Ashley Farrell Landscape Design
Inspiration for a mediterranean front yard stone landscaping in Santa Barbara.

Design ideas for a mediterranean landscaping in Santa Barbara.

This beautiful 1950's craftsman needed a redo, inside and out. After gutting it down to it's studs, the main floor and basement were redesigned for much more useable space. Three tiny bedrooms upstairs became a large master with a double sink on suite and a guest bedroom with a beautiful new bathroom. The stairway that was in the kitchen was relocated so the kitchen became larger and much more usable. The basement went from a red and orange monstrosity to a soothing family room, bedroom and new bathroom as well as an updated laundry room and storage closet. New windows and doors, as well as an egress window was added to make it code compliant. A new roof and fireplace finished off the remodel of this cozy, colorful craftsman cottage. Photos were taken by Moore House Photos by Jett (Jett Moore Photographer).

Our clients wanted to make better use of their first floor space but converting their large unused living room into more useable space. This is the sunroom which opens up to a dining room area which not only has seating for 8, but has a large custom library wall with room for their stunning piano. Their very talented daughter can now play for an audience either seated on a sofa, or at their dining table.

A Wittus stove makes the pond house useable in three seasons Photo by Peter Margonelli
Inspiration for a mid-sized contemporary backyard dock remodel in DC Metro with an awning

Our challenge was to take a new build and create a setting that says it isn't. Dramatic tasteful lines, great textures and material choices made this home a pleasure to work with. Granite from the house was taken as a lead and pulled down as part of the stone mix into everything from the driveway borders to columns to walling and finally to the barbeque. Gentle but confident lines mixed with deep plantings and a lovely sunken backyard sitting area creates a solid, well-grounded useable space.

Located on a heritage-lined street in Melbourne’s Williamstown, a young family were seeking a contemporary home with ample room to grow. Benni Trajcevski of Achieve Design Group answered their call, creating the epitome of modern living concealed behind a modest façade. To achieve the long wish list including large indoor and outdoor gathering spaces to entertain family and friends, separate adult and children living and sleeping zones, and a pool suitable for year-round use, Benni has maximised every inch of the block. Seamless transitional spaces link inside with out. This flow between the indoors and outdoors is a key feature of the home, achieved through generous open floor planning and glazing. For example, large hidden sliding doors allow the pool to be closed-off for use in winter; acrylic glass panels link the pool with the sunken lounge, which includes a fire pit for year-round comfort. The inclusion of a courtyard and voids throughout create separate useable zones while maintaining the feeling of spaciousness. Orientated to the north and surrounded with floor to ceiling windows to optimise natural light, the courtyard divides the formal lounge area with the informal living area, while the first floor is divided into four separate wings for privacy and functionality. The interiors are detailed with quality materials and finishes to achieve a sleek and sophisticated aesthetic. Contrasting materials in muted tones, including tiles, steel and lightweight timbers are featured throughout. Corian and a moss green wall are unexpected features.

We opened the wall to the kitchen making this space more useable for entertaining. the patterned tile on the fireplace is the focal point of the space and compliments the cabinets and green solano tile backsplash in the kitchen.

