It started with vision. Then arrived fresh sight, seeing what was absent, seeing what was possible. Followed quickly by desire and creativity and know-how and communication and collaboration. When the Ramsowers first called Exterior Worlds, all they had in mind was an outdoor fountain. About working with the Ramsowers, Jeff Halper, owner of Exterior Worlds says, “The Ramsowers had great vision. While they didn’t know exactly what they wanted, they did push us to create something special for them. I get inspired by my clients who are engaged and focused on design like they were. When you get that kind of inspiration and dialogue, you end up with a project like this one.” For Exterior Worlds, our design process addressed two main features of the original space—the blank surface of the yard surrounded by looming architecture and plain fencing. With the yard, we dug out the center of it to create a one-foot drop in elevation in which to build a sunken pool. At one end, we installed a spa, lining it with a contrasting darker blue glass tile. Pedestals topped with urns anchor the pool and provide a place for spot color. Jets of water emerge from these pedestals. This moving water becomes a shield to block out urban noises and makes the scene lively. (And the children think it’s great fun to play in them.) On the side of the pool, another fountain, an illuminated basin built of limestone, brick and stainless steel, feeds the pool through three slots. The pool is counterbalanced by a large plot of grass. What is inventive about this grassy area is its sub-structure. Before putting down the grass, we installed a French drain using grid pavers that pulls water away, an action that keeps the soil from compacting and the grass from suffocating. The entire sunken area is finished off with a border of ground cover that transitions the eye to the limestone walkway and the retaining wall, where we used the same reclaimed bricks found in architectural features of the house. In the outer border along the fence line, we planted small trees that give the space scale and also hide some unsightly utility infrastructure. Boxwood and limestone gravel were embroidered into a parterre design to underscore the formal shape of the pool. Additionally, we planted a rose garden around the illuminated basin and a color garden for seasonal color at the far end of the yard across from the covered terrace. To address the issue of the house’s prominence, we added a pergola to the main wing of the house. The pergola is made of solid aluminum, chosen for its durability, and painted black. The Ramsowers had used reclaimed ornamental iron around their front yard and so we replicated its pattern in the pergola’s design. “In making this design choice and also by using the reclaimed brick in the pool area, we wanted to honor the architecture of the house,” says Halper. We continued the ornamental pattern by building an aluminum arbor and pool security fence along the covered terrace. The arbor’s supports gently curve out and away from the house. It, plus the pergola, extends the structural aspect of the house into the landscape. At the same time, it softens the hard edges of the house and unifies it with the yard. The softening effect is further enhanced by the wisteria vine that will eventually cover both the arbor and the pergola. From a practical standpoint, the pergola and arbor provide shade, especially when the vine becomes mature, a definite plus for the west-facing main house. This newly-created space is an updated vision for a traditional garden that combines classic lines with the modern sensibility of innovative materials. The family is able to sit in the house or on the covered terrace and look out over the landscaping. To enjoy its pleasing form and practical function. To appreciate its cool, soothing palette, the blues of the water flowing into the greens of the garden with a judicious use of color. And accept its invitation to step out, step down, jump in, enjoy.

Entryway - traditional entryway idea in Seattle

This complete remodel of a 1980's red brick ranch house transform the home from boring to amazing. All existing ceilings were raised to create a more spacious interior. Also included in the project was a 3 -car garage addition with guest quarters above. Photos by Robert Clark and Joel Van Dyke

Located upon a 200-acre farm of rolling terrain in western Wisconsin, this new, single-family sustainable residence implements today’s advanced technology within a historic farm setting. The arrangement of volumes, detailing of forms and selection of materials provide a weekend retreat that reflects the agrarian styles of the surrounding area. Open floor plans and expansive views allow a free-flowing living experience connected to the natural environment.

