This basement apartment transformation by HouseHome reimagines a compact lower-level residence into a vibrant “Modern Collector’s Cottage” for a single woman seeking a home that feels electric, expressive, and deeply personal. Designed to celebrate individuality, the space was curated as a true copy-and-paste reflection of the client’s personality, blending her extensive collections, hobbies, and memorabilia into a cohesive, highly stylized interior. The result is a bright, playful, and elevated living environment that seamlessly unites design, modern comfort, and emotional storytelling. The design challenge centered on organizing and showcasing meaningful memorabilia, while blending multi-generational gifts, keepsakes, sports mementos, posters, and artistic collections into a space that still felt intentional and uncluttered. Through layered materials, bold color moments, mixed textures, and thoughtful spatial planning, HouseHome created a home that feels bubbly, surprising, and beautifully curated—never chaotic, always cohesive. Every surface, storage solution, and display moment was designed to support both visual impact and daily functionality. This project exemplifies HouseHome’s expertise in eclectic interior design, small-space living, and collector-focused styling, proving that high personality and high design can coexist in perfect balance. The finished apartment is now a joy-filled, organized, and an inspirational retreat that celebrates life, memories, and personal expression while delivering luxury-level styling in a highly livable form.

This bright, open-concept living room beautifully balances modern sophistication with cozy, family-friendly warmth. As part of a complete home transformation, we knocked down partitioning walls to flood the space with natural light and create a seamless flow into the rest of the home. Key Design Highlights: High-Contrast Elements: Crisp white walls and light hardwood floors contrast beautifully with striking black-framed windows and a sleek black leather sofa. Warm, Organic Accents: Spindle-back wood accent chairs, a textured neutral rug, and floor-to-ceiling cream drapery soften the clean lines and add inviting warmth. Streamlined Media & Fireplace: A classic white fireplace mantel serves as the room’s focal point, featuring a perfectly positioned, wall-mounted flat-screen TV above for a clean, wire-free look. Smart, Stylized Zoning: A slim console table behind the sofa divides the seating area while offering a surface for curated decor and convenient basket storage underneath to keep everyday clutter at bay.

This bright, open-concept living room beautifully balances modern sophistication with cozy, family-friendly warmth. As part of a complete home transformation, we knocked down partitioning walls to flood the space with natural light and create a seamless flow into the rest of the home. Key Design Highlights: High-Contrast Elements: Crisp white walls and light hardwood floors contrast beautifully with striking black-framed windows and a sleek black leather sofa. Warm, Organic Accents: Spindle-back wood accent chairs, a textured neutral rug, and floor-to-ceiling cream drapery soften the clean lines and add inviting warmth. Streamlined Media & Fireplace: A classic white fireplace mantel serves as the room’s focal point, featuring a perfectly positioned, wall-mounted flat-screen TV above for a clean, wire-free look. Smart, Stylized Zoning: A slim console table behind the sofa divides the seating area while offering a surface for curated decor and convenient basket storage underneath to keep everyday clutter at bay.

Two Birds Photography
Kids' room - transitional kids' room idea in Chicago

When my client purchased his circa 1980s home several years ago, it came with a bland, dated guest bathroom. He was eager to swap his brass accented shower doors, counter "bridge" spanning the toilet, wall-to-wall mirror, and terra cotta tiled floor for a sleeker, more contemporary looking space. We gutted the entire space except for the tub which was in perfect condition and replaced the boring, square beige tiles with large format tiles of a subtle, threaded pattern. A decorative, highly textured band of stainless steel, stone, and glass runs through the shower and defines the counter of the new dark vanity which is now in scale with the room. New sconces in matte opal glass are twined with ribbons of forged iron. Walls are in a chic hue called Thunder Grey. The modern sink hardware features a chrome trough spout and stylized square handles. The counter top, with its soft grey and blue-green clouds, is fabricated from a single piece of Sea Pearl quartzite. The shower edges and niche are lined in a polished chrome detail for a clean, minimalist look. And finally, the shower hardware with a bar and hand held shower head echoes the modernist approach to the space. Photo by Bernardo Grijalva

