5 Homes and Animals in the Snow

Sun Room in the Snow Something magical happens to a home with the first snowfall of the season.  Around my house, the kids and the animals are even more excited than I am as we run and throw snowballs.  Rosie, our mini Aussie, tracks in the snow, which melts on the floor, while I start a fire and my wife makes hot cocoa. The timing doesn’t always work, but when we can coordinate a photo shoot of one [...]

7 Formal Dining Rooms (Expanded)

Formal Dining Room In an age where family time has been shortened by screen time, and we eat most our meals on the go, a formal dining room can bring us together.  A dedicated dining room can change the atmosphere of a meal and provide a special grace to dinner time. I have a large dining room in my own old farm house, and we do enjoy more formal meals there.  In our house, the dining room is [...]

By |2023-02-11T19:24:02-05:00November 15th, 2017|Categories: Additions, Construction, Design, Dining room, Miscellaneous, New Homes, Renovations|Tags: , |3 Comments

A Moving Experience

  Gable End Although, to the average person, the idea of moving a house seems daunting, to the people who do it for a living, it's a piece of cake.  House movers can move houses with chimneys as-well-as all stone or brick facades.  It is all about taking it slow and knowing what you are doing.  The house must be supported by steel beams and timbers anywhere there was weight being borne on the foundation or by posts [...]

By |2023-02-11T19:29:48-05:00October 23rd, 2017|Categories: Miscellaneous, New Homes, Renovations|Tags: , , |0 Comments

5 Virtual Reality Projects

Project Photo After 3-D Sketch Before The world of computer graphics has changed completely since I started my architectural practice.  We now regularly use computer imaging to make quick sketches of proposed design ideas and use renderings of projects to let our clients know exactly what their home or addition will look like. It is amazing to me how realistic these renderings can be.  Although we are known for our modern versions of traditional homes, sometimes our [...]

By |2023-02-26T12:18:24-05:00October 31st, 2015|Categories: Design, Miscellaneous, New Homes, Renovations, Stairs, Technology|2 Comments

10 Ways to Bring Art into Your Home

Living Room Sculpture Almost every home we renovate or design from the ground up, includes a generous amount of art.  Sometimes the homeowner has an extensive collection which we place in advance on our drawings.  Existing art objects can be placed  throughout the house providing 'art walls' or niches for specific pieces. More often the homeowner enjoys collecting art over time and placing it where it fits.  Either way, natural and artificial light plays an important role in how [...]

By |2023-02-26T12:22:52-05:00August 19th, 2015|Categories: Design, Family Room, Laundry rooms, Living Room, Miscellaneous, New Homes, Renovations|2 Comments

Pool House in the Country (Featured Project)

Pool and Pool House This pool house/guest house is set in a beautiful rural area of New York.  It is part of a family compound including a main house, barn, and garage.  This building will serve as a place for the owners to live while we work with them to design and build their main home. Kitchen Kitchen with Hidden Laundry Bathroom Covered Patio and Barbecue Front Door [...]

By |2023-02-26T12:30:06-05:00April 14th, 2015|Categories: Construction, Design, Miscellaneous, New Homes, Pool Houses, Pools|0 Comments

Dinner and Entertaining on 13 Porches

Table Set for Twenty I've been dreaming of spring lately, and nothing heralds the arrival of spring like dinner on the porch.   At our home, as soon as it is warm enough, the porch becomes the center of outdoor entertaining.  We often install radiant heaters for our clients, which allow an early start and an extended season.  Our clients use their porches for relaxing, dining, and entertaining.  The good news is that there are so many ways to design a porch [...]

By |2023-02-26T12:37:11-05:00February 26th, 2015|Categories: Additions, Construction, Miscellaneous, Porches|0 Comments

Pool Pavilion (Featured Project)

Pool Pavilion To break up my focus on shoveling snow and chipping ice out of the animal's water buckets, I thought I would remind everyone that spring and summer will come again and a nice cool drink will be appreciated. Set in the rolling hills of the Berkshires, this open air pavilion with fireplace and kitchen completes the poolside entertaining package. The nights can be a little cool in the Berkshires even in the summer. The fireplace takes [...]

By |2023-02-26T12:40:22-05:00February 8th, 2015|Categories: Fireplaces, Pool Houses, Pools, Porches|Tags: , |4 Comments

6 Carriage House-Lofts

Garage-Guest House Garage-Guest House One of the most cost effective places to gain a bonus space is above a garage.  By picking up the roof a few feet when building a garage, you can gain usable space such as guest quarters, great storage, a painting studio, home theater, or an all purpose loft.  When we are designing a garage we always suggest adding those extra few feet of head room even if there are no immediate plans to finish [...]

By |2022-11-18T12:57:37-05:00January 9th, 2015|Categories: Accessory Buildings, Design, Garages, Home Office, Miscellaneous, Renovations|7 Comments

Pools, Pools, Pools, (7 of Them)

Endless Pool As the summer winds down, most of us will bid farewell to our pools(better yet to our neighbors' pools).  Ironically, now is when pools and pool houses are often on the drawing board in preparation for next summer's fun. To be fair, our landscaper friends do the lion's share of planning the pool environment.  We are most often interested in the location of the pool as it relates to the main house, pool house and the surrounding [...]

By |2023-02-26T13:17:08-05:00August 16th, 2014|Categories: Gardens, Pool Houses, Pools|0 Comments
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