Craftsman Style Home                 HABS/HAER/HALS Collection, Library of Congress   By the late nineteenth century, American architecture had grown elaborate. Victorian homes were loaded with ornament, machine-produced and applied by the yard. A quiet reaction was building. Out of that reaction came one of the most enduring domestic styles America has ever produced. The Craftsman home is not a grand gesture. It [...]
Pool Cabana It is getting close to summer, and we are all itching to get out of the house. Some of our lucky clients have structures on their property that become destinations. Some structures are primarily for the homeowner, like a potting shed, and others are great for friends and family, like a pool house/guest house. We have designed outbuildings that are strictly utilitarian, such as storage barns, and others that are just for fun, such as a golf pavilion. [...]
Sandisfield Major Renovation This is a muddy March like so many before it. We always have a mix of projects in the design and construction document phases, but those under construction are dealing with the mud season. Our first project, shown above, in the Berkshires, is very close to completion. If you would like a taste of summer, please take a look at the Breathtaking Berkshire Pool House, which was our original project on this property. Berkshire Family [...]
Stanfordville Kitchen Every custom home involves a long series of decisions, and almost every one of them has a cost attached to it. The challenge isn't that clients want too much. It's that the cumulative weight of many reasonable choices can quietly push a project beyond what anyone intended to spend. The good news is that not all choices carry the same weight. Some decisions return their investment many times over, in daily use, in lasting beauty, in the character [...]
Entry/Mudroom Every year in the Hudson Valley, winter doesn’t end — it dissolves. The snow recedes in uneven patches. We have a few days of mud and then another week of frozen moonscapes, then it repeats. From the adults to the children, we track in the mud. Then the dogs with mud-clogged toes come trotting in, completely bypassing the towels we have prepared for them. In one word, it is a mess. Mud Control Starts Outside the House [...]
 Clearing a Path to the Barn One more round of snow made it pretty difficult for the shepherds and the dogs to make their way up the hill to the barn. Being from down South, I had never owned or operated a snow blower until this year. I didn’t realize I needed one until 20 inches of snow fell in January. Who knew it could be so much fun to forge a path up the hill and [...]
Cost Comparison Between 2018 and 2026 "How much is this going to cost?" is one of the questions we hear the most, for good reason. At the beginning of a project, no one can answer that question accurately. We can review the pricing of the most recent similar project, or we can apply a cost-per-square-foot range we have seen or heard from contractors. In fact, there is often a significant difference between the low and high bidders’ prices [...]
Open Porch Timeless homes aren’t created by trend or nostalgia. They last because they are grounded in proportion, material honesty, and an understanding of how people actually live in spaces over time. Many of the most enduring qualities of older houses aren’t decorative at all—they’re architectural decisions that quietly do their work year after year. Here are nine old-house ideas we consistently draw from when designing new homes and renovations that feel settled, lasting, and deeply rooted. 1 [...]
The Barn in the Freshly Fallen Snow It was a dark and snowy night. As I slept, most of my family rushed up the hill in the snow and began to attend to the four new lambs, just arrived in the world. Hours later, I woke up and started to feed the dogs. Even though it wasn't 6:00 am yet, my wife walked into the kitchen with her winter coat on, and I knew the lambs had come. We walked [...]
Country Lane Farmhouse: In this renovation, Victorian ideas about incremental growth and thoughtful expansion guide the design. Roofline variation and carefully scaled additions allow the house to evolve naturally, preserving its rural character while accommodating contemporary living patterns. Overview Victorian architecture is best understood not as a single, rigid style, but as a broad and expressive period in architectural history. Emerging during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), it reflects a time of rapid industrialization, expanding prosperity, and [...]
