A new kitchen can be one of the most dramatic changes to a home and a homeowner’s lifestyle. When my wife and I renovated our kitchen, we went from wincing every time we cooked a meal to really loving to spend time there. The new kitchen is the heart of our home. It is where our family eats breakfast, does homework, gathers with friends and of course cooks. The layout of a kitchen is critical to [...]
Cool evenings in October draw me out onto my porch. We have an area heater which extends the season both in the Spring and the Fall. Many of our clients who want to enjoy those edge of season days and nights outdoors ask us to design an outdoor fireplace. Once they start using it, they find that the ambiance of an outdoor wood burning fireplace can be a lot of fun year around. We have heard of great [...]
I have always loved sitting in a bright alcove eating breakfast and reading the paper. Â These days the object in front of me is often an ipad or other electronics, but the wonderful feeling of a breakfast nook is always the same. Â Of course bays which have windows on three sides are going to be the brightest. Â Depending on the orientation of the house, the sunlight streaming in can be dramatic. If there are some interesting views, that [...]
I will be the first to admit, everyone doesn't need a bowling alley.  But if you would like to see the latest in home bowling, come on out to Fine Home Source on September 28th and take a look.  This year we have some of the most broad ranging and professional vendors ever.  You can speak to the experts from Orvis Sandanona about learning how to fly fish or shoot sporting clays then talk to the folks at Dutchess Overhead [...]
We are now a little over a month away from our 6th and largest Fine Home Source Home show.  We have enlarged the tent and added vendors and have reached a milestone of 6 years keeping craftmanship and quality design alive.  Join us in the celebration of quality services,craftsmanship, and design on September 28th in Millbrook, New York.  Here are a few of the vendors who will be there: [...]
White Kitchen This isn’t the first time I have written about white kitchens, but since we are asked to design kitchens with white cabinets so often, I thought they merited another review. First, to be perfectly accurate, the title of this article should be 10 Kitchens with White Cabinets, but that title didn’t quite roll off the tongue. Now to be fair, we love the natural finish cabinets that our favorite cabinet makers build as well as the [...]
With Father’s Day approaching, it seemed an appropriate time to take a look at a few spaces we have designed for fathers. Now let me be clear, mothers are always welcome in these spaces, and sometimes they use them as much or more than the fathers, but these were designed with the guys in mind.
The first of my articles on house sizes(Small Home-Big Dreams) featured a home with 2200 square feet of heated living space. We explored the strategies which are critical when designing a smaller place to live. A medium sized home in our office runs between about 3000 square feet and 5000 square feet of heated space. As the size of the home increases, shared spaces are still desirable but are not as critical to the overall perceived [...]
We have designed new homes which are very small(under 1000 square feet) as well as homes which are very large. Regardless of scale, each home reflects the vernacular detail of the region and the careful study of proportion and light as well as the needs and desires of its owners. This will be the first of several articles exploring projects of various sizes. This home was designed as a weekend home for a couple who were professionals working [...]
About half of the work in our office is new construction and half renovations and additions. When designing a home from scratch some of the most important elements to study(besides the clients wishes) are views, site features, sun and wind direction, and the approach to the site. The most important single element in an addition/renovation is the existing building. Sometimes the portion you save and restore is key to the rest of the project. Although it is almost [...]