Michael J. Lee
Large trendy medium tone wood floor and brown floor kitchen/dining room combo photo in Boston with gray walls

Losing large specimen trees is never desirable. But when the unimaginable happens, we are presented with an opportunity to rethink and refresh, even in traditional residential settings. We replaced the lawn area beneath the remaining London plane with a fine fescue seed mix. Our design strategy was to hold space and create immediate impact while reducing maintenance needs as the landscape matured. Into this base, we planted evergreen basal foliage, long bloomers and early spring/late fall color to create an immersive all-season groundcover that will slowly intermingle. Annually, this low mow is cut no lower than 4” (thereby safeguarding habitat) while the tidily trimmed perimeter utilizes remnant turf grass as visible cues to care. Dissecting the rectilinear green space, permeable hardscaping offers a gently curved path towards the front entryway; an invitation to pause and observe the landscape’s diverse textures and activity up close. Within which, a legacy planting of new specimen trees. Traditional shrub heavy foundation plantings are often static and rigid; this perennial rich redesign is structured yet airy to retain design cohesion with the naturalistic stylized meadow and offer vibrant textural all-season interest. This project blends different landscape styles to create a biodiverse habitat that is ecologically beneficial, beautiful and resilient. In high summer, a doe finds refuge for her fawn while the family’s children delight in the buzzing activity of smaller inhabitants, native bees and assorted pollinators, that now call this habitat home.

A mix of patterns, colors and styles work together to create a bright, fresh bedroom that never stops surprising. Striped green walls continue from the hallway and are interrupted by floor to ceiling windows with dark floral draperies. A cheetah print rug provides the perfect base for a green upholstered bed and a blue velvet chaise. The bed is flanked by two coral lacquered tables which are mirrored across the room in the form of a matching set of coral chairs with a fun patterned ottoman. Summer Thornton Design, Inc.

Losing large specimen trees is never desirable. But when the unimaginable happens, we are presented with an opportunity to rethink and refresh, even in traditional residential settings. We replaced the lawn area beneath the remaining London plane with a fine fescue seed mix. Our design strategy was to hold space and create immediate impact while reducing maintenance needs as the landscape matured. Into this base, we planted evergreen basal foliage, long bloomers and early spring/late fall color to create an immersive all-season groundcover that will slowly intermingle. Annually, this low mow is cut no lower than 4” (thereby safeguarding habitat) while the tidily trimmed perimeter utilizes remnant turf grass as visible cues to care. Dissecting the rectilinear green space, permeable hardscaping offers a gently curved path towards the front entryway; an invitation to pause and observe the landscape’s diverse textures and activity up close. Within which, a legacy planting of new specimen trees. Traditional shrub heavy foundation plantings are often static and rigid; this perennial rich redesign is structured yet airy to retain design cohesion with the naturalistic stylized meadow and offer vibrant textural all-season interest. This project blends different landscape styles to create a biodiverse habitat that is ecologically beneficial, beautiful and resilient. In high summer, a doe finds refuge for her fawn while the family’s children delight in the buzzing activity of smaller inhabitants, native bees and assorted pollinators, that now call this habitat home.

Losing large specimen trees is never desirable. But when the unimaginable happens, we are presented with an opportunity to rethink and refresh, even in traditional residential settings. We replaced the lawn area beneath the remaining London plane with a fine fescue seed mix. Our design strategy was to hold space and create immediate impact while reducing maintenance needs as the landscape matured. Into this base, we planted evergreen basal foliage, long bloomers and early spring/late fall color to create an immersive all-season groundcover that will slowly intermingle. Annually, this low mow is cut no lower than 4” (thereby safeguarding habitat) while the tidily trimmed perimeter utilizes remnant turf grass as visible cues to care. Dissecting the rectilinear green space, permeable hardscaping offers a gently curved path towards the front entryway; an invitation to pause and observe the landscape’s diverse textures and activity up close. Within which, a legacy planting of new specimen trees. Traditional shrub heavy foundation plantings are often static and rigid; this perennial rich redesign is structured yet airy to retain design cohesion with the naturalistic stylized meadow and offer vibrant textural all-season interest. This project blends different landscape styles to create a biodiverse habitat that is ecologically beneficial, beautiful and resilient. In high summer, a doe finds refuge for her fawn while the family’s children delight in the buzzing activity of smaller inhabitants, native bees and assorted pollinators, that now call this habitat home.

