Sophie Piesse Architect, PA

Sophie is just wonderful! She designed a renovation/addition to my home and was always available when questions arose along the way. She thinks of every detail and is equally attentive to both the functional and aesthetic elements of design. I have recommended her to neighbors and friends, and everyone I know who has worked with her gives her rave reviews.

I worked with Sophie on some major renovations for my 40+ year old house including flipping kitchen and dining room footprints, remodeling a small upstairs bathroom, lots of new flooring, replacing almost all the windows, upgrading the front door, adding a new laundry room door as well as built-in cabinets in the laundry, and redoing a roofed walkway from the laundry to a studio. I had a fairly steep learning curve on much of this, and Sophie was there every step of the way to walk me through the design details and ensure it all came together beautifully and in a way that suited my life. She worked well with the contractor and was on-site for all key decisions and to ensure the work was done to plan. I've been living with the renovation for about six months now, and still have moments where I'm amazed at how functional and enjoyable the house is.

First off, there needs to be six stars to rate her. We met her at an open house on a modern house tour in Carrboro. We have a contemporary style house and looking for a designer and or architect was difficult. Other companies we talked to about our house, which was badly designed by the previous owners, only gave what amounted to elaborate tile jobs. We saw from that tour, how she totally thought outside the box to make the house functional and modern and not a beige or white washed easy design. We like the artist Mondrian and there were hints of that there and we said she is totally what we are looking for for our kitchen bath remodel. Sophie saw we had some serious design flaws and found solutions to make our house have a better flow and function. This entailed moving weight bearing walls in the kitchen and bathroom. The bathroom was the walk through to the office. The kitchen was impossible to entertain in and do a lot of cooking, like we enjoy doing. Sophie moved the wall in the bathroom and made the hall to the office an actual hallway. The kitchen counter was extended and a wall removed so we could have a gathering area for entertaining or use as a bar for eating lunch etc. We had the laundry room reconfigured to be more ergonomic for simply doing laundry and expanding pantry space. The shower and bath are in a wet room area with a linear drain that we wanted and top to floor tiling. We used Actual Size Builders for our project and they are true pros who worked well with Sophie. They saw her vision for our project and ran with it, on budget and on schedule. The color scheme we wanted was excellent. We did not want the boring white, beige and browns. We wanted a design in the direction of a Mondrian style house with more warmth. Tough combination, but Sophie pulled it off! We incorporated this in our open cabinet plan and laundry room and bathroom tile selection. Along with a denim color Paper Stone kitchen countertop and red quartz sink. No other designer we spoke to would come near that kind of creativity. Sophie put together a functional, modern home that we can't get enough of. We ask ourselves if there was a regret or something we would have done differently, the answer is no. Sophie worked hard to ensure that.

Excellent Architect, she has the ability take all of your thoughts and conversations and turn them into an amazing home. Sophie is easy to work with and is hands on. She has an acute attention to detail, how tile is laid out, where every light switch goes, even the smallest detail. Advises on selections but understands this is your home and respects all ideas and points of view. Our home is amazing thanks to Sophie and Kevin @ Newphire Building.

Sophie is amazing, and we could not have chosen a better architect for our project. She patiently helped us consider many different designs for our renovation and guided us through the entire design and construction process. During the renovation, she was always there for us anytime we needed help. The contractors all respected her and she was part all problem solving during the construction phase. We feel fortunate that she worked with us!

Construction people working with her respect her; clients adore her. She can think and plan like an engineer, as well as an architect, at a design and construction level at the same time she can get "down in the weeds" with clients about tiny details with respect to placement of light switches, colors for the flooring, and finding chairs that match the granite counter tops. I have recommended Sophie Piesse to friends "thinking about maybe a little renovation of their basement" to those "ready to gut the whole house and redo it completely". It's no wonder that Sophie won the Architect of the year award for the Triangle this past spring. There's no one I'd rather have at my side initiating the process and guiding it through from beginning to end, if I were to buy a new "old" house and remake it as my own, than Sophie Piesse.

