Your home is most likely the greatest investment and asset you have, and as you build or remodel your kitchen, we will encourage you to make choices that will work well for you 10, 20 or even 30 years from now. Katrine Ames of This Old House magazine says to avoid “dating” your kitchen, consider a standard square layout, classic white cabinetry and neutral stone countertops for timeless form and function.

Older homes’ kitchens often have poor traffic circulation design and inefficient workspace, so when we work with a client to redesign and remodel a kitchen area, we examine what they and their family need now and years later.

This Old House remodeled a 1940 one-story weekend house that needed more space overall. The architect’s challenge was to design a kitchen they would “still love in 30 years.” Uncomplicated lines and utilitarian workspace was the client’s choice. The kitchen area was enlarged by eliminating a ground-floor guest bedroom. An island was added as well as a breakfast nook. The well-organized white cabinets were designed to hold specific-sized dry food storage containers.

Beauty, durability . . . Trilogy Partners professionals take kitchen design from cramped to comfortable, using sustainable, ageless design and materials.

Photo Source: This Old House

image via Flickr

Sustainable design has become popular among high-end architects for good reason. Eco-friendly furniture is good for the environment and also your health in the long run. Furniture designed with sustainable materials preserves forests by repurposing materials. Sustainable furniture design also avoids toxic chemicals used in most furniture today. Here are a few of our favorite furniture pieces from a new face in sustainable design.

New York-based designer Michael Robbins creates one of a kind handmade sustainable furniture from reclaimed wood. He got his start in New Mexico while building stools and chairs for his adobe home. Each piece of  furniture is handcrafted from his work studio, an old barn in the Hudson Valley. Robbins focuses on the art of form and simplicity in his design. His collection is quite new, and was just released in 2012.

Though Robbins designs and crafts each piece of furniture himself, every piece has its own unique feel. Some dark wood, some light wood, others are blends of dark and light or even painted neon green. More recently, he has added tables and lighting to his portfolio. Robbins take a classic twist on traditional furniture, by giving it the look and feel of abstract art.

image via Flickr

Smooth, round river rocks have been used for centuries in a variety of architectural designs. Such a long history of usage has not made them less popular today. The trend of using smooth river rock lends itself naturally to your Breckenridge luxury home plan.
There are many uses for river rock in interior and exterior design, but do not use them inside a fireplace, because when heated to a high temperature the rocks could explode.
A variety of size options are available, from tiny pebbles to large round stones. The natural assortment of colors makes them fun for planning your palette, regardless of whether you mix and match schemes. Solid colors, such as black can make an impressive statement as a focal point in a room decor.
Imagine massaging your bare feet every time you step into your river rock shower floor. A river rock fireplace will only enhance the natural mountain setting so abundant in your Breckenridge luxury home environment. Consider a earthy outdoor setting with the loose spreading of pea-size pebbles underfoot. Compliment your marble or granite kitchen countertop with river rock walls.
Let the Trilogy Team help you design and build your Summit County home. Contact us today.

A SIP – Structural Insulated Panel – is a building component sandwich. It’s an energy efficient foam core laminated between two layers of wood sheathing, faced with drywall, fiberboard, metal, and even plastic. Well-designed and manufactured SIPS will make a house more energy-efficient, stronger, tighter, and more comfortable. There are some other appealing virtues to structural insulated panels that will make you want to build with them, including:

Image: Solares Architecture via Houzz

• SIP’s are a green building product. SIP walls demand far less lumber than conventionally framed dwellings. Because the wood panels are made with wood chips, 95% of a tree can be used, as opposed to only 63% if it’s sown into solid lumber.
• SIPs outperform conventional walls in fires. According to data from extensive laboratory fire testing and reports on SIP houses from real-life incidents, they are more resistant to fires.
• SIP walls are highly efficient. Foam provides much greater insulating value per inch than fiberglass batting.
• The foam is continuous throughout the wall, without the pockets and flaws in batt installations between studs.
• Foam won’t allow air infiltration inside the panels; if installed correctly they can be completely sealed.

Since 1998, Trilogy Partners has been building the finest homes in Summit County, contact us about structural insulated panels at 970-453-2230.

Universal Design is a concept that strives to create products and living environments that are functional for everyone, to the maximum degree, regardless of ability. According to Livable for a Lifetime, there are three principles of Universal Design:

1. Equitable Use
2. Flexibility in Use
3. Simple and Intuitive

One area of your home that can benefit greatly by applying the principles of Universal Design are accessories you can add to your kitchen’s cabinetry. These accessories will help create an accessible kitchen design that allows your family to easily get to what they need, while your kitchen stays neat and organized.