Timber frame homes offer unique challenges during a remodel. What often makes them beautiful and attractive to most homeowners, also makes them challenging for space requirements. Context: The lovely couple that owned this home were struggling with some interesting floor plan challenges that just didn't work for their family. The loved the beautiful timbers and woodwork of their home, but the dramatically sloping ceilings on the second floor, particularly in the bathroom, just didn't work for this 1 1/2 bath home. Needing to use the skylight to approach the toilet was a less then ideal scenario. Although the bathroom footprint was more then adequate, the sloped ceiling only made half of the space useable. Check out the Before/After post on our blog to see the photos of the house pre-renovation. As much as they loved all the wood features in their home, another challenge they had was light. The wood ceiling made everything inside the house darker, even with a fantastic array of south facing windows, there were spaces in the home that felt dark and small. When they contacted us they wanted to know how could they make their brighter and more inviting, were there solutions to the 2nd floor sloped ceiling issues, and if they were going to do all of this work, how could they make their home more comfortable and efficient. A nagging water leak in the upstairs bathroom spurred them into action and here is how we solved their dilemma. Conclusion: First, we added a little dormer to the rear of the house so we could get full headroom in nearly all of the upstairs bathroom! Then we decided to extend that dormer one more timber bay over to create a walk in closet with natural light and plenty of space. Since we were contemplating energy efficiency, we resolved a nagging issue that is present in a lot of timber frame construction, air tightness. Commonly found in timber frame construction, fiberglass insulation is installed in the rafter bays and board ceilings are installed over top. Unfortunately, board ceilings are anything but air tight, and fiberglass insulation needs to be in an airtight cavity for maximum effectiveness. So we were able to solve two issues at the same time for this homeowner. We removed the board ceiling and fiberglass insulation, we dense packed the rafter bays with cellulose insulation, and installed sheetrock in place of the boards. The boards were salvaged for re-use by the homeowner, and the space and light quality was dramatically improved. Some may think that losing the board ceiling took something away from the space, but what you'll see in the pictures is that it highly accentuates the heavy timbers and really makes them stand out in a beautiful way. Now with this added airtightness, better insulation, and brighter space, the homeowner hardly runs their wood stove, and it's so quiet in the space, an added bonus from changing the insulation. It became necessary to also add a sheetrock ceiling to the living room to hide the plumbing from the new bathroom layout above. Changing this ceiling gave the homeowner some real quality lighting that was lacking in the living room before. The brighter ceiling and new lighting layout completely transforms the living room into a space you want to hang out, even though the layout didn't change at all. When the homeowner saw the finished spaces she said "I can't believe this is my house, I want to live in this house" Energy Efficiency: I touched a little on the efficiency above, but like all projects done with Mottram Architecture, we always want to leave you with a little extra. Timber frame construction with board ceilings and fiberglass insulation are notoriously leaky! If you want to know what we think about fiberglass insulation, check our our blog post on Why Fiberglass Insulation Sucks. By installing cellulose insulation and covering it with sheetrock we were able to greatly reduce the heat flowing out of this home. It not only improves cashflow it improves the comfort level in the space. Who wants to sit in their living room and feel a draft? Let us remind you, we are not saying cellulose insulation is an air barrier, we use the sheetrock to help with that, but it does significantly reduce the air flow over fiberglass insulation. And when we reduce the airflow, we reduce the heat flow. And when we reduce the heat flow, we reduce the need to re-heat that drafty air from outside. When it comes to energy efficiency the first and best place to start is air infiltration. We greatly reduced the air infiltration with the new insulation, but we also added a hat and warm boots. What I mean by that is, we improved the insulation in the roof, and we installed insulation in the basement. Maybe it's a silly analogy, but when you think about keeping warm, we always start with the hat and boots! With sustainability in mind, the next project will be to add a deck to the front of this house with rain catchment barrels from the metal roof. They are planning to plant a garden in the spring and the rain catchment system will help to irrigate the new garden. Builder: East Shore Builders Photographer: Michael Eric Berube

This couple had lived in their home over 20-years, with their handicapped adult daughter. 5 years-ago they added onto the back of their home to accommodate appropriate housing needs for her, such as a wheel-chair lift. However, their home needed wheelchair-accessibility, beginning with transition from daughter’s room on lower level, to main kitchen level, via existing lift. The project was budget-driven so it was critical to utilize practical cost-effective materials, while transforming home’s overall dated-look. My House Design/Build Team Ltd. successfully opened-up the space, increased use-ability for whole family, and provided the ‘wow-factor’. The renewed kitchen is much more efficient providing a practical solution for family.

