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 Michael Eric Berube, Maine Virtual Home Tours

WINNER - ASID Design Ovation Award 2019 - First Place Residential Powder Room Click here for a before and after image: https://www.houzz.com/hznb/photos/before-and-after-pinehurst-powder-bath-dallas-phvw-vp~143281756 Concept: To create a Pool Powder Room with privacy from the kitchen and living room with additional storage. The client desired a Wow! feeling that was fully explosive with pattern and color. Birds and butterflies were requested as a nod to the client’s favorite hobby, gardening. The main challenge for this design was to keep the existing foot print, yet make a more private and useable bath with better storage. Closing off the two existing doorways and creating one pocket door off the main hallway solved the privacy issues from the kitchen and second living room, in addition to giving more usable square footage for storage. A larger vanity with storage drawers along with floor to ceiling wall cabinets provide for the additional storage needed for pool towels and gardening items. Layering strong color and stimulating patterns created a visually stunning space that was personalized to the client’s specific request, Wow! The strong use of color and pattern play well with each other. The antique vanity mirror has been recycled from the previous bath and given a fresh coat of bold, cobalt blue paint, which is the client’s all-time favorite color. The requested bird motif is reflected in the wall covering as well as the details of the hardware. The combination of bird and feather shaped hardware gives the Powder Room a fun flair and unique style.

Stamped Concrete Patio , Pea Gravel and Flagtstone Pavers
Design ideas for a mediterranean landscaping in Santa Barbara.

This modern home, near Cedar Lake, built in 1900, was originally a corner store. A massive conversion transformed the home into a spacious, multi-level residence in the 1990’s. However, the home’s lot was unusually steep and overgrown with vegetation. In addition, there were concerns about soil erosion and water intrusion to the house. The homeowners wanted to resolve these issues and create a much more useable outdoor area for family and pets. Castle, in conjunction with Field Outdoor Spaces, designed and built a large deck area in the back yard of the home, which includes a detached screen porch and a bar & grill area under a cedar pergola. The previous, small deck was demolished and the sliding door replaced with a window. A new glass sliding door was inserted along a perpendicular wall to connect the home’s interior kitchen to the backyard oasis. The screen house doors are made from six custom screen panels, attached to a top mount, soft-close track. Inside the screen porch, a patio heater allows the family to enjoy this space much of the year. Concrete was the material chosen for the outdoor countertops, to ensure it lasts several years in Minnesota’s always-changing climate. Trex decking was used throughout, along with red cedar porch, pergola and privacy lattice detailing. The front entry of the home was also updated to include a large, open porch with access to the newly landscaped yard. Cable railings from Loftus Iron add to the contemporary style of the home, including a gate feature at the top of the front steps to contain the family pets when they’re let out into the yard. Tour this project in person, September 28 – 29, during the 2019 Castle Home Tour!

Photo of a mediterranean landscaping in Santa Barbara.

Immaculate family home in a Great Oak Bay location on a beautiful street with a large level lot and nice mountain views. This well cared for 3 level home is spacious for the growing family at 3300 sq/ft, with 7 bedrooms, 3 baths, built approx. 1950 with coved ceilings, hardwood and fir floors, spacious rooms, bright kitchen, cozy gas F/P in livingroom, laundry on main, 3 bedrooms on the main, 2 bdrms up, master with 3 piece ensuite, and lowest level has 1 or 2 bedroom in-law, office area, family area and plenty of storage. Two large decks with nice Olympic mountain views. Level use-able lot, part fenced, carport plus a separate detached carport with a storage area attached. HVAC system, 3 year old roof, 2 yr old H/W tank, thermal windows.

Spotlight Home Tours
Deck photo in Salt Lake City

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.

A Beautiful Outdoor Room with a Stone Fire Pit. Ashley Farrell Landscape Design
Design ideas for a mediterranean landscaping in Santa Barbara.

Trendy entryway photo in San Francisco

This new build eco home in Bristol used a range of techniques and reclaimed materials in a pragmatic process aimed at maximising its ecological credentials whilst minimising its initial capital investment. Aesthetically it took influence from the mismatched beauty of Bristol with a wealth of styles and era’s contradictorily played against each other to produce a juxtaposition of historic and contemporary. Its large front windows celebrate a view out over most of the city and tie it to the street scene which it fronts. It is not a house for those seeking privacy, its owners wanted to be part of the community. That said certain aspects were concealed to allow privacy where needed, the bedrooms are buried into the hillside both privatising and excluding road noise. The bathrooms and utility etc were tucked around a rising circulation core and a rear corridor given visual independence by being painted entirely yellow. Externally a full landscaping design was prepared and implemented including over 6 flights of stairs and a number of terraces and planting banks to create the wealth of spaces maximising useable areas around the house.

This bright and light kitchen project required us extending the kitchen into the dinette area and removing a window to get a better flow. Luckily there were 3 large windows, so we decided removing one wouldn't significantly decrease the amount of natural light. It was a good trade for form and function. We were able to increase the work surfaces to create a much more useable kitchen that fit all the necessities and even had room for extra. We added pull outs and functional accessories to make it an easy to use space. We supplemented the natural light with a solar tube and plenty of installed light with 2 sizes of adjustable output and temperature LED ceiling cans for layers of light.

Meaning ‘wisdom’ in Japanese Tomoko is a highly useable collection of small-scale upholstery weaves, drawing its inspiration from the simple shapes and clean lines embodied in Japanese design.

A pool house and outdoor entertaining area. A small kitchen sits in the right hand alcove and storage and a bathroom are access via the left hand alcove. Ambiance is provided by the basalt clad fireplace and gas lamp above. The space is fully wired for sound and video as well. A large gas space heater make the space useable for most of the year.

Sometimes simple is better. These plainly functional shelves make an awkward space completely useable Atlanta Closet & Storage Solutions/David Buchsbaum

A view of the patio area from the lawn.
Inspiration for a mid-sized timeless backyard patio remodel in San Diego

To create a useable, maintainable, outdoor room often requires work you never see. Drainage resolution and land-sculpting lay the foundation for a comfortable backyard living space. "Cowboy coffee" mortared seat wall with bolder end-caps create natural blues, grays, rust and tans that accentuate the lush green backdrop. The large, portable fire pit offers the flexibility of use as weather permits.

Starting with a multi-level, splintering old deck that didn’t transition well to the pool area - our goal was to great a more enjoyable and useable space where the homeowners can spend time relaxing & hosting poolside parties. We worked closely with the township to maximize the allowable impervious coverage for the property, which included reconfiguring all the landscaping to allow for more hardscaping. To say this backyard got a facelift is an understatement. Everything got some attention; from staining & sealing the concrete around the pool, tucking away the pool equipment, building an all new porch complete with gorgeous stonework & fireplace. Meeting the needs of the homeowners & surpassing their dreams is one of our favorite things, and with this design – that was exactly the case.

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!