Working with Sophie Piesse was a joy. She was recommended to me by a close friend who had just finished having her house designed and built by her, so I already knew I was going to be in good hands. I had no idea how good those hands would be! Not only did she help me locate a piece of property, but she also handled all of the necessary work that ensued. I had a lot of wishes that Sophie managed to work into the house. She managed to realize my dream home even with the limitations of the property. I don’t think one square foot was wasted. Sophie’s a true professional, knowledgeable on all aspects of the design and build project. She assisted in picking all the materials I used in the building. She was on time for every appointment wherever it was. She was at every meeting with the builders who were impressed by her knowledge of all aspects of the process. There were no budget surprises. She reviewed every detail of invoices I received from the builders. I never paid anything before Sophie went over everything and agreed it was all kosher. She had my back along the way. I couldn’t have done this without her total assistance with every aspect of the job. Growing up with a father in the contracting business, I have been around construction professionals my whole life. No one compares with Sophie Piesse. Sophie is a great problem solver and trouble shooter. She was responsible and organized, taking notes, making suggestions and pushing back when and where it was needed. She is fastidious. I have never met a person that’s is both so creative and so practical. She thinks like an engineer as well as a designer—what a gift! Her connection to the community is amazing which was so helpful in the building process. People walk by my house all the time and stop to admire it. Some even knock on the door to ask who designed my house. Others drive by and take pictures. That’s how fabulous it is! When I build my summer beach home one day, I will have Sophie design and build it. She is awesome.

I can’t say enough about Sophie. Not only is she a highly skilled architect who has creative problem skills and insane attention to detail, she is also wonderful to work with. She turned our thoughts into a home that reflects who we are and what we wanted, all while staying on schedule and within the original budget. A close family friend referred Sophie to us and I’m so grateful. Our home is beautiful, comfortable, fun and energy efficient and it also feels like us. Sophie is amazing!

I enjoyed so much my experience with Sophie. Not only is she a talented architect, she is a joy to work with. She listened to my original idea, interpreted it into a plan, and met with me often to hone the plan and find a good contractor to do the work. It was a small addition to my home, but it was as important to Sophie as it was to me. The addition turned out beautifully and I give credit to her plans. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend her to anyone thinking of building new or adding to their existing building or home.

Our project: complete kitchen renovation with the removal of a load-bearing wall Sophie was incredibly helpful through creating the right floor plan to help picking a contractor. She worked seamlessly with our contractor, heading off problems ahead of time and thereby helping to keep the project on time and budget. She was quick to respond during "emergencies" and helped us think through what we needed & wanted -- when often we did not know. We had to wait a while for her schedule to clear to take on our project but it was absolutely worth it. We have friends who have been to our house several times and still compliment us on the kitchen -- our response is to give them Sophie's card!

My husband and I began working with Sophie long before we even purchased our house. We felt, and Sophie agreed, that it would be best to consult with an architect prior to our home purchase so that we didn’t end up in a situation where we bought a house that could not be reasonably modified to suit our needs. We clicked in our conversations with Sophie early on. It was obvious that she listens to her clients’ needs and wishes and works within that criteria. We also liked that she has a vast knowledge of eco-friendly construction and materials and a knack for style and design. We got on Sophie’s list for client projects and when our name came to the top we still did not have a house. She assured us that she’d be ready for us whenever we had a house. We were in frequent contact with Sophie during this time to provide her with status updates. Due to our struggles buying a home in a seller’s market we also consulted Sophie regarding the pros and cons of doing a new build on vacant land. Ultimately we found a home in a perfect location for us and brought Sophie in to look at it during the negotiation process. She also returned to the home while the previous owners were still living there and did measurements to get the design phase of the renovation moving forward. We were excited that Sophie provided us with 3 blueprint options for our whole house renovation and we were able to pick and choose our favorite features from each to integrate into the final plan. Sophie was great at “thinking outside the box” when it came to addressing our 2 separate front doors (pre-renovation) and designing a new front entry that would also give the right flow and “wow factor” of our wall of windows in the living room. Sophie guided us well through the process since renovations/construction in North Carolina are done differently than where we are originally from (i.e. more work up front for pricing from contractors which results in more accurate estimates of cost). Additionally, Sophie was able to recommend contractors and subcontractors that produced good quality work at reasonable prices. She was also able to work with us regarding our use of IKEA cabinets in our laundry room by giving us clear dimensions that we could bring to the store to buy the appropriate size cabinets. Our renovation has been completed for about 8 months now and my husband and I find joy in all of the spaces. While eating weekend breakfast on our new screen porch, relaxing in front of the newly designed fireplace, listening to music in the new media room, pulling the car into the new garage, walking up the front path to the new portico and preparing a meal in the renovated kitchen we can’t help but think “This is truly the perfect house for us.” We couldn’t have done it without Sophie!

