The two-wall, island kitchen layout is practical, beautiful, timeless and works in any kitchen design style from rustic to modern, from traditional to farmhouse, and everything in between. It is one of the most requested kitchen layouts from our clients for new custom home designs today. Some of the

What I have for you this week is before and after floor plans for a primary suite remodel at Project Circle Greens, located in Northern California. This is a bad news / good news sort of thing. The as-built floor plan is awkward and poorly designed but the good news is that there is plenty of s

We’ve been whittling away at the program for the remodel at Project Mountain Lake , a vacation home that was originally built in the 1980’s. It’s located in Northern California on the shores of a mountain lake. As part of the scope of the work, we’re taking an awkwardly designed bathroom, totally

To illustrate that bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better, for this post I’m sharing the isolated floor plans of both the initial and current design for the great room, kitchen and dining room for comparison purposes. In reviewing the floor plans side by side, here’s a list of the differences betwee

Do you need a secondary office in the design of the floor plan for your new home but are running low on square footage? That’s exactly what happened at the Timbre Heights Project, a new custom home located in Austin, Texas. To keep square footage down for an already large home, it became important t

This past January at Stampin Up's Leadership event in Houston, I met the sweetest demonstrator from Puerto Rico. Her name was Ingrid Rosario. This is Ingrid's swap card from Leadership, and the girl is "Punch Ingrid" - I LOVE IT! How stinkin' adorable is this? I'll post the supplies she used below. I have the English version of the Express Yourself Hostess stamp set listed, but Ingrid used the Spanish version which is also available.

It wouldn’t be a new year without the experts weighing in on the projected trends for the coming year, especially when it comes to forecasting shifts with colors, textiles, and furnishings. Those leading the charge have their ears to the ground and their sights on the horizon, constantly taking note

In my many years as a custom home designer, spatial design and floor plan trends aren’t lost on me. What’s interesting about the whole process is that they are client driven. Of course there are lot’s of outside influences that direct clients in establishing what they want to include in the design o

We’ve been whittling away at the program for the remodel at Project Mountain Lake , a vacation home that was originally built in the 1980’s. It’s located in Northern California on the shores of a mountain lake. As part of the scope of the work, we’re taking an awkwardly designed bathroom, totally

Crafting well designed floor plans is not unlike the editing process a written document goes through. As the design of custom floor plans move along the continuum from schematic design all the way through to the completion of the construction documents, the plans get edited and revised until they

For the first set of primary suite floor plan options I presented to the clients from the Orchard Abode Project (a 1980’s whole-house remodel in Northern California), I started conservatively by first seeing what I could come up with while using the existing space. For this post, I’m sharing the f

Do you need a secondary office in the design of the floor plan for your new home but are running low on square footage? That’s exactly what happened at the Timbre Heights Project, a new custom home located in Austin, Texas. To keep square footage down for an already large home, it became important t

Picking up with where the architects left off, we set to work to refine and to develop a few more floor plan options for the clients to explore, especially as it related to the master bathroom and closet design. After the clients determined their favorite floor plan option, from the many that were

In vetting prospective clients I often get ask, who goes first with the floor plan design, the architect, or me, as the spatial designer? This is an important question, but it doesn’t have a cut-and-dried answer, nor is there a wrong or right way to approach it. It all depends on the prefere

The two-wall, island kitchen layout is practical, beautiful, timeless and works in any kitchen design style from rustic to modern, from traditional to farmhouse, and everything in between. It is one of the most requested kitchen layouts from our clients for new custom home designs today. Some of the

Building a dream home isn’t only a huge financial investment, but an emotional one as well. I’m a big proponent and ardent believer that Involving a skilled interior designer during the early stages of the floor plan design will not only produce a better end result, but will also help to avoid costl

The two-wall, island kitchen layout is practical, beautiful, timeless and works in any kitchen design style from rustic to modern, from traditional to farmhouse, and everything in between. It is one of the most requested kitchen layouts from our clients for new custom home designs today. Some of the

While thinking about my annual forecast for custom home design trends , the word consistency kept coming to my mind. In the last couple of years, and I suspect the same will be true for 2023, the way space is being utilized in custom home design seems to be holding true. No matter the location

In vetting prospective clients I often get ask, who goes first with the floor plan design, the architect, or me, as the spatial designer? This is an important question, but it doesn’t have a cut-and-dried answer, nor is there a wrong or right way to approach it. It all depends on the prefere

For the first set of primary suite floor plan options I presented to the clients from the Orchard Abode Project (a 1980’s whole-house remodel in Northern California), I started conservatively by first seeing what I could come up with while using the existing space. For this post, I’m sharing the f

The Longview Estate Project is located in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California, in a small farming community, surrounded by vast acreage of beautiful fruit and nut tree orchards. The clients, whom I’ve worked with over the years, on their different homes, reached out for help with their g

