This particular house is a late 1800s Victorian in an historic designated district. This means we can change very little, architecturally, on the house’s exterior. The outside color scheme, however, is fair game. Therefore, it’s our sole exterior opportunity to make a design mark. I’ve become curious about doing an … [read more]
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wall to wall
Today, walls get their due spotlight. The wall plane is by far the most beheld of all room elements (it’s is at eye level, after all). Dressing the wall, however, can go far beyond the drab frock of sheetrock. Here are some examples of where we took the concept of … [read more]
a fairy tale cottage
This past December, one of our houses appeared in a French design magazine called Maison Chic. It’s a wonderfully quirky house we designed once upon a time in Birmingham, Alabama for a lovely couple who yearned for a storybook English cottage. They were always attracted to those unique 1920s era … [read more]
be my guest
To have a guest cottage on the property is true luxury indeed. It’s like having your own little motor court lodge. Toss the keys to your guest and point to the path. These miniature houses sit picturesque in the landscape. They beckon and welcome, offering grand hospitality but under their … [read more]
lounge act
This arrangement certainly works well with modern family life. It encourages social interaction and eliminates stuffy formal rooms (remember the rooms you were never allowed in as a child, but were forced into service on holidays and you couldn’t wait to escape?). Those dusty, imposing caverns are a thing of … [read more]
moving on
My family and I are in the process of selling and moving out of the 1914 Beaux Arts estate we’ve called home for the past eleven years. The reasons are twofold: planning for the future and a good dose of architectural ADD (given our history, our attention span is apparently … [read more]
I feel pretty
As a matter of fact, the ornate branches of architecture are sometimes treated like a flamboyant uncle at the family reunion: fun to look at it for a bit but not to claim or take seriously. I think, however, that decoration and ornament have a distinct place in the building … [read more]
attic fan
Recently, while cleaning out the attic in my 100 year-old house (pictured above) and preparing for an upcoming move, I was reminded how much I love being nestled within the folds of a roof form. There’s something very comforting about residing in the air space that results from the basic … [read more]
plan views
Richard: “Good Morning, McAlpine Tankersley”. Caller: “Do you guys sell house plans?” Richard: slams the phone down (not really. actually he’s usually very nice to them). This scenario happens often. Its as if our entire office’s combined talents, college educations, decades of experience and multiple professional licenses have reduced us … [read more]
porch songs
The crisp air at the onset of fall is best partaken of and savored in one place – the porch. Traditionally, the porch is the anteroom of the house; an architectural purgatory that is neither the street nor the foyer. The welcome mat of rooms, it’s where you sat in … [read more]
