The low slung roof at the entry makes the spaces within that much more open and expansive.
Mid-sized mountain style black three-story concrete fiberboard exterior home photo in Chicago with a green roof

Dedicated laundry room - cottage l-shaped dedicated laundry room idea in Charleston with an undermount sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, gray walls and a side-by-side washer/dryer

Karuna Passive House designed by Holst Architecture and built by Hammer & Hand. This high performance home meets the world's most demanding green building certifications. Photo by Jeremy Bittermann.

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

Bob Fortner Photography
Inspiration for a mid-sized farmhouse master white tile and ceramic tile porcelain tile and brown floor bathroom remodel in Raleigh with recessed-panel cabinets, white cabinets, a two-piece toilet, white walls, an undermount sink, marble countertops, a hinged shower door and white countertops

Photo - Jessica Glynn Photography
Open concept kitchen - large transitional galley light wood floor and beige floor open concept kitchen idea in New York with a farmhouse sink, open cabinets, white backsplash, subway tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances, an island, black cabinets and wood countertops

Please visit my website directly by copying and pasting this link directly into your browser: http://www.berensinteriors.com/ to learn more about this project and how we may work together! This bright and cheerful laundry room will make doing laundry enjoyable. The frog wallpaper gives a funky cool vibe! Robert Naik Photography.

Example of a minimalist galley concrete floor and gray floor utility room design in Portland with flat-panel cabinets, light wood cabinets, wood countertops and a concealed washer/dryer

Custom fabric for drapes and bedding, mechanical window treatments, french door, Marilyn Monroe, Pottery Barn and Robert Allen furniture, all add to the comfort and serenity of this ocean view bedroom. John Durant Photography Chereskin Architecture

When you first walk into this dressing room, it’s the lighting that jumps out at you first. Each shelf is illuminated to show the brilliant colors and texture of the clothing. Light even pours through the big windows and draws your eye across the rooftops of Brooklyn to see the NYC skyline. It creates a feeling of brightness and positivity that energizes and enlivens. It’s a dressing room where you can look and feel your best as you begin your day. Featured in a modern Italian Melamine and tastefully accented with complementing Matte Nickel hardware and Clear Acrylic handle pulls, this Chic Brooklyn Dressing Room proves to be not only stylish, but functional too. This custom closet combines both high and low hanging sections, which afford you enough room to organize items based on size. This type of mechanism offers more depth than a standard hanging system. The open shelving offers a substantial amount of depth, so you have plenty of space to personalize your room with mementos, collectibles and home decor. Adjustable shelves also give you the freedom to store items of all sizes from large shoe and boot boxes to smaller collectibles and scarves. A functional key to closet design is being able to visualize and conveniently access items. There’s also something very appealing about having your items neatly displayed - especially when it comes to shoes. Our wide shoe shelves were purposely installed on a slant for easy access, allowing you to identify and grab your favorite footwear quickly and easily. A spacious center island provides a place to relax while spreading out accessories and visualizing more possibilities. This center island was designed with extra drawer storage that includes a velvet lined jewelry drawer. Double jewelry drawers can add a sleek and useful dimension to any dressing room. An organized system will prevent tarnishing and with a designated spot for every piece, your jewelry stays organized and in perfect condition. The space is maximized with smart storage features like an Elite Belt Rack and hook as well as Elite Valet Rods and a pull-out mirror. The unit also includes a Deluxe Pant Rack in a Matte Nickel finish. Thanks to the full-extension ball-bearing slides, everything is in complete view. This means you no longer have to waste time desperately hunting for something you know is hiding somewhere in your closet. Lighting played a huge role in the design of this dressing room. In order to make the contents of the closet fully visible, we integrated a combination of energy efficient lighting options, including LED strip lights and touch dimmers as well as under-mounted shelf lights and sensor activated drawer lights. Efficient lighting options will put your wardrobe in full view early in the mornings and in the evenings when dressing rooms are used most. Dressing rooms act as a personal sanctuary for mixing and matching the perfect ensemble. Your closet should cater to your personal needs, whether it’s top shelving or extra boot and hat storage. A well designed space can make dressing much easier - even on rushed mornings.

