On the Drawing Board

View From the Back Yard Our clients asked us to renovate and expand their family home while making it exceptionally energy efficient. We designed a Net Zero home that preserves and enhances the beauty and character of a cherished family heirloom. Net Zero Net zero is often described as a checklist, but that misses the point. An airtight envelope, triple-glazed windows, and right-sized systems may define the spec sheet, but none of them tells you what the house [...]

Breaking Ground in Boothbay, Maine Digging the foundation had begun and then immediately stopped because we hit granite. Our contractor, Derek Chapman, expected as much since most foundations around Boothbay require blasting. We visited the site on a beautiful summer day. Of course, this February, a different scene will be presenting itself. By then the house should be 'dried-in' with windows, roofing, and temporary heat going. I look forward to taking the same picture then. Model on Site [...]

Bold Laundry  Interior Designer: Marla Walker  Photo: Andrew Frasz We are very lucky to work with creative interior designers and clients who are not afraid of bold colors. I am very timid when choosing colors and lean into off-white. Sometimes when I see a shockingly bold color going up on a wall, I think I will hate it, but then when it is done, I become a believer. These days, there are a lot of tools from paint [...]

New Home in Boothbay, Maine-Entry Side I know I am bending the rules a little, since this home is not yet under construction. But with groundbreaking just around the corner, I could not resist sharing a preview of how this Maine home will sit within its landscape, with that remarkable view stretching out beyond it. New Home in Boothbay, Maine-View Toward the Water Garage, Mudroom, and Studio Addition Elephant Weathervane One thing most of our under-construction projects have in common [...]

Home After Complete Makeover Renovation vs. New Construction: How to Decide. It is one of the first questions clients bring to us, and it rarely has a simple answer. Should we renovate the house we have, or build something new? Home Before Complete Makeover The first thing we look at is the structure itself. Some older homes have real value in their bones: solid framing, a sound foundation, a floor plan that can be worked with, original materials and details [...]

One Lamb One of the best movies I have seen in years was The Sheep Detectives. This is the description from the filmmaker's page: Every night, a shepherd reads aloud a murder mystery to his sheep, pretending they can understand. When he is found dead, the sheep realize at once that it was a murder and think they know everything about how to go about solving it. But it turns out the human world isn’t as simple as it appears [...]

Rob and Anna at Photo Shoot Photographing a home is a team effort. Rob, our photographer, Anna, our stylist, and Mary, her assistant, began their day early. Rob drove down from Maine with all his equipment, while Anna and Mary shopped at a wholesale flower market for the best natural props available. They will work non-stop until dark to get those great indoor shots and stunning dusk exterior photos we have loved over the years. Mary and Anna Moving Furniture [...]

Sheep Sandwich The baby lambs we had this winter have grown up quickly. Our little farm was quite loud when we had to wean them from their mothers. I'm not sure who bleated louder, the ewes or the lambs. Since the weather went from very chilly to brutally hot in a matter of days, we quickly asked our favorite sheep shearer, Donald Kading, to visit and give the sheep a respite from the heat. Molly Before Being Sheared Donald Shearing [...]