Endless Views In Stone Harbor
The unique location of the oversized lot for this property in Stone Harbor allowed for the opportunity to take advantage of many different types of views. It is located at the end of a long street leading toward the ocean, and at the end of a basin leading out to the intercoastal waterway. This location allowed for balconies and decks to capture both views to and breezes from the ocean as well as bayside views to the west. The home's design is right side up in that the living room, dining room, kitchen spaces are on the ground level stepping out onto a wide porch and deck areas projecting out over the bay waters. Adjacent to this is a swimming pool and full service cabana contained in a semi-detached garage space. Overtop of the garage is a bunkroom with its own balcony overlooking the bay, and includes a working cupola to assist in ventilation. The garage is linked to the house through an overhead walkway containing a large window seat and bookcases. This, too, includes a verandah facing out towards the east. Most of the bedrooms are upstairs; two of the children's bedrooms contain sleeping lofts over top of adjacent closet space for additional bedroom space. One of the focal points of the design in the main living room and the family room is a wide sweeping bay window seat, further enhancing views out to the bay.
Contemporary In Stone Harbor
This bay front home in Stone Harbor is a contemporary design. The form of the building is a combination of curves, arches and waves to evoke a feeling of the sea. The curves and bay windows accentuate views around the neighbors to the meadows across the street, as well as to the basin behind the house. Arching ceilings open up to light monitors which bring in light from many angles at all hours of the day. Glass is a material that is used extensively throughout the home, such as for the glass countertops. One of the most unique glass features, however, is the glass stairway, which goes up three stories. It is made of maple supports and cantilevered glass treads. The stairs lead to a glass floor that guides the way to the kitchen and dining areas. This glass floor doubles as a ceiling for the first floor below, transmitting an abundance of natural light throughout the first floor.
Villa By The Shore
The property for this bay front project in Avalon is a pie shape that opens to a frontage along open bay waters. The home is designed to be reminiscent of an Italian country villa with detailed window patterning, roofing materials, etc. to create an authentic appearance. The focus of the home is a two story living space on the second floor that opens out onto mahogany verandas overlooking a terraced backyard, landscaped in conjunction with travertine paving material, surrounding a swimming pool. A lawn area then overlooks a boat dock. Some unique interior features include a massive stone fireplace and a tiled barrel ceiling in the kitchen, as well as antique stone columns and flooring in the foyer.
Ocean Breezes In Stone Harbor
This home, located along First Avenue in Stone Harbor, overlooks open space, recreation fields, and a long stretch of uninterrupted view to the dunes and the ocean. The design maximized views out to the ocean and also created a haven in the back yard, containing a swimming pool, cabana, and recreation room. Judicious use of landscaping and careful placement of windows allows privacy from the adjacent tennis courts while maximizing views.
Vacation Home In The Islands
This family vacation compound is located in Great Guana Cay in the Abaco Islands of the Bahamas. The home site is situation on top of one of the highest points on the island, about 40 ft. above sea level in a tropical forest setting. The design consists of three buildings. The main building contains the living space, dining room and kitchen, as well as two sleeping lofts, vaulted cathedral ceiling, and powder room and laundry facilities. The building is completely surrounded with a wrap around porch. It opens out to a large open deck which steps into a swimming pool, overlooking the edge of the water below. The pool is designed with two shallow pool areas flanking steps into the main swimming area. The shallow areas contain a holder for umbrellas so that chairs can be placed in the water for maximum cooling. Flanking the main building are two smaller buildings. One contains the master bedroom and master bath with its own wrap around porch areas. This is at the edge of the overlook on a coral outcropping overlooking the sea of Abaco. The second building contains two guest suites and a small kitchenette for the couple's children and other guests. The site design is laid out so that additional guest suite buildings may be added in the future. Rounding out the construction is a separate shed containing electrical switching gear and generator to power the house in the even of one of the many blackouts that occur on the island. The exterior is all made with very low maintenance and hurricane-resistant materials.
Collaboration in Stone Harbor
This vacation home is located two blocks from the beach in Stone Harbor. Our client owns a cabinetry and interior design studio in northern New Jersey and worked with us to create an opportunity to showcase his work in the various interior millwork treatments and room styles. Each room has a unique design of wall panels, flooring, and trim, capped off by a diversity of high quality cabinetry. A unique design element is the swimming pool, which shares a wall with the rear porch, and from this wall flow waterfalls that feed into the pool. Structural requirements of the swimming pool were incorporated into the design of the porches.
