When full-time Massachusetts residents contemplate building a second home in Telluride, Colorado the question immediately arises; does it make most sense to hire a regionally based Rocky Mountain architect or a sea level architect conveniently located for all of the rigorous collaboration required for successful bespoke home design. Determined to prove the latter true, Siemasko + Verbridge accompanied the potential client as they scoured the undulating Telluride landscape in search of the perfect house site. The selected site’s harmonious balance of untouched meadow rising up to meet the edge of an aspen grove and the opposing 180 degree view of Wilson’s Range spoke to everyone. A plateau just beyond a fork in the meadow provided a natural flatland, requiring little excavation and yet the right amount of upland slope to capture the views. The intrinsic character of the site was only enriched by an elk trail and snake-rail fence. Establishing the expanse of Wilson’s range would be best served by rejecting the notion of selected views, the central sweeping curve of the roof inverts a small saddle in the range with which it is perfectly aligned. The soaring wave of custom windows and the open floor plan make the relatively modest house feel sizable despite its footprint of just under 2,000 square feet. Officially a two bedroom home, the bunk room and loft allow the home to comfortably sleep ten, encouraging large gatherings of family and friends. The home is completely off the grid in response to the unique and fragile qualities of the landscape. Great care was taken to respect the regions vernacular through the use of mostly native materials and a palette derived from the terrain found at 9,820 feet above sea level. Photographer: Gibeon Photography

Designed to embrace an extensive and unique art collection including sculpture, paintings, tapestry, and cultural antiquities, this modernist home located in north Scottsdale’s Estancia is the quintessential gallery home for the spectacular collection within. The primary roof form, “the wing” as the owner enjoys referring to it, opens the home vertically to a view of adjacent Pinnacle peak and changes the aperture to horizontal for the opposing view to the golf course. Deep overhangs and fenestration recesses give the home protection from the elements and provide supporting shade and shadow for what proves to be a desert sculpture. The restrained palette allows the architecture to express itself while permitting each object in the home to make its own place. The home, while certainly modern, expresses both elegance and warmth in its material selections including canterra stone, chopped sandstone, copper, and stucco. Project Details | Lot 245 Estancia, Scottsdale AZ Architect: C.P. Drewett, Drewett Works, Scottsdale, AZ Interiors: Luis Ortega, Luis Ortega Interiors, Hollywood, CA Publications: luxe. interiors + design. November 2011. Featured on the world wide web: luxe.daily Photos by Grey Crawford

This property came with a house which proved ill-matched to our clients’ needs but which nestled neatly amid beautiful live oaks. In choosing to commission a new home, they asked that it also tuck under the limbs of the oaks and maintain a subdued presence to the street. Extraordinary efforts such as cantilevered floors and even bridging over critical root zones allow the design to be truly fitted to the site and to co-exist with the trees, the grandest of which is the focal point of the entry courtyard. Of equal importance to the trees and view was to provide, conversely, for walls to display 35 paintings and numerous books. From form to smallest detail, the house is quiet and subtle.

Sight & Sound This clean modern south Oakville Ontario remodel proves you don’t need to move to a condo to completely update your surroundings. These Oakville empty nesters with an active social life aren't interested in “fuddy-duddy” decor. On the contrary, they are interested in the latest design trends, as well as the most current audio/visual components. The original stone fireplace was updated with a custom designed mantle and a new gas insert. The updated warm grey colour palette balances the natural stone making it an inviting focal point. The interior design included reconfiguring the room layout. Originally a smaller TV was located in-between the window and the fireplace and the sofa was where the current cabinet is now. Our new layout opens up the room taking full advantage of it’s size. The sumptuous sectional allows for relaxed tete a tete evenings as well as seating for larger groups. The additional leather occasional chair completes the conversation circle too. We naturally selected fabrics that are family friendly to ensure the grandchildren and adults can all be at ease. The flexibility of the 3 piece coffee table is both practical and adds an element of modern artistry. Grounding the room is a carpet graphic grey animal skin custom sized into an area rug. Components as well as miscellaneous items are easily stored in the customised wood cabinet. Stephani Buchman Photography

