When you’re designing your dream home, it can be tough to let go. But trusting the architectural firm and a team of qualified designers can help you achieve exactly what you want while eliminating some of the headaches – a real bonus for out-of-town clients.

One of the greatest benefits of hiring an architectural firm like Herlong & Associates is being able to take advantage of the expertise and experience of the staff. Herlong is a full-service firm, so it can handle everything from the design of the physical home to the decorating details. This means you can really trust the designers to figure out your style and offer up appropriate options.

That’s what one of the firm’s project managers, Sabrina Cochran, has found in working with out-of-town clients building a vacation home on the Isle of Palms. The homeowners are both doctors with four young children, so they don’t have a lot of time to mull over each decision.

So, the team puts together three or four selections or color palettes and the clients can more easily pick one. Plus, with the vast number of choices available when it comes to designing and decorating a home, it can be easier to pick from four choices instead of 400.

These particular clients played a key role in selecting items like the tile and the lighting, but left many choices up to the architects and designers at Herlong – including the exterior color of the house, as long as it wasn’t orange, pink or yellow, Cochran says.

The clients were eager to have the home finished quickly and didn’t want their busy schedules to slow down construction of their home, she adds.

In many cases, it’s about trusting the designers and handing over the reins – even if it’s just long enough for the designers to narrow down the choices and offer some guidance. After all, that’s what architectural firms are for.

If you pull a house plan off the shelf, it may be close to what you need, but chances are good you’ll be wishing for more closets, a larger porch or more space in the living room. An architect can tweak a plan or create a custom design to add the features that make life easier for families, whether that’s more storage space or a bigger kitchen.

Sabrina Cochran, a project manager here at Herlong & Associates, says she has encountered families who needed a convenient space to store the extra dining room table leaves, for example. Another family needed lots of space for their two Christmas trees and lights – plus, an extra breaker box and outdoor outlets to meet the needs of their holiday décor.

Designing homes on the coast, means creating suitable space for golf clubs, golf carts, kayaks, boats and bicycles. Or a couple who loves to cook may want a large kitchen, while young married professionals might prefer more space for entertaining.

Cochran also helps families think about long-term needs, such as designing a playroom that can be easily converted to a den as the children age or having dual master suites – one upstairs and one downstairs. The downstairs suite can serve as a guestroom and then the homeowners can use it as they age and don’t want to climb the stairs.

“We have worked with so many clients that have all different needs, so we can suggest things to homeowners they might not have even thought about,” Cochran says.

Thanks to the attached garage, many of us enter our homes through a side door, heading straight from the garage to the kitchen, laundry room or back hallway. The front door and entryway are reserved for guests and maybe some special decorations during the holiday season.

Even though you might not use it on a daily basis, your front door is important. It’s the first chance for your house to make a first impression. Think about when you pull up to a house you’ve never been to before, you don’t check out the garage and the side entrance first. You look at the front door, the windows, the porch and the overall curb appeal. That means when it comes to designing the front of your house, you need to give it plenty of attention and thought.

·         Decide if you prefer a large porch, a small overhang, columns or simply a few steps leading to the front door.

·         Match the style of the door itself to the rest of the house. If your house says comfy and country, don’t go all out on a front door with stained glass windows.

·         Make the front of your home welcoming, which means placing a focus on how the home “feels” when someone arrives, rather than overwhelming visitors – and yourself – with massive columns and grand arches.

·         Blend the public entryway – your porch or stoop – to the private entryway or foyer into your home. If the public sees a grand front porch from the street, carry that theme into the foyer.

·         Look at the surrounding landscape or your landscaping plans and how they will fit together. Are there large existing trees that may cover some of the front entrance, for example?

When helping our clients with the architectural design of their home, we want to make the front entrance eye-catching and appealing while keeping with the design and look of the rest of the house. It’s one way a design professional can be a great asset. We’re able craft an overall design for the house that carries from the front porch, through the front door and into the living space in a way that is beautiful, functional and seamless.

We realize the house is an extension of the homeowner, so we’re working to create that great first impression for both of them. 

Interior architecture is about those little details, those finishing touches that give a house that “wow” factor. As architects, we don’t just figure out where to place the bedrooms and how to make the best use of closet space. We focus on continuity and the proportions. Often, in our work, we define spaces with interesting beams and ceiling design, but unless the details are harmonious and the proportions are correct, the entire balance of the space can get out of whack.  A comfortable summer cottage can lose its charm with heavy-handed formal beams and trim.

Coordination among the architectural beams, the cabinetry, the lighting and the plumbing were critical to the success of this kitchen. Had any one element been ignored, the focus would immediately shift to the element that was not symmetrical. Instead the balance achieved creates a harmonious and welcoming space.

In simple terms, our job is to make sure a house fits and flows. Dozens of hands touch a house during the building process. The builder handles the construction of the entire house, but then there’s a trim carpenter, a plumber, an electrician and a whole team just to put in the kitchen cabinets. It’s the job of the architect to bring consistency to all those various pieces.

For example, we pay attention to how the details of the wainscot in the living room complements the style of the cabinetry; whether a room’s sense of balance is thrown off-kilter by beams that are misaligned; and how the lighting works in the entire room. We’re coordinating all those efforts, so the end result is a beautiful home.

We architects first look at each room and make sure the interior design fits together in that one room. Then we look at each room in relationship to the other rooms and the house as a whole.

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As pictured below, an old Sullivan’s Island cottage is transformed to a bright comfortable space well suited to today’s lifestyle. Though undergoing a major change, the basic comfortable cottage feel was retained by the use of simple trim details that stay true to the home’s island character.