The Fairview

The Fairview is a new pre-designed plan in the Southgate collection. It actually began several years ago as a "napkin sketch" study for an infill lot on one of the finest streets of old homes in the upstate. The exterior is brick, with cast stone watertables at the base and to delineate between levels. Detailing is restrained, but handsome. The house is perfect for the sort of neighborhood it was originally conceived for, but would also be right at home in a newer subdivision.

 Cast stone details are used sparingly, giving the house a timeless quality that doesn't rely on faddish architectural gimmicks. Gables can be either cast stone panels or stucco scored to look like limestone. 

The main floor encompasses just over 2100 square feet and features both formal and informal living and dining spaces along with a comfortable study and a spacious kitchen. Large arches open the floor plan, allowing light to cross throughout and insuring perfect flow for entertaining.

The second floor offers 1800 square feet of private space. Three family bedrooms are located at the front of the house, two have private baths and walk-in closets, while the third accesses a hall bath. The master suite, at the rear of the house, overlooks the courtyard below, and features a stunning bathroom with groin vaulted ceiling and to-die-for walk in closet.

As always, we would love to hear your feedback!

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White on White

One of the most difficult designs to pull off (and I imagine most designers and DIY'ers would agree) is one that would appear to be easiest--white on white. Any monochromatic palette presents challenges, but white on white is the hardest. As anyone who has seen a wall of paint chips knows, there are a million "whites"...place two of them together and suddenly one turns pink, and the other blue. Even two seemingly identical whites aren't once texture and light come into play. Pulling together a white on white room is difficult...but absolutely stunning when it's done correctly. The play of textures, the nuances of pattern, and the way light works off the surfaces make for a very rich space.

So here's a look at ten white rooms that work:

The glossy white tongue and groove ceiling is an unexpected touch in this soothing bedroom. The simply trimmed drapes and textured shades give the room depth.

Dark floors are often the perfect anchor for an all white room, as they are in this space.

The texture of the tiles, artful use of tile moldings, and silver-finished plumbing fixtures make this an amazing bathroom.

What a restful bedroom! The dark nightstands and drapery hardware provide definition and the layered textures give it depth.

What a great mix of furnishings in this space!

Subtle variation of tones make this calming bedroom a stunner.

 

Luxe living in a small space...beautiful details, heavily veined marble, and liberal use of mirrors makes this apartment glamorous and elegant.

 A mirrored mantel, clever wall of storage hidden behind drapery, and an eye-catching tete-a-tete make this waterfront room memorable.

Notice the dark painted ceiling in this monochrome room. The ethereal drapes provide shimmer and light control.

Classical pieces of furniture feel fresh and new in white fabrics, and the layered patterns in the room make it timeless.

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How to Pick a Builder

A client emailed me today for advise on interviewing builders. I was thrown off a bit. As often as not, clients come to the design process with a builder already selected, or at the very least, have narrowed it down to two or three. (That is a post for another time.) I had to pause and give her question some thought before I answered it, but ultimately this was my advice, and it goes for anyone:

1. Ask to see three or four completed projects, preferably ones that show a breadth of styles and budgets. Any builder can "WOW" you if they've been given a bottomless pit of money to do it with, but I'd be more impressed with one that could deliver that same style and quality on a more modest budget. Make note of the sort of things the builder is pointing out as you walk through the projects. Are they drawing your attention to details? Highlighting special materials? Or explaining how they tackled certain challenges? I wouldn't hesitate to ask what price range the houses you're shown fell into (usually given as a dollars per square foot figure.)

2. Ask for a tour of some CURRENT jobsites. Better yet, get the address and go by on your own. A messy site or one with a general air of confusion and disorganization is one that isn't being supervised properly.

3. Find out who would actually be in charge of your job. Often, the person who is giving you the "dog and pony show" is not the one who is actually on site building your  house. Ask how many projects each manager has at a time. Most good builders have a set maximum that they will let each person oversee. If they are vague or give you an answer higher than 3 or 4, let that raise a red flag.

