love. This was paired with a mentally soothing petrol blue to add contrast and balance. The bespoke joinery is mirrored to bounce light around the room, and to create the illusion of a bigger space. The petrol blues flow into the en-suite shower room.

The site is a single-story mid-century residence that fronts Urbana's historic Carle Park. The owners are an academic couple with a young family who originally wanted to replace their dilapidated garage with one that would also contain a family gym. After discussing their priorities, we decided to eliminate the garage altogether, and replace it with a two-story tower. On the ground floor is a fully equipped gym, with a power rack, Peloton bike, treadmill, and bike storage. Above the gym is an office for Professor Clancy. The raised office has a striking view of the park, as well as the surrounding landscape. Proximity to their university jobs allowed the family to reduce their vehicles to a single electric crossover. The tower includes an EV charger adjacent to the driveway

In addition to updating the house, the family also needed a detached garage with a writer’s office above. To place the garage where it needed to go while staying inside the 20’ side setback would require demolishing an original stone stair that led to the lower yard. The stair had significance, not only because of its historical value, but because it was the start of a strong axis that threaded itself through pockets of plantings and landscape elements in the backyard. By arguing for the significance of this stair we were able to reduce the side yard setback from 20’ to 10’ placing the garage just alongside it.

The site is a single-story mid-century residence that fronts Urbana's historic Carle Park. The owners are an academic couple with a young family who originally wanted to replace their dilapidated garage with one that would also contain a family gym. After discussing their priorities, we decided to eliminate the garage altogether, and replace it with a two-story tower. On the ground floor is a fully equipped gym, with a power rack, Peloton bike, treadmill, and bike storage. Above the gym is an office for Professor Clancy. The raised office has a striking view of the park, as well as the surrounding landscape. Proximity to their university jobs allowed the family to reduce their vehicles to a single electric crossover. The tower includes an EV charger adjacent to the driveway

Corri Sandwick Architecture Location: Bellaire, MI, USA Sitting on the banks of the Intermediate River, this house is designed to be a Green Star Silver retreat. Integrating and expanding on the expression of the original modern house and inspired by Joseph Eichler, this house incorporates simple lines, and clean details. With the goal of going to net-zero in a few years, the house is well air-sealed and insulated to reduce energy consumption as a first step in achieving the goal. Using the Green Star program helped to guide the design and construction team to achieve a home that addresses sustainability in all aspects. Photographed by: Endura Homes

The site is a single-story mid-century residence that fronts Urbana's historic Carle Park. The owners are an academic couple with a young family who originally wanted to replace their dilapidated garage with one that would also contain a family gym. After discussing their priorities, we decided to eliminate the garage altogether, and replace it with a two-story tower. On the ground floor is a fully equipped gym, with a power rack, Peloton bike, treadmill, and bike storage. Above the gym is an office for Professor Clancy. The raised office has a striking view of the park, as well as the surrounding landscape. Proximity to their university jobs allowed the family to reduce their vehicles to a single electric crossover. The tower includes an EV charger adjacent to the driveway

The site is a single-story mid-century residence that fronts Urbana's historic Carle Park. The owners are an academic couple with a young family who originally wanted to replace their dilapidated garage with one that would also contain a family gym. After discussing their priorities, we decided to eliminate the garage altogether, and replace it with a two-story tower. On the ground floor is a fully equipped gym, with a power rack, Peloton bike, treadmill, and bike storage. Above the gym is an office for Professor Clancy. The raised office has a striking view of the park, as well as the surrounding landscape. Proximity to their university jobs allowed the family to reduce their vehicles to a single electric crossover. The tower includes an EV charger adjacent to the driveway

Sequined Asphault Studio This project was originally spec home for a developer. The buyer purchased the home before it was done and wanted to customize the bathroom to better fit their needs. We raised the custom vanity with mirrored doors to 40" inches to accommodate their height. They were looking for a very classic bathroom in a grey carrara stone. The vanity mirrors were purchased from Restoration Hardware. We wanted to add more storage to accommodate their needs and wants.

Located directly across from Knight Park in Collingswood, this Grand Center Hall Colonial home had been in the same family since it’s construction in 1875. While it was in great condition when the new owners purchased the home in 2018, there was much room for some fresh life for a new young family. Through a series of additions in the mid-1900’s, the original kitchen had been relocated to a long and narrow space at the back of the house, with a small powder and laundry room. In place of the kitchen was a small guest room that was mainly used as a play area for the kids. The main purview of the renovation was to restore the kitchen to its original location and open it up to the living room to allow for a larger and brighter space. That left the previous kitchen space free to be converted to a full-size laundry and mud room, complete with a new rear entry space. Lastly one of the four bedrooms upstairs was reduced to make room for a new ensuite owners’ bathroom to compliment the only other full bathroom in the house. With bright colors and plenty of large original windows, the new layout allows for a more connected and open living flow while also greatly improving the functionality of each space, making the home ready for its next chapter and generations to come.

