Board & Vellum has moved to Seattle’s iconic Smith Tower in Pioneer Square. Learn more.
Starting a Business – Jeff with original Board & Vellum Logo
The Business of Design

What Was I Thinking? (Learning from Your Mistakes When Starting a Business)

Starting a business is no easy task, and you just can’t expect that you won’t make mistakes along the way. You will make them, we promise. The important thing is to make sure you learn from them once you do. Here are five mistakes Jeff Pelletier made when starting Board & Vellum.

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Designing a vacation home: kitchen with an owner's pantry. – Board & Vellum
Custom Residential

What Not to Forget When Designing a Vacation Home

When it comes to vacation home design, there are some things that are decidedly different from a typical home design: features you need in a vacation home that you don’t need in your main home. But what are they? Here are five features you should make sure you include when designing a vacation home.

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Great Design – Woodinville Pivot – Modern Interior Design – Board & Vellum
Ask a Designer, Custom Residential, Interior Design

How Do You Get Great Design on Your Project?

Great design takes patience. So, if you want your project to look and function like it was designed really well, you need to invest in design, and that takes time. There are several later phases after the design concept is formed that are crucial to your project’s success. Here’s a quick review of why.

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Communicating with your architect. – Board & Vellum
Ask a Designer, Custom Residential, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture

Tips for Communicating with Your Architect, Interior Designer, or Landscape Architect

Communicating with your architect or designer is crucial to the success of your project. How do you prefer to communicate? Great professionals will strike a balance between their communication preferences and yours. Here are ten tips to help you find that balance and ensure you and your design team are on the same page.

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Modern Farmhouse – Rendered View: Exterior in Snow – Sharing a Vacation Home
Ask a Designer, Custom Residential

Sharing A Vacation Home Between Two Families

Are you considering sharing a vacation home with another family? It’s not uncommon, and a great investment, but make sure you go into it with eyes wide open. Here are a few questions you and the family you’ll be sharing with should ask yourselves before starting design.

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Selecting a commercial space for your business. – Board & Vellum
Ask a Designer, Commercial

How Do You Select the Right Commercial Space for Your Business?

Selecting a commercial space for your business is very important to get right. It’s not as simple as “location, location, location” when it comes to ensuring the success of your retail or commercial space. There are many important details you need to check. Do you know what to look for before you sign a lease?

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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.

15th Avenue East Community Workshop – Board & Vellum and Environmental Works

Community Engagement at Board & Vellum

Giving back to the community has been part of Board & Vellum’s DNA from the beginning. Our commitment to community building led to one of our major 2022 initiatives: developing our Community Engagement Manifesto to help organize our company’s and employees’ charitable efforts.

Outside the Lucille on Roosevelt in Seattle, WA, a jogger runs along the sidewalk, which is lined with growing and colorful plants.

Why I’m a Generalist Architect

Many architects and designers choose to specialize in a specific sector or focus on a single project type. That’s awesome and necessary, but it’s not Jeff. His journey as a generalist architect is why providing out-of-the-box services is part of Board & Vellum’s DNA, and it’s what keeps him dedicated to design of all kinds.

A close-up shot of a table covered in papers with the hands of people marking them up.

How a Philosophy of High Performance is Changing the Way We Work

Designing a home or building is one thing. Designing the work experience of your employees is quite another. But the design mentality we bring to our projects also allows us to adapt and innovate how we operate as a team. Though our firm has evolved over the years, our values have not, guiding us to adopt the philosophy of a high-performance team.

Advice for Starting a Design Firm – Board & Vellum

Advice for Starting a Design Firm

Starting a design firm isn’t easy. It takes a lot of luck, it can exciting, but also stressful. You’ll need to take some calculated risks. It worked out at B&V, and we’ve grown to about 40 people in 8 years. Here are some tips learned along the journey of starting a design firm.

Do Architects Advocate for the Client or for the Architect? – Group sketching plans. – Board & Vellum

Do Architects Advocate for the Client or for the Architect?

Does an architect or designer advocate for your interests or for theirs? We believe your design team should advocate for you. That doesn't mean just being a "yes man" — it means working with you to design the best path forward. Here are a few areas we can especially help by being your advocate.

Designing for others by sketching ideas on trace paper.

How To Design For Others

Unless you are an architect guided only by your own ego, you need to learn how to design for others. Your clients will be unique individuals who may have needs and preferences that are completely foreign to you. Here are some tips to hone your skills at understanding the needs of people unlike you.

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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.