This project is the definition of where the finesse of craftsmanship and structural brute must meet and far exceed client expectations. ​ The massive undertaking of excavating 700 cubic yards of soil to add a new basement below the existing structure took this 2-story home to 4,000 square feet. This now 3-story Victorian boasts 1,800 additional square feet of useable space including a third living room with soundproof insulation and custom built-in cabinetry, a wet bar, full bathroom with Waterworks fixtures and intricate marble tile, private office, laundry room equipped with a chute from every floor, and a gym & guest room. ​ Restoring, the original upper 2 floors of this stunning Victorian to its former glory was another challenge in and of itself. Rehabbing vaulted coved ceilings & original early 19th century mantels, renovating the bedrooms and bathrooms, updating the kitchen and creating an indoor/outdoor experience by installing doors in the former window locations between the dining room and patio were just a few key elements of this project.

New construction and original landscaping completed in 2010. Original design had boulders between the driveway and home to minimize the stop and create curb appeal. An assortment of unusual trees (lions head maple, moon rise maple, hinokie cypress, twisted baby locus, and paper bark maple and others) were installed to compliment the home on the naturally wooded lot. Many different perennials and flowering shrubs were installed between these unique specimen trees to provide interest throughout the year. Phase 2 was initiated by the homeowner in 2016 were we landscaped the backyard, which was overgrown with wild trees. It was cleared to create a more useable space and play area for children. Our design team created a master landscape plan and was an integral part with the approval process with the municipality. We worked in tandem with an engineering firm to design and install a bio-retention pond. The pond was designed to take all of the runoff from the newly landscaped backyard. Wet loving plants were incorporated into the pond to beautify the area and absorb the water. A custom, multi-level play set was installed over artificial turf to blend with the newly expanded lawn area. An assortment of trees, shrubs and perennial were installed on the hillside separating the upper yard and newly expanded lower area. Low voltage landscape lighting was expanded to highlight the new plantings and provide light for the children to play in the evening. Our landscape design complimented he newly installed covered outdoor living space.

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).

Small useable backyard for a townhouse, with no-maintenance patio and artificial grass.
Example of a backyard patio design in Toronto with no cover

This is an example of a mediterranean landscaping in Santa Barbara.

Nestled in the quiet hills of La Habra Heights is this 3 bedroom, 3 bath home with beautiful views. Features include remodeled chef's kitchen with solid cherry cabinets, granite counter tops and over $20,000 in top of the line appliances. Newer Pella triple pane windows with built in mini blinds. Newly remodeled master bath with huge walk in shower. 2 master suites upstairs and 1 bedroom and full bath downstairs. The downstairs bedroom has been converted to an office but can be easily switched back. Large decks all around the house with a built in hot tub and sitting area right off of the family room. This property has too many fruit trees to list and a concrete walk way that takes you all the way up to the top of the hill making your backyard very useable.

An Outdoor Room with a Flagstone Patio and Beautiful Drought Tolerant Landscaping. Ashley Farrell Landscape Design
Inspiration for a mediterranean landscaping in Santa Barbara.

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.

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 Seattle couple was wanting to transform their small city parcel into a useable, kid safe garden. Terrain worked with the designers to install a low maintenance yard that provides year round color and interest. A small pottery water feature highlights a bluestone dining area that is bordered by two beautifully pruned fruit trees. The entire yard now has a stunning cohesive look and feel that continues to give an excellent return on investment. Design by Shapiro Ryan Design

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

We gained useable ground by putting this outdoor kitchen on stilts like a tree house!
Mid-sized elegant courtyard patio kitchen photo in Charlotte with decking and a gazebo

The compact stacked footprint of the house permits the use of robust, high quality materials and products within the budget. As a counterpoint to much larger homes being built in the neighbourhood, this modern home encourages larger living in smaller, useable and flexible space. A unique “pleated” ceiling element creates dynamic movement throughout the volume; this contrasts the simple nature of the spaces in plan. Simultaneously, the ceiling provides acoustic performance, and ambient and task lighting for the art collection. Photo by Doublespace Photography

Located on a beautiful point on the coast, this year-round residence boasts an almost 360° view of the surrounding coastline. Originally planned as a second floor addition and renovation to an existing cape style house, this new construction home on piers celebrates the natural Maine coast. A focus on traditional, natural finishes drove the material selection for both the interior and exterior of the house, while a sleek modern design approach was taken for the overall form and layout of the program. With a compact allowable footprint, each programmatic element was carefully designed to maximize useable space while framing sweeping views to the ocean.

The steep site presented challenges for access and useable spaces to be developed. We surround the home with multiple exterior spaces to utilize for a closer connection with the natural environment.

The living room once had a small covered desk area where the bar seating and piano are. The deck area was too small for the growing family, they longed for a more useable and functional space they now have.

Our customer was tired of having a tiny food preparation space that occupied only a small part of their kitchen. We worked with them to make the entire kitchen space useable and the result is nothing short of an amazing change! We started with bulkhead removal to allowing cabinets extending to the ceiling. New Porcelain flooring was installed followed by Benjamin Moore custom painted cabinetry in the customers chosen colours. Beautiful quartz ounters were then installed followed by a mosaic backsplash to tie it all together. Stunning! Check out the before pics to see where we started!

This Seattle couple was wanting to transform their small city parcel into a useable, kid safe garden. Terrain worked with the designers to install a low maintenance yard that provides year round color and interest. A small pottery water feature highlights a bluestone dining area that is bordered by two beautifully pruned fruit trees. The entire yard now has a stunning cohesive look and feel that continues to give an excellent return on investment. Design by Shapiro Ryan Design

Photo of a mediterranean landscaping in Santa Barbara.