Board & Vellum has moved to Seattle’s iconic Smith Tower in Pioneer Square. Learn more.
Virtual Reality for Architecture: Experience Your Space Before You Build It – Board & Vellum
Commercial, Custom Residential, Multifamily Residential

Virtual Reality for Architecture: Experience Your Space Before You Build It

Can you visualize a space from floor plans as if you were in it yourself? Don’t worry, most people can’t, and that sometimes makes it hard to communicate design ideas. Virtual reality can help with that — we can spin up a VR model so you can experience it as close to real as it gets.

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Design Your Retail Space for Selfies – Board & Vellum
Commercial

Design Your Retail Space for Selfies (Yes, Really.)

Maintaining a small retail business is really hard — you need great marketing, and to get your space in front of a lot of eyes. We say, design your retail space for selfies! If your shop or restaurant looks unique and interesting, your visitors will help market it for you. Here’s how to get started with design.

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Ten Tips For Designing a Great Small Bathroom – Board & Vellum
Ask a Designer, Custom Residential, Interior Design

Ten Tips For Designing a Great Small Bathroom

Judging from the number of sub-par small bathrooms out there leaving you wanting more, it must be hard for some people to design them! It's true, it is tricky to design a great small bathroom, but it is completely doable. Here are ten tips to help you design one that feels just right.

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Outdoor living room with a gas fire pit. – Urban Yard at The Seattle Box – Board & Vellum
Landscape Architecture

Maximizing a Small Urban Yard

Take a digital walk through this small, urban yard to see just how much fits into this tight, city lot. But first, let’s hear about the story behind how this unique project actually came to be. You may recognize it from the B&V portfolio: The Urban Yard at the Seattle Box.

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Cheap Design Tricks for Your Home Improvement Project – Board & Vellum
Ask a Designer, Custom Residential, Interior Design

Cheap Design Tricks for Your Home Improvement Project

People ask us a lot how they can save money on their home improvement project, and there are plenty of great tricks that suit smaller budgets. (Spoiler Alert: You still need good design.) Here are ten cheap design tricks that will help you get that extra ”oomph” out of your budget.

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Ask an Architect – B&V Blog Highlights – Board & Vellum
Ask a Designer, Commercial, Custom Residential, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture

Ask an Architect: Highlights from The B&V Blog

Our blog has always been a way for us to pull back the curtain on what we do as architects and designers: to advocate for our clients and help anyone learn a bit more about how we do things. This is a collection of highlights from the past few years, all in one place!

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Would you like to read more from the team?

If you enjoy reading our blog as much as we enjoy writing it, that simply makes our day. You may also enjoy a few of the related posts below.

A rendering of a proposed campus master plan for support program that offers community for adults with special needs. This overhead view shows the campus’s complex needs, like permanent housing and day program spaces. The campus is surrounded by trees and grassy areas. — Matthias Academy – Board & Vellum
A Space for Everyone

Matthias Academy’s complex programming needs include a campus that combines housing, education centers, employment opportunities, and more. Matthias Academy | Rendering by Board & Vellum.

Our Approach to Commercial Architecture Design

A new commercial building sits on a site, in a neighborhood, and in an ecosystem that will likely outlast it. Here is how our commercial architecture design process starts with curiosity about a place, stays centered on the people who will use the building, and plans for the decades after opening.

Footprint Wine Tap – Wine Bar Capitol Hill – Board & Vellum

Pre-Leasing Considerations for Your Commercial Space

Finding the right commercial space for your business can feel overwhelming. Board & Vellum’s pre-leasing consulting helps businesses uncover hidden risks, evaluate tenant improvement budgets, and explore design opportunities before signing a lease — turning uncertainty into clarity and setting the stage for long-term success.

Landscaped retail streetscape at Club Monaco – Board & Vellum

Building Walkable Neighborhoods

The walkability of neighborhoods is an important factor in community health and livability. While we see around the globe the benefits of neighborhoods that are easily traversed on foot or bike, in the U.S., many of our cities are oriented toward vehicular traffic, rather than pedestrians. So what could make our communities more walkable?

Designing for the Senses

Designing a hospitality space is about more than what’s behind the front door. The scents, sights, and sounds that radiate onto the street prime your guests and passers-by for what they’ll experience inside. Your menu is important, of course, so how can you feed your guests’ senses from the start? Let’s visualize it.

A bookstore coffee shop on Capitol Hill. – Interior design and retail interiors by Board & Vellum.

A Guide to Opening a Shop, Café, or Office for First-Time Business Owners

Opening a brick-and-mortar location for the first time comes with a lot of questions. We don’t expect you to have all the answers! To help guide you through the first steps, here are eight factors we think business owners should consider when opening a shop, café, or office for the first time.

WG Clark Office Lobby Interiors

Warm Shell vs. Cold Shell Commercial Spaces

If you're in the market for a commercial space for your business, you might be familiar with the terms ‘cold shell’ and ‘warm shell.’ But what to do these terms mean? And what considerations should you take into account when choosing a warm shell vs. a cold shell commercial space? We break it down here.

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Say hello, and send us your questions via the form below. We’re always pleased to make new connections, and eager to get to know you, your project, and your goals.

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Board & Vellum is honored to be a Gray Awards Finalist for landscape design, earning the recognition for the rooftop garden at the Lucille on Roosevelt.

Honored as a finalist for residential landscape design.

LEED Certified in White

Our team includes LEED-accredited professionals.

Certified Passive House Consultant in White

Our team includes certified Passive House consultants.

NGLCC Certified as LGBT Business Enterprise – Board & Vellum Recognition

A Certified LGBT Business Enterprise Since 2016.

PSBJ’s Top 25 LGBTQ-Owned Businesses 2016 in White

Honoring companies that lead in promoting equality.