• Rollout shelves for base cabinets. These convenient additions will increase your storage while making the contents of your cabinets easy to access.
• Base cabinet drawers. Another more luxurious option is to install base cabinets with drawers instead of doors as your base cabinetry.
• Door-mounted rack system. A beautiful and functional door rack is great for holding thinner items like cutting boards, cookie sheets and dish-drain trays.
• Double waste containers. These waste containers, one for waste and the other for recycling, can also feature an automatic opening system for extra convenience.

Contact Trilogy Partners to get begin designing your universal design kitchen today.

The New American Home for 2013 embraces a new face in energy efficiency trends. The green home features methods that can be adapted into any home or business budget, such as:

• Green Building Materials –The demand for sustainable, environmentally-friendly buildings are on the rise. The home includes green floor coverings, certified lumber, recycled content concrete, efficient plumbing and lighting fixtures.
• Energy Star Products – A trustworthy indicator for consumers in need of environmentally-friendly and efficient electronics, appliances and heating/cooling systems that are EPA certified.
• Solar Energy – Solar systems for heating water or space continue to become more technologically advanced.
• Wind Energy – Energy from the wind is converted into a useful form for home and business.  An upsurge has been experienced in the field of wind energy.
• Geothermal Energy –Tapping into constantly replenished thermal energy stored within the earth is growing in popularity with sustainable architectural design.
• Eco-friendly Landscaping – Select drought tolerant or energy enhancing plant material to complement any home or business.

Contact our team at Trilogy Partners today to learn more about new technologies, sustainable building practices, and more.

Image and design via Trilogy Partners.

In Colorado, a custom home is the best way to accommodate the contours of the homeowners lot and to serve the needs of that particular clients’ lifestyle. Here are the main ways in which Colorado custom homes serve families well:

• Views. After a thorough site evaluation, a designer determines how best to place the home on the property, and which rooms (and windows) will go where. This is especially important in Colorado towns like Breckenridge, where vistas are a big draw.
• Amenities. Whereas older homes have smaller kitchens and baths, new custom homes can be designed with exactly the amenity that the client is looking for — be it a steam shower, sauna, or home gym.
• Efficiency. A quality custom home by a design firm that understands sustainability can lower your monthly heating and water usage. Features like insulated windows, radiant heat in floors, and solar panels save energy.

For a Colorado custom home that serves families well and respects the land, contact Trilogy Partners at 970-453-2230.

There is no point in serving a banquet of local sustainable foods in a room laden with non-sustainable design elements. Sustainable interior design ensures a comprehensive integration of sustainable elements in every room of the home – all of which work to complement one another.

photo via architecturaldigest.com

Architectural Digest highlighted some of the stunning tabletop designs featured at the 15th- annual “Dining by Design” fundraiser – Design Industries Foundation Fighting Aids (DIFFA). The event was hosted by AD and featured multiple examples of sustainable dining room design.

One of the most notable designs, especially in terms of sustainability, was Ralph Lauren’s home installation. It is a wonderful example of the importance of design continuity. Built for a log cabin, the Lauren dining table was designed by Alfredo Paredes. It is constructed from rough-hewn timber, and resides underneath an antler chandelier, and earth-toned cushions and table coverings, which all play into the homey feel of a rustic family cabin.

Sustainable tables focus on using recycled/reused materials, minimal finish – or low-VOC pigments – and should serve as a complement to existing interior design themes. For more information on how to implement sustainable design in your dining room, contact Trilogy Builders – expert sustainable builders for over 15- years.

We’ve been hearing the rumors for months about the new iPad mini that would rival the popular Kindle Fire by Amazon. Today Apple revealed their design for the Mini, which will be smaller and lighter than its predecessor, measuring 7.9 diagonal inches and weighing just 308g.

Photo via Mashable

The cost of the iPad mini will be a little higher than the other tablets similar in size, with the Wi-Fi only version starting at $329 and the cellular version starting at $459.

According to Apple, the iPad Mini features “a beautiful display, powerful A5 chip, FaceTime HD camera, iSight camera with 1080p HD video recording, ultrafast wireless, and over 275,000 apps ready to download from the App Store.”

We this new iPad will be a hot item for the  holidays. You can pre-order your iPad mini beginning on Oct. 26 with a shipping date of Nov. 2.

We were inspired by the Bay Area home featured on California Home + Design. This open-air floor plan allows the homeowners to become one with the environment around them. According to CA Home+Design, “The layout of the home followed the pattern of the sun, with the day’s earliest rays filtering into the master bedroom, the midday glare hitting the pool deck and the sunset playing out dramatically in the windows of the dining room.”

Take a look at this dramatic home below.

Photo via Ca Home + Design

Photo via Ca Home + Design

The concrete-block walls were used for their thermal massing.

Photo via Ca Home + Design

Photo via Ca Home + Design

Photo via Ca Home + Design

Skylights in the bathroom give the illusion of being outdoors.

To read more about this residence head over to California Home + Design.