4. Get a feel for how they handle the flow of communication. For long distance owners who can't visit their site often, this is particularly important. Do they upload progress pictures to a website weekly? Or perhaps have a standing conference call to tackle decisions and update you? There isn't necessarily a right or wrong answer, but a builder who doesn't seem to have one at all isn't likely to keep you in the loop.

5. Similarly, what method do they have for streamlining selections? Some builders have a person on staff who makes sure that all selections are made in a timely manner and keeps track of those to make sure the right wall gets painted the right color and the right knob ends up on the right cabinet. Some builders will look to the owner or their designer to organize that information--and there's nothing wrong with that as long as they communicate when the decisions need to be made. Having a process for making and communicating the 1000s of decisions that go into a custom home is crucial. If there is no system in place, one of three things will be happening over and over: 1. the owner will have to make snap decisions on things they would have preferred having time to research, 2. work will grind to a standstill while decisions are made or while materials are ordered, or 3. the owner will end up making the same decisions over and over because they are falling through the cracks of disorganization.

6. Don't be afraid to ask them some tough questions. Ask who they consider to be their biggest competitor, and what sets them apart from that competitor. Ask them to tell you about their last UN-happy customer and how they managed the situation.

7. Ask if they work off of a fixed price, or a "cost plus" strategy, and how they manage costs to bring the project in at budget. (Familiarize yourself with the difference between the two first.) One thing I see too often is "allowance" numbers that don't come anywhere near covering what the client wants. Ask how they arrive at their allowances, and don't be afraid to ask for a typical tile or hardwood allowance that you can check against the marketplace.

8. Ask about their warranty and "after service." The "official" answer is pretty standard for most custom builders, but you'll probably get a feel from the way they answer as to who you can count on once that last check clears.

9. Naturally, you'll want to ask for and check references. If a builder provides a reference, it goes without saying that it was, overall, a pleasant experience. So ask the references what the WORST part of the building process was, what headaches they went through, what they think the builder could have done  better.

10. If you're working with an architect or designer, ask them about their experience working with those professionals.  A quality builder will not only have experience working with them, but will appreciate what they bring to the project. It should raise a red flag if they scoff at their involvement.

11. Finally, and this one is the most important. Trust your gut. A feeling that "this is who should build my house" is worth more than all the rest. Who sees your house as just another job and who sees it as something they can take pride in? Who do you feel you can trust and work with for the next 6 months to a year or more?

So that's my advice...what else would you add to the list?

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If You Have To Do Laundry...

wouldn't doing it in one of these rooms make the chore so much easier?

 

Plenty of cabinet space, classic subway tile, natural light, and a gift wrapping station.

I love the idea of a countertop over the washer and drier--provides a great folding area, particularly in 

smaller laundry rooms.

Isn't this a neat idea? An old metal tub repurposed as a laundry sink. The hand shower mounted above

means this would be a great place for washing pets!

More and more houses are incorporating the laundry facilities into a "family studio" 

like this one. Part home office, part craft room, and part laundry room. 

What a perfect cottage laundry room. Countertops over the appliances, a charming sink, and a nice looking combination of open shelves and cupboards.

Multiple appliances mean knocking out the weekly laundry that much faster. The trestle table is a great spot for folding and the built in ironing board means no more lugging a squeaky board out.

So what's in your dream laundry room? For me, I'd have room for two washers and two driers, some area for hanging, a big surface for folding, and some sort of bins or hampers for sorting. Built in ironing (or better yet, one of those steamers that makes ironing almost unneccesary), and enough cabinet space to hide all the soaps and softeners.

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DIY Tiered Planters

For the past two summers, we have been on the lookout for some tall planters to put on either side of our front door. The ones we wanted were ridiculously expensive, and even everything we found that was "good enough" was over $100--which seemed way too much to pay for a resin planter.

Then a friend mentioned a project she had seen on Pinterest...a stack of plain old terra cotta pots, filled with plants. It seemed like a simple idea, so we decided to give it a try. In the end, they turned out fantastically...and we spent less than $100 total, including all the plants and soil!

The finished product!

The project was simple enough. We bought four sizes of terra cotta pots. The bottom one was an azalea pot...shorter in proportion then the others, and made for a great base. We wanted the pots to match our black shutters and door, so a quick coat of spray paint did the trick.

