Starr Custom Homes is excited to share the photos of our lakefront contemporary farmhouse, DreamDesign 28, located in Pablo Creek Reserve, a gated community in Jacksonville, FL. Full of beautiful luxury finishes, this two-story, five bedroom, 5 1/2 bath home has all the modern conveniences today’s families are looking for: open concept floor plan, first-floor master suite and a large kitchen with a walk-in pantry and a butler’s pantry leading to the formal dining room. The two-story family room has coffered ceilings with multiple windows and sliding glass doors, offering views of the pool and sunsets on the lake. The contemporary farmhouse is a popular style, and DreamDesign 28 doesn’t disappoint. Stylish features include wide plank hardwood flooring, board and batten wainscoting in the dining room and study and a tiled fireplace wall. A luxurious master bath with freestanding tub and large walk-in shower features Kallista plumbing fixtures. Emtek door hardware and statement lighting fixtures are the jewelry that finishes off the home.

A Cozy study is given a makeover with new furnishings and window treatments in keeping with a relaxed English country house
Small elegant wood wall home office library photo in Chicago with a standard fireplace and a stone fireplace

This unique city-home is designed with a center entry, flanked by formal living and dining rooms on either side. An expansive gourmet kitchen / great room spans the rear of the main floor, opening onto a terraced outdoor space comprised of more than 700SF. The home also boasts an open, four-story staircase flooded with natural, southern light, as well as a lower level family room, four bedrooms (including two en-suite) on the second floor, and an additional two bedrooms and study on the third floor. A spacious, 500SF roof deck is accessible from the top of the staircase, providing additional outdoor space for play and entertainment. Due to the location and shape of the site, there is a 2-car, heated garage under the house, providing direct entry from the garage into the lower level mudroom. Two additional off-street parking spots are also provided in the covered driveway leading to the garage. Designed with family living in mind, the home has also been designed for entertaining and to embrace life's creature comforts. Pre-wired with HD Video, Audio and comprehensive low-voltage services, the home is able to accommodate and distribute any low voltage services requested by the homeowner. This home was pre-sold during construction. Steve Hall, Hedrich Blessing

This study off the kitchen acts as a control center for the family. Kids work on computers in open spaces, not in their rooms. The window seat is a sunbrella velvet for durability and the chairs swivel to 'talk' with the kitchen. photo: David Duncan Livingston

My client for this project was a builder/ developer. He had purchased a flat two acre parcel with vineyards that was within easy walking distance of downtown St. Helena. He planned to “build for sale” a three bedroom home with a separate one bedroom guest house, a pool and a pool house. He wanted a modern type farmhouse design that opened up to the site and to the views of the hills beyond and to keep as much of the vineyards as possible. The house was designed with a central Great Room consisting of a kitchen area, a dining area, and a living area all under one roof with a central linear cupola to bring natural light into the middle of the room. One approaches the entrance to the home through a small garden with water features on both sides of a path that leads to a covered entry porch and the front door. The entry hall runs the length of the Great Room and serves as both a link to the bedroom wings, the garage, the laundry room and a small study. The entry hall also serves as an art gallery for the future owner. An interstitial space between the entry hall and the Great Room contains a pantry, a wine room, an entry closet, an electrical room and a powder room. A large deep porch on the pool/garden side of the house extends most of the length of the Great Room with a small breakfast Room at one end that opens both to the kitchen and to this porch. The Great Room and porch open up to a swimming pool that is on on axis with the front door. The main house has two wings. One wing contains the master bedroom suite with a walk in closet and a bathroom with soaking tub in a bay window and separate toilet room and shower. The other wing at the opposite end of the househas two children’s bedrooms each with their own bathroom a small play room serving both bedrooms. A rear hallway serves the children’s wing, a Laundry Room and a Study, the garage and a stair to an Au Pair unit above the garage. A separate small one bedroom guest house has a small living room, a kitchen, a toilet room to serve the pool and a small covered porch. The bedroom is ensuite with a full bath. This guest house faces the side of the pool and serves to provide privacy and block views ofthe neighbors to the east. A Pool house at the far end of the pool on the main axis of the house has a covered sitting area with a pizza oven, a bar area and a small bathroom. Vineyards were saved on all sides of the house to help provide a private enclave within the vines. The exterior of the house has simple gable roofs over the major rooms of the house with sloping ceilings and large wooden trusses in the Great Room and plaster sloping ceilings in the bedrooms. The exterior siding through out is painted board and batten siding similar to farmhouses of other older homes in the area. Clyde Construction: General Contractor Photographed by: Paul Rollins

