Blog
Learn more about architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture from the B&V Team.
Our blog is a friendly resource for anyone wondering how to approach their project, seeking answers for their design questions, or simply eager for a peek inside our world.
Services
Disciplines
Additional Options
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.
Learn more.
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.
Learn more.
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.
Learn more.
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.
Learn more.
Arts & Culture
Work by Zack Bolotin in the “By Others” Gallery at Board & Vellum
The Capitol Hill Art Walk is coming up again, and here at Board & Vellum’s By Others gallery, we are hosting a show by local artist Zack Bolotin. Read our Q&A with him to learn a little about his midcentury-inspired prints ahead of the March 8th opening reception.
Learn more.
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.
Learn more.
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?
Learn more.
Ask a Designer, Custom Residential
What is Driving Up the Cost of Construction in Seattle?
Does it seem to you like the cost of construction in Seattle is through-the-roof-crazy? You’re not wrong! Why is the cost of construction rising to surprising heights? Well, it’s complicated. Here are a few reasons why, and a few ways that you can plan your project to ensure it’s worth it. (It is!)
Learn more.
The Business of Design
Disrupting the Design Industry with Great Benefits
The architecture and design industry is notorious for high-pressure workplaces that lack great benefits. But it doesn’t have to be that way. At Board & Vellum, we are proving that a design firm can offer great benefits: the numbers pencil out. Now, our goal is to help other firms join us to redefine the design industry.
Learn more.Or, if chronology isn’t your thing…
Here are a couple of posts to get you started. Of course, it’s hard to choose, so feel free to poke around; we hope to have a little something for everyone. And, if you have a burning question you’d like us to cover in a future post, please let us know!
Considering a project, or curious about something?
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.
Honored as a finalist for residential landscape design.
Our team includes LEED-accredited professionals.
Our team includes certified Passive House consultants.
A Certified LGBT Business Enterprise Since 2016.
Honoring companies that lead in promoting equality.