Starting at the bottom, we filled the pot with dirt, stopping a few inches shy of the top, and tamped it down by hand. We then stacked the next pot, pressing it into the dirt below until it was centered, level, and stable. Then just repeated the process until we got to the top. 

Then we filled the top with spikey decorative grasses and coleus, and filled in the levels below with creeping jenny, impatiens, and begonias. They filled in beautifully, and are now so full that the pots themselves are practically invisible...just a cascade of blooms and greenery. One thing we wish we had done was put the planters on some sort of casters. It would be nice to be able to move them to clean underneath. Otherwise, they turned out great! (Just pretend the welcome mat is turned the right way, won't you?)

Designing in 3D

One of the challenges designers and architects face has always been how to give their clients a true feeling for the spaces they are designing. It's difficult for most people to envision a house and its rooms from flat images on a screen or paper. To show them the spaces in 3D is much more meaningful.

In the past, that meant real scale models--beautiful handcrafted representations of the proposed house made of wood, metal, and plastic. Architectural models are an artwork all to themselves--but very time intensive. They simply aren't feasible for the average renovation or even practical on a multi-million dollar custom house.

For years, there have been programs (AutoCAD architectural desktop, Revit, etc.) that could be used to generate accurate and meaningful computerized models of spaces. But those programs are relatively complex, and again, the time required to use them properly is prohibitively expensive on most residential projects.

Enter Sketch Up, a Google product that has relatively quickly become an indispensable tool for designers. A free version that offers most of the programs capabilities can be downloaded by anyone. Relatively intuitive, with online guides that easily explain the more complex commands, the program offers the benefits of 3-D design in a fraction of the time other methods take. The professional version is very reasonably priced, and offers added goodies and compatibility with autoCAD (the standard program for design and drafting). Users of either version can take advantage of Google's 3D Warehouse--where virtually any item you might find in a home is available for download.

The uses of Sketch Up are many--the entire house can be drawn in 3D, right down to the door casings and sink faucets, or it can be used to quickly explore massing, or to figure out a tricky roof intersection. Here are some examples of how I've used it:

A fully detailed Sketch Up model, complete with all the trimwork and landscaping.

The real house for comparison.

3D image of my foyer

and the real foyer, from a slightly different angle.

Here, I wanted to get a feel for what a few changes to a set of plans I was working on was going to do to the "look" of the house. A few hours time gave me this "quick and dirty" 3D model. No interior on this one, and the other sides of the house aren't detailed, but this was a great tool for getting the scale of a few features right.

Here's a fully detailed interior space. While not useful for deciding between subtly different shades, models like these are perfect for getting a feel for the general direction of a color scheme.

And thanks to the library of items in the 3D Warehouse, rooms can be quickly furnished.

Look intriguing? Well head over to Google and download your free version of Sketch Up...it's easy to learn, fun to play with, and will prove itself useful for a variety of projects around the house.

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Good Eats: Feta-Avocado Salsa

 Last night we hosted a fundraising dinner that is part of a local charity's annual "Dining With Friends" drive. The idea, at least originally, was that groups of friends would get together at each others homes for dinner and then all of the individual dinner parties would come together at one final party, The Red Party, for desserts, drinks, and dancing. As the event has grown, many people host their dinners ahead of the main event, which is what we opted to do. The theme for this year's Red Party is "Salsa!" (as in the dance, not the dish.) We played off of that theme and had an entree bar with various meats, cheeses, and shells, Spanish rice, re-fried and black beans, and a host of Mexican appetizers. One of the biggest "hits" was this super easy dish, that is great with pita triangles or plain old tortilla chips. Thanks go to one of my neighbors for sharing this recipe with me a while back! The amount here is perfect for dinner with a few couples, and can easily be multiplied for larger gatherings.

Feta-Avocado Salsa

4 plum tomatoes, chopped

2 Tablespoons Red Onion, finely chopped

3 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 Cloves Garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons parsley, chopped

4 oz. crumbled feta cheese

½ Teaspoon salt

½ Teaspoon oregano

2 avocados, chopped

Mix all ingredients except avocado together. Just before serving, add the avocado.

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