Custom Home Design

Photos: Stacy Zarin Goldberg
This staircase not only connects the first and second floors; it opens the house to the backyard.

Photos: Courtesy of In Detail Interiors
Coffee pot filling station, wine bar, under counter storage, it's all there in Cheryl Kees Clendenon's messy kitchen design.

Photos: Courtesy of Schumacher Homes
The messy kitchen has become a favorite trend for many homeowners.

Running the siding horizontally emphasizes the home’s linear form, while the front porch wraps around one side of the entry becoming a walkway that offers glimpses of pond views for anyone using it to reach the garage (Photo: David Fell).
This Cap Cod home achieves energy efficiency and high performance with common materials

Dogtrot by CLB Architects has an asymmetrical gabled roof that mimics the distant mountain peaks, adding a contemporary edge to the building’s traditional form (Photo: Matthew Millman).
Custom homes that are durable, comfortable, and healthy for their owners and the planet

Placing the 6 kW solar array on the detached garage allowed architect and homeowner Donald Powers to calculate the ideal roof pitch for maximum effectiveness. | Photo: Anthony Tieuli / This Old House
Architect Donald Powers wanted his 100-year-old cottage to be the epitome of energy efficiency. So he transformed it into a net-zero home.

Outdoor living and the display of modern art take center stage at the Philos House, in Dallas, designed and built by Bauhaus Modern Homes (Photo: Costa Christ).
The philosophy of the German Bauhaus school of art and design drives this Dallas-based custom builder

By employing traditional building techniques, Vintage Builders gave this custom modern farmhouse in Wellesley, Mass., a vintage twist (Photos: Courtesy of Vintage Builders).
John Hourihan talks about the vintage approach for home building details and for customer service.

The design team respected the home’s century-old Tudor details while inserting modern elements, such as generously sized new windows.
This century-old Tudor remodel transformed a house with dark spaces and little connection to the outdoors into a space with light and attributes that suited the family's lifestyle and tastes

Of all the technology features in a custom home, it's audiovisual equipment--TVs, projectors, and speakers--that clients most often want to have seamlessly integrated into the design.
There are plenty of solutions to make home tech devices unobtrusive in a custom home

The neighborhood association insisted that the owner cover the exterior of the home—originally built as a log cabin—with stone. Architect David Haresign made sure his firm’s additions can be clearly distinguished from the home’s log and stone core (Photos: Anice Hoachlander/Studio HDP).
Renovating an entire house isn’t always the most economical option, but it offers a host of other benefits

A long shed dormer on the front elevation anchors the new third-story master suite (Photos: Haris Kenjar).
A century-old red-brick home seemed like a straightforward renovation, but ...

Wood is always the standard for residential construction in the Maritimes

Tom Harris Architectural Photography
This home's indoor-outdoor integration plays a role in an illinois family’s quality of life.

Natural finishes predominate in architect Wayne Turett’s New York home. The cedar siding is finished with a blue-gray stain (Photos: Liz Glasgow Studios).
A seaside retreat follows the Passive House standard to maximize energy efficiency