How to Use Landscaping to Create Privacy in Your Outdoor Space

If you have a neighbor that you can see from your house, chances are that you need to create privacy, perhaps by using landscaping. True, living urban means that you are pretty much guaranteed a privacy issue. However, I have also been to many houses that even though they own more than an acre, the… Continue reading How to Use Landscaping to Create Privacy in Your Outdoor Space

How to Create a Welcoming Walkway

As you are wrapping up construction on your home, the last question of how to create a welcoming walkway may be begging for an answer. Okay, the thing about landscaping is that by the time the project gets to the hardscape (or stonework) to create walkways, stone walls, and patios, two things have happened: “Project… Continue reading How to Create a Welcoming Walkway

How to Choose Colors that Define Your Aesthetic

How to Choose Colors that Define Your Design Aesthetic and Make a Room Sing Are you getting ready to paint your space and want to be able to define your design aesthetic and create a visual foundation that will make your vision come to life successfully for a beautiful interior? Great! First of all, you… Continue reading How to Choose Colors that Define Your Aesthetic

How to Choose a Design Style that is Perfect for Your Home

You’ve seen stunning homes where the interior design blows you away – its not in keeping with the architectural style of the home – but it looks so amazing and seems to work just right. How do they do it – thoughtfully integrating the intricate details of a Queen Anne Victorian, for example, with clean… Continue reading How to Choose a Design Style that is Perfect for Your Home

Downtown Living with a Sense of Privacy

When you live in close quarters to your neighbors, like Downtown Portsmouth, there are many things to consider when looking to renovate or add an addition. A key ingredient to living harmoniously with your neighbors is window location. There is nothing worse than looking out your window and straight into your neighbors private life, and… Continue reading Downtown Living with a Sense of Privacy

Creating a Barn Addition with Grace

Don’t you love barns? There is something about their simplicity, size, and function that help you lean into relaxing – both with your eyes and your soul. Today, barns are used for much more than livestock and hay but HOW we are using them is when designers get to have a lot of fun and… Continue reading Creating a Barn Addition with Grace

Quiet Home Paints

I first met Lisa Teague of Quiet Home Paints through a mutual friend and immediately knew that her design aesthetic perfectly complimented mine. I’ve always admired her work and believe that supporting other local designers helps the design industry of the Seacoast, so I thought I would write a blog post about her. She started… Continue reading Quiet Home Paints

How to Create a “Forever Home”

Are you tired of moving? Are you looking for the opportunity to design your “last” home? Ironically, I have two of these projects on my boards right now. Life is life and is, of course, very unpredictable. But while you can’t control the circumstances and outcomes of life, we still owe it to ourselves to… Continue reading How to Create a “Forever Home”

Where Oh Where to Begin – Designing a Bathroom

Material Selections in a bathroom can be overwhelming! Why? 1) Because every single subcontractor is participating in the project and the scheduling timeline is intense. 2) It is also an expensive project. I suggest that you make sure that you are prepared for such an undertaking. One idea is to have me or another designer… Continue reading Where Oh Where to Begin – Designing a Bathroom

The Design Process

Are you looking for a designer for a future project? I thought I would fill you in on a few key aspects of the design process at amy dutton Home. We work in phases throughout the project: Discovery, Schematic, and Construction Drawings. At the end of each of these phases, I work with one or… Continue reading The Design Process