This LEED Platinum certified house reflects the homeowner's desire for an exceptionally healthy and comfortable living environment, within a traditional neighborhood. INFILL SITE. The family, who moved from another area of Wellesley, sought out this property to be within walking distance of the high school and downtown area. An existing structure on the tight lot was removed to make way for the new home. 84% of the construction waste, from both the previous structure and the new home, was diverted from a landfill. ZED designed to preserve the existing mature trees on the perimeter of the property to minimize site impacts, and to maintain the character of the neighborhood as well as privacy on the site. EXTERIOR EXPRESSION. The street facade of the home relates to the local New England vernacular. The rear uses contemporary language, a nod to the family’s Californian roots, to incorporate a roof deck, solar panels, outdoor living space, and the backyard swimming pool. ZED’s careful planning avoided to the need to face the garage doors towards the street, a common syndrome of a narrow lot. THOUGHTFUL SPACE. Homes with dual entries can often result in duplicate and unused spaces. In this home, the everyday and formal entry areas are one and the same; the front and garage doors share the entry program of coat closets, mudroom storage with bench for removing your shoes, and a laundry room with generous closets for the children's sporting equipment. The entry area leads directly to the living space, encompassing the kitchen, dining and sitting area areas in an L-shaped open plan arrangement. The kitchen is placed at the south-west corner of the space to allow for a strong connection to the dining, sitting and outdoor living spaces. A fire pit on the deck satisfies the family’s desire for an open flame while a sealed gas fireplace is used indoors - ZED’s preference after omitting gas burning appliances completely from an airtight home. A small study, with a window seat, is conveniently located just off of the living space. A first floor guest bedroom includes an accessible bathroom for aging visitors and can be used as a master suite to accommodate aging in place. HEALTHY LIVING. The client requested a home that was easy to clean and would provide a respite from seasonal allergies and common contaminants that are found in many indoor spaces. ZED selected easy to clean solid surface flooring throughout, provided ample space for cleaning supplies on each floor, and designed a mechanical system with ventilation that provides a constant supply of fresh outdoor air. ZED selected durable materials, finishes, cabinetry, and casework with low or no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and no added urea formaldehyde. YEAR-ROUND COMFORT. The home is super insulated and air-tight, paired with high performance triple-paned windows, to ensure it is draft-free throughout the winter (even when in front of the large windows and doors). ZED designed a right-sized heating and cooling system to pair with the thermally improved building enclosure to ensure year-round comfort. The glazing on the home maximizes passive solar gains, and facilitates cross ventilation and daylighting. ENERGY EFFICIENT. As one of the most energy efficient houses built to date in Wellesley, the home highlights a practical solution for Massachusetts. First, the building enclosure reduces the largest energy requirement for typical houses (heating). Super-insulation, exceptional air sealing, a thermally broken wall assembly, triple pane windows, and passive solar gain combine for a sizable heating load reduction. Second, within the house only efficient systems consume energy. These include an air source heat pump for heating & cooling, a heat pump hot water heater, LED lighting, energy recovery ventilation, and high efficiency appliances. Lastly, photovoltaics provide renewable energy help offset energy consumption. The result is an 89% reduction in energy use compared to a similar brand new home built to code requirements. RESILIENT. The home will fare well in extreme weather events. During a winter power outage, heat loss will be very slow due to the super-insulated and airtight envelope– taking multiple days to drop to 60 degrees even with no heat source. An engineered drainage system, paired with careful the detailing of the foundation, will help to keep the finished basement dry. A generator will provide full operation of the all-electric house during a power outage. OVERALL. The home is a reflection of the family goals and an expression of their values, beautifully enabling health, comfort, safety, resilience, and utility, all while respecting the planet. ZED - Architect & Mechanical Designer Bevilacqua Builders Inc - Contractor Creative Land & Water Engineering - Civil Engineering Barbara Peterson Landscape - Landscape Design Nest & Company - Interior Furnishings Eric Roth Photography - Photography

