The kitchen was cramped, dark, and isolated from the adjacent dining room as well as the back yard. The half-bath off the kitchen was too small and too public to get much use. Insufficient insulation and old, inefficient mechanicals made for hot summers, cold winters and high utility bills. While such frustrations are typical for... Read more »
Transforming the space The first and most pivotal design decision was to move the basement stair. Located between the kitchen and adjacent breakfast room, this stair obstructed traffic flow and isolated the breakfast room from the rest of the living space. Moving the stair allowed us to create a spacious kitchen with views to the... Read more »
What to do... We consulted with a sound consultant from Acentech and in short order developed a plan. That plan included both triple-glazed replacement windows and additional air-sealing to deaden the low pitches of truck engines and the high frequencies of tires on pavement. The triple-glazed windows were not only quieter, they were a lot... Read more »
The first step... Having worked with these clients before, we knew that energy performance and indoor air quality were of paramount importance. In the basement, we removed the existing finishes, covered holes in the rubble foundation with wire mesh to block mice, and installed foam insulation along the walls. We did not insulate the slab,... Read more »
Speaking of that view... We removed an arbitrary wall between the sink area and the range, refrigerator and breakfast table to create one unified kitchen area. We then relocated the sink to a center island so that we could replace the small south facing window with a large sliding glass door out onto the deck... Read more »
The client was planning to move into the first floor unit of a row house he owned. After developing an initial design that took down a couple of walls to create a space with decent acoustics that could also accommodate informal recitals, we asked sound engineers from Acentech to review our plan. After assuring us... Read more »
At one end of the suite was a cramped and outdated bathroom. At the other end was a leaky old door leading to an underutilized and hard to maintain exterior balcony. That end of the bedroom was very difficult to keep comfortable in the winter, and it wasn’t just because of the door: inadequate insulation... Read more »
Focusing on dreams...... Avid gardeners, they spend a lot of time in their backyard; but views and access were blocked by an unused back stair. They also love to cook and entertain, but their kitchen was cramped, dark, and isolated from the rest of the house With three school-aged children sharing two bedrooms and the... Read more »
The solution... We kept the kitchen in the same location but took down the walls between both the dining room and the sunroom to create an open, airy space with spectacular views to conservation land behind the property. We created a window-lined hallway between the kitchen and the living room, connecting these two previously disconnected... Read more »
The kitchen was cramped, dark, and isolated from the adjacent dining room as well as the back yard. The half-bath off the kitchen was too small and too public to get much use. Insufficient insulation and old, inefficient mechanicals made for hot summers, cold winters and high utility bills. While such frustrations are typical for... Read more »
Transforming the space The first and most pivotal design decision was to move the basement stair. Located between the kitchen and adjacent breakfast room, this stair obstructed traffic flow and isolated the breakfast room from the rest of the living space. Moving the stair allowed us to create a spacious kitchen with views to the... 
What to do... We consulted with a sound consultant from Acentech and in short order developed a plan. That plan included both triple-glazed replacement windows and additional air-sealing to deaden the low pitches of truck engines and the high frequencies of tires on pavement. The triple-glazed windows were not only quieter, they were a lot... 
The first step... Having worked with these clients before, we knew that energy performance and indoor air quality were of paramount importance. In the basement, we removed the existing finishes, covered holes in the rubble foundation with wire mesh to block mice, and installed foam insulation along the walls. We did not insulate the slab,... 
Speaking of that view... We removed an arbitrary wall between the sink area and the range, refrigerator and breakfast table to create one unified kitchen area. We then relocated the sink to a center island so that we could replace the small south facing window with a large sliding glass door out onto the deck... 
The client was planning to move into the first floor unit of a row house he owned. After developing an initial design that took down a couple of walls to create a space with decent acoustics that could also accommodate informal recitals, we asked sound engineers from Acentech to review our plan. After assuring us... 
At one end of the suite was a cramped and outdated bathroom. At the other end was a leaky old door leading to an underutilized and hard to maintain exterior balcony. That end of the bedroom was very difficult to keep comfortable in the winter, and it wasn’t just because of the door: inadequate insulation... 
Focusing on dreams...... Avid gardeners, they spend a lot of time in their backyard; but views and access were blocked by an unused back stair. They also love to cook and entertain, but their kitchen was cramped, dark, and isolated from the rest of the house With three school-aged children sharing two bedrooms and the... 
The solution... We kept the kitchen in the same location but took down the walls between both the dining room and the sunroom to create an open, airy space with spectacular views to conservation land behind the property. We created a window-lined hallway between the kitchen and the living room, connecting these two previously disconnected...
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