by Audrey | Apr 16, 2025 | Charlottesville, Green Building, Harrisonburg Architect, Interior Design
Contractor: Herr and Company
The Perfect Car Garage
By Jarod Sankar
Anyone who knows me outside of work knows that aside from design & architecture, I have a passion for cars. As a former car salesman, I have been able to experience some really fun and unique vehicles. Out of the hundreds of cars that I have driven, my all-time favorite is my car – I may be a little bias. Check out my Acura TLX. This was my first brand-new car, and I enjoy every mile with this car. I don’t take living in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains for granted, and most weekends, you can find me up on the Blue Ridge Parkway, driving aimlessly for sometimes hours. I can’t call myself a car guy and not know how to design a good home for my baby – I mean my car. Here are some tips on how to make your garage more than just walls and a door.
Storage
First, any car lover, or organization lover will tell you that good storage in a garage is imperative. Having a place for everything, and everything in its place, makes things so much easier, whether it’s storing copious amounts of detailing supplies such as myself, or keeping all your tools and equipment safe and sound.
You don’t always have to go the pre-built storage systems or open shelving route. Sometimes, it makes the most sense to just install typical cabinets with a wood or metal work top. This can sometimes be cheaper and looks way more custom.
If you aren’t sure yet how to lay out your storage, you can start by planning ahead by doing counter height outlets along the wall to leave space for future storage systems or cabinetry.
Flooring
Secondly, you may consider adding a floor drain to your garage design. Incorporating this has many benefits, and makes washing your car so much easier. This also can be helpful in preventing any water damage from snow or ice that melts off your vehicle onto the floor. Along with the addition of a floor drain, dyed and polished concrete or an epoxy covering can make your garage more attractive and functional.
Lighting
Third, good garage lighting makes all the difference. If you’re a tad bit obsessive like me, you want to see every molecule of dirt that may be left on your vehicle after a hand wash. More importantly, a well-lit garage is safer to maneuver around. Incorporate LED lighting into the ceiling, under cabinet lighting for your work top, and step lighting if applicable.
Garage Doors
No garage is complete without a garage door. No matter what the configuration, garage doors serve a purpose. Garage doors can be installed with or without insulation. Insulated garage doors help keep your garage warm during the winter, which in turn also will have your HVAC system working less hard. For the style of door, try to avoid real wood garage doors. Like all wood, it requires regular maintenance. Instead, look for faux wood finishes, or go with a painted metal option. Along with the door itself, you may consider installing a wall mounted opener rather than a traditional overhead opener. Wall mounted openers are typically much quieter and usually are much more attractive. Lastly, if your design allows for it, it’s always good to incorporate a person-door to access the exterior from your garage. Having to open and close your overhead door can become cumbersome, so for quick access, a regular entry door is much more convenient.
For more ideas on how to design your dream garage, contact us. We would love to give you the perfect home for you and your family’s needs…and a perfect home for your car’s needs!
Click here to learn more about detached garage design solutions
by Audrey | Mar 24, 2025 | Charlottesville, Harrisonburg Architect, Interior Design
Cover Photo: Elise Trissel | Contractor: Trost Custom Homes
By Jarod Sankar
What really makes a home custom? Whether it’s building from the ground up, or renovating something existing, a custom home is a space crafted for you and your family’s needs. Just like a well-tailored suit, or a shoe that fits just right, having a space that not only meets your aesthetic preferences, but also meets your functional needs, is a wonderful feeling.
One of the most important places in any home is the kitchen. When crafting a custom kitchen, things like storage, seating, appliances, lighting, and flow are what can make or break a functional space. Here are some important questions and considerations you should talk through with your designer, and some helpful ideas on how to make your existing space more functional.
1) What kind of cabinetry do I want?