Sophie designed our new house for us, that we've been happily living in for a few months now. She was just super to work with. At the beginning we spent some time discussing what we wanted in the house. She listened to us and asked insightful questions: how we actually live day to day, what we wanted to change from our old house, what we wanted out of some features we were asking for. She produced an initial design that incorporated all our ideas, and the process of iterating that design with a lot of cordial back-and-forth was fun as well as productive. When it came time for the nitty-gritty Sophie spent time to walk us through the details, suggested options for cost saving and energy efficiency. She referred us to excellent professionals and vendors, and helped us engage a builder who took the idea of quality construction seriously. During construction we were a few hundred miles away, but Sophie supervised the work and kept us informed, and made sure we were involved when any questions or concerns surfaced. The result is a lovely house that we find delightful to live in, and receives favorable reviews from our friends and family.

Sophie was very good to work with. From help in refining our concept for a home to literally laying out the pattern for the “random” tile backsplash she was fully engaged with us, the builder, and the project. She had amazing ideas and the project came together in spectacular fashion.

I love working with Sophie! In all our meetings she understood the scope of the project and how my ideas could work. Both the projects she has worked on for me were renovations, one a kitchen and one a complicated staircase replacement, involved working within existing spaces. Sophie is knowledgable about matching existing woods and finishes of the old and yet creates a new fresh look. She can direct to builders and vendors who are a pleasure to work with. Personally, I love her quick responses to questions or concerns, and her eternal optimism.

We worked with Sophie to design and build our home and from start to finish, it was a smooth process. Sophie is intelligent, creative, thoughtful, collaborative and truly knowledgeable about design and construction. We ended up with a beautiful, functional home! I've had several friends work with Sophie on their home projects and each one has had a positive experience. Sophie is dedicated and professional and truly enjoys the projects she works on. I highly recommend her!!

We engaged Sophie because, during our interview with her, she assured us that “no one would look after you as well as I will.” There was something very reassuring about the confidence with which she delivered that message……and she came through in spades! Our renovation spanned almost 5 months, involved a wholesale retrofit of the entire interior including the removal of walls, relocation of a fireplace, changing the direction of stairs, updating of all bathrooms, the kitchen and all appliances….. and much, much more. Aside from being a wonderful architect with an abundance of creative skills, Sophie is also a very practical problem solver who was always accessible…especially during those crucial construction crisis moments….and we had a few! Fortunately, we had Sophie in our corner and the project stayed on schedule and on budget…and we slept very well because of her. On a scale of 1 to 10…..Sophie is a 20!

Sophie has been working with us for several years. We think the world of her. She is a terrific architect who creates beautiful and thoughtful designs. We have had major renovations done as well as additions to our house. We love them all. Sophie is also wonderful to work with. We recommend her very highly.

Our ranch house had not been updated since the 1970s. The rooms were small and dark with few electrical outlets. The HVAC system was on its last legs. We worked with Sophie to open up the floor plan and add light and space. We only added 100 square feet to the indoor space (using a screened porched) and took down walls. Sophie had wonderful ideas on how to integrate the original fireplace, and existing windows into our new open spaces. When issues arose during construction (as they always do) she had creative solutions that improved the end result. We think the space is stunning and working with Sophie was a delight.

We've only just begun our relationship with Sophie, but so far, she has been responsive, attentive and we've been very impressed with her creative problem solving and her vision for our space. Looking forward to seeing how she can solve our spatial issues within our limited budget.

We really enjoyed working with Sophie Piesse. She had some wonderful ideas on how to modernize our mid century house. She was able to make clever use of space and had some great details. In addition, Sophie is simply wonderful at problem solving and addressing things that come up during the construction. I recommend her highly.

We were very fortunate to work with Sophie on a total exterior remodel of our home. She is a pleasure to work with, really listens to what the client wants and has lots of creative ideas and suggestions. She also knows a lot about designing for increased energy efficiency and sustainability, which we really appreciated (and is very evident from our greatly reduced power bills). We absolutely love the end product and hope we can work with her again soon on the inside of the house!

I have been fortunate to work with Sophie on two projects, which transformed the aesthetics of our house and our use of the space. One, to a pool room and courtyard was technically complicated and relatively emergent, but with Sophie's help ended being enjoyable and interesting and has held up very well. The other, current project, to the bathrooms in our house has gone equally well. Sophie does a great job of listening to what homeowners want, raising and creating options, and bringing the project (and space) into a cohesive whole.

She has great design ideas and is really careful and thorough. I hired her to develop some plans for renovating our house. The plans were absolutely lovely. In the end, we moved to a new home rather than renovating, but her plans were great and she was very pleasant to work with.

