New Home Entry View It is great to see our projects start to take shape and imagine what they will look like finished. Of course, we are still having some supply chain issues, but they are getting better all the time. The cost of some materials has come down, and we are always hoping for more to follow suit. Contractors and subcontractors are very busy, but we have not had a problem finding qualified bidders. This should be [...]
New Home with Porches Whenever we are asked to design any project, we approach it the same way the builders of my home did: design it as though a family will live there forever. The forever home starts with good design. Our preference is to avoid whatever the current fad is going around and to design each home or addition in a timeless manner that will look as good 25 years from now as it will 125 years [...]
Large Addition 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 [...]
Porch-Exterior Every old home needs an advocate. A special someone who understands and cares about the details, the history, and the sense of place inherent in a period home. Those advocates may save that home from the wrecking ball or the vinyl siding salesman, or the addition that would look better on a gas station. Two of those advocates are David and Nan Greenwood. Their home is in Hart’s Village, just outside of the Village of Millbrook. Philip [...]
Garden View-Judy Murphy, Old Farm Nursery A beautiful landscape can enhance any architectural project. A talented landscape architect, landscape designer, or homeowner with a green thumb, makes any project we design more beautiful. That partnership works even better when it begins early in the design process. Just as the architect creates spaces inside the home, outdoor ‘rooms’ can be created on the property surrounding a home. These spaces can be private getaways, cutting gardens, meditative retreats, or just [...]
Pool House with Gable Window We love gable windows. Sometimes for the light they bring in and other times just for the details and proportions they lend to the gable of a structure. We spend a lot of time adjusting the proportions of every aspect of a design. Gable windows are no exception. It is not uncommon for us to review dozens of options before choosing a window type and then we continue to refine the details and [...]
There comes a time when you are ready for a kitchen refresh. Our client asked for a functional, practical, and timeless makeover. With this renovation, we kept it simple, which was just what the owners were looking for. In addition to ample shelves and lower cabinets for storage, we included a big pantry for everything else.  Kitchen Before Stove and Shelves Pantry Refrigerator Wall Island Seating Wet Wall Detail [...]
Farm House Mud Room This time of year in the Northeast, yards, roads, farms, and job sites are a muddy mess. That means there is a good possibility that dogs, cats, kids, and adults will be tracking mud into the house. The best defense is a good mud room. In the design of these mud rooms, we try to make them bright, comfortable, and above all, functional.  In one home, the entry/mud room is off a paved path, [...]
New Ram Lamb The biggest excitement on our mini farm is the arrival of lambs. We were lucky that my wife saw the ewe acting like she was in labor on our lamb cam. We hurried up the hill to the barn and saw the lambs being born. No matter how often we have seen this happen, it always feels like a miracle. The sheep, dogs, chickens, and the cat are doing fine. The barn has periodically had [...]
Red Double Door The front door is a symbolic welcoming gesture to the world beyond. (even if we enter the mudroom door most of the time). A strong, inviting front door is relatively easy to create when designing a new home. An existing home whose front door is ill-defined and hard to access often poses a greater challenge. Often the biggest hurdle is creating a functional front door on a home whose approach is defined by the automobile [...]