Cottage On The Bay
This bay front home was designed to recall the vintage New England coastal cottages of one hundred years ago. The interior is detailed with bead board, beamed ceilings, brick fireplaces and wide plank floors. The main living space on the first floor contains a large open room, living room, dining area, and kitchen overlooking the water. This level also contains porches that lead down to the docks on the bay. The second floor is a game room that houses a pool table, game area, and TV entertainment center. The third floor is a master suite, which includes office space and an outdoor shower, which is concealed behind the chimney on the third floor deck. The exterior shutters, flower boxes, and lighting are authentic recreations of those used in past coastal cottages.
Longport Beach Cottage
This beachfront house in Longport, NJ. was designed to be reminiscent of turn of the century beach cottages. Traditional materials, such as cedar shingle siding, field stone and Vermont slate were used on the exterior. The outside features a wide, wrap around porch for spending summer days and evenings. The interior includes custom built-in cabinetry in many locations, beamed and coffered ceilings, informal gathering spaces, and bedroom suites for the family plus guests. One interesting feature of the project is that the site was occupied by a house originally designed by the current owners, which burned down in a fire which started in the neighboring house. Spared from the fire was a garage building, which has been incorporated into the new house as garage space and outside shower/cabana space.
Georgia Hideaway
Featured here a 5,000 s.f. second home for a couple who lives in Manhattan. The house is situated on the edge of a salt marsh overlooking the St. Mary's River leading to the Cumberland National Wildlife Preserve at the southern-most point in coastal Georgia. The house is designed to capture views from every room and also faces out to the 15th tee of the championship golf course on which it is situated. The home includes five bedrooms, two offices, great room with breakfast room, maple floors, cedar ceilings and an elevated lap pool projecting to the very edge of the water in the back.

One of the more interesting features of the house is the use of a local historic construction material for the exterior finish called Tabby, which is a mixture of portland cement, gypsum and oyster shells and was used by the first settlers of the village of St. Mary's in the late 1700's to construct their buildings. The appearance is unique in that the oyster shells, due to weathering over time, are visible and create a very interesting dynamic color and light reflection.
The Queen of Ocean City
This 6,000 s.f. Queen Anne style Victorian home in Ocean City, NJ is situated on two bayfront lots and is angled and skewed to catch views from every room. The layout of the home is designed to recall the gracious living of times gone by and includes a spacious entry foyer, two story stair tower and a music room off the entry foyer. Leading into the house is an ante-room, with decorative furniture and wall hangings, a small vestibule with paneled walls and ceilings that leads into the main family room area.
There's a large kitchen/breakfast room overlooking the water and off of that is a conversation room in another octagonal tower overlooking the back cooking porch, which steps down into a large back yard and deck area leading to the dock facilities. The stair leads up to a large balcony overlooking the foyer adjacent to an elevator serving both levels. Again, an ante-room decoratively furnished and trimmed leads back to the game room. Adjacent to that is the master bedroom suite and a home office in an octagonal tower overlooking the bay. A third level incorporates exercise equipment, bathroom, sauna and balcony overlooking the bay. Eleven distinct colors were used for the exterior paint scheme, which complement the five colors in the slate roof.
New England in Avalon
This three story upside-down home in the south end of Avalon was designed with authentic New England detailing of materials and mouldings. Exterior paving of bluestone leads from a dramatic mahogany front door into and up an open staircase. The second story is all living space with a home theatre room, birch floors and an incredible large birch island counter. Throughout the house, there are small nooks and sitting areas created for relaxation and reading and taking in the view of the Atlantic Ocean. The third floor master suite was designed as a private retreat. Going up the stairs, crossing a bridge, the entry passes a dramatic eyebrow window overlooking the dining area below. Other features include a private third floor sitting deck and a garage building designed to match the house and customized to exactly fit the dimensions of the owner's T-Bird.
Classic Home on Small Lot
This year-round house is located on the bay in Stone Harbor. The property in this particular case is a narrow lot. The challenge in designing this right-side-up house was creating an established home-like feel for the family with young children. The house is organized around the main living space facing out to the bay with kitchen, dining, living areas opening out onto a porch stepping down to an open deck which leads out to bulkhead and dock. In the front is a play room which will eventually be used as a library or study. A graceful arcing stair complements the two and one half story foyer, which was created to enhance the feeling of open space. The powder room was ingeniously tucked underneath the stairway with access from the back door entry, as well as the living space. The second floor is organized around three children's bedrooms and a parent suite facing the water. Much attention was given to the design and integration of window seats and library nooks for additional storage and areas for the children to play and do homework. Exterior materials are natural wood siding and roof, which are important to create the established feel of the house.