Sophie was wonderful to work with when we finished the basement in our house. She helped us through every step of our project, including helping us figure out what we really wanted, designing the floor plan and modeling the space, putting together builder quote/estimate packages, interviewing builders, working through estimates to help find areas where we could reduce costs. And then once we had selected a builder, she managed the entire construction phase through completion working with the builder, vendors, and us to ensure the project was completed on time, at cost, and with high quality. Sophie was a pleasure to work with. We are so happy with our new basement and could not have done it without Sophie. Sophie's vast experience and knowledge, her relationships with builders and vendors, and her attention to detail ensured our project was a huge success. We highly recommend Sophie without reservation.

I have had the pleasure of collaborating with Sophie as a cabinet maker on several remodeling projects which she and her firm were the Architects. I have many years as a building and cabinet making professional and have worked with many different architects and designers over the past twenty years. Working with Sophie has stood out in the scope of that experience. She collaborates easily and effectively with the Builder and their hired tradespeople while always placing the interests of her clients and the integrity of the project first. Her skills as a designer are exceptional, combining a unique aesthetic sensibility, an excellent knowledge of space planning, building mechanics, and even color and surface materials coordination, to name just a few. Her project management skills make the process of working on one of her projects easy and effective. I highly recommend her and the excellent service she provides.

I have had the pleasure of working with Sophie on several projects throughout the years, each tile selection being unique and fun. I always look forward to her creative input and great designs to apply tile to. Sophie definitely listens to her clients' needs and wants and it is evident in the meetings that she truly tries to make their vision a reality.

Every day I love the beauty and function that Sophie brought to our poor transition-style house! Without moving any exterior walls, Sophie redesigned our space to increase efficiency, organization, light, and comfort. She is incredibly knowledgeable about sustainable practices that keep the air clean, minimize waste, preserve resources (good for the utility bills!), and employ local artisans, for a result that is both beautiful and "green." She's also just a fantastic person, a keen listener and a brilliant problem-solver, in her work always prompt and consistent in quality. I especially liked her respect for practical concerns like, Where will the vacuum cleaner go? She likes the teamwork of residential design, and worked very hard to understand what quality I wanted in a kitchen--and helped me find the words to describe it! We loved working with Sophie, and every day, as we move through our house, no longer fighting the bad design it used to have, we are so grateful for the opportunity to work with her.

We hired Sophie for a big remodeling project which dramatically changed our use and enjoyment of our house. Above all, I can say that Sophie is an excellent communicator! After careful and patient listening to us as individuals and as a family, Sophie really understood our needs and priorities for how we wished the spaces to look, feel, and function. Her sense of what we needed and what we liked was evident time and time again as she narrowed the field from the millions of design choices to a more manageable amount that were closely aligned with our tastes. Her designs for increasing the amount of light in the rooms along with increasing the amount of storage, as well as the footprint of the kitchen/pantry continue to surprise and delight us with its brilliance. We actually worked long-distance for this project utilizing email and Skype and only occasional visits in person. Finally, she has wide and deep relationships with other professionals in the area and pulled in a group of great experts for whatever we needed. We wholeheartedly recommend Sophie!!

Wonderful architect who listens to your dreams and desires and transforms them into a realistic and sustainable design. we worked through a step by step process refining the things we wanted and pulled in builders to keep costs in mind so we had a plan that was within our budget at the end. Great to work with and we would use Sophie again.

When we first met with Sophie, we had one baby and an outdated farmhouse that we'd lived in for a few years. We needed more space but were at a loss on how to renovate without losing the things we loved about the house (planked ceilings, tall oak trees and snug rooms). Sophie came in and talked to us about how we lived currently and what direction we thought we'd head in the future. She is a good listener so "got" us on the first try. We loved the builder that Sophie recommended and enjoyed visiting the site, appreciating the care they both took in making sure things were done correctly. They said we'd be back in the house by the time our second child was born and sure enough, she was born two weeks after the move. Ten years later, we still love our home and are planning a new garage with Sophie!

Sophie designed one house for me, and designed a renovation of a nearly 100 year old house as well. They are beautiful and both made magazines, and one an award. I loved working with her. She listens! She look at your needs, and she finds a beautiful way to meet them. Plus she is very sweet.

