This project blends warm wood with industrial style concepts for a result that transcends typical modern minimalism. Created with a visionary architect and builder, the four-level structure features thick solid oak treads with extended noses that float against finished poplar stringers. Open risers preserve light flow from the adjacent wall of windows. A horizontal stainless steel rod balustrade system flows from the lower-level recreation room to the fourth-level rooftop deck, creating visual continuity across the home's entire vertical span. The geometric design echoes custom millwork throughout the residence and connects the chef's kitchen and family room while celebrating natural light at every level. 1976-2026 © Century Stair Company

Remodeling a home to include modern styling. Kitchen cabinets to a 10 foot + ceiling using a wood-grain high pressure laminate by Egger -- custom cabinets by Wood-Mode -- in Gladstone Oak. Doulbe island provide plenty of prep space while tall pantries with pocket doors allow small appliances and typical kitchen clutter to be hidden away from view. Two bathrooms and the laundry were included in the remodel -- these in a simple Shaker doorstyle with a dark finish on oak. Dramatic & beautiful! Photos by Dan Brannon

This project blends warm wood with industrial style concepts for a result that transcends typical modern minimalism. Created with a visionary architect and builder, the four-level structure features thick solid oak treads with extended noses that float against finished poplar stringers. Open risers preserve light flow from the adjacent wall of windows. A horizontal stainless steel rod balustrade system flows from the lower-level recreation room to the fourth-level rooftop deck, creating visual continuity across the home's entire vertical span. The geometric design echoes custom millwork throughout the residence and connects the chef's kitchen and family room while celebrating natural light at every level. 1976-2026 © Century Stair Company

Updated Spec Home: Foyer and Great Room In our last post, we introduced you to my mom and sister’s Updated Spec Home; the Foyer and Great Room will be featured in this post. Foyer As you enter their home, to the right is a hall closet and a french door which leads to the Basement. To the left is a long wall which was perfect for an extra long console table in a rustic finish that served as a sofa table in their previous home. I love repositioning furniture, and by using this table in the entry, it makes it feel new. Additionally, we placed a vibrant piece of art previously used in my sister’s Bedroom above the table. This piece not only sets the tone for our color palette, it also makes the kind of statement you want in your Foyer – Wow! We added accessories and an unique lamp to complete the space. Great Room In the Great Room which is open to the Foyer, we installed our inspiration artwork in the place of honor over the mantel. Since the piece was vertical, it did not take up enough space. I do not like a “fussy” mantel with lots of accessories so we found these two vases in a silver leaf finish. They were perfect because they were large enough, but not too deep. Accessorizing mantels can be tricky because the majority of them are not deep. We went to Jan’s Floral Design to add vibrant color and interesting textures to the vases. The original mantel was too small and uninspired. Therefore, we had our contractor Brad Anderson built a new one based on a photo of a mantel we liked. The new mantel has lots of great detail and is the appropriate proportion for the fireplace. We replaced beige 12×12 ceramic tiles with gorgeous large pieces of smoked carrara marble for a striking fireplace surround. Check out this other mantel that we updated. For furniture, we purchased a shorter sofa in a gray tweed fabric. Typically, two throw pillows come with a sofa.We added a fun fringe to the pillows that came with the sofa. I recommend ordering pillows that match your sofa fabric and layering with custom pillows that support your color palette. We added a patterned custom pillow and a striped throw. Next, we got a small scale recliner in a yummy gray leather for my mom and a chair and ottoman in a small scale mint and gray geometric pattern for my sister. We added an accent chair in a fun small scale stripe to fill a corner and add additional seating – which is always a good thing. Remember that this was a Spec Home so there were no built-ins. As a result, we needed a media cabinet for the television and some bookcases to display my mom’s decorative box collection and my sister’s collection of blown colored glass. This set from Ballard Designs fit the bill perfectly. The back is open and airy with nice detail. The wood finish also adds a richness to the space. My mom needed a space for her computer, and this small writing desk fit the space perfectly. Finally, for finishing touches, we added a patterned rug, cornice boards in a mint leaf fabric, and great lamps for ambient lighting. These two rooms are stunning, vibrant and livable. Can’t wait to show you more in our next post! Enjoy!

