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 [...]
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 [...]
Clapboard Siding When we begin to design a home, we generally have an idea of what the exterior material will be. Often we will try alternate materials either to change the aesthetics, to adjust the budget, or simply at the request of our clients. Many of our projects combine two or more materials. If you are designing a modern home, the exterior material palate is almost limitless as long as it keeps the weather out and doesn’t fall [...]
Something that architects and contractors take for granted but that homeowners rarely experience, is the construction site. When it is your house being built or added onto, I recommend that you spend as much time as possible with the “insides” of the place that will become your home. Having said that please be sure to watch your step. It is a bit like viewing the inside a person during an operation. Yes, it may be messy and confusing [...]
I have always loved sitting in a bright alcove eating breakfast and reading the paper. 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. Of course bays which have windows on three sides are going to be the brightest. 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: [...]
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 [...]
