Everyday dishes are displayed on three understated shelves, also crafted from Reclaimed Chestnut. Photo Credit: Crown Point Cabinetry
Kitchen - rustic kitchen idea in Burlington with recessed-panel cabinets, medium tone wood cabinets, granite countertops, white backsplash, subway tile backsplash and stainless steel appliances

Russian sage and lady's mantle alternating along a white fence with pink roses
Design ideas for a mid-sized traditional front yard wood fence driveway in New York for summer.

Example of a cottage l-shaped kitchen design in Sacramento with an integrated sink, flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets, wood countertops, white backsplash, subway tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances and an island

Photo by Allan Zepeda
Small trendy built-in desk medium tone wood floor and brown floor study room photo in New York with white walls and no fireplace

This vacation residence located in a beautiful ocean community on the New England coast features high performance and creative use of space in a small package. ZED designed the simple, gable-roofed structure and proposed the Passive House standard. The resulting home consumes only one-tenth of the energy for heating compared to a similar new home built only to code requirements. Architecture | ZeroEnergy Design Construction | Aedi Construction Photos | Greg Premru Photography

Kimberley Bryan
Photo of a farmhouse landscaping in Seattle.

Laurey Glenn
Inspiration for a large cottage slate floor laundry room remodel in Nashville with white cabinets, onyx countertops, a side-by-side washer/dryer, open cabinets, black countertops, a drop-in sink and gray walls

Alcove shower - mid-sized contemporary 3/4 glass tile and blue tile ceramic tile and white floor alcove shower idea in Austin with blue walls

Georgetown CB530 Polar WHite CX105 Titan Grey
Kitchen - contemporary kitchen idea in Other with an undermount sink, flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets and marble backsplash

This modern green home offers both a vacation destination on Cape Cod near local family members and an opportunity for rental income. FAMILY ROOTS. A West Coast couple living in the San Francisco Bay Area sought a permanent East Coast vacation home near family members living on Cape Cod. As academic professionals focused on sustainability, they sought a green, energy efficient home that was well-aligned with their values. With no green homes available for sale on Cape Cod, they decided to purchase land near their family and build their own. SLOPED SITE. Comprised of a 3/4 acre lot nestled in the pines, the steeply sloping terrain called for a plan that embraced and took advantage of the slope. Of equal priority was optimizing solar exposure, preserving privacy from abutters, and creating outdoor living space. The design accomplished these goals with a simple, rectilinear form, offering living space on the both entry and lower/basement levels. The stepped foundation allows for a walk-out basement level with light-filled living space on the down-hill side of the home. The traditional basement on the eastern, up-hill side houses mechanical equipment and a home gym. The house welcomes natural light throughout, captures views of the forest, and delivers entertainment space that connects indoor living space to outdoor deck and dining patio. MODERN VISION. The clean building form and uncomplicated finishes pay homage to the modern architectural legacy on the outer Cape. Durable and economical fiber cement panels, fixed with aluminum channels, clad the primary form. Cedar clapboards provide a visual accent at the south-facing living room, which extends a single roof plane to cover the entry porch. SMART USE OF SPACE. On the entry level, the “L”-shaped living, dining, and kitchen space connects to the exterior living, dining, and grilling spaces to effectively double the home’s summertime entertainment area. Placed at the western end of the entry level (where it can retain privacy but still claim expansive downhill views) is the master suite with a built-in study. The lower level has two guest bedrooms, a second full bathroom, and laundry. The flexibility of the space—crucial in a house with a modest footprint—emerges in one of the guest bedrooms, which doubles as home office by opening the barn-style double doors to connect it to the bright, airy open stair leading up to the entry level. Thoughtful design, generous ceiling heights and large windows transform the modest 1,100 sf* footprint into a well-lit, spacious home. *(total finished space is 1800 sf) RENTAL INCOME. The property works for its owners by netting rental income when the owners are home in San Francisco. The house especially caters to vacationers bound for nearby Mayo Beach and includes an outdoor shower adjacent to the lower level entry door. In contrast to the bare bones cottages that are typically available on the Cape, this home offers prospective tenants a modern aesthetic, paired with luxurious and green features. Durable finishes inside and out will ensure longevity with the heavier use that comes with a rental property. COMFORT YEAR-ROUND. The home is super-insulated and air-tight, with mechanical ventilation to provide continuous fresh air from the outside. High performance triple-paned windows complement the building enclosure and maximize passive solar gain while ensuring a warm, draft-free winter, even when sitting close to the glass. A properly sized air source heat pump offers efficient heating & cooling, and includes a carefully designed the duct distribution system to provide even comfort throughout the house. The super-insulated envelope allows us to significantly reduce the equipment capacity, duct size, and airflow quantities, while maintaining unparalleled thermal comfort. ENERGY EFFICIENT. The building’s shell and mechanical systems play instrumental roles in the home’s exceptional performance. The building enclosure reduces the most significant energy glutton: heating. Continuous super-insulation, thorough air sealing, triple-pane windows, and passive solar gain work together to yield a miniscule heating load. All active energy consumers are extremely efficient: an air source heat pump for heating and cooling, a heat pump hot water heater, LED lighting, energy recovery ventilation (ERV), and high efficiency appliances. The result is a home that uses 70% less energy than a similar new home built to code requirements. OVERALL. The home embodies the owners’ goals and values while comprehensively enabling thermal comfort, energy efficiency, a vacation respite, and supplementary income. PROJECT TEAM ZeroEnergy Design - Architect & Mechanical Designer A.F. Hultin & Co. - Contractor Pamet Valley Landscape Design - Landscape & Masonry Lisa Finch - Original Artwork European Architectural Supply - Windows Eric Roth Photography - Photography

Casey Dunn
Bathroom - contemporary white tile and subway tile bathroom idea in Austin with an undermount sink, flat-panel cabinets and gray cabinets

Nat Rea Photography: http://www.natrea.com/
Inspiration for a timeless kitchen remodel in Providence with beaded inset cabinets, stainless steel appliances, a single-bowl sink, white cabinets, marble countertops, white backsplash and subway tile backsplash

Clopay Door Company
Example of a classic stucco exterior home design in Austin

Inspiration for a timeless kitchen remodel in Phoenix with a drop-in sink, glass-front cabinets, gray cabinets, gray backsplash, mosaic tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances and granite countertops

Inspiration for a contemporary girl carpeted and green floor kids' room remodel in San Diego with multicolored walls

Design ideas for a landscaping in Raleigh.

Photo: Mariko Reed Photography
Home studio - contemporary gray floor home studio idea in San Francisco with white walls

Cottage bathroom photo in Chicago with a pedestal sink

A modest remodel and addition for a couple, a writer and his wife, a professor, this project was phased in two parts to allow for the birth of the couple’s first child. Phase 1 is a standing seam-clad addition to the existing house that juts out into the rear yard, taking cues from certain trees and landscape features. The remainder of the addition is wrapped in stained cedar siding that flows seamlessly onto the attached deck and surrounds the precast concrete dipping pool. Paint colors create a lively palette that, even from the street, provides clues of what the backyard holds. Phase two takes continues this bold color palette into the existing house. The kitchen was completely made over, with concrete countertops and floor to ceiling windows looking out to the addition. The existing bedrooms and bathroom were reconfigured to make the spaces more useful.