Step into a world of moody glamour. This eclectic home lounge and bar space takes "feeling the blues" in a whole new direction! Perfect for the bold entertainer, it transforms cocktail hour into an art form and makes you want to sit, relax and enjoy. Cheers!

A true transitional, coastal, informal Family Room featuring a blue and neutral palette with yellow accents. Furnished with Stanley's Coastal Living Cottage collection and custom Kravet upholstry this space realizes the homeowners dream of a Ralph Lauren inspired beach vacation home. Photography by Simon Dale

Example of a large 1950s open concept concrete floor and gray floor family room design in Tampa with white walls, a two-sided fireplace and a wall-mounted tv

Living room - country open concept and formal medium tone wood floor living room idea in Charlotte with white walls and a stone fireplace

photography by Rob Karosis
Example of a large classic l-shaped medium tone wood floor kitchen design in Portland Maine with a farmhouse sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, granite countertops, white backsplash, ceramic backsplash, stainless steel appliances and white walls

A fresh family room that has plenty of wow factor, but remains a comfortable space. Photography - Dan Piassick House Design - Charles Isreal
Inspiration for a transitional family room remodel in Dallas

Inspiration for a timeless living room remodel in Houston

Foyer - large traditional medium tone wood floor foyer idea in Portland with gray walls

Transitional formal dark wood floor living room photo in Austin with beige walls, a standard fireplace and a stone fireplace

Example of a large trendy formal and open concept living room design in Dallas with beige walls, a standard fireplace, no tv and a concrete fireplace

Photography by Erica George Dines
Inspiration for a timeless open concept dark wood floor and brown floor living room remodel in Atlanta with beige walls, a standard fireplace, a plaster fireplace and a wall-mounted tv

Serenade guests from this light-filled music and living room space.
Family room - mediterranean family room idea in Los Angeles with a music area and beige walls

SoCal Contractor Construction Erika Bierman Photography
Large transitional open concept medium tone wood floor and brown floor family room photo in San Diego with white walls, a standard fireplace and a stone fireplace

A mix of contemporary, modern, and mid century design. Natural wood finishes with simple countertop surfaces and stainless steel appliances. Light, open, and clean feel. Elmwood frameless cabinetry. All wood construction cabinets in Walnut with a natural finish. The countertop on the perimeter is Dekton in Zenith with a honed finish. The island is Neolith in Estatuario Silk. Both countertops have a mitered edge finish. The rangetop is a Wolf 48" gas range. The dishwasher is by bosch and this kitchen has two of them. The refrigerator and freezer are Subzero 36" built-in units placed next to each other to make one big component. The hood is by Best and is a 48" Island Hood called Gorgona. The microwave is a microwave drawer by Wolf and is 24". The double oven and the warming drawer are lined up vertically and all 30" by Wolf. The wine refrigerator is an under counter 24" by Subzero. The main sink is Oliveri 33" x 21" single bowl apron sink. There is an instant hot and an instant cold faucet, both by WaterINC. The island sink is by Franke and in the Peak Series. The island sink faucet is by KWC and is a single pull down faucet. The pendant lights over the island are by Niche and are the Modern Stamen Pendants in Smoke. The backsplash is 12" x 12" Koshi tile, with a blend between light grey and white. The wall and ceiling paint colors are by Benjamin Moore and are Chantilly Lace. The trim paint color is Swiss Coffee by Kelly Moore. All of the cabinet hardware is by Atlas Homewares. The flooring throughout the great room is by Boen and is a Oak Traditional in Chaletino.

