Our ask a designer posts.

Inside the wall of a home under construction. There's a heat recovery system being installed.
Ask a Designer, Custom Residential, Multifamily Residential

How a Heat Recovery Ventilator Can Make Your Home Healthier

Indoor air quality has never been a more pressing or popular target than it is today. With smoke from wildfires all over the West and the continuing global pandemic of COVID-19, many of us are wondering whether our indoor air is safe. The good news is: it can be, with the right systems in place.

Learn more.
A rendering of a home with the HVAC systems colored in purple and blue to show their routing through the home.
Ask a Designer, Custom Residential

Options for Updating Your HVAC System for Better Indoor Air Quality

There have been a lot of discussions and varied information on how the built environment affects the spread of COVID-19. Now, we are also seeing more intense wildfires and smoke than we’ve seen in the past decade. With both these environmental issues keeping people indoors, healthy ventilation strategies are more important than ever.

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Ask a Designer, Custom Residential

Five Takeaways From Remodeling Our Home As Our Own Contractor

With construction costs rising (and construction budgets feeling the pinch) it’s becoming more and more popular to self-perform at least some of the work on a remodel that might normally be left for a general contractor. Luckily, Kaysie did just that not too long ago, and she’s sharing her five takeaways from the experience.

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Two people sketching over a low table.
Architecture, Ask a Designer

What It’s Like Working with an Architect

When you see an architect portrayed on television or in the movies, they’re either totally unrelatable, wildly eccentric creative-types, or in all black, mingling at a cocktail party as if they would rather be anywhere else. Inevitably, these characters have egos so big they barely fit in the frame. But what’s it like working with real-life architects?

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The blue ceiling and yellow wall of a historic home with modern-made historic details.
Ask a Designer, Custom Residential, Historic & Traditional, Interior Design

Matching a Historic Feel with Modern Materials

How authentic does something really need to be? When you remodel a historic home, or just love a lived-in look, it can be difficult to determine when (and how) to make a new object or material look original. Here, we’ve laid out a few rules of thumb to follow if you’re ever in this predicament yourself.

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What do all these types of lines in architecture plans mean?
Architecture, Ask a Designer

What Different Line Types in Architecture & Design Drawings Mean

Thick lines, thin lines, lines with short or long dashes (or both!) — if you don’t speak the language of all these line types, an architecture or design drawing can be pretty mystifying. This primer on design drawing linework will give you a starter toolkit so you can tell what you’re looking at.

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Client-centered authenticity is our north star, and we continue to prove that great design doesn’t require great ego.

How a Heat Recovery Ventilator Can Make Your Home Healthier

Indoor air quality has never been a more pressing or popular target than it is today. With smoke from wildfires all over the West and the continuing global pandemic of COVID-19, many of us are wondering whether our indoor air is safe. The good news is: it can be, with the right systems in place.

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.

Get in touch.