Tom Zikas Photography
Large mountain style master ceramic tile and brown tile slate floor alcove shower photo in Sacramento with a vessel sink, shaker cabinets, medium tone wood cabinets, limestone countertops and white walls

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

Example of a large transitional gender-neutral marble floor and white floor walk-in closet design in Miami with open cabinets and light wood cabinets

The aesthetics of the kitchen were critical because it is centrally located in the great room of which it is a part. The challenge was to integrate the kitchen into the larger space while making sure it didn't dominate it. We accomplished this by using a restrained color palette of cream, gold, gray-green and gray-blue with touches of deeper chocolate brown. The same colors repeat in the quartzite counters, arabesque stone mosaic back splash and stacked slate accent wall (also used in the fireplace in the living area). The uppermost cabinets feature glass doors and lighting to showcase a collection of crystal inherited from the client's grandmother. This feature is beautiful but also makes good use of cabinets too tall to reach conveniently. The glass doors add sparkle and the cabinet height enhances vertical lines of the space and draws the eye toward the vaulted ceiling. Photo by Lane Barden

Dark blue dining room with white moulding. Carl Bellavia photography.
Eclectic dining room photo in New York

Hear what our clients, Lisa & Rick, have to say about their project by clicking on the Facebook link and then the Videos tab. Hannah Goering Photography

GC: Ekren Construction Photography: Tiffany Ringwald
Small transitional single-wall medium tone wood floor and brown floor dry bar photo in Charlotte with no sink, shaker cabinets, black cabinets, quartzite countertops, black backsplash, wood backsplash and black countertops

Walk-in closet - contemporary medium tone wood floor walk-in closet idea in San Francisco with flat-panel cabinets and dark wood cabinets

Designer Sarah Robertson of Studio Dearborn helped a neighbor and friend to update a “builder grade” kitchen into a personal, family space that feels luxurious and inviting. The homeowner wanted to solve a number of storage and flow problems in the kitchen, including a wasted area dedicated to a desk, too-little pantry storage, and her wish for a kitchen bar. The all white builder kitchen lacked character, and the client wanted to inject color, texture and personality into the kitchen while keeping it classic.

You can spend months scrolling the internet for ideas or pinning board after board on Pinterest when remodeling your home. Why waste another second searching when you could be *experiencing* your new appliances hands on with Gerhard's? Join us at our Glenside location and see top brands like Thermador, Wolf and Subzero in action!

You can spend months scrolling the internet for ideas or pinning board after board on Pinterest when remodeling your home. Why waste another second searching when you could be *experiencing* your new appliances hands on with Gerhard's? Join us at our Glenside location and see top brands like Thermador, Wolf and Subzero in action!

Trent Bell - trentbell.com
Study room - coastal built-in desk medium tone wood floor study room idea in Portland Maine with beige walls

State-of-the-art chef's kitchen photo by Joshua Vick
Kitchen - transitional u-shaped kitchen idea in Atlanta with an undermount sink, shaker cabinets, beige cabinets, multicolored backsplash, stainless steel appliances and an island

AMIDST OUR MODERN ERA WHERE “FAKE NEWS” AND “ALTERNATIVE FACTS” wastefully contributes to the wealth of information and inspiration for our culture, authenticity in all aspects of lifestyle reigns a supreme value as believed by interior designer Aaron B. Duke. “My approach to interior design is visual storytelling and creating authentic interiors that reflect the lifestyle of the client,” explains Aaron. “I spend a great deal of time upfront getting to know my clients. It is important to understand how they live, how they entertain, what they are passionate about, where they like to travel, what is their style, what are their preferences, how do they spend their free time, do they have children, do they have pets, is this their forever home?”

To achieve the open, modern take on Midcentury that our clients desired, we took down upper cabinets over the peninsula, which opened the spaces up to each other. In doing so we creating a storage area for wine and a long countertop for entertaining or setting up a buffet during parties. What had been wasted space to the right of the walkway is now the pantry, with deep storage cabinets. Distinctive Kitchens was brought in to help choose finishes--tile backsplash and floors, sink, faucet, lighting, countertops and cabinet hardware. The adjacent dining room was also part of the design, because the rooms have such a strong relationship to each other. We consulted on furniture and lighting in that room, making sure the two light fixtures (one over the sink, the other over the dining table) didn't compete for attention. We feel the end result is fresh, clean, and texturally beautiful. Kitchen and dining room staging by Allison Scheff of Distinctive Kitchens. Photos by Wynne H Earle

Inspiration for a coastal light wood floor family room remodel in Birmingham

Inspiration for a timeless l-shaped dark wood floor and brown floor kitchen pantry remodel in Chicago with recessed-panel cabinets, quartzite countertops, blue backsplash, wood backsplash, white countertops and gray cabinets

Rett Peek
Example of an eclectic home design design in Little Rock