Builder: Brad DeHaan Homes Photographer: Brad Gillette Every day feels like a celebration in this stylish design that features a main level floor plan perfect for both entertaining and convenient one-level living. The distinctive transitional exterior welcomes friends and family with interesting peaked rooflines, stone pillars, stucco details and a symmetrical bank of windows. A three-car garage and custom details throughout give this compact home the appeal and amenities of a much-larger design and are a nod to the Craftsman and Mediterranean designs that influenced this updated architectural gem. A custom wood entry with sidelights match the triple transom windows featured throughout the house and echo the trim and features seen in the spacious three-car garage. While concentrated on one main floor and a lower level, there is no shortage of living and entertaining space inside. The main level includes more than 2,100 square feet, with a roomy 31 by 18-foot living room and kitchen combination off the central foyer that’s perfect for hosting parties or family holidays. The left side of the floor plan includes a 10 by 14-foot dining room, a laundry and a guest bedroom with bath. To the right is the more private spaces, with a relaxing 11 by 10-foot study/office which leads to the master suite featuring a master bath, closet and 13 by 13-foot sleeping area with an attractive peaked ceiling. The walkout lower level offers another 1,500 square feet of living space, with a large family room, three additional family bedrooms and a shared bath.

Stone and siding create a striking facade, and an arched portico mirrors the graceful curves of exterior windows. Multiple gables and an angled courtyard garage spark instant curb appeal. French doors and windows usher in light and views, while columns and a fireplace complement the cathedral great room. The spacious gourmet kitchen features an angled island, and is open to the great room and cathedral dining room. A generous walk-in pantry is located nearby. Accented by a banquette and French doors, the dining room leads to a screened porch and adjacent side porch. Located in the rear of the home for privacy, the exquisite master suite includes an intimate circular sitting nook, fireplace, porch access, huge walk-in closet, and well-appointed bath. Two bedrooms share a dual-vanity bath and a versatile study/bedroom in the front of the home creates optimal space for a home office or library. Numerous porches provide an abundance of space for outdoor living, including the screened porch with fireplace and summer kitchen, perfect for alfresco dining and entertaining.

This beautiful study was part of a whole house design and renovation by Haven Design and Construction. For this room, our objective was to create a feminine and sophisticated study for our client. She requested a design that was unique and fresh, but still warm and inviting. We wallpapered the back of the bookcases in an eye catching metallic vine pattern to add a feminine touch. Then, we selected a deep gray tone from the wallpaper and painted the bookcases and wainscoting in this striking color. We replaced the carpet with a light wood flooring that compliments the gray woodwork. Our client preferred a petite desk, just large enough for paying bills or working on her laptop, so our first furniture selection was a lovely black desk with feminine curved detailing and delicate star hardware. The room still needed a focal point, so we selected a striking lucite and gold chandelier to set the tone. The design was completed by a pair of gray velvet guest chairs. The gold twig pattern on the back of the chairs compliments the metallic wallpaper pattern perfectly. Finally the room was carefully detailed with unique accessories and custom bound books to fill the bookcases.