Losing large specimen trees is never desirable. But when the unimaginable happens, we are presented with an opportunity to rethink and refresh, even in traditional residential settings. We replaced the lawn area beneath the remaining London plane with a fine fescue seed mix. Our design strategy was to hold space and create immediate impact while reducing maintenance needs as the landscape matured. Into this base, we planted evergreen basal foliage, long bloomers and early spring/late fall color to create an immersive all-season groundcover that will slowly intermingle. Annually, this low mow is cut no lower than 4” (thereby safeguarding habitat) while the tidily trimmed perimeter utilizes remnant turf grass as visible cues to care. Dissecting the rectilinear green space, permeable hardscaping offers a gently curved path towards the front entryway; an invitation to pause and observe the landscape’s diverse textures and activity up close. Within which, a legacy planting of new specimen trees. Traditional shrub heavy foundation plantings are often static and rigid; this perennial rich redesign is structured yet airy to retain design cohesion with the naturalistic stylized meadow and offer vibrant textural all-season interest. This project blends different landscape styles to create a biodiverse habitat that is ecologically beneficial, beautiful and resilient. In high summer, a doe finds refuge for her fawn while the family’s children delight in the buzzing activity of smaller inhabitants, native bees and assorted pollinators, that now call this habitat home.

Losing large specimen trees is never desirable. But when the unimaginable happens, we are presented with an opportunity to rethink and refresh, even in traditional residential settings. We replaced the lawn area beneath the remaining London plane with a fine fescue seed mix. Our design strategy was to hold space and create immediate impact while reducing maintenance needs as the landscape matured. Into this base, we planted evergreen basal foliage, long bloomers and early spring/late fall color to create an immersive all-season groundcover that will slowly intermingle. Annually, this low mow is cut no lower than 4” (thereby safeguarding habitat) while the tidily trimmed perimeter utilizes remnant turf grass as visible cues to care. Dissecting the rectilinear green space, permeable hardscaping offers a gently curved path towards the front entryway; an invitation to pause and observe the landscape’s diverse textures and activity up close. Within which, a legacy planting of new specimen trees. Traditional shrub heavy foundation plantings are often static and rigid; this perennial rich redesign is structured yet airy to retain design cohesion with the naturalistic stylized meadow and offer vibrant textural all-season interest. This project blends different landscape styles to create a biodiverse habitat that is ecologically beneficial, beautiful and resilient. In high summer, a doe finds refuge for her fawn while the family’s children delight in the buzzing activity of smaller inhabitants, native bees and assorted pollinators, that now call this habitat home.

A master bedroom with rich color, texture and personality! With a colorful master bathroom that blends the perfect matte finish, semi-primitive blast of pattern with rich, saturated jewel tones and a little calacatta gold tile – determining the best fabrics and finishes for the master bedroom felt like a HUGE challenge. How do you stand up to something so fabulously unique and still create a soft respite for someone to slumber?! This bedroom was a small space with existing Vetrazzo floors and an entire wall dedicated to floor-to-ceiling fixed glass pane windows. Between the cracks in the plaster ceiling and the lacquered pink dresser we knew we had our work cut out. Saturated colors create a fairy tale bedroom Fast forward to finding the perfect, sumptuously soft evergreen mohair for the headboard and furry tuffets for the foot of the bed. Texture became the name of the game and a certain level of color variation had to tie through from selection to selection. Cladding the walls with a gilt woven cloth wall covering that also pulled a sort of skin-tone clay from detail found in the Vetrazzo flooring (OMG! so pretty!) and grounding everything with a sort of deco-inspired one-of-a-kind wool rug. The layers of unexpected style helped develop a more collected – less stylized – feeling overall. Then it was bye-bye to the pink lacquer! A local artisan worked on a faux finish for the custom dresser that the client had already invested in and we just gave it a refresh with a deep bronze finish. Balancing this piece with the playful silk tassel pendant lights that frame a beautiful original painting of red headed queens by artist Nancy Rhodes Harper. Exquisite lighting for a sexy master bedroom Additionally, the swirl and swoop of the forged metal light fixture overhead play off the more structured spinal-column type pattern of the black out window treatments that truly act as their own piece of art. Each element has its place and plays with the visual and textural aesthetics that make our client (and our team) swoon. Want more colorful and moody interior spaces? Check out another one of our recent projects here! Then call us for more information on how we can help you! Read more about our full-service interior design here!