Elmwood Frameless Cabinetry. Natural finished Zebra wood. All wood cabinet construction. Cambria quartz countertop in White Cliff with a mitered edge detail. The sink is a trough style sink integrated into the countertop by the fabricator. The sink faucet, faucet handle, hand shower, and hand shower fixture/trim are all by Grohe. The tub is by Hydrosystems in Lacey White and the tub filler spout is by Grohe. The toilet is a wall-hung bowl by Toto and the tank and push button flush is by Geberit. The lighting is by Tech Lighting and is a SpanBath light bar. The bath accessories as in the towel bar and hook are from Atlas Homewares. The medicine cabinet is by Robern and is a white frameless cabinet with a mirror door. The tile is all porcelain tile and is from Siena Tile in San Ramon, CA. The shower walls are 12" x 24" in Bianco. The shower niche is a mosaic tile 12" x 24" in Biano/Esaquonetta. The floor tile is 12" x 24" in a straight pattern. The cabinet hardware is by Atlas Homewares. The paint color on the wall and ceiling is Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore. The trim paint color is Swiss Coffee. All of the plumbing finishes are polished chrome. This bathroom has a mixture of contemporary, modern, and mid-century design.

The owners of this kitchen had spent the money to upgrade the finishes in their kitchen upon building the home 12 years ago, but after living in the space for several years they realized how nonfunctional the layout really was. The (then) two preschool aged children had grown into busy, hungry teenagers with many friends who also liked to hang out at the house. So the family needed a more functional kitchen with better traffic flow, space for daily activities revolving around the kitchen at different times of day, and a kitchen that could accommodate cooking for and serving large groups. Furthermore, the dark, traditional finishes no longer reflected the homeowners’ style. They requested a brighter, more relaxed, coastal style that reflected their love of the seaside cities they like to visit. Originally, the kitchen was U-shaped with a narrow island in the middle. The island created narrow aisles that bottle-necked at the dishwasher, refrigerator, and cooktop areas. There was a pass-through from the foyer into the kitchen, but the owners never liked that the pass-through was also located so close to the powder room. The awkward proximity was unappealing and made guests feel uncomfortable. The kitchen’s storage was made up of lots of narrow cabinets, apothecary drawers, clipped corner units, and very few drawers. It lacked useful storage for the larger items the family used on a daily basis. And the kitchen’s only pantry was small closet that had only builder-grade, narrow shelving with no illumination to be able to see the contents inside. Overall, the kitchen’s lighting plan was poorly executed. Only six recessed cans illuminated the entire kitchen and nook areas. The under cabinet lighting was not evenly distributed either. In fact, the builder had mis-placed the under cabinet lighting around the decorative pilasters which made for choppy, dark cubbies. Further, the builder didn’t include any lighting over the sink or the bar area, which meant whoever was doing the dishes was always in their own shadow. That, coupled with the steep overhang of the game room above made the bar area feel like a dim, cavernous space that wasn’t inviting or task oriented. The kitchen looked out into the main living space, but the raised bar and a narrow wall (which held the only large cabinet in the kitchen) created more of a barrier than a relationship to the living room or breakfast nook. In fact, one couldn’t even see the breakfast nook from the cooktop or sink areas due to its orientation. The raised bar top was too narrow to comfortably sit to either dine at or chat from due to the lack of knee space. The the homeowners confided that the kitchen felt more like a dark, dirty prison than place where the family, or their guests, wanted to gather and commune. The clients' needs and desires were: ➢ to create a kitchen that would be a space the family loved to be in; to relate to the adjacent spaces all around, and to have better flow for entertaining large groups ➢ to remove the walls between the breakfast nook and living area and to be able to utilize the natural light from the windows in both those areas ➢ to incorporate a functional chopping block for prepping fresh food for home cooked meals, an island with a large sink and drain board, 2 pull out trash cans, and seating for at least the 2 teens to eat or do homework ➢ to design a kitchen and breakfast nook with an airy, coastal, relaxed vibe that blended with the rest of the house's coastal theme ➢ to integrate a layered lighting plan which would include ample general illumination, specific task lighting, decorative lighting, and lots of illuminated storage ➢ to design a kitchen with not only more storage for all the husband’s kitchen gadgets and collection of oils and spices, but smart storage, including a coffee/breakfast bar and a place to store and conceal the toaster oven and microwave ➢ to find a way to utilize the large open space between the kitchen, pantry area, and breakfast nook Twelve Stones Designs achieved the owner's goals by: ➢ removing the walls between the kitchen and living room to allow the natural light to filter in from the adjacent rooms and to create a connection between the kitchen, nook, and living spaces for a sense of unity and communion ➢ removing the existing pantry and designing 3 large pantry style cabinets with LED tape lights and rollout drawers to house lots of kitchen appliances, gadgets, and tons of groceries. We also took the cabinets all the way up to the 9’ ceiling for additional storage for seasonal items and bulk storage. ➢ designing 2 islands - 1 with a gorgeous black walnut chopping block that houses a drawer for chopping and carving knives and a custom double pull out trash unit for point of use utilization - and 1 that houses the dishwasher, a large Blanco Gourmet sink with integrated drain board, woven baskets for fresh root vegetables and kitchen towels, plenty of drawer storage for kitchen items, and bar seating for up to 4 diners. ➢ closing off the space between the kitchen and the powder room to create a beautiful new private alcove for the powder room as well as adding some decorative storage. This also gave us space to include more