Luxury Home Architect Explains How To Renovate Upscale Homes
Legacy Magazine Article on Design
Fall Mountain Home
This article discusses interior and other renovations of custom 
housing, mountain and post and beam houses. This type of work needs to be planned carefully around the structural system, which should not be moved, as loads are typically heavy and concentrated in the posts. Luxury home architect Rand Soellner in Cashiers and Highlands, North Carolina, explains aspects of fine residential renovations in this feature’s information.
Luxury home architect Soellner notices conditions requiring attention.
A luxury home architect often sees conditions in existing houses that need attention. When touring clients’ residences, Rand Soellner notices some items that simply need to be replaced or repaired. Other situations require more attention, for instance, when clients want to expand beyond the structural walls, add outdoor living space, garages and other items. When that happens, Soellner first wants to see the client’s survey, to examine the building setback lines to discover if there is room on the site for any expansion in any direction. Once that is understood, and if possible, then consideration can be paid to programming and designing additions to the residence by the luxury house architect.
There is a whole additional level of understanding that an architect of luxury homes must have in order to undertake renovating or designing a new house. A client is not thinking about all of the regulatory and structural requirements, or how some seemingly simply choice might result in costing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars more than if the improvements are handled in a slightly different manner. That is part of the job of the luxury residential architect: to listen to what the client wants, then run those things through his or her brain, searching for ways to accomplish the desired result and to do so as economically as possible. Many clients start a new house or renovation with no budget in mind. The luxury house architect needs to think about levels of expectation, however, and make clients aware of how certain choices can impact the ultimate cost of a house.
Different people have varying ideas of what constitutes luxury. To some it is having lots of large windows, or a spacious kitchen or a master bathroom with upscale features like a 2-person large shower, separate toilet room (hopefully with its own window), expansive vanity counter areas, and get this: electronically controlled toilets. No, we are not kidding. Toyo has a new toilet model that will open its lid as its motion detector senses your arrival in front of it. It also has an electronic control panel where you select modes of cleansing and hot air drying for your private regions. As funny as this may sound, it has a lot of appeal to luxury oriented clients.
There is another aspect to residential renovations that the luxury home architect must consider. Where do his clients live while the improvements are being made? Usually, the safest recommendation is to simply say that they will need to live elsewhere while the contractor is building the improvements. There are a host of dangerous situations that can occur by being near construction activities and the designer should suggest that the client not be there. Where clients insist on staying, certain precautions should be made, largely on the part of the builder, to keep the air in the existing portion of the house clean and dust and debris free. Also, dangerous conditions involving unfinished deck and floor extensions should have temporary safety railings to prevent people from falling. Once again, these are on-site construction activities of the contractor and for which he is responsible.
The luxury residential architect also pays attention to the little things, like cabinet knobs, finishes, cabinetry, appliances, doors, door hardware, roofing materials, insulation and a host of other features to result in a beautiful project for his clients.
This article serves as reference for:
Luxury home architect
Mountain interiors
North Carolina mountain homes and design
North Carolina mountain homes architecture
Mountain lodge style designers
Arts and crafts architects
Timber architects
Log homes
Timber frame
Post and beam architects
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