This 1930's Barrington Hills farmhouse was in need of some TLC when it was purchased by this southern family of five who planned to make it their new home. The renovation taken on by Advance Design Studio's designer Scott Christensen and master carpenter Justin Davis included a custom porch, custom built in cabinetry in the living room and children's bedrooms, 2 children's on-suite baths, a guest powder room, a fabulous new master bath with custom closet and makeup area, a new upstairs laundry room, a workout basement, a mud room, new flooring and custom wainscot stairs with planked walls and ceilings throughout the home. The home's original mechanicals were in dire need of updating, so HVAC, plumbing and electrical were all replaced with newer materials and equipment. A dramatic change to the exterior took place with the addition of a quaint standing seam metal roofed farmhouse porch perfect for sipping lemonade on a lazy hot summer day. In addition to the changes to the home, a guest house on the property underwent a major transformation as well. Newly outfitted with updated gas and electric, a new stacking washer/dryer space was created along with an updated bath complete with a glass enclosed shower, something the bath did not previously have. A beautiful kitchenette with ample cabinetry space, refrigeration and a sink was transformed as well to provide all the comforts of home for guests visiting at the classic cottage retreat. The biggest design challenge was to keep in line with the charm the old home possessed, all the while giving the family all the convenience and efficiency of modern functioning amenities. One of the most interesting uses of material was the porcelain "wood-looking" tile used in all the baths and most of the home's common areas. All the efficiency of porcelain tile, with the nostalgic look and feel of worn and weathered hardwood floors. The home’s casual entry has an 8" rustic antique barn wood look porcelain tile in a rich brown to create a warm and welcoming first impression. Painted distressed cabinetry in muted shades of gray/green was used in the powder room to bring out the rustic feel of the space which was accentuated with wood planked walls and ceilings. Fresh white painted shaker cabinetry was used throughout the rest of the rooms, accentuated by bright chrome fixtures and muted pastel tones to create a calm and relaxing feeling throughout the home. Custom cabinetry was designed and built by Advance Design specifically for a large 70” TV in the living room, for each of the children’s bedroom’s built in storage, custom closets, and book shelves, and for a mudroom fit with custom niches for each family member by name. The ample master bath was fitted with double vanity areas in white. A generous shower with a bench features classic white subway tiles and light blue/green glass accents, as well as a large free standing soaking tub nestled under a window with double sconces to dim while relaxing in a luxurious bath. A custom classic white bookcase for plush towels greets you as you enter the sanctuary bath. Joe Nowak

Frank de Biasi Interiors
Example of a large mountain style master beige tile and marble tile marble floor bathroom design in Denver with an undermount sink, open cabinets, marble countertops and beige walls

AWARD WINNING | International Green Good Design Award OVERVIEW | This home was designed as a primary residence for a family of five in a coastal a New Jersey town. On a tight infill lot within a traditional neighborhood, the home maximizes opportunities for light and space, consumes very little energy, incorporates multiple resiliency strategies, and offers a clean, green, modern interior. ARCHITECTURE & MECHANICAL DESIGN | ZeroEnergy Design CONSTRUCTION | C. Alexander Building PHOTOS | Eric Roth Photography

This project encompasses the renovation of two aging metal warehouses located on an acre just North of the 610 loop. The larger warehouse, previously an auto body shop, measures 6000 square feet and will contain a residence, art studio, and garage. A light well puncturing the middle of the main residence brightens the core of the deep building. The over-sized roof opening washes light down three masonry walls that define the light well and divide the public and private realms of the residence. The interior of the light well is conceived as a serene place of reflection while providing ample natural light into the Master Bedroom. Large windows infill the previous garage door openings and are shaded by a generous steel canopy as well as a new evergreen tree court to the west. Adjacent, a 1200 sf building is reconfigured for a guest or visiting artist residence and studio with a shared outdoor patio for entertaining. Photo by Peter Molick, Art by Karin Broker

Example of a transitional gender-neutral walk-in closet design in Chicago with open cabinets and gray cabinets

Cabana with Murphy beds down. Photography by Lucas Henning.
Example of a small trendy guest concrete floor and gray floor bedroom design in Seattle with brown walls

When you first walk into this dressing room, it’s the lighting that jumps out at you first. Each shelf is illuminated to show the brilliant colors and texture of the clothing. Light even pours through the big windows and draws your eye across the rooftops of Brooklyn to see the NYC skyline. It creates a feeling of brightness and positivity that energizes and enlivens. It’s a dressing room where you can look and feel your best as you begin your day. Featured in a modern Italian Melamine and tastefully accented with complementing Matte Nickel hardware and Clear Acrylic handle pulls, this Chic Brooklyn Dressing Room proves to be not only stylish, but functional too. This custom closet combines both high and low hanging sections, which afford you enough room to organize items based on size. This type of mechanism offers more depth than a standard hanging system. The open shelving offers a substantial amount of depth, so you have plenty of space to personalize your room with mementos, collectibles and home decor. Adjustable shelves also give you the freedom to store items of all sizes from large shoe and boot boxes to smaller collectibles and scarves. A functional key to closet design is being able to visualize and conveniently access items. There’s also something very appealing about having your items neatly displayed - especially when it comes to shoes. Our wide shoe shelves were purposely installed on a slant for easy access, allowing you to identify and grab your favorite footwear quickly and easily. A spacious center island provides a place to relax while spreading out accessories and visualizing more possibilities. This center island was designed with extra drawer storage that includes a velvet lined jewelry drawer. Double jewelry drawers can add a sleek and useful dimension to any dressing room. An organized system will prevent tarnishing and with a designated spot for every piece, your jewelry stays organized and in perfect condition. The space is maximized with smart storage features like an Elite Belt Rack and hook as well as Elite Valet Rods and a pull-out mirror. The unit also includes a Deluxe Pant Rack in a Matte Nickel finish. Thanks to the full-extension ball-bearing slides, everything is in complete view. This means you no longer have to waste time desperately hunting for something you know is hiding somewhere in your closet. Lighting played a huge role in the design of this dressing room. In order to make the contents of the closet fully visible, we integrated a combination of energy efficient lighting options, including LED strip lights and touch dimmers as well as under-mounted shelf lights and sensor activated drawer lights. Efficient lighting options will put your wardrobe in full view early in the mornings and in the evenings when dressing rooms are used most. Dressing rooms act as a personal sanctuary for mixing and matching the perfect ensemble. Your closet should cater to your personal needs, whether it’s top shelving or extra boot and hat storage. A well designed space can make dressing much easier - even on rushed mornings.

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

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