There seems to be a new kind of man cave popping up all around our area; the detached garage. It protects indoor air quality, offers flexible work space, and extra storage. The detached garage is making a comeback! These structures used to be fairly standard in residential...

Design is a subjective topic, a symphony frozen in time. Some clients want traditional details and others want modern clean lines. There is no universal solution, real beauty in any custom home design lies in the customization for a particular client’s needs, desires, and...

There are many design elements that can be integrated into your home that will allow you to live there for a lifetime. Simple changes that can be integrated into the design will allow your home to adapt along with your needs so you can celebrate aging in place. This is most...

We see it in sports all the time, if there is a weak link on the team, they cannot win the championship. It takes everyone operating at their top level and working together to achieve success and win it all. The same holds true in home construction. You have to build a complete...

Celebrate Earth Day by following these 75+ tips for your home. Comment with more ideas on how you make your home or business more efficient! Plant a Garden. Switch to LED or CFL light bulbs. Create a Compost bin. Switch old appliances to energy-efficient models. Use reusable...

Air barriers control air leakage into and out of the building envelope. They can also be used as the rainscreen to make your exterior siding products last longer and perform better. Air Sealing is probably the most important element for an efficient and healthy building in our...

Should you buy online plans or should you hire an architect? It is a common question in this tight economy. If you are looking for the lowest price for the design solution, the simple answer is purchasing plans online will cost less than if you hire an architect. However, if you...

Give us some background on your company. What do you do and why do you do it? Jill Koeppen Photography offers on-location portrait photography based on my clients’ photography needs. Living in the beautiful Shenandoah allows me to take advantage of the outdoors as my studio,...

Cradle to cradle is a play on the phrase “Cradle to Grave,” implying that the C2C model is sustainable and considerate of life and future generations. C2C takes a holistic view of materials that takes into account all aspects of production, use, and disposal of a...