Cabinetry is one of the biggest components that make up a kitchen. Cabinets come in all shapes and sizes, and it’s important to know the difference. Cabinets are usually broken into three categories, which is off-the-shelf, semi-custom, and fully custom. Budget is usually what dictates which direction to go. Off-the-shelf cabinetry always comes in standard widths, depths, and layouts. You can still make an extremely functional space with these cabinets, but it’s important to talk with your designer about how you use your kitchen and how to maximize your storage. Semi-custom cabinetry has much more wiggle room, as you can adjust the depths, layouts, and features much more easily. With semi-custom cabinetry, it is easier to do things like larger than standard sink widths, appliance garages, built-in trash cans and cutting boards, etc. Full custom cabinetry is just as it sounds and is built by hand to meet exactly what you are looking for. This is the best choice for creating a fully custom kitchen, but it is also the most expensive. Semi-custom and fully custom also offer much more flexibility in terms of design, such as colors, wood species, stains, door styles, hardware, and all other cabinetry accessories. We specify kitchen cabinetry based on what is best suited for the client, and meets functionality, aesthetics, and budget restrictions.
2) What appliances do I need?
There are many more appliances on the market than just the typical refrigerator, stove, and microwave. Are you a minimalist who hates having appliances on the countertop? Are you someone who loves morning coffee but gets tired of refilling the water reservoir on your coffee maker? There are a ton of options for modern-day appliances that can end up making your day so much easier, and having an intuitive and custom kitchen involves thinking through exactly what you need, and what you don’t need. Along with thinking through what specialty appliances you could benefit from, there are also design implications that can be influenced by your lifestyle. For example, drawer microwaves and raised dishwashers could have much more ease of use, and promote aging in place.
3) What kind of lighting does my kitchen need?
Lighting is broken down into 4 segments:
- Task
- General
- Ambient
- Decorative
While there can be crossover between segments, kitchens need all four types of lighting to be the most functional. When designing a custom kitchen, think about how lighting plays a role in what you use your kitchen for. Task lighting includes under cabinet lighting, pendant lighting over your island or sink, and any other type of light that illuminates a specific area for work. General lighting is your room illumination, including recessed cans or flush mounts throughout the space that light up surfaces and walking paths. Ambient lighting can be similar to task lighting, as it highlights a specific area, or adds a general ambient feel to the space. This may be just adding a lamp to the kitchen counter for some warmth or leaving your light above the range on at night as a night light. Decorative lighting can be a specialty or be an aspect of the other three types. While pendants over the island may serve as task lighting, they can also be decorative to play into the aesthetic of the space.
This is just a start to figuring out how to make your custom kitchen truly custom, by best fitting your needs and working with your kitchen activities, not against. By thinking through these questions and answering them honestly, you’ll be able to give your designer great information on how to best design a space tailored to you.
Click here to learn more about countertop options
Click here to learn more about planning a kitchen renovation
Click here to learn more about why you should hire an interior designer
by Audrey | Mar 4, 2025 | Harrisonburg Architect, Interior Design
Photo by Brandy Somers Photography
How does a completed selection list prior to construction help the project budget?
By Jarod Sankar
When building a custom home, or renovating an existing space, there are many little details that all need to fit together, just like a puzzle. As most puzzles tend to be, missing even one tiny piece will distract from the entirety of what’s around it and make it look incomplete. No one likes an incomplete puzzle, and even more so, no one likes an incomplete house.
With this in mind, our firm is dedicated to providing you with a complete, thought-through, and well-designed set of drawings. To aid in this process, we provide our clients with a selection spreadsheet. This spreadsheet houses all the interior selections from the ground up. Having these selections prior to construction is a critical aspect in ensuring that a project remains on budget and avoids any unwanted change orders.
We work with some spectacular builders, but none of them are mind-readers. It’s important to remember that your builder won’t be able to accurately price a job without knowing the full scope. Just like you wouldn’t want your builder to start work from unfinished plans, the same is true for unfinished selections. While it may seem like you can pick things out during the construction process, most things need to be thought through beforehand, so that there are no unexpected issues with the selection. Material costs, labor costs, and timeline can all be affected by one specific selection. If any of these things change during construction, you end up responsible for paying for a change order.
To mitigate these potential problems, our goal is to provide your builder with a full detailed list of all the selections that make up your new home or renovation. Knowing what size and material of tile that you’re using, what window casing you desire, what front door you like, and all the other considerations are things that can drastically increase or decrease the overall price that comes from your builder. When a selection choice comes in over budget, it is much easier to adjust and rethink the selection before construction starts, not after.
