Noy Design Build

10/16/2026

10/14/2026

Just wrapped up this new bathroom in a 800 square foot addition. I promised to finish the project in 6 months, and most of the addition was was ready to move in after just over 4 months, and for the first month, we worked on the foundation and framing so didn't disrupt the living space too much.

The images show the finished product, and the initial design session image (we do 3D renderings and a Virtual Reality walk through within the first 2 hours together), the AI renderings once we refined the colors and selections, and a photo during construction.

A couple details I love:

- The window has frosted lower sash, so you have a clear view outside, but you're protected from flashing the neighbors when you step out of the tub.
- The cabinets to the right of the vanity are kitchen cabinets, recessed into the wall. We stole 7" from the adjacent closet to make the cavity for it.
- Moderno tile for the tub\shower surround, built from 3 huge pieces of tile with no grout to clean.
- Almost all my tubs are 32" wide, but this is the Lyons Linear is 36". We installed the tub spout in the corner instead of the center, and this will allow a couple to enjoy the tub, side by side\face to face.

08/26/2026

Have you ever been woken up by the sound of a toilet flushing, as the water runs down the pipes through a bedroom wall and ceiling? This isn't an issue with old cast iron pipes, but is definitely a nuisance with modern PVC pipes. I always wrap the pipes with Mass Loaded Vinyl, heavy 1/8" rubber mats, to absorb the noise, especially where it runs through bedrooms. It only adds about $200-300 to the cost of the project. I'll also fill the ceiling and shared walls with 3-8" of fiberglass insulation, and always use 5/8" dense drywall on the ceiling and on one side of the walls (and 1/2" on the other side). I get pretty nerdy about this, so please reach out with any questions, even if you'll be doing it yourself as part of a remodel.

08/08/2026

I need a better assistant than Siri. After a serious of confusing texts, I had to make this disclaimer to all my clients last week, as I spend much more time driving than I normally do. What tools are you all using for hands free dictation and organizing?

08/01/2026

What's more important - curb appeal or what it looks and feels like from the inside?

This is the old front porch that we're converting to a conditioned living space for a great office, and obviously, it's not done, but getting close. I really love maintaining the character of these old homes, and in this case it would have been to use double hung windows on the front. However, it's a unique house with a steep hill in front and lots of trees, where you can't even see the house until you're standing in the yard. And I do love how a giant front window feels, with a nice view into the great front yard.

What would you have done?

A couple more things: Fresh air is great, and for that, there are double hung windows on each side, allowing a nice cross breeze.

You'll also note a partially vaulted ceiling. This was achieved relatively easily, by raising the rafter tie\ceiling joist from on top of the walls (as typically done) to 1/3 up towards the peak. Any higher would require a much costlier strategy, but this is a great thing I wish more remodelers would do.

07/25/2026

The way colors change with lighting and angles still fascinates me, and I like using this