Panels – Wall Paneling - Modern – Contemporary. Interior paneling is a great way to show off your personality while creating a warm and inviting feeling within your home. Your guests will be talking about your home for months to come. At J. Design Group, we offer turn-key projects where we incorporate the most modern materials for all types of paneling - from wood to high gloss, and everything in between. We can even create custom interior paneling to make sure the right mood is captured within your home. Whether you want to add the paneling to enhance your kitchen, bedroom, family room, or dining room, our team of experts will help you choose the right design and color. One of the best ways to bring an entire design together in your home is through the use of panels and with contrasting elements and textures, you can turn your home into the luxurious place you have always wanted it to be. We welcome you to take a look at some of our past paneling jobs. As you can see, paneling is a great way to decorate the interior of your home or office space. We invite you to give our office a call today to schedule your appointment with one of our design experts. We will work one-on-one with you to ensure that we create the right look in every room throughout your home. Give J. Design Group a call today to discuss all different options and to receive a free consultation. Your friendly Interior design firm in Miami at your service. Contemporary - Modern Interior designs. Top Interior Design Firm in Miami – Coral Gables. Panel, Panels, Paneling, Wall Panels, Wall Paneling, Wood Panels, Glass Panels, Bedroom, Bedrooms, Bed, Queen bed, King Bed, Single bed, House Interior Designer, House Interior Designers, Home Interior Designer, Home Interior Designers, Residential Interior Designer, Residential Interior Designers, Modern Interior Designers, Miami Beach Designers, Best Miami Interior Designers, Miami Beach Interiors, Luxurious Design in Miami, Top designers, Deco Miami, Luxury interiors, Miami modern, Interior Designer Miami, Contemporary Interior Designers, Coco Plum Interior Designers, Miami Interior Designer, Sunny Isles Interior Designers, Pinecrest Interior Designers, Interior Designers Miami, J Design Group interiors, South Florida designers, Best Miami Designers, Miami interiors, Miami décor, Miami Beach Luxury Interiors, Miami Interior Design, Miami Interior Design Firms, Beach front, Top Interior Designers, top décor, Top Miami Decorators, Miami luxury condos, Top Miami Interior Decorators, Top Miami Interior Designers, Modern Designers in Miami, modern interiors, Modern, Pent house design, white interiors, Miami, South Miami, Miami Beach, South Beach, Williams Island, Sunny Isles, Surfside, Fisher Island, Aventura, Brickell, Brickell Key, Key Biscayne, Coral Gables, CocoPlum, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest, Miami Design District, Golden Beach, Downtown Miami, Miami Interior Designers, Miami Interior Designer, Interior Designers Miami, Modern Interior Designers, Modern Interior Designer, Modern interior decorators, Contemporary Interior Designers, Interior decorators, Interior decorator, Interior designer, Interior designers, Luxury, modern, best, unique, real estate, decor J Design Group – Miami Interior Design Firm – Modern – Contemporary Contact us: (305) 444-4611 www.JDesignGroup.com

A young Mexican couple approached us to create a streamline modern and fresh home for their growing family. They expressed a desire for natural textures and finishes such as natural stone and a variety of woods to juxtapose against a clean linear white backdrop. For the kid’s rooms we are staying within the modern and fresh feel of the house while bringing in pops of bright color such as lime green. We are looking to incorporate interactive features such as a chalkboard wall and fun unique kid size furniture. The bathrooms are very linear and play with the concept of planes in the use of materials.They will be a study in contrasting and complementary textures established with tiles from resin inlaid with pebbles to a long porcelain tile that resembles wood grain. This beautiful house is a 5 bedroom home located in Presidential Estates in Aventura, FL.

Photography by Morgan Howarth
Elegant brick exterior home photo in DC Metro

Picture Perfect House
Inspiration for a large farmhouse white two-story wood house exterior remodel in Chicago with a shingle roof