Putting together a puzzle with missing pieces may be possible, but it doesn’t end up pretty. Let us help you complete the puzzle and work with you throughout the pre-design, design, and construction phases of your project.
by Charles Hendricks | Jan 16, 2025 | architecture, Commercial Architect, Harrisonburg Architect, Interior Design, project update, School architect
Eastern Mennonite Elementary school is in the home stretch with finishes being installed. On my last visit the lights were being installed inside, the drywall was done, and the shape of the space was clear. I am looking forward to a return visit as the doors have been installed and I imagine the space is flooded with light. There is also a special stained glass installation happening in one of the three upper windows on the north side of the space. I have seen bits of this beautiful work being created by Zachery Nafzinger on his social media posts for ZN Stained Glass.
This space will serve as a place of gathering for the students of the Elementary school to come together and build community. This is a fundamental goal of our firm is to create spaces where this can happen. The idea of building a stronger community through design is what drives us to keep doing what we are doing.
The goal of this building and this space was to keep a connection to the outside, to make it adaptable for many uses, and to incorporate building science / sustainability. We have achieved each of those goals with the wide doors that can stay open in nice weather creating a pavilion like space. The space will be used for lunch, class gatherings, whole school functions, and even a recreation space for days when PE cannot be outside. The building science / sustainability strategies we have used throughout this project include air tight insulation, exterior continuous insulation, LED lights, and a simple form to reduce material use while making the building striking from the outside.
I cannot wait to see it finished and being used. I know the teachers will also welcome this added space for their daily functions.
by Charles Hendricks | Oct 24, 2024 | architecture, Historic Renovation, Interior Design
Whatever your kitchen is to you, you deserve to have it be a special place that fits your needs both functionally and aesthetically. Below are five kitchens to inspire your own home kitchen renovation. For each, we listened to the individual client’s needs and dreams and designed a space to encapsulate the conversations. The results are broad, as each client has different needs and ideas. It is always wonderful to see designs go from ideas to paper (or computer) to a built-environment where memories are made.
1. Eat in Kitchen
The kitchen at Harrisonburg Park House is designed to fit within a small home footprint, utilizing the space by using an open floorplan. The connection between the kitchen, living room, and dining room allows family and friends to be together while watching TV or making meals. The client’s personality shines through patterns and colors that pop in the space, creating a warm, welcoming atmosphere.
2. Double Island Kitchen
This kitchen features two islands and custom cabinets. This space is open to the living room, has an informal eat in area, and tall ceilings.
3. Family Friendly Kitchen
This kitchen provides space for homework, gatherings, and multiple cooks at one time.
4. Historic Home Kitchen
This kitchen addition on a historic home opened up a small space to create a place for large gatherings in a bright space.
4. Views for Days Kitchen
The kitchen of Casa Cielo speaks for itself. The gorgeous wood was a detail that was important to our clients as well as being connected to nature. The wide windows on one side draw your eye and create a synthesis between the interior home and the landscape. Although windows in a kitchen can take up precious cabinet space, creative solutions like designing large cabinet sections on the other walls leave ample storage space.
Blog written by Asha Beck
by Charles Hendricks | Sep 27, 2024 | Interior Design
We’re no longer just dreaming about changing colors, leaves falling, and the air getting cooler – Fall is here. As we transition into this new season, the warm and festive colors make us reminiscent of memories spent with family, being together, and even a home-cooked meal. For such a beautiful time of year, everything seems to move at warp speed, making it all the more important to savor the short-lived moments of the season. However, if you’re looking for ways to keep that fall feeling going a little longer, try incorporating some of these simple ideas into your home or business to add a touch of seasonal fun to your environment.
1. Showcase your heirlooms, antiques, and collectible items.
The fall season is a great reminder to embrace family, friends, and togetherness. Display things that make you happy and remind you of those you love!
2. Bring nature indoors.
Incorporate natural elements such as wood, pinecones, or even seasonal fruit. Bringing in natural elements during any season can bring a sense of joy and bring warmth to the space.
3. Explore introducing bold colors as a temporary accent or more permanent statement.
Warm tones such as deep reds, browns, and rust colors are popular right now for good reason – and they’re not just for the Fall season. Pair these colors with gold or wood accents and don’t be afraid to try a new color in a space that could use a “wow factor”.
Blog written by Asha Beck
This space will serve as a place of gathering for the students of the Elementary school to come together and build community. This is a fundamental goal of our firm is to create spaces where this can happen. The idea of building a stronger community through design is what drives us to keep doing what we are doing.
