Four over One Design

After a year of quibbling and indecision over the exterior of our house, we made an appointment with Sara. She listened to our preferences, looked at our house from all sides, and gave us her recommendations and we are so glad we trusted her. Sara perfectly understood how to achieve the look we wanted--elegant, subtle, and welcoming in every shift of light. We're so happy with her choices that we've decided to schedule another consultation with her for the interior palette, and that says it all--we couldn't recommend her more highly!

When we had our initial meeting with Sara and Emily-Kate to discuss doing a nearly entire renovation of our 1950s ranch, we knew they were the team for us. We were impressed by their personable approach of wanting to know about our lifestyle, what we liked about our house, what didn’t work for us, etc. They developed 5 drawings for us to respond to based on our discussion and blew us away with their visions of what our house could transform into. The design we selected maintained a mid-century modern feel while incorporating a better flow and greater functionality throughout. Their assistance with selections for fixtures, paint, cabinets, tile, etc in what can be an overwhelming process was incredibly helpful. Furthermore, their collaboration with our contractors and us was seamless, resulting in a beautiful ‘new’ old home that is perfect for us.

We worked with 4/1 (mostly with Emily-Kate) on renovating the outdated kitchen in our 1910 home near downtown Durham, and we couldn't be happier with the result. From the planning phases to the construction itself, Emily-Kate was attentive, creative, responsive, and engaged in our project, in addition to just being a fun (and calm) person to work with. She struck the perfect balance between listening well, but also offering her (excellent) opinions on key decisions. The new layout she designed completely transformed our space, and her advice was invaluable in making the many small decisions that were required over the life of the project. The design is respectful of our home's history, but open and more modern at the same time. She also worked well with our contractors and was always fast with an email or text response. Hiring 4/1 was definitely some of the best money we spent on the renovation and we highly recommend them.

4/1 Design was the design firm that we used for the design plans for our screened in porch. It was a pleasure working with Sara. Her aesthetic was completely in line with ours. She started the process by carefully understanding how we would use the room, understanding our priorities and our budget. She thought carefully about placement of the structure and design elements that would tie it nicely with the remainder of the house. We reviewed multiple options and she carefully took our comments and suggestions into consideration. She carefully managed timelines and was very responsive. Once the design plans were completed, Sara worked closely with our contractor to ensure that the design was executed per her plans or she modified in-stream based on the contractor's findings. Overall the screened in porch turned out beautifully and I would recommend Sara and 4/1 design without reservation.

Sara was amazing to work with. Her experience with historic homes proved invaluable when we applied for historic designation on our renovation. She is a master at manipulating space & design to accommodate the need for an updated design while preserving the history of our home. We finished our renovation and the design and flow of our home is fantastic thanks to Sara. I would highly recommend Four over One Design!

Sara provided design assistance and consultation regarding an application for Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits. She is imaginative, attentive to detail and a good listener. She provided good, workable ideas and thorough drawings all on the necessary timeline. We received approval on our application without a hitch. I would be happy to hire her again.

In her role as designer and with her keen interest and skills in the field of historic preservation, Sara (Four over One Design) was instrumental in the award-winning rehab of our 1907 house. Durham Preservation award and newspaper story about our project aside, we simply love living in the home. The house has retained almost all of its historic character while also managing to be very up to date, in terms of bathrooms and systems. It feels great and it looks great. Nearly everyone who comes to visit us says, "This is like a dream house!" Sara lived up to her reputation of being a great person to work with. She also provide us with the service of preparing an application for historic preservation tax credits. Photos: http://www.houzz.com/projects/119400/Burch-Avenue-restoration

Sara at 4/1 designed a screen porch for our 1920s bungalow. The resulting design perfectly matches the house, down to the tiniest detail. During construction, Sara worked closely with the contractor to ensure correctness and was available to us for consultation on any and all details. In addition to being very skilled and very professional, she was a pleasure to work with. We thoroughly enjoyed the process and would work with her again in a heartbeat. Photos here: http://www.houzz.com/projects/119384/Old-North-Durham-screened-porch