A chef's range is the focal point for this multiple cook & prep area & is flanked by pull-out storage on either side. This kitchen is designed for an active family who loves to bake, cook and entertain. It is beautifully functional, provides room for multiple cooks, storage for all the kitchen gadgets, lots of space for preparation, an eat-in area and a workable flow to the rest of the house. Relocating appliances eliminates the bottleneck. In addition, opening up the wall to the dining room allows for conversation and pass through but still provides needed storage with beautiful glass front cabinets. Photo:J. Brent Reeves

Remodeling a home to include modern styling. Kitchen cabinets to a 10 foot + ceiling using a wood-grain high pressure laminate by Egger -- custom cabinets by Wood-Mode -- in Gladstone Oak. Doulbe island provide plenty of prep space while tall pantries with pocket doors allow small appliances and typical kitchen clutter to be hidden away from view. Two bathrooms and the laundry were included in the remodel -- these in a simple Shaker doorstyle with a dark finish on oak. Dramatic & beautiful! Photos by Dan Brannon

We love to be creative and this project in Park City, Utah encompasses that quality! While this stair layout is typical, the guardrail and newel posts are anything but. The guardrail infill is made up of individual baluster grids, milled from Clear Alder. The handrail is steel and the custom newel posts are a combination of both Alder and steel. Each newel post is actually five posts in one. Starting with the 5 smaller vertical Alder posts we then mortised steel square bar horizontals between them. The base and caps are steel, in between which the smaller posts were sandwiched. After the steel base was bolted down to the floor the parts were assembled like a puzzle with a length of all-thread passing up through the base, center post, and cap to cinch the whole assembly together. It makes for one strong post! The skirts, risers, and aprons are Knotty Alder with solid White Oak treads, bull-nosed shoe plate and cove. All the steel components received a powder-coat finish.

This new 7,500 sf shingle style home in a leafy suburban MetroWest Boston town combines the forms and details of Craftsman style with the Shingle style. The garage and second floor childrens' bedrooms above was designed to recall Vermont barns, with the stone "foundation" and the red painted vertical board and batten second floor. The cupola, a typical feature in Vermont barns, bring light into the second floor hallway.

Game Park Tapestry Flemish 16th. Century This Game Park Tapestry Flemish 16th. Century is an amazing piece of woven European art. Rendered in a “Game Park” style, in which multiple concurrent episodes of the hunt are depicted all together, separated only by the dense foliage of the forest setting. The hunters appear at various places in the tapestry. Tapestry is a form of textile art meant for wall hanging and tapestries are traditionally woven on a vertical looms. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work. Unlike cloth weaving where both the warp and the weft threads may be visible. In tapestry weaving, weft yarns are typically discontinuous; the artisan interlaces each coloured weft back and forth in its own small pattern area. It is a plain weft-faced weave having weft threads of different colours worked over portions of the warp to form the design. Most weavers use a natural warp thread, such as linen or cotton. The weft threads are usually wool or cotton, but may include silk, gold, silver, or other alternatives. At Rugs and More we carry the largest selection of certified tapestries on the west coast of Unites States and our tapestries have attracted discerning clients from around the world to decorate their walls with these classical woven arts and enjoy their beauty.

