House Ideas 4

Of the counter material, Klymson says, “It's really one of the best Caesarstone products that I've seen out in the market.”

“The entire house is unified with oak flooring with a custom warm gray stain. This material is repeated on the stair and atrium handrails,” Walker said. The entryway’s bench has a custom Tabu Caleidolegno veneered wood base. The upholstered bench seat, which uses black Kravet fabric, was designed by Ruhl Walker Architects and made by Herrick & White.

A utilitarian mudroom features built-in storage, ski boot warmers, and a solid wood bench.

Just off an internal courtyard, a mudroom provides a prime place to keep sneakers. Each family member has their own shelf, backlit by windows that illuminate every pair.

A cobalt blue door leads directly into a small entryway that’s lined with custom cabinets for the family’s skis, hats, boots, and jackets. Also created by David Amble Cabinetry, the trough is lined with copper so that the family can put their wet skis inside.

Measuring 785 square feet, this once-neglected cottage was recently brought back to life by a local couple. The duo, who own a furniture and design shop in the nearby city of Ferndale, added charming and functional detailing to the tiny home, including a cozy sitting area on the front porch.

Originally, the kitchen was in the center of the house disrupting the flow between the dining room and the living room. Flipping the rooms allowed for the addition of the fireplace in the great room.

The Eames Lounge Chair in the living area is appealingly positioned by the wall of floor-to-ceiling glass.

In this kitchen in Australia, a freestanding island is lit by a skylight and track lighting, while the texture and color of the siding of the island provide a marked contrast to the dark cabinetry of the rest of the kitchen. An oversized sink makes the island an ideal prep space.

For the kitchen, American cherry wood was used to create cabinets that establish a warm and sturdy tone. Each piece of lumber was purchased at auction by the Brillharts and stored in New Hampshire, before being shipped to Miami and milled on site. The wood island is painted black to provide a point of visual contrast. Himalayan marble countertops and stainless steel appliances lend moments of clean modernism to the kitchen, which is flooded with bright light thanks to patio windows that open to the yard.

A new kitchen at the front of the house completes the trifecta of reworked rooms on the main level. It fits nicely into the notion of balancing new and old elements throughout the house, with oak detailing married to exposed brick, offset by strip lamps. The Hee bar stools are by HAY, the Caravaggio P3 pendants are by Light Years, and the range oven is from Britannia.

Custom kitchen cabinets designed by Pulltab and fabricated by Maciek Winiarczyk hold mostly vintage ironstone that Geiger has found at flea markets and estate sales over the past 20 years. "I love white," she says, "because I think food always looks better on it." She also collects vintage wooden cutting boards, shown resting against the marble tile backsplash from Stone Source.

Breen chose large-scale Stepstone pavers that are 60 inches long, the biggest size the company provides. Stepstone also offers the pavers in 12 standard colors for a uniform finish when paired with other products.

Breen and Good designed a pan deck that would accommodate the necessary drainage underneath. Stepstone worked with the design to create pavers that would be durable and stylish.

Breen selected 24-inch by 60-inch large-scale pavers for the walkway to the entrance and 24-inch by 48-inch pedestal set-roof pavers on the patio, both in French Gray.

"Stepstone allows you to think about how buildings tie into landscapes,

Mela Breen and David Good set out to build a zero-energy property that blended into its surroundings in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

The kitchen overlooks the drought-tolerant landscaping in the yard.