What it is: As its name suggests, romantic style has a certain softness and fanciful allure that’s as difficult to resist as a surprise box of candy. It harks back to the Victorian age, a time of courtliness and old-fashioned decorum, although it’s easy and fresh faced instead of musty and fusty. Why it works: [...]

1 recommendation about a beautiful lunch spot, and this whole project’s scope changed. During an interview about designing a terrace, landscape architect David Fierabend sized up his potential clients’ tastes and suggested they check out Terrain immediately. “They went the following day, called me while they were eating there and told me that they needed [...]

The connection between exterior and interior is a common characteristic in the design of several midcentury modern houses. But sometimes you can have a little too much of a fantastic thing — in this instance an entrance courtyard which has been over 300 square feet. Designer Greg Crawford of Bilden retrieved most of the space [...]

Timeworn and unique items come back to life in this East Vancouver townhouse rental. When Tami and Josh Knepper relocated here five decades ago, they designed their home to mirror who they’re: “diverse, quirky and a little weird,” Tami says. From a mural made from contact paper into Josh’s old Spiderman robe, this heritage home [...]

Locating the ideal site was simple for architect Charles Debbas. Designing an equally ideal house to fit on it was a harder matter. Debbas didn’t want his new home, perched from the Oakland Hills across the bay from San Francisco, to feel alienated in the hillside. So he sank it to the plot, allowing for [...]

My daughter graduated from eighth grade and is on to her next phase of life — high school. I was cleaning her off before we left for our much-earned vacation to the beach. I briefly read over her papers, notes and to-do lists out of courses. She worked hard this year. She’s my small “working [...]

The New York skyline is the boldest accessory within the house. This 24th-floor high rise in the West Chelsea area of Manhattan overlooks the town’s skyline, with views stretching out over the rest of the city. Designer Drew McGukin used this opinion as a background for the client’s contemporary soul. This was the client’s first [...]

Most architects are not great at advertising. We are inclined to get work by doing amazing work for our customers and trusting they spread the word to others. We don’t usually promote our services. Actually, at one point it was considered unethical for architects to market, and also our regulating agencies formally forbid it. Architecture [...]

Every aspect of this home’s layout was molded around views, slope and natural lighting, states Paul Whincup of Habitat Studio & Workshop. The homeowners, a couple with a college-age son, wanted a home which could be amusement friendly, using a distinct indoor-outdoor feel. And then they got it. See how sun, color and fun fill [...]

Like it or not, Jack Frost is edging in on us at quite a rapid pace. And should you happen to stay on the East Coast, you are already enjoying winter’s windy ways. Right? Okay, so maybe not — which was a mean trick which Mother Nature played with you guys. However, either way, unless [...]