This renovated brick rowhome in Boston’s South End offers a modern aesthetic within a historic structure, creative use of space, exceptional thermal comfort, a reduced carbon footprint, and a passive stream of income. DESIGN PRIORITIES. The goals for the project were clear - design the primary unit to accommodate the family’s modern lifestyle, rework the layout to create a desirable rental unit, improve thermal comfort and introduce a modern aesthetic. We designed the street-level entry as a shared entrance for both the primary and rental unit. The family uses it as their everyday entrance - we planned for bike storage and an open mudroom with bench and shoe storage to facilitate the change from shoes to slippers or bare feet as they enter their home. On the main level, we expanded the kitchen into the dining room to create an eat-in space with generous counter space and storage, as well as a comfortable connection to the living space. The second floor serves as master suite for the couple - a bedroom with a walk-in-closet and ensuite bathroom, and an adjacent study, with refinished original pumpkin pine floors. The upper floor, aside from a guest bedroom, is the child's domain with interconnected spaces for sleeping, work and play. In the play space, which can be separated from the work space with new translucent sliding doors, we incorporated recreational features inspired by adventurous and competitive television shows, at their son’s request. MODERN MEETS TRADITIONAL. We left the historic front facade of the building largely unchanged - the security bars were removed from the windows and the single pane windows were replaced with higher performing historic replicas. We designed the interior and rear facade with a vision of warm modernism, weaving in the notable period features. Each element was either restored or reinterpreted to blend with the modern aesthetic. The detailed ceiling in the living space, for example, has a new matte monochromatic finish, and the wood stairs are covered in a dark grey floor paint, whereas the mahogany doors were simply refinished. New wide plank wood flooring with a neutral finish, floor-to-ceiling casework, and bold splashes of color in wall paint and tile, and oversized high-performance windows (on the rear facade) round out the modern aesthetic. RENTAL INCOME. The existing rowhome was zoned for a 2-family dwelling but included an undesirable, single-floor studio apartment at the garden level with low ceiling heights and questionable emergency egress. In order to increase the quality and quantity of space in the rental unit, we reimagined it as a two-floor, 1 or 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment with a modern aesthetic, increased ceiling height on the lowest level and provided an in-unit washer/dryer. The apartment was listed with Jackie O'Connor Real Estate and rented immediately, providing the owners with a source of passive income. ENCLOSURE WITH BENEFITS. The homeowners sought a minimal carbon footprint, enabled by their urban location and lifestyle decisions, paired with the benefits of a high-performance home. The extent of the renovation allowed us to implement a deep energy retrofit (DER) to address air tightness, insulation, and high-performance windows. The historic front facade is insulated from the interior, while the rear facade is insulated on the exterior. Together with these building enclosure improvements, we designed an HVAC system comprised of continuous fresh air ventilation, and an efficient, all-electric heating and cooling system to decouple the house from natural gas. This strategy provides optimal thermal comfort and indoor air quality, improved acoustic isolation from street noise and neighbors, as well as a further reduced carbon footprint. We also took measures to prepare the roof for future solar panels, for when the South End neighborhood’s aging electrical infrastructure is upgraded to allow them. URBAN LIVING. The desirable neighborhood location allows the both the homeowners and tenant to walk, bike, and use public transportation to access the city, while each charging their respective plug-in electric cars behind the building to travel greater distances. OVERALL. The understated rowhouse is now ready for another century of urban living, offering the owners comfort and convenience as they live life as an expression of their values. Eric Roth Photo

Original kitchen was gutted and the layout changed. A large bay window was added to give more space and add light. Custom rift wood cabinets were designed and a custom paint applied in a soft strie pattern. Concrete counter tops added a contemporary feel. A light grey was used for the center island over the dark cabinetry and a darker grey concrete counter was used for the perimeter cabinets. Concrete is very versatile, seams are reduced, color can be any paint choice, and the material is very stain resistant with very little maintenance. The client wanted a pop of red- so we had an auto body shop apply 16 coats of red paint to the new Best Hood.

New gloss finish grey cabinets and engineered ministrip grey wood flooing contrast nicely with the light grey and white paint finishes. New stainless steel applieaces, sink and faucet blend together seamlessly. A Caesarstone engineered quart countertop was used to help reduce staining with the white finish. Porcelanosa mirror and porcelain minibrick mosaic is used as high back splash materials. New bronze finish aluminum windows which replaced the original glazing are shown.

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