Vaulted House is a Central Austin house with a compact footprint and simple form. The house is banked along the side of its small lot, opting out of a typical front yard/backyard relationship in favor of an expansive side yard. Site walls provide a sense of enclosure and definition to outdoor living areas and invite indoor functions and living spaces to spill outdoors. These strategies provide a feeling of openness and connection to outdoor living areas from the kitchen, screened porch, and living room. Furthermore, the placement of the garage, bathrooms, utility room, and stair along the lot line enhances the relationship between the living spaces and the side yard, promoting a cohesive flow between both realms. Strategically placed windows and doors provide ample daylight, views, and cross-ventilation on the first floor. The upper level is a vaulted volume that is deconstructed through the use of thinly sliced vertical windows and concise, focused dormers that expand outwards towards a controlled view. A skylight also carves through the upper volume to create a hidden light well at the inner spine of the house. These vaulted ceilings, tall dormers, and skylights create unique spaces infused with natural light.

This project blends warm wood with industrial style concepts for a result that transcends typical modern minimalism. Created with a visionary architect and builder, the four-level structure features thick solid oak treads with extended noses that float against finished poplar stringers. Open risers preserve light flow from the adjacent wall of windows. A horizontal stainless steel rod balustrade system flows from the lower-level recreation room to the fourth-level rooftop deck, creating visual continuity across the home's entire vertical span. The geometric design echoes custom millwork throughout the residence and connects the chef's kitchen and family room while celebrating natural light at every level. 1976-2026 © Century Stair Company

This project blends warm wood with industrial style concepts for a result that transcends typical modern minimalism. Created with a visionary architect and builder, the four-level structure features thick solid oak treads with extended noses that float against finished poplar stringers. Open risers preserve light flow from the adjacent wall of windows. A horizontal stainless steel rod balustrade system flows from the lower-level recreation room to the fourth-level rooftop deck, creating visual continuity across the home's entire vertical span. The geometric design echoes custom millwork throughout the residence and connects the chef's kitchen and family room while celebrating natural light at every level. 1976-2026 © Century Stair Company

This is an example of a southwestern landscaping in Phoenix.

We love to be creative and this project in Park City, Utah encompasses that quality! While this stair layout is typical, the guardrail and newel posts are anything but. The guardrail infill is made up of individual baluster grids, milled from Clear Alder. The handrail is steel and the custom newel posts are a combination of both Alder and steel. Each newel post is actually five posts in one. Starting with the 5 smaller vertical Alder posts we then mortised steel square bar horizontals between them. The base and caps are steel, in between which the smaller posts were sandwiched. After the steel base was bolted down to the floor the parts were assembled like a puzzle with a length of all-thread passing up through the base, center post, and cap to cinch the whole assembly together. It makes for one strong post! The skirts, risers, and aprons are Knotty Alder with solid White Oak treads, bull-nosed shoe plate and cove. All the steel components received a powder-coat finish.

This project blends warm wood with industrial style concepts for a result that transcends typical modern minimalism. Created with a visionary architect and builder, the four-level structure features thick solid oak treads with extended noses that float against finished poplar stringers. Open risers preserve light flow from the adjacent wall of windows. A horizontal stainless steel rod balustrade system flows from the lower-level recreation room to the fourth-level rooftop deck, creating visual continuity across the home's entire vertical span. The geometric design echoes custom millwork throughout the residence and connects the chef's kitchen and family room while celebrating natural light at every level. 1976-2026 © Century Stair Company

This project blends warm wood with industrial style concepts for a result that transcends typical modern minimalism. Created with a visionary architect and builder, the four-level structure features thick solid oak treads with extended noses that float against finished poplar stringers. Open risers preserve light flow from the adjacent wall of windows. A horizontal stainless steel rod balustrade system flows from the lower-level recreation room to the fourth-level rooftop deck, creating visual continuity across the home's entire vertical span. The geometric design echoes custom millwork throughout the residence and connects the chef's kitchen and family room while celebrating natural light at every level. 1976-2026 © Century Stair Company