This beautiful study was part of a whole house design and renovation by Haven Design and Construction. For this room, our objective was to create a feminine and sophisticated study for our client. She requested a design that was unique and fresh, but still warm and inviting. We wallpapered the back of the bookcases in an eye catching metallic vine pattern to add a feminine touch. Then, we selected a deep gray tone from the wallpaper and painted the bookcases and wainscoting in this striking color. We replaced the carpet with a light wood flooring that compliments the gray woodwork. Our client preferred a petite desk, just large enough for paying bills or working on her laptop, so our first furniture selection was a lovely black desk with feminine curved detailing and delicate star hardware. The room still needed a focal point, so we selected a striking lucite and gold chandelier to set the tone. The design was completed by a pair of gray velvet guest chairs. The gold twig pattern on the back of the chairs compliments the metallic wallpaper pattern perfectly. Finally the room was carefully detailed with unique accessories and custom bound books to fill the bookcases.

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

Country freestanding desk dark wood floor and brown floor home office photo in Other with gray walls

Contemporary home study with built-in desk and floating shelves.
Study room - large contemporary built-in desk medium tone wood floor and brown floor study room idea in Minneapolis with white walls

E.S. Johnson Builders faced a challenge to create an authentic Bucks County farmhouse on a narrow lot with a rear yard that has a steep fall-off. The design goal to create a home that looked as if it was added on to over the last 150 years was achieved by building the main structure with four wings, each wing having its own distinctive look appropriate to the time period. This design created two courtyards, one rear and one front, and the rear second story terrace which overlooks a view of the pool on the lower level and outdoor living area. The sharp drop in the rear elevation gave an opportunity to cascade the outdoor living area. A large whirlpool cascades into the main pool; the main pool then drops again into another small pool complemented by a large arbor and exterior stone fireplace. Despite its historic detailing, it is very functional for the modern family featuring a triple-entrance courtyard, a main entrance that leads to the foyer/gallery, and a study/home office that has a front porch entrance as well as an entrance that leads into a side hall. Many of the interior walls are made of shiplap poplar, the beamed ceiling in the kitchen displays the exposed joists from the floor above, and open rafters in the recreation room are reminiscent of an old large gathering hall. All of the fireplaces are of authentic Pennsylvania fieldstone and the floors are reclaimed wide planks made of Appalachian Red Oak. Eldorado Stone Profile Featured: Veneto Fieldledge with an Overgrout Design Builder/Photographer: Eric Johnson, E.S. Johnson Builders Website: www.esjohnson.com Phone: (704)987-7950

The leaded glass windows, a key feature throughout the main floor and entry door, were preserved as a focal point in the design. We crafted cabinetry to align with the window, ensuring that the beautiful leaded glass remains a standout element of the space

This French country, new construction home features a circular first-floor layout that connects from great room to kitchen and breakfast room, then on to the dining room via a small area that turned out to be ideal for a fully functional bar. Directly off the kitchen and leading to the dining room, this space is perfectly located for making and serving cocktails whenever the family entertains. In order to make the space feel as open and welcoming as possible while connecting it visually with the kitchen, glass cabinet doors and custom-designed, leaded-glass column cabinetry and millwork archway help the spaces flow together and bring in. The space is small and tight, so it was critical to make it feel larger and more open. Leaded-glass cabinetry throughout provided the airy feel we were looking for, while showing off sparkling glassware and serving pieces. In addition, finding space for a sink and under-counter refrigerator was challenging, but every wished-for element made it into the final plan. Photo by Mike Kaskel

We created this stunning moody library lounge inspired by the client's love of British Cigar Rooms. We used pattern, texture and moody hues to bring out the feel of the library and used the gorgeous Tom Dixon lamp, Restoration Hardware contemporary writing desk, client's gorgeous folk indian painting, and custom cabinetry to give the library/study a very modern yet classical feel!

Tague Design Showroom & Jay Greene Photography
Home office - large traditional freestanding desk medium tone wood floor home office idea in Philadelphia with a standard fireplace and brown walls

Ryann Ford
Example of a country two-story mixed siding exterior home design in Austin with a metal roof