tall storage near the new range for precision placement of the husband’s extensive oil and spice collection as well as a location for a combo-steam oven the wife wanted for baking and cooking healthy meals. The project is enhanced functionally by: ➢ incorporated USB and standard receptacles for the kids’ laptops and phone charging in the large island ➢ designing the small island to include additional open shelving for items used on a daily basis such as a variety of bowls, plates, and colanders. This set up also works well for the husband who prefers to “plate” his dinners in restaurant-style fashion before presenting them to the table. ➢ the integration of specific storage units, such as double stacked cutlery drawers, a custom spice pull-out, a Kuerig coffee and tea pod drawer, and custom double stacked utensil drawers ➢ moving the refrigerator to the old oven location - this eliminated the bottle neck as well as created a better relationship to the eating table. It also utilizes the floor space between the pantry, nook, and kitchen ➢ creating a banquet style breakfast nook - this banquette seating not only doubles the amount of seating for large gatherings but it better utilizes the odd space between the kitchen and the previous nook area. It also helps to create a distinct pathway from the mudroom room through the pantry area, kitchen, nook, and living room. ➢ the coffee/breakfast bar area which includes the perfect location for the concealed microwave and toaster oven, convenient storage for the coffee pods and tea accoutrements. Roll-out drawers below also house the smoothie maker, hot water kettle, and a plethora of smoothie-making ingredients such as protein powders, smoothie additives, etc. Furthermore, the drawers below the Keurig house measuring utensil, cutlery, baking supplies and tupperware storage. ➢ incorporating lots of wide drawers and pullouts to accommodate large cookware. ➢ utilizing as much vertical space as possible by building storage to the ceiling which accommodates the family’s abundant amount of serving platters, baking sheets, bakeware, casserole dishes, and additional cutting boards. The project is enhanced aesthetically by: ➢ new 5-piece Versailles pattern porcelain tile that now seamlessly joins the entire down stairs area together creating a bright, cohesiveness feeling instead of choppy separated spaces - it also adds a coastal feeling ➢ designing a cabinet to conceal the microwave and toaster oven ➢ the coastal influenced light fixtures over the nook table and island ➢ the sandy colors of the Langdon Cambria countertops. The swirling pattern and sparkling quartz pieces remind the homeowner of black-and-tan sandy beaches ➢ the striped banquet seating whose creamy white background and blue-green stripes were the inspiration for the cabinet and wall colors. ➢ All the interior doors were painted black to coordinate with the blacks and grays in the backsplash tile and countertop. This also adds a hint of tailored formality to an otherwise casual space. ➢ the use of WAC's Oculux small aperture LED units for the overhead lighting complimented with Diode LED strips for task lighting under the cabinets and inside the pantry and glass wall cabinets. All of the lighting applications are on separate dimmer switches. Innovative uses of materials or construction methods by Realty Restoration LLC: ➢ Each 1-1/2” x 3” block of reclaimed end-grain black walnut that makes up the center island chopping block was hand milled and built in the shop. It was designed to look substantial and proportional to the surrounding elements, executed by creating the 4 inch tall top with a solid wood chamfered edge band. ➢ The metal doors on either side of the vent hood were also custom designed for this project and built in the Realty Restoration LLC shop. They are made 1x2, 11-gauge mild steel with ribbed glass. Weighing 60 lbs a piece, heavy duty cabinet hinges were added to support the weight of the door and keep them from sagging. ➢ Under-cabinet receptacles were added along the range wall in order to have a clean, uninterrupted backsplash. Design obstacles to overcome: ➢ Because we were removing the demising walls between the kitchen and living room, we had to find a way to plumb and vent the new island. We did this by tunneling through the slab (the slab had post tension cables which prevented us from just trenching) to run a new wet vent through a nearby structural wall. We pulled the existing hot and cold lines between upper floor joists and ran them down the structural wall as well and up through a conduit in the tunnel. ➢ Since we were converting from wall overs to a gas range it allowed us to utilize the 220 feed for the wall ovens to provide a new sub panel for all the new kitchen circuits ➢ Due to framing deficiencies inherited from the original build there was a 1-1/2” differential in the floor-to-ceiling height over a 20 foot span; by utilizing the process of cutting and furring coupled with the crown moulding details on the cabinet elevations we were able to mask the problem and provide seamless transitions between the cabinet components. Evidence of superior craftsmanship: ➢ uniquely designed, one-of-a-kind metal “X” end panels on the large island. The end panels were custom made in the Realty Restoration LLC shop and fitted to the exact dimensions of the island. The welding seams are completely indistinguishable - the posts look like they are cut from a single sheet of metal ➢ square metal posts on the small island were also custom made and designed to compliment and carry through the metal element s throughout the kitchen ➢ the beautiful, oversized end panels on the pantry cabinets which give the breakfast nook a tailored look ➢ integrating a large format 5 piece Versailles tile pattern to seamlessly flow from the existing spaces into the new kitchen space ➢ By constructing a custom cabinet that jogged around a corner we could not remodel (housing the entry way coat closet) we were able to camouflage the adjacent wall offset within the upper and lower cabinets. By designing around the existing jog in the structural walls we accomplished a few things: we were able to find the space to house, and hide, the microwave and toaster oven yet still have a clean cohesive appearance from the kitchen side. Additionally, the owners were able to keep their much needed coat closet and we didn’t have to increase the budget with unnecessary structural work.