A master bathroom should be a luxurious treat, a place to relax, refresh and renew. What my client had was anything but. A small footprint was made even smaller by an unnecessarily large tub and a separate water closet built at an awkward angle which cut into the space even more. By eliminating the water closet walls and replacing the tub with a smaller model, we were able to open up the bathroom and make it the airy, tranquil sanctuary it always should have been. My client’s love of Paris led us to design a bathroom that embraces a kind of chic, couture sensibility with a stylized floral tile of Carrara, Statuario and Bardiglio marble, white subway tiles, and a Calacatta countertop. French grey walls and a sparkling, petite chandelier lend the final touch to this classic ensemble. Photo: Bernardo Grijalva

THE APARTMENT NEXT TO THE PARK It is not often the case that an architect has a chance to work for someone he knows well and truly likes. I was lucky to design the investor’s former apartment some years ago which was a big advantage. We kicked off with mutual trust and understanding. We both wanted to design a luxurious urban apartment for an active businesswoman. Four-storey apartment building was erected on the edge of one of Warsaw parks. The place, immersed in stunning nature, is only 10 minutes’ drive from the city center. It is an excellent, prestigious location. From east and south the 160 square meters apartment is surrounded by large terraces that enlarge available space by additional 60 square meters. From the level of the second floor the apartment overlooks heavily-wooded park with a picturesque lake and a hill with a ski-lift. Living area of this open to three sides apartment is penetrated by the sun from dusk till dawn. The budget was considerable because of high standards of solutions used by the developer, particularly ventilation and heating installations as well as smart installation in KNX standard. The photo shoots and the publication (CZAS NA WNĘTRZE 10/2019) were a great pleasure. I am also pleased to announce: "...Architect Roland Stanczyk (RS Studio Projektowe) has won The European Property Award in the category of Interior Design Apartment with “The Apartment Next to the Park”. The award ceremony will take place at The Royal Lancaster Hotel on 24th October 2019 in London." Area: 160 sqm Stylization: Urszula Niemiro Photo: Hanna Długosz, photo of the details: Tomasz Markowski

New custom linen closet with three drawers, and adjustable shelves. Frameless glass door and panel. Cambria Quartz countertop with rectangle under-mount sink. Porcelain floor tile.

Michael J. Lee
Large trendy medium tone wood floor and brown floor kitchen/dining room combo photo in Boston with gray walls

Losing large specimen trees is never desirable. But when the unimaginable happens, we are presented with an opportunity to rethink and refresh, even in traditional residential settings. We replaced the lawn area beneath the remaining London plane with a fine fescue seed mix. Our design strategy was to hold space and create immediate impact while reducing maintenance needs as the landscape matured. Into this base, we planted evergreen basal foliage, long bloomers and early spring/late fall color to create an immersive all-season groundcover that will slowly intermingle. Annually, this low mow is cut no lower than 4” (thereby safeguarding habitat) while the tidily trimmed perimeter utilizes remnant turf grass as visible cues to care. Dissecting the rectilinear green space, permeable hardscaping offers a gently curved path towards the front entryway; an invitation to pause and observe the landscape’s diverse textures and activity up close. Within which, a legacy planting of new specimen trees. Traditional shrub heavy foundation plantings are often static and rigid; this perennial rich redesign is structured yet airy to retain design cohesion with the naturalistic stylized meadow and offer vibrant textural all-season interest. This project blends different landscape styles to create a biodiverse habitat that is ecologically beneficial, beautiful and resilient. In high summer, a doe finds refuge for her fawn while the family’s children delight in the buzzing activity of smaller inhabitants, native bees and assorted pollinators, that now call this habitat home.