Low Ceilings, Old home-No Problem

Low Ceilings After Low Ceilings Before We are often asked how to deal with existing low ceilings in a home.  This is one of my favorite blogs on the subject: Homes built before the advent of efficient heating systems and proper insulation often used fireplaces both as a source of heat and a place to cook.  Lower ceilings and smaller rooms were much easier to heat with fireplaces, therefore many period farmhouses were built with a [...]

By |2024-01-26T12:44:52-05:00July 16th, 2018|Categories: Additions, Basement, Miscellaneous, Renovations|Tags: , , |4 Comments

6 Ways to Love Your Basement

Basement Gym The key to loving your basement is creating a space you want to visit.  Everyone is different.  A basement gym might encourage a daily workout, or a home theater might bring the whole family down for movie night.  Wine cellars are perfect for the basement since cool, windowless rooms make for perfect wine storage.  Entertainment spaces or laundry rooms work well also.  A basement is an open canvas waiting for the perfect use and someone with a [...]

By |2023-02-25T10:21:30-05:00July 13th, 2017|Categories: Basement, Family Room, Laundry rooms, Miscellaneous|Tags: |2 Comments

6 Renovations That Can Change the Way You Live in Your Home (Updated)

I have renovated and added to my own home for many reasons, including the fact I hated the existing kitchen.  I added a porch and a bedroom because I love porches and my oldest daughter needed a room of her own.  Many people renovate a home because no one thought to incorporate light or views in the original design.  Sometimes the existing home is outdated, dark, too small, poorly laid out, or all of the above. In any case, some [...]

Fine Home Source 2013, Sept. 28th

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 [...]

A Place For Dads

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.

6 Renovations That Can Change the Way You Live in Your Home

I have renovated and added to my own home for many reasons, including the fact I hated the existing kitchen.  I added a porch  and a bedroom because I love porches and  my oldest daughter needed a room of her own.  Many people renovate a home because no one thought to incorporate light or views in the original design.  Sometimes the existing home is outdated, dark, too small, poorly laid out, or all of the above. In any case, some [...]

The Pub Down Under

What do you do with the underground, windowless space below your house? Make it an authentic English Pub of course! Don’t get me wrong, this is not our fathers’ shag carpeted lounge with a Tiki lamp and a beer sign. This basement is a place that if you closed your eyes, walked in, then opened them, you would  think you had been transported to a venerable London pub. Seldom have we been asked to collaborate with a client [...]

By |2012-05-23T16:29:39-04:00November 3rd, 2010|Categories: Basement, Miscellaneous, Renovations|Tags: |5 Comments

Wine Cellars and Why We Enjoy Them (Guest Blog)

My first exposure to the existence of wine cellars, and for years after, my vision of what a wine cellar should be was in Edgar Allen Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado. Not to discount the great idea of bricking up one’s adversary, as described by Poe, but most of us have other reasons for building and maintaining a wine cellar. Because we enjoy good food and wine, having several choices available at a moment’s notice is the single greatest advantage [...]

By |2012-05-23T15:52:54-04:00October 3rd, 2010|Categories: Basement, Miscellaneous|Tags: , |2 Comments

Basement Gym

Basements can be dark, windowless caverns that are only visited when the boiler is acting up or a box needs storing. They can also be a treasure trove of underutilized inexpensive space for creative homeowners. While we have utilized those areas in many ways for our clients, few conversions are as well suited for the basement as a home gym. Some of the best reasons to use that subsurface space are obvious including the fact that it is basically free [...]

By |2010-06-03T13:38:18-04:00November 20th, 2009|Categories: Basement, Renovations|Tags: , , |2 Comments
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