Boasting views of the Museum of Natural History and Central Park, the Beaux Arts and French Renaissance style building built in 1900 was once home to a luxury hotel. Over the years multiple hotel rooms were combined into the larger apartment residences that exist today. The resulting units, while large in size, lacked the continuity of a single formed space. StudioLAB was presented with the challenge of re-designing the space to fit a modern family’s lifestyle today with the flexibility to adjust as they evolve into their tomorrow. Thus, the existing configuration was completely abandoned with new programmatic elements being relocated in each and every corner of the space. For clients that are big wine connoisseurs, the focal point of entry and circulation lies in a 400 bottle, custom built, blackened steel and glass, temperature controlled wine cabinet. The once enclosed living room was demolished to create one main entertaining space that includes a new dining area and open kitchen. Hafele bi-folding pocket door slides were used in the Living room wall unit to conceal the television, bar and display shelves when not in use. Posing as kitchen cabinetry, a hidden integrated door opens to reveal a guest bedroom with an en suite bathroom. Down the hallway of wide plank ebony stained walnut flooring, a compact powder room was built to house an original Paul Villinski installation of small butterflies cut from recycled aluminum cans, entitled Mistral. Continuing down the hall, and through one of the walnut veneered doors, is the shared kids bedroom where a custom-built bunk bed with integrated storage steps and desk was designed to allow for play space and a reading corner. The kids bathroom across the hall is decorated with custom Lego inspired hand cast concrete tiles and integrated pull-out footstools residing underneath the floating vanity. The master suite features a bio-ethanol fireplace wrapped in blackened steel and integrated into the Tabu veneered built-in. The spacious walk-in closet serves several purposes, which include housing the apartment’s new central HVAC system as well as a sleeping spot for the family’s dog. An integrated URC control system paired with Lutron Radio RA lighting keypads were installed to control the AV, HVAC, lighting and solar shades all by the use of smartphones.

