It looks so quiet from the outside...can you see the guys working hard up on the fourth floor?

New insulation

Hard at work

work station

Hi Bob!

Progress is happening up there on the fourth floor of the Archer House.  This is just a little photo update from our past post.  Be sure to look at the work we have previously done on the other levels of the building either in person at the hotel or here on our website in our “Before & After” section.  Thanks for checking in!  More updates will follow.

We are very excited to be a part of the Archer House’s 4th floor remodel!  What was once an attic used only for storage will now become three additional guest rooms, one of those will be a king size suite with bedroom, dining room, living room and kitchenette.  The suites will have the option of being reserved separately or together as one large three-bedroom suite.  Ideal for weddings, extended-stays, or family travel!

These are the before photos.  More to come as the work progresses.

Well, the holidays are over and the New Year is upon us.  Take  a deep breath, you made it through!  It seems that with the new year comes a sense of re-grouping, purging, organizing, and de-cluttering, not to mention all the weight-loss resolutions I keep hearing about.

This new year, I invite you to focus on your home for a few moments.  Think of how entertaining went over the holiday – do the holidays bring your family a little too close together?  Was your kitchen cramped with more than one person in it?  Were you seriously short on dining room space?

While it is still fresh in your mind, make mental notes of what worked and what didn’t work in your home, including whether you need more space to prepare and serve meals, or more room for overnight guests.  Now is the time to objectively assess your needs in detail before the barrage  of home shows and expos, (that way you can go to the shows prepared and armed with a list of realistic and practical ideas).

Are your cabinets outdated? How are the floors and countertops holding up?  Do the light fixtures provide good ambient and task lighting or do they only serve to illuminate the cracks in the ceiling?  Did your family flow easily from one room to the next, or do bottlenecks abound?

*If you are having trouble with this type of analysis, feel free to schedule an appointment with one of our designers to walk you through the process.

Then bring you observations to us and we’ll help you formulate a plan!  For more than 30 years this family-run business has encountered pretty much every remodeling challenge, providing personalized, responsive solutions.  We guarantee quality craftsmanship and a quality outcome.

I would like to highlight their Green Building Pyramid:

Green Builder Magazine has successfully broken down, by difficulty, all the steps you can take to creating an eco-friendly home.

First and foremost is Education: “If you don’t understand basic green principles, you’re likely to make decisions you later regret”.  Green Builder College has courses you can take, but there are things you can do locally as well.  Just reading the handbook will give you a great start! The Northfield Public Library has several wonderful books on green building and remodeling.   We are also fortunate enough to have two colleges with many resources.

Secondly, if you are building a new home, consider Location, Siting, and House Size.  Controlling house size is one of my favorite aspects of being an Interior Designer.  In most house plans there are so many missed opportunities for saving space.  I love to find ways to increase efficiency and function, while maintaining the proper scale and proportions of the home.  With the economy the way it is, people are demanding (and rightly so, I believe) more functionality out of less space.

Cabinets, flooring and counter-tops installed.  Finishing up moulding and paint.  Next will come appliances and a final clean!

Chris loves spending time with her daughter, Rachel. Dr. Campbell also likes to read, travel and garden with the help of her chocolate lab, Coco.

Register September 1, 2011 – February 17, 2012