Photo Credit: Holger Obenaus Description: Built as a refuge for a busy California couple, this creek-side cottage was constructed on land populated with ancient live oaks; sited to preserve the oaks and accentuate the creek-side vistas. The owners wanted their Kiawah home to be less formal than their primary residence, ensuring that it would accommodate 3 – 4 vacationing couples. Volumes, room shapes and arrangements provide classical symmetries, while careful detailing with variations in colors, finishes and furnishings provide soothing spaces for relaxation.

Photos Courtesy of Sharon Risedorph and Arrowood Photography

Photography by David Phelps Photography. Long time clients and seasonal residents of Newport California wanted their new home to reflect their love and admiration for all things French. Fine antiques and furnishings play well in the foreground of their extensive rotating art collection. Interior Design by Tommy Chambers Contractor Josh Shields of Shields Construction.

The house and its guest house are a composition of iconic shed volumes sited between Highway 1 to the East and the end of a cul-de-sac to the West. The Eastern façade lends a sense of privacy and protection from the highway, with a smaller entrance, high windows, and thickened wall. The exposed framing of the thickened wall creates a floor to ceiling feature for books in the living room. The Western façade, with large glass barn doors and generous windows, opens the house to the garden, The Sea Ranch, and the ocean beyond. Connecting the two façades, an enclosed central porch serves as a dual entrance and favorite gathering space. With its pizza oven and easy indoor/outdoor connections, the porch becomes an outdoor kitchen, an extension of the main living space, and the heart of the house.

The scale of this room is massive, but the views and architectural details are spectacular. So the staging needed to be equal to those aspects. The clients are thrilled!

Believe it or not, this is an exotic wood- faux finish on previously painted wood paneling. This being an elongated study, an antique Persian carpet was found in a 9' x 17', not a typical size in the carpet world.

Photos: Steve Cridland

Originally designed by Delano and Aldrich in 1917, this building served as carriage house to the William and Dorothy Straight mansion several blocks away on the Upper East Side of New York. With practically no original detail, this relatively humble structure was reconfigured into something more befitting the client’s needs. To convert it for a single family, interior floor plates are carved away to form two elegant double height spaces. The front façade is modified to express the grandness of the new interior. A beautiful new rear garden is formed by the demolition of an overbuilt addition. The entire rear façade was removed and replaced. A full floor was added to the roof, and a newly configured stair core incorporated an elevator. Architecture: DHD Interior Designer: Eve Robinson Associates Photography by Peter Margonelli http://petermargonelli.com

Modern details on a traditional farmhouse porch. Whit Preston Photography

[photo by Colleen Duffley]

Rob Karosis Photography www.robkarosis.com