Do you need a secondary office in the design of the floor plan for your new home but are running low on square footage? That’s exactly what happened at the Timbre Heights Project, a new custom home located in Austin, Texas. To keep square footage down for an already large home, it became important t

The over-all footprint for the master bathroom floor plan at the Levee Rules Project needed to be developed more and perfected. If you’ve been following along with this project, you know that it is a custom new build, that has already been permitted. That means we’ve had to jump in quickly, going

In this post, I’m sharing the as-built floor plan for a kitchen , nook , laundry room and powder bath for a project located in a beautiful, gated development in Northern California, along with the design plans for the same spaces. You’ll see how taking space from one place and giving it to ano

While thinking about my annual forecast for custom home design trends , the word consistency kept coming to my mind. In the last couple of years, and I suspect the same will be true for 2023, the way space is being utilized in custom home design seems to be holding true. No matter the location

In vetting prospective clients I often get ask, who goes first with the floor plan design, the architect, or me, as the spatial designer? This is an important question, but it doesn’t have a cut-and-dried answer, nor is there a wrong or right way to approach it. It all depends on the prefere

For the first set of primary suite floor plan options I presented to the clients from the Orchard Abode Project (a 1980’s whole-house remodel in Northern California), I started conservatively by first seeing what I could come up with while using the existing space. For this post, I’m sharing the f

The Longview Estate Project is located in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California, in a small farming community, surrounded by vast acreage of beautiful fruit and nut tree orchards. The clients, whom I’ve worked with over the years, on their different homes, reached out for help with their g

Do you need a secondary office in the design of the floor plan for your new home but are running low on square footage? That’s exactly what happened at the Timbre Heights Project, a new custom home located in Austin, Texas. To keep square footage down for an already large home, it became important t

The over-all footprint for the master bathroom floor plan at the Levee Rules Project needed to be developed more and perfected. If you’ve been following along with this project, you know that it is a custom new build, that has already been permitted. That means we’ve had to jump in quickly, going

In this post, I’m sharing the as-built floor plan for a kitchen , nook , laundry room and powder bath for a project located in a beautiful, gated development in Northern California, along with the design plans for the same spaces. You’ll see how taking space from one place and giving it to ano

As a Demonstrator we get to view the Annual Catalogue online, ahead of it’s launch. At that very first viewing I automatically fell in love with the Cup of Tea stamp set, just a few pages into the Catalogue. I was delighted to find that it was available to pre-order and of course it was ... Read More about Stamping with the Cup of Tea stamp set from Stampin’ Up!

In my many years as a custom home designer, spatial design and floor plan trends aren’t lost on me. What’s interesting about the whole process is that they are client driven. Of course there are lot’s of outside influences that direct clients in establishing what they want to include in the design o

When there is a wil l, there’s always a way , right! And most often achieving the will takes lots of exploration and problem solving. This is exactly how things went with the bunk room design at the Mount Valley Project.

With your new forever, custom home, have you thought about having it designed so no matter what the future brings, you can comfortably grow old in the home? That’s what aging in place refers to - the ability to easily stay in our homes throughout our lives, even if there’s limited mobility and r

This week, I'm spotlighting the scullery design with the adjoining pantry of the Feather River Farmstead project ( full-service design project that started with me designing the floor plans) to highlight this process and to underscore the continuous refinement of floor plan development. We'll begin

While thinking about my annual forecast for custom home design trends , the word consistency kept coming to my mind. In the last couple of years, and I suspect the same will be true for 2023, the way space is being utilized in custom home design seems to be holding true. No matter the location

There's always time for tea and you...I love this saying from the Stampin Up A Nice Cuppa stamp set. This is such a pretty card, the melon mambo and wisteria wonder color combo really pull together nicely. Designed by Veronica.

The work continues on the West Islands East Project. All the underbrush at the building site for the West Islands East Project has been cleared. Soon the footprint of the house will be mapped out to determine the best way for it to set on the lot so it compliments the orientation, natural terrain an

While thinking about my annual forecast for custom home design trends , the word consistency kept coming to my mind. In the last couple of years, and I suspect the same will be true for 2023, the way space is being utilized in custom home design seems to be holding true. No matter the location

In my many years as a custom home designer, spatial design and floor plan trends aren’t lost on me. What’s interesting about the whole process is that they are client driven. Of course there are lot’s of outside influences that direct clients in establishing what they want to include in the design o

I love how butler’s pantries, rooms that originated in homes from years gone by, are now being reimagined, reinterpreted and included in new homes but in a modern, relevant way for how we live today. For this week’s post I’m doing a Q&A about butler’s pantries . sharing a design guide , t

For the first set of primary suite floor plan options I presented to the clients from the Orchard Abode Project (a 1980’s whole-house remodel in Northern California), I started conservatively by first seeing what I could come up with while using the existing space. For this post, I’m sharing the f