As a lot of you will be heading "out east" to the Hamptons for what might be a long weekend, we'll be hard at work on wrapping up a Hamptons beach house design we began last October. The Client is scheduled to move in July 15th and the Contractor is working around the clock to make it happen. The project was a complete gut renovation of a 1920's ranch style home with a 1980's addition. We have brought it into the 21st Century for a young modern family. Here are some sneak peeks of our design: We removed the existing roof adding a roof deck with views of the bay and the ocean. A skylight brings more natural light into the interior. New Open Kitchen Design: Living and Dining Area: Family Room: Home Office: Baby's Room: Girls' Room:   The push is on to have things ready when they're summer rental is up on July 15th!  

Kitchen design and renovation in NYC can present a dizzying array of options for kitchen countertops. Here is a roundup of popular options, with pros and cons…

A homeowner will be exposed to gamma radiation from the granite. Inhalation of radioactive granite dust during installation is a far greater hazard.

Mistakes are costly, and the designer is the only one on the project team with the complete vision. Good planning is the only hedge against wasting money.

No matter what the economy, kitchen interior design seems to be unaffected. Floors and appliances wear out and need replacing, cabinets get old, paint fades and the family cook suddenly finds the whole room unworkable. That's when it's time to renovate, and designers say this year's kitchen interior design trends are pleasing both to the eye and the environment. "We're noticing less new construction and more renovation. More clients are staying put, and want their current space to function properly and look great," said Kati Curtis, an interior designer with Kati Curtis Design in Manhattan and a member of the American Society of Interior Designers. "They are more willing to spend on top-quality, energy-efficient appliances and materials that look great, perform well and will last." Kate Talbott, a kitchen and bath designer at Millbrook Cabinetry and Design on Route 44 in Millbrook, said this year's trends lean toward big open rooms for dining and seating — the great room concept. Perhaps because of that, furniture styling is also of interest to homeowners. "Making things look like furniture … furniture legs on islands, furniture details on bases, making islands look like tables, things like that. It's definitely a popular look," she said. In cabinets, people are opting for painted wood rather than a natural oak or cherry wood stain. "White is incredibly popular for anyone doing paint," said Talbott, adding that a glaze on top of the standard white is a...

Kitchens and bathrooms are by far the most important rooms in the house when it comes to remodeling, selling and buying. Interest in these highly specialized and technical areas of the home gobbles up a huge portion of HGTV and DIY Web sites, and is a specialty among designers like me.

Put simply, an induction-cooker element ("burner") is a powerful, high-frequency electromagnet, with the electromagnetism generated by sophisticated electronics in the "element" under the unit's ceramic surface. When a good-sized piece of magnetic material such as a stainless steel skillet is placed in the magnetic field that the element is generating, the field transfers ("induces") energy into that metal.