This large open concept kitchen and dining space was created by removing a load bearing wall between the old kitchen and a porch area. The new porch was insulated and incorporated into the overall space. The kitchen remodel was part of a whole house remodel so new quarter sawn oak flooring,a vaulted ceiling, windows and skylights were added. A large calcutta marble topped island takes center stage. It houses a 5’ galley workstation - a sink that provides a convenient spot for prepping, serving, entertaining and clean up. A 36” induction cooktop is located directly across from the island for easy access. Two appliance garages on either side of the cooktop house small appliances that are used on a daily basis. Honeycomb tile by Ann Sacks and open shelving along the cooktop wall add an interesting focal point to the room. Antique mirrored glass faces the storage unit housing dry goods and a beverage center. “I chose details for the space that had a bit of a mid-century vibe that would work well with what was originally a 1950s ranch. Along the way a previous owner added a 2nd floor making it more of a Cape Cod style home, a few eclectic details felt appropriate”, adds Klimala. The wall opposite the cooktop houses a full size fridge, freezer, double oven, coffee machine and microwave. “There is a lot of functionality going on along that wall”, adds Klimala. A small pull out countertop below the coffee machine provides a spot for hot items coming out of the ovens. The rooms creamy cabinetry is accented by quartersawn white oak at the island and wrapped ceiling beam. The golden tones are repeated in the antique brass light fixtures. “This is the second kitchen I’ve had the opportunity to design for myself. My taste has gotten a little less traditional over the years, and although I’m still a traditionalist at heart, I had some fun with this kitchen and took some chances. The kitchen is super functional, easy to keep clean and has lots of storage to tuck things away when I’m done using them. The casual dining room is fabulous and is proving to be a great spot to linger after dinner. We love it!” Designed by: Susan Klimala, CKD, CBD Photography by: Carlos Vergara For more information on kitchen and bath design ideas go to: www.kitchenstudio-ge.com

Side view of Houston outdoor sitting area shows Western Austin limestone, stucco chimney column, 10-foot-high pinewood outdoor ceiling, Rosa flagstone patio and Restoration Hardware outdoor furniture Full project description: Check out this great outdoor sitting area with a stucco and stone fireplace and the largest outdoor ceiling fan we've ever seen! Outdoor living space designs typically match the house exactly - but this one couldn't. The homeowners' association restrictions ended up shrinking the outdoor sitting area from 20-foot-square to 15-foot-square, so the arches couldn't be the same size as they were on the house. After a bit of math and an adjustment in the thickness of the arches, however, Outdoor Homescapes of Houston preserved the proper scale and proportion. Especially problematic was the half arch connecting the free-standing structure to the back of the house - since a gutter had to be added for sufficient drainage. "The wood-burning fireplace will provide heat and definitely cozy up this patio addition as we head into fall and winter - especially with vents that push the heated air directly out into the sitting area," says Franks. "But since this outdoor living space was built for all seasons, the large outdoor ceiling fan will also help keep it cool in summer. In addition to the gas fireplace featuring bench seating, this detached, covered patio also had two outdoor sofas and a coffee table from Restoration Hardware. Built at an angle that faces the back of the house at the far end of the pool and hot tub, this outdoor living space design definitely fulfills its mission to blend in with the existing house. Its light-colored stucco and Western Austin Limestone with bluish-grey accents, for instance, echoes the contemporary home's stone and stucco exterior. The 10-foot-high ceiling under the hipped roof, meanwhile, features a dark stain matching that of the existing covered patio ceiling along the back of the house. The addition's Rosa flagstone patio is also an extension of the existing patio, and the Oklahoma wister flagstone bench seating is a perfect match to the coping on the existing pool. Similarly, the black lantern light fixtures on the support columns of this outdoor sitting area are the same style as those on the house. The client wanted gas light fixtures, like they have on the house. Outdoor Homescapes could only find electric fixtures that matched, but wqw able to convert them into gas fixtures with a conversion kit from Cunningham Gas. The Restoration Hardware seating and coffee table, meanwhile, suit the client's desire to entertain guests in style after dinner while enjoying a cigar. "The project was a challenge, but it turned out beautiful," says company owner Wayne Franks. "And it really does look like it was built with the house."