This residence was a complete gut renovation of a 4-story row house in Park Slope, and included a new rear extension and penthouse addition. The owners wished to create a warm, family home using a modern language that would act as a clean canvas to feature rich textiles and items from their world travels. As with most Brooklyn row houses, the existing house suffered from a lack of natural light and connection to exterior spaces, an issue that Principal Brendan Coburn is acutely aware of from his experience re-imagining historic structures in the New York area. The resulting architecture is designed around moments featuring natural light and views to the exterior, of both the private garden and the sky, throughout the house, and a stripped-down language of detailing and finishes allows for the concept of the modern-natural to shine. Upon entering the home, the kitchen and dining space draw you in with views beyond through the large glazed opening at the rear of the house. An extension was built to allow for a large sunken living room that provides a family gathering space connected to the kitchen and dining room, but remains distinctly separate, with a strong visual connection to the rear garden. The open sculptural stair tower was designed to function like that of a traditional row house stair, but with a smaller footprint. By extending it up past the original roof level into the new penthouse, the stair becomes an atmospheric shaft for the spaces surrounding the core. All types of weather – sunshine, rain, lightning, can be sensed throughout the home through this unifying vertical environment. The stair space also strives to foster family communication, making open living spaces visible between floors. At the upper-most level, a free-form bench sits suspended over the stair, just by the new roof deck, which provides at-ease entertaining. Oak was used throughout the home as a unifying material element. As one travels upwards within the house, the oak finishes are bleached to further degrees as a nod to how light enters the home. The owners worked with CWB to add their own personality to the project. The meter of a white oak and blackened steel stair screen was designed by the family to read “I love you” in Morse Code, and tile was selected throughout to reference places that hold special significance to the family. To support the owners’ comfort, the architectural design engages passive house technologies to reduce energy use, while increasing air quality within the home – a strategy which aims to respect the environment while providing a refuge from the harsh elements of urban living. This project was published by Wendy Goodman as her Space of the Week, part of New York Magazine’s Design Hunting on The Cut. Photography by Kevin Kunstadt

An industrial modern design + build project placed among the trees at the top of a hill. More projects at www.IversonSignatureHomes.com 2012 KaDa Photography

Jean Allsopp (courtesy of Coastal Living)
Traditional white three-story exterior home idea in Atlanta

This residence was a complete gut renovation of a 4-story row house in Park Slope, and included a new rear extension and penthouse addition. The owners wished to create a warm, family home using a modern language that would act as a clean canvas to feature rich textiles and items from their world travels. As with most Brooklyn row houses, the existing house suffered from a lack of natural light and connection to exterior spaces, an issue that Principal Brendan Coburn is acutely aware of from his experience re-imagining historic structures in the New York area. The resulting architecture is designed around moments featuring natural light and views to the exterior, of both the private garden and the sky, throughout the house, and a stripped-down language of detailing and finishes allows for the concept of the modern-natural to shine. Upon entering the home, the kitchen and dining space draw you in with views beyond through the large glazed opening at the rear of the house. An extension was built to allow for a large sunken living room that provides a family gathering space connected to the kitchen and dining room, but remains distinctly separate, with a strong visual connection to the rear garden. The open sculptural stair tower was designed to function like that of a traditional row house stair, but with a smaller footprint. By extending it up past the original roof level into the new penthouse, the stair becomes an atmospheric shaft for the spaces surrounding the core. All types of weather – sunshine, rain, lightning, can be sensed throughout the home through this unifying vertical environment. The stair space also strives to foster family communication, making open living spaces visible between floors. At the upper-most level, a free-form bench sits suspended over the stair, just by the new roof deck, which provides at-ease entertaining. Oak was used throughout the home as a unifying material element. As one travels upwards within the house, the oak finishes are bleached to further degrees as a nod to how light enters the home. The owners worked with CWB to add their own personality to the project. The meter of a white oak and blackened steel stair screen was designed by the family to read “I love you” in Morse Code, and tile was selected throughout to reference places that hold special significance to the family. To support the owners’ comfort, the architectural design engages passive house technologies to reduce energy use, while increasing air quality within the home – a strategy which aims to respect the environment while providing a refuge from the harsh elements of urban living. This project was published by Wendy Goodman as her Space of the Week, part of New York Magazine’s Design Hunting on The Cut. Photography by Kevin Kunstadt

The Port Ludlow Residence is a compact, 2400 SF modern house located on a wooded waterfront property at the north end of the Hood Canal, a long, fjord-like arm of western Puget Sound. The house creates a simple glazed living space that opens up to become a front porch to the beautiful Hood Canal. The east-facing house is sited along a high bank, with a wonderful view of the water. The main living volume is completely glazed, with 12-ft. high glass walls facing the view and large, 8-ft.x8-ft. sliding glass doors that open to a slightly raised wood deck, creating a seamless indoor-outdoor space. During the warm summer months, the living area feels like a large, open porch. Anchoring the north end of the living space is a two-story building volume containing several bedrooms and separate his/her office spaces. The interior finishes are simple and elegant, with IPE wood flooring, zebrawood cabinet doors with mahogany end panels, quartz and limestone countertops, and Douglas Fir trim and doors. Exterior materials are completely maintenance-free: metal siding and aluminum windows and doors. The metal siding has an alternating pattern using two different siding profiles. The house has a number of sustainable or “green” building features, including 2x8 construction (40% greater insulation value); generous glass areas to provide natural lighting and ventilation; large overhangs for sun and rain protection; metal siding (recycled steel) for maximum durability, and a heat pump mechanical system for maximum energy efficiency. Sustainable interior finish materials include wood cabinets, linoleum floors, low-VOC paints, and natural wool carpet.