The guest bathroom plays an important role on how your guests will perceive the architecture and style of your home. In this house we totally transformed the outdated bathroom. In collaboration with Roberto Lugo a daring designer from New York, the design process was focused on creating a contemporary space that could be elegant and comfortable. The initial renovation on this project started with the demolition of entire bathroom including doors, vanity, floor, plumbing and light fixture, toilet, tub, tile switches and outlet. For the vanity, a furniture-like cabinet style with soft close hardware. The brown stain was paired perfectly with a brown engineered quartz countertop that had specs of copper. We installed new undermount sinks and new chrome faucet. Instead of the typical matching stone 4” backsplash we opted to use the said mosaic used in the shower to tie the 2 areas together. The shower turned out beautifully. We coordinated the quarts from the vanity and used the same material on the shower seat and the top of the armrest. We used a total of 4 tile materials, a glass mosaic in the niche, floor, ceiling and outside of the shower. A linear mosaic from floor to ceiling and a large format tile installed vertically on the walls. The shower fixtures used in this shower were a ceiling-mounted rainfall shower and a handheld shower sprayer.

This project was a retrofit and expansion of an existing house in San Francisco's Noe Valley Neighborhood. The original house, built in 1910, had been insensitively remodeled in the 1950’s to mimic the Spanish Mediterranean style. Located on a typical narrow San Francisco lot, the interior of the existing house consisted of a series of disconnected rooms, lacking daylight and lacked daylight and open “flow”. The homeowners had lived in the house for nearly 20 years, becoming familiar with its shortcomings, and wanted to overhaul the majority of the building. The new design includes an enlarged 2 car garage and garden master bedroom suite on the ground level, and a 400 square foot addition with two bedrooms and a full bath at the third floor. While enlarging the home the new design strategically incorporates several small courtyard spaces which are carved into the footprint to bring daylight and views to all areas of the house. These spaces create much needed relief to the interior of the long narrow footprint so that every space has a connection, actual or visual, to the outside. The narrow driveway at the front of the house was widened and repurposed to incorporate a covered front walkway to the elevated porch. The original entrance was trapped along the side of the house opening to a long narrow hallway. The new entrance has been relocated allowing one to enter at the center of the house rather than the corner. The new entrance opens to an implied vestibule that is contiguous with the dining and living areas. The glazing at the entry brings daylight to the interior and allows occupants visual access to the porch, sidewalk and street beyond, adding a degree of security. The mid garden court defines the boundary between the formal living areas to toward the front and the kitchen at the heart of the house. Hallways are eliminated in the new open plan replaced by a central circulation zone that terminates at the through the windows in the raised Media room at the rear. The high wall of the stair tower forms the south facing edge of the garden court, and faced in light colored stucco, reflects light into the formal living areas. The stairway walls are perforated by large translucent vertical widows bringing diffuse illumination as a backdrop to the adjacent kitchen. The stairway wraps lightly through the space around a pedestal altar-like drybar. This creates a bridge from the kitchen into the core of the circulation space which bridges spatially to the new living levels above and below. The slightly raised floor of the Media Room with its built-in window seat, and access to a private deck provide a greater sense of intimacy and create a comfortable transition zone facing the rear yard. Windows at the rear wall are strategically placed to provide “snapshot” views and to screen out the less desirable views of the neighboring buildings to the sides and rear. photography by: Cesar Rubio

We love to be creative and this project in Park City, Utah encompasses that quality! While this stair layout is typical, the guardrail and newel posts are anything but. The guardrail infill is made up of individual baluster grids, milled from Clear Alder. The handrail is steel and the custom newel posts are a combination of both Alder and steel. Each newel post is actually five posts in one. Starting with the 5 smaller vertical Alder posts we then mortised steel square bar horizontals between them. The base and caps are steel, in between which the smaller posts were sandwiched. After the steel base was bolted down to the floor the parts were assembled like a puzzle with a length of all-thread passing up through the base, center post, and cap to cinch the whole assembly together. It makes for one strong post! The skirts, risers, and aprons are Knotty Alder with solid White Oak treads, bull-nosed shoe plate and cove. All the steel components received a powder-coat finish.