I happened to come across this recent article in Dwell Magazine. The article showcases The Nook cabin, a minimalist retreat in the woods, created by documentary photographer Mike Belleme.

“Essentially one open space, the tiny cabin relies on various levels, inviting nooks, and differences in wood tone to differentiate between areas. In the breakfast nook near the kitchen and front door, where the lowered ceiling creates an intimate atmosphere, the team used black walnut. The living area with its lofty roofline and enormous windows uses cherry wood which, Mike says, "has a lot of color to it and felt light and airy." The cozier, darker side of the home has a Japanese-inspired aesthetic whereas the taller, brighter side skews more Scandinavian: "Both styles are minimalist and work really well together."“  Go HERE for the full story. Enjoy!

By Chicago’s Bauhaus and Beyond’s Joan Gand | If you are the new owner of a Mid-Century Modern home, congratulations! Now to the hard part…how to get the look you love. Forget what you see on HGTV/Martha Stewart/Oprah. Mid-Century modern has its own look and it will keep its value if you follow these simple rules.  I have come up with these thoughts after making many mistakes myself over the years. I hope that sharing my hard-earned knowledge will help you find your own Mid Mod style here.

Enjoy the full article HERE. Cheers!

Hi Folks! Looking for a nice outdoor activity with some good social distancing? One of the many unique places we have here is the Blue Ridge Daylily Farm with hundreds of hybrid and award winning daylilies. Between now and the next two weeks is peek season. Take a bottle of wine and stroll through their beautiful gardens. We go every year and pick out a new one for our garden. You pick. They dig. Enjoy your Sunday!

This popped up in our feed and I thought we would pass it along. I’ve been wondering what is going to replace all the graphic grays and whites going on for the past few years. Here is a peak a what designers are seeing on houzz. Everyone stay safe and have a lovely weekend. Cheers!

Good Morning. Perhaps a bit of a departure here for our blog, but life is one big departure currently. Restaurants are such an integral part of our lifestyle and we have many friends in the business. And they support so many other businesses and so on. While moving tables outdoors may seem like an easy solution during this time there are still many challenges to face. Marites Abueg, an architecture college pal of mine, was interviewed for this article in Wired Magazine. Marites and Keith have designed over 50 restaurants in the Bay Area. If you are curious check it out here. Cheers!

I know Kelly and I appreciate this day so much given the love we have for our own fathers. We hope you take today and let some love outshine everything else going on in the world today and celebrate your father or the gift of being a father. And we hope you are blessed as we are. Cheers to Les, Ted, Chett and all the fathers out there.

Asheville has many beautiful environments to enjoy from our urban downtown to lush and dramatic mountains. In the valleys between we have gentle pastoral landscapes for farming and livestock. Kelly and I find we “chomp at the bit” to tour some of those properties with our clients who are involved with horses, homesteading or both. Some of Kelly’s childhood was spent at her family’s Dude Ranch style camp in the Catskills of upstate New York while I grew up on a small horse farm in Southern Indiana. We find that sense of home in connecting to our rural roots. Below are some photos from Kelly’s recent showing of a small horse farm property in Candler as potential for raising both horses and alpacas. Know we would love to help you find your beautiful pastoral nest here, too. We have our boots standing by the door. Cheers!

We are always looking for inspiration for our Asheville audience from both here and other places. This modern home built in 1967 in the hilly Chautauqua area of Boulder, Colorado, has sweeping views of the surrounding mountains. But inside, it needed work to make it more functional for the current homeowners, a couple with two children. They turned to architects at Dodd-Studio to reconfigure the layout with materials and finishes consistent with the home’s midcentury design. They enlisted designer Kate Van Sluyter to update the interior.

Van Sluyter says, “Their goal was to preserve the architecture but also make it more functional for their daily lifestyle and two children, with updates to modernize it. We kept the language of midcentury modern but not outright. The finishes are more current.”

For the full article on Houzz go here.

Architects around the world sound off on how the COVID-19 pendemic will change our homes — and what “shelter” means in the new normal. See the full article from Dwell here.

As the new coronavirus continues to spread, cities and countries around the globe have ordered citizens to retreat to their homes—and stay there. As we shelter in place, the rooms where we once spent few waking hours now encapsulate our entire existence—and this short-term recalibration may have long-term effects. We spoke with seventeen architects and designers to find out what the COVID-19 pandemic means for the future of home design—read on for their thoughts.

In honor of one of our most celebrated architects we thought it would worthwhile to re-share this fascinating interview of the man himself. It is truly fascinating and his messages are worth revisiting today. Cheers to FLW!