Nicely landscaped back yard with xeric plants and crusher fines. Replaced with turf for a more useable area.
Inspiration for a mid-sized southwestern home design remodel in Austin

This beautiful 1950's craftsman needed a redo, inside and out. After gutting it down to it's studs, the main floor and basement were redesigned for much more useable space. Three tiny bedrooms upstairs became a large master with a double sink on suite and a guest bedroom with a beautiful new bathroom. The stairway that was in the kitchen was relocated so the kitchen became larger and much more usable. The basement went from a red and orange monstrosity to a soothing family room, bedroom and new bathroom as well as an updated laundry room and storage closet. New windows and doors, as well as an egress window was added to make it code compliant. A new roof and fireplace finished off the remodel of this cozy, colorful craftsman cottage. Photos were taken by Moore House Photos by Jett (Jett Moore Photographer).

In 2022 Level Custom Build completed the renovation of this Douglas Drive Garage. The client had very limited space in their garage for their vehicle and tools. We expanded the rough opening of the garage entrance and installed a new garage door and finished the interior of the garage. The result was more useable space and easier access.

This beautiful 1950's craftsman needed a redo, inside and out. After gutting it down to it's studs, the main floor and basement were redesigned for much more useable space. Three tiny bedrooms upstairs became a large master with a double sink on suite and a guest bedroom with a beautiful new bathroom. The stairway that was in the kitchen was relocated so the kitchen became larger and much more usable. The basement went from a red and orange monstrosity to a soothing family room, bedroom and new bathroom as well as an updated laundry room and storage closet. New windows and doors, as well as an egress window was added to make it code compliant. A new roof and fireplace finished off the remodel of this cozy, colorful craftsman cottage. Photos were taken by Moore House Photos by Jett (Jett Moore Photographer).

This home takes advantage of heavily wooded and steep terrain with mended level changes that maximize useable outdoor spaces. The original home was stripped of its garish Mediterranean finishes revealing a flow of spaces that were reconstructed and refinished in a refined contemporary style. Outdoor spaces provide intrigue as they weave paths, stairways, landings, terraces, and gardens into a cohesive response to the home’s complex layout. At the front of the home a procession through the landscape begins with an enlarged driveway and auto court surrounded by lush plantings. From the auto court a stepped walkway descends two levels to a gated courtyard leading to the front door. Along this lushly planted route are layered gardens and terraces providing opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. After passing through the home, expansive decks and landings open to the rear yards. Here an infinity pool with spa, lounging areas, outdoor cooking, dining space and gardens have been woven between trees, existing walls, sloped hillsides, and a multitude of access points to create a world apart for family and friends.

This large expansive deck has two distinct areas that created both a perfect spot for dining and lounging. Trex Coastal bluff was used for the decking, while Afco rails were used to give this project the low maintenance worry free options our homeowners were looking for. We added Trex Rain Escape to add useable space under the deck for rainy days. Palram PVC was used on the fascia and post wraps for the finishing touches and the ribbon on the package.

Our goal was to create a concept for the client using an assigned space that would resemble a mountain stream. From concept to completion, the entire project was designed and installed by us. Our expectations were high for finishing on time and for the overall aesthetic value of the area. The client also demands quality and for construction that is completed on-time. The end result was a walk-up pond complete with waterfall and natural landscaping using local rock, boulders and native plants, useable kayaks, and water filled with colorful koi. From any angle, both large and small bits of a natural water feature and surrounding rock and plants were viewable. Standing on the bank of the pond, it was easy to forget one was in a Man made landscape. Photo by Larry Carnes

HandyMensch Our client’s contemporary home lacked sufficient storage space for their family. We worked with the client and our partners, to capitalize on the space available in the one car garage, to give them lots of storage and a great work area for projects. Adding a floor to the previously open attic space above the garage and a pull down set of steps means the client now has a useable space for off season storage. Installing insulation and drywall throughout the garage had a positive impact on the noise level and the temperature, and adding lighting and a window brightened the space and made it practical as a work space. Tailored Living designed and installed the slat wall, epoxy flooring, and storage units putting the finishing touch on a great garage makeover. The client not only has tons of storage space, a dedicated workspace for projects, but a beautiful and easy to maintain garage.

A view of the small orchard and Texas Privet in the corner of the lot. The Privet will soon soften the corner fencing and create green walls.
Patio - mid-sized traditional backyard patio idea in San Diego