Photo by: Warren Lieb
Cottage kitchen photo in Charleston with stainless steel countertops, white appliances and recessed-panel cabinets

Angle Eye Photography
Inspiration for a large timeless brick floor entryway remodel in Philadelphia with gray walls and a white front door

The light filled home office overlooks the sunny backyard and pool area. A mid century modern desk steals the spotlight.
Mid-sized 1960s freestanding desk medium tone wood floor, brown floor and exposed beam study room photo in Austin with white walls

A new Tudor bay added to the front of an existing red brick home using new stone to integrate the base with the existing stone base. Fir windows and cedar trim are stained complementary colors. The darker window color draws out the dark "clinker" bricks. The roof is Certainteed Grand Manor asphalt shingles designed to appear as slate. The gutters and downspouts are copper. The paint of the stucco is Benjamin Moore Exterior low luster in color: “Briarwood”. Hoachlander Davis Photography

The Mazama house is located in the Methow Valley of Washington State, a secluded mountain valley on the eastern edge of the North Cascades, about 200 miles northeast of Seattle. The house has been carefully placed in a copse of trees at the easterly end of a large meadow. Two major building volumes indicate the house organization. A grounded 2-story bedroom wing anchors a raised living pavilion that is lifted off the ground by a series of exposed steel columns. Seen from the access road, the large meadow in front of the house continues right under the main living space, making the living pavilion into a kind of bridge structure spanning over the meadow grass, with the house touching the ground lightly on six steel columns. The raised floor level provides enhanced views as well as keeping the main living level well above the 3-4 feet of winter snow accumulation that is typical for the upper Methow Valley. To further emphasize the idea of lightness, the exposed wood structure of the living pavilion roof changes pitch along its length, so the roof warps upward at each end. The interior exposed wood beams appear like an unfolding fan as the roof pitch changes. The main interior bearing columns are steel with a tapered “V”-shape, recalling the lightness of a dancer. The house reflects the continuing FINNE investigation into the idea of crafted modernism, with cast bronze inserts at the front door, variegated laser-cut steel railing panels, a curvilinear cast-glass kitchen counter, waterjet-cut aluminum light fixtures, and many custom furniture pieces. The house interior has been designed to be completely integral with the exterior. The living pavilion contains more than twelve pieces of custom furniture and lighting, creating a totality of the designed environment that recalls the idea of Gesamtkunstverk, as seen in the work of Josef Hoffman and the Viennese Secessionist movement in the early 20th century. The house has been designed from the start as a sustainable structure, with 40% higher insulation values than required by code, radiant concrete slab heating, efficient natural ventilation, large amounts of natural lighting, water-conserving plumbing fixtures, and locally sourced materials. Windows have high-performance LowE insulated glazing and are equipped with concealed shades. A radiant hydronic heat system with exposed concrete floors allows lower operating temperatures and higher occupant comfort levels. The concrete slabs conserve heat and provide great warmth and comfort for the feet. Deep roof overhangs, built-in shades and high operating clerestory windows are used to reduce heat gain in summer months. During the winter, the lower sun angle is able to penetrate into living spaces and passively warm the exposed concrete floor. Low VOC paints and stains have been used throughout the house. The high level of craft evident in the house reflects another key principle of sustainable design: build it well and make it last for many years! Photo by Benjamin Benschneider

The front of the house features an open porch, a common feature in the neighborhood. Stairs leading up to it are tucked behind one of a pair of brick walls. The brick was installed with raked (recessed) horizontal joints which soften the overall scale of the walls. The clerestory windows topping the taller of the brick walls bring light into the foyer and a large closet without sacrificing privacy. The living room windows feature a slight tint which provides a greater sense of privacy during the day without having to draw the drapes. An overhang lined on its underside in stained cedar leads to the entry door which again is hidden by one of the brick walls.