Stuart Wade, Envision Virtual Tours The second-largest and most developed of Georgia's barrier islands, St. Simons is approximately twelve miles long and nearly three miles wide at its widest stretch (roughly the size of Manhattan Island in New York). The island is located in Glynn County on Georgia's coast and lies east of Brunswick (the seat of Glynn County), south of Little St. Simons Island and the Hampton River, and north of Jekyll Island. The resort community of Sea Island is separated from St. Simons on the east by the Black Banks River. Known for its oak tree canopies and historic landmarks, St. Simons is both a tourist destination and, according to the 2010 U.S. census, home to 12,743 residents. Early History The earliest St. Simons Island Village record of human habitation on the island dates to the Late Archaic Period, about 5,000 to 3,000 years ago. Remnants of shell rings left behind by Native Americans from this era survive on many of the barrier islands, including St. Simons. Centuries later, during the period known by historians as the chiefdom era, the Guale Indians established a chiefdom centered on St. Catherines Island and used St. Simons as their hunting and fishing grounds. By 1500 the Guale had established a permanent village of about 200 people on St. Simons, which they called Guadalquini. Beginning in 1568, the Spanish attempted to create missions along the Georgia coast. Catholic missions were the primary means by which Georgia's indigenous Native American chiefdoms were assimilated into the Spanish colonial system along the northern frontier of greater Spanish Florida. In the 1600s St. Simons became home to two Spanish missions: San Buenaventura de Guadalquini, on the southern tip of the island, and Santo Domingo de Asao (or Asajo), on the northern tip. Located on the inland side of the island were the pagan refugee villages of San Simón, the island's namesake, and Ocotonico. In 1684 pirate raids left the missions and villages largely abandoned. Colonial History As Fort Frederica early as 1670, with Great Britain's establishment of the colony of Carolina and its expansion into Georgia territory, Spanish rule was threatened by the English. The Georgia coast was considered "debatable land" by England and Spain, even though Spain had fully retreated from St. Simons by 1702. Thirty-one years later General James Edward Oglethorpe founded the English settlement of Savannah. In 1736 he established Fort Frederica, named after the heir to the British throne, Frederick Louis, prince of Wales, on the west side of St. Simons Island to protect Savannah and the Carolinas from the Spanish threat. Between 1736 and 1749 Fort Frederica was the hub of British military operations along the Georgia frontier. A town of the same name grew up around the fort and was of great importance to the new colony. By 1740 Frederica's population was 1,000. In 1736 the congregation of what would become Christ Church was organized within Fort Frederica as a mission of the Church of England. Charles Wesley led the first services. In 1742 Britain's decisive victory over Spain in the Battle of Bloody Marsh, during the War of Jenkins' Ear, ended the Spanish threat to the Georgia coast. When the British regimen disbanded in 1749, most of the townspeople relocated to the mainland. Fort Frederica went into decline and, except for a short time of prosperity during the 1760s and 1770s under the leadership of merchant James Spalding, never fully recovered. Today the historic citadel's tabby ruins are maintained by the National Park Service. Plantation Era By the start of the American Revolution (1775-83), Fort Frederica was obsolete, and St. Simons was left largely uninhabited as most of its residents joined the patriot army. Besides hosting a small Georgia naval victory on the Fort Frederica River, providing guns from its famous fort for use at Fort Morris in Sunbury, and serving as an arena for pillaging by privateers and British soldiers, the island played almost no role in the war. Following the war, many of the townspeople, their businesses destroyed, turned to agriculture. The island was transformed into fourteen cotton plantations after acres of live oak trees were cleared for farm land and used for building American warships, including the famous USS Constitution, or "Old Ironsides." Although rice was the predominant crop along the neighboring Altamaha River, St. Simons