In the process of building our house, which had its moments of of stress, Sophie was a beacon of light and a calming force. She was ever present as a guide and resource in the seemingly endless string of decisions to be made. Her client-oriented encouragement helped us to build a house that fits our needs and lifestyle perfectly. It was always about what we wanted our house to be, not some grand, architectural ego-driven vision on her part. It's been 7 years since we moved in, and every time we run into Sophie we always say "We love our house!"

Sophie Piesse is the architect that changed a very odd, disjointed contemporary house into our dream arts and crafts retirement home. Through her inspired creativity she provided a unique solution that tied the two unattached first floor angled sections of the structure into a grand entrance. Her design encompassed an almost complete revision of the house, leaving only the kitchen, one bedroom and two bathrooms untouched. In addition, a first floor master suite and a six car garage were added. This beautiful design was amazing in that it had to fit within the restrictive property set back and University Lake Watershed District impervious surface constraints. Throughout the process, Sophie was everything that you want in an architect. She is extremely good at listening to your wants and needs and then providing a solution that far exceeds anything that you dreamed possible. Sophie was instrumental in every facet of the eight month construction, acting as facilitator, color and creative consultant and even provided us with needed comic and stress relief. We were so delighted with Sophie that we have again hired her for the redesign of our kitchen.

Sophie helped us solve old house problems for our 1898 farmhouse in a way that would maintain the character and quality of our special home. We needed more space but were terrified of ruining the feeling and vibe of what was to us an emotional treasure. Sophie delicately walked us through different options for solving different old house issues, such as energy efficiency, storage, and capturing more light in the deeper interior of our house. She was patient, creative, great at communicating her thoughts and listening to ours. She was fun to work with, reliable, confident and hard working. Could not recommend Sophie more highly.

We have used Sophie for 3 different projects during the past 10 years - she is simply the best!!!! Most recently we hired her to totally redo a 30 year old town-house ( the unit is part of a Retirement Community in Chapel Hill ) Without Sophie's incredible architectural ability, there is no way we could be living here now - she could see the potential for the place as soon as she walked in the front door- found spaces that we didn't even know existed !!! Thanks to her hard work and knowledge of what we expected, we LOVE our new home -- friends who visit us are also amazed at the final outcome -

Sophie Piesse helped us renovate our home. She took our small 1200 foot house and added 800 feet that transformed our home into something completely different and wonderful. The kitchen, living spaces, and screened porch now fit exactly how we use the space. They are beautiful and functional.

Sophie is not only a talented and professional architect, but is someone you want to have on your "team" from the beginning of a project until the end. She has a gift for extracting what we found most valuable and pleasing and helped us see that vision through. We will definitely be working with her again, and again.

Sophie designed an addition for our home in Chapel Hill and truly created the space of our dreams. Our 1970's home had been extensively remodeled but still didn't offer the space and storage we needed for our family. We considered moving but hated to leave all of our much-loved updates behind so we hired Sophie to design an attached garage with great room and mudroom above. The challenges of our steep, wooded lot were no match for her creativity. She incorporated the modern look that we love into a not-so-big space that works with our existing home and fits perfectly on our lot. We'll even gain lake views from our new space! We cannot say enough wonderful things about Sophie--she listens to your needs and wants, is incredibly professional, and even speaks "super" (has been a great communicator with out builder throughout). I can't wait to see the photos of our finished space on Houzz.

After a fire devastated our home requiring a total rebuild, we were not looking forward to all that would be required to get our family back home. We were fortunate to have met and chosen Sophie Piesse to guide us through this journey. She is creative, understands your wishes and desires and knows how to translate that into beautiful, functional spaces. She is highly creative without being a dilettante. And, she actually enjoys collaborating. Sophie sees space differently and can adapt to the many styles of construction. Our desire was to have a contemporary home that was not 'cold'. She found large pane commercial storefront windows to bring in the light and designed an open floor plan that gave us the gourmet kitchen we wanted (the envy of our neighbors) and plenty of space to move around in including a banquette dining area, a combined family room and screened in porch, and spa bathroom. Sophie also knows how to work with contractors, is technical and exacting and holds people accountable. It would be enough that she were professional. In truth, she is a delight to work with and with her periodic reminders of what was coming down the pike and the decisions we needed to make, Sophie made our lives and this daunting process much easier. What more could anyone ask for?

A main concern with renovating our midcentury modernist home was to maintain the integrity of the home originally designed by the locally renowned architect, James Webb. We definitely got more than be hoped for working with Sophie Piesse. Pictures of both the before and the after renovation exist on two websites: http://www.SophiePiesse.com and http://www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.