was known for its production of long-staple cotton, which soon came to be known as Sea Island cotton. Between Ebos Landing the 1780s and the outbreak of the Civil War (1861-65), St. Simons's plantation culture flourished. The saline atmosphere and the availability of cheap slave labor proved an ideal combination for the cultivation of Sea Island cotton. In 1803 a group of Ebo slaves who survived the Middle Passage and arrived on the west side of St. Simons staged a rebellion and drowned themselves. The sacred site is known today as Ebos Landing. One of the largest owners of land and slaves on St. Simons was Pierce Butler, master of Hampton Point Plantation, located on the northern end of the island. By 1793 Butler owned more than 500 slaves, who cultivated 800 acres of cotton on St. Simons and 300 acres of rice on Butler's Island in the Altamaha River delta. Butler's grandson, Pierce Mease Butler, who at the age of sixteen inherited a share of his grandfather's estate in 1826, was responsible for the largest sale of human beings in the history of the United States: in 1859, to restore his squandered fortune, he sold 429 slaves in Savannah for more than $300,000. The British actress and writer Fanny Kemble, whose tumultuous marriage to Pierce ended in divorce in 1849, published an eyewitness account of the evils of slavery on St. Simons in her book Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839 (1863). Another Retreat Plantation large owner of land and slaves on St. Simons was Major William Page, a friend and employee of Pierce Butler Sr. Before purchasing Retreat Plantation on the southwestern tip of the island in 1804, Page managed the Hampton plantation and Butler's Island. Upon Page's death in 1827, Thomas Butler King inherited the land together with his wife, Page's daughter, Anna Matilda Page King. King expanded his father-in-law's planting empire on St. Simons as well as on the mainland, and by 1835 Retreat Plantation alone was home to as many as 355 slaves. The center of life during the island's plantation era was Christ Church, Frederica. Organized in 1807 by a group of island planters, the Episcopal church is the second oldest in the Diocese of Georgia. Embargoes imposed by the War of 1812 (1812-15) prevented the parishioners from building a church structure, so they worshiped in the home of John Beck, which stood on the site of Oglethorpe's only St. Simons residence, Orange Hall. The first Christ Church building, finished on the present site in 1820, was ruined by occupying Union troops during the Civil War. In 1884 the Reverend Anson Dodge Jr. rebuilt the church as a memorial to his first wife, Ellen. The cruciform building with a trussed gothic roof and stained-glass windows remains active today as Christ Church. Civil War and Beyond The St. Simons Island Lighthouse outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 put a sudden end to St. Simons's lucrative plantation era. In January of that year, Confederate troops were stationed at the south end of the island to guard the entrance to Brunswick Harbor. Slaves from Retreat Plantation, owned by Thomas Butler King, built earthworks and batteries. Plantation residents were scattered—the men joined the Confederate army and their families moved to the mainland. Cannon fire was heard on the island in December 1861, and Confederate troops retreated in February 1862, after dynamiting the lighthouse to keep its beacon from aiding Union troops. Soon thereafter, Union troops occupied the island, which was used as a camp for freed slaves. By August 1862 more than 500 former slaves lived on St. Simons, including Susie King Taylor, who organized a school for freed slave children. But in November the ex-slaves were taken to Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Fernandina, Florida, leaving the island abandoned. After the Civil War the island never returned to its status as an agricultural community. The plantations lay dormant because there were no slaves to work the fields. After Union general William T. Sherman's January 1865 Special Field Order No. 15 —a demand that former plantations be divided and distributed to former slaves—was overturned by U.S. president Andrew Johnson less than a year later, freedmen and women were forced to work as sharecroppers on the small farms that dotted the land previously occupied by the sprawling plantations. By St. Simons Lumber Mills 1870 real economic recovery began with the reestablishment of the timber industry. Norman Dodge and Titus G. Meigs of New York set up lumber mill operations at Gascoigne Bluff, formerly Hamilton Plantation. The lumber mills provided welcome employment for both blacks and whites and also provided mail and passenger boats to the mainland. Such water traffic, together with the construction of a new lighthouse in 1872, designed by architect Charles B. Cluskey, marked the beginning of St. Simons's tourism industry. The keeper of the lighthouse created a small amusement park, which drew many visitors, as did the seemingly miraculous light that traveled from the top of the lighthouse tower to the bottom. The island became a summer retreat for families from the mainland, particularly from Baxley, Brunswick, and Waycross. The island's resort industry was thriving by the 1880s. Beachfront structures, such as a new pier and grand hotel, were built on the southeastern end of the island and could be accessed by ferry. Around this time wealthy northerners began vacationing on the island. Twentieth Century The St. Simons Island Pier and Village opening in 1924 of the Brunswick–St. Simons Highway, today known as the Torras Causeway, was a milestone in the development of resorts in the area. St. Simons's beaches were now easily accessible to locals and tourists alike. More than 5,000 automobiles took the short drive from Brunswick to St. Simons via the causeway on its opening day, paving the way for convenient residential and resort development. In 1926 automotive pioneer Howard Coffin of Detroit, Michigan, bought large tracts of land on St. Simons, including the former Retreat Plantation, and constructed a golf course, yacht club, paved roads, and a residential subdivision. Although the causeway had brought large numbers of summer people to the island, St. Simons remained a small community with only a few hundred permanent residents until the 1940s. The St. Simons Island outbreak of World War II (1941-45) brought more visitors and residents to St. Simons. Troops stationed at Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah; and nearby Camp Stewart took weekend vacations on the island, and a new naval air base and radar school became home to even more officers and soldiers. The increased wartime population brought the island its first public school. With a major shipyard for the production of Liberty ships in nearby Brunswick, the waters of St. Simons became active with German U-boats. In April 1942, just off the coast, the Texas Company oil tanker S. S. Oklahoma and the S. S. Esso Baton Rouge were torpedoed by the Germans, bringing the war very close to home for island residents. Due in large part to the military's improvement of the island's infrastructure during the war, development on the island boomed in the 1950s and 1960s. More permanent homes and subdivisions were built, and the island was no longer just a summer resort but also a thriving community. In 1950 the Methodist conference and retreat center Epworth by the Sea opened on Gascoigne Bluff. In 1961 novelist Eugenia Price visited St. Simons and began work on her first works of fiction, known as the St. Simons Trilogy. Inspired by real events on the island, Price's trilogy renewed interest in the history of Georgia's coast, and the novelist herself relocated to the island in 1965 and lived there for thirty-one years. St. Simons is also home to contemporary Georgia writer Tina McElroy Ansa. Since Epworth by the Sea 1980 St. Simons's population has doubled. The island's continued status as a vacation destination and its ongoing development boom have put historic landmarks and natural areas at risk. While such landmarks as the Fort Frederica ruins and the Battle of Bloody Marsh site are preserved and maintained by the National Park Service, and while the historic lighthouse is maintained by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, historic Ebos Landing has been taken over by a sewage treatment plant. Several coastal organizations have formed in recent years to save natural areas on the island. The St. Simons Land Trust, for example, has received donations of large tracts of land and plans to protect property in the island's three traditional African American neighborhoods. Despite its rapid growth and development, St. Simons remains one of the most beautiful and important islands on the Georgia coast.

Pull out shelves flank the open towel storage proving vertical racks for bathroom essentials.
Large elegant master gray tile and marble tile marble floor, gray floor and double-sink bathroom photo in Charleston with beaded inset cabinets, white cabinets, a bidet, gray walls, an undermount sink, quartz countertops, a hinged shower door, white countertops and a built-in vanity

Home design - eclectic home design idea in Philadelphia

Modern luxury meets warm farmhouse in this Southampton home! Scandinavian inspired furnishings and light fixtures create a clean and tailored look, while the natural materials found in accent walls, casegoods, the staircase, and home decor hone in on a homey feel. An open-concept interior that proves less can be more is how we’d explain this interior. By accentuating the “negative space,” we’ve allowed the carefully chosen furnishings and artwork to steal the show, while the crisp whites and abundance of natural light create a rejuvenated and refreshed interior. This sprawling 5,000 square foot home includes a salon, ballet room, two media rooms, a conference room, multifunctional study, and, lastly, a guest house (which is a mini version of the main house).

This kitchen gets its edgy feel from dark finishes and contrast. The dark stained stools bring energy to the classic marble-topped island, big enough for dining. Custom cabinets are painted cream-white to bring more light and open the space. This white kitchen proves to be the cream of the crop.

Bellevue garden showing a casual granite walkway leading to a garden shed.
Design ideas for a large traditional shade backyard stone landscaping in Seattle.

Modern luxury meets warm farmhouse in this Southampton home! Scandinavian inspired furnishings and light fixtures create a clean and tailored look, while the natural materials found in accent walls, casegoods, the staircase, and home decor hone in on a homey feel. An open-concept interior that proves less can be more is how we’d explain this interior. By accentuating the “negative space,” we’ve allowed the carefully chosen furnishings and artwork to steal the show, while the crisp whites and abundance of natural light create a rejuvenated and refreshed interior. This sprawling 5,000 square foot home includes a salon, ballet room, two media rooms, a conference room, multifunctional study, and, lastly, a guest house (which is a mini version of the main house).

This home was featured in the July 2011 issue of “Log Cabin Homes.” It proves efficiency doesn’t have to be sacrificed when designing grand elegance. Even with its cathedral ceilings and many windows it earned a 5 Star Plus Energy Star® rating. http://www.coventryloghomes.com/ourDesigns/craftsmanSeries/BearRock/model.html Roger Wade

As written in Northern Home & Cottage by Elizabeth Edwards For years, Jeff and Ellen Miller spent their vacations sailing in Northern Michigan—so they had plenty of time to check out which small harbor town they might like to retire to someday. When that time arrived several years ago, they looked at properties up and down the coast and along inland lakes. When they discovered a sweet piece on the outskirts of Boyne City that included waterfront and a buildable lot, with a garage on it, across the street, they knew they’d found home. The couple figured they could find plans for their dream lake cottage online. After all, they weren’t looking to build anything grandiose. Just a small-to-medium sized contemporary Craftsman. But after an unfruitful online search they gave up, frustrated. Every plan they found had the back of the house facing the water—they needed a blueprint for a home that fronted on the water. The Millers first met the woman, Stephanie Baldwin, Owner & President of Edgewater Design Group, who solved that issue and a number of others on the 2015 Northern Home & Cottage Petoskey Area Home Tour. Baldwin’s home that year was a smart, 2000-square cottage on Crooked Lake with simple lines and a Craftsman sensibility. That home proved to the couple that Edgewater Design Group is as proficient at small homes as the larger ones they are often known for. Edgewater Design Group did indeed come up with the perfect plan for the Millers. At 2400 square feet, the simple Craftsman with its 3 bedrooms, vaulted ceiling in the great room and upstairs deck is everything the Millers wanted—including the fact that construction stayed within their budget. An extra courtesy of working with the talented design team is a screened in porch facing the lake (“She told us, of course you have to have a screened in porch,” Ellen says. “And we love it!’) Edgewater’s other touches are more subtle. The Millers wanted to keep the garage, but the home needed to be sited on a small knoll some feet away in order to capture the views of Lake Charlevoix across the street. The solution is a covered walkway and steps that are so artful they enhance the home. Another favor Baldwin did for them was to connect them with Legacy Construction, a firm known for its craftsmanship and attention to detail. The Miller home, outfitted with touches including custom molding, cherry cabinetry, a stunning custom range hood, built in shelving and custom vanities. A warm hickory floor and lovely earth-toned Craftsman-style color palette pull it all together, while a fireplace mantel hewn from a tree taken on the property rounds out this gracious lake cottage.

Modern luxury meets warm farmhouse in this Southampton home! Scandinavian inspired furnishings and light fixtures create a clean and tailored look, while the natural materials found in accent walls, casegoods, the staircase, and home decor hone in on a homey feel. An open-concept interior that proves less can be more is how we’d explain this interior. By accentuating the “negative space,” we’ve allowed the carefully chosen furnishings and artwork to steal the show, while the crisp whites and abundance of natural light create a rejuvenated and refreshed interior. This sprawling 5,000 square foot home includes a salon, ballet room, two media rooms, a conference room, multifunctional study, and, lastly, a guest house (which is a mini version of the main house).

This property came with a house which proved ill-matched to our clients’ needs but which nestled neatly amid beautiful live oaks. In choosing to commission a new home, they asked that it also tuck under the limbs of the oaks and maintain a subdued presence to the street. Extraordinary efforts such as cantilevered floors and even bridging over critical root zones allow the design to be truly fitted to the site and to co-exist with the trees, the grandest of which is the focal point of the entry courtyard. Of equal importance to the trees and view was to provide, conversely, for walls to display 35 paintings and numerous books. From form to smallest detail, the house is quiet and subtle.

The next step in this multi-room Overland Park project was tackling the design dilemmas in the Family Room. Open to the kitchen, this family room had a great location but its long and narrow shape proved difficult to furnish. Design Connection, Inc. provided space planning and designed custom furniture for a perfect fit in this awkward space. To see all of the Before & After photos of this, and all of our projects, check out our portfolio! http://www.designconnectioninc.com/portfolio/

This ASID award-winner began as a traditional Mediterranean design. Atmospheric redesign of the ceilings and millwork proved foundational in the transition to a cleaner architectural manifestation. This home goes from formal elegance to casual cool, effortlessly.

"I want people to say 'Wow!' when they walk in to my house" This was our directive for this bachelor's newly purchased home. We accomplished the mission by drafting plans for a significant remodel which included removing walls and columns, opening up the spaces between rooms to create better flow, then adding custom furnishings and original art for a customized unique Wow factor! His Christmas party proved we had succeeded as each person 'wowed!' the spaces! Even more meaningful to us, as Designers, was watching everyone converse in the sitting area, dining room, living room, and around the grand island (12'-6" grand to be exact!) and genuinely enjoy all the fabulous, yet comfortable spaces.

About five years ago, these homeowners saw the potential in a brick-and-oak-heavy, wallpaper-bedecked, 1990s-in-all-the-wrong-ways home tucked in a wooded patch among fields somewhere between Indianapolis and Bloomington. Their first project with SYH was a kitchen remodel, a total overhaul completed by JL Benton Contracting, that added color and function for this family of three (not counting the cats). A couple years later, they were knocking on our door again to strip the ensuite bedroom of its ruffled valences and red carpet—a bold choice that ran right into the bathroom (!)—and make it a serene retreat. Color and function proved the goals yet again, and JL Benton was back to make the design reality. The clients thoughtfully chose to maximize their budget in order to get a whole lot of bells and whistles—details that undeniably change their daily experience of the space. The fantastic zero-entry shower is composed of handmade tile from Heath Ceramics of California. A window where the was none, a handsome teak bench, thoughtful niches, and Kohler fixtures in vibrant brushed nickel finish complete the shower. Custom mirrors and cabinetry by Stoll’s Woodworking, in both the bathroom and closet, elevate the whole design. What you don't see: heated floors, which everybody needs in Indiana. Contractor: JL Benton Contracting Cabinetry: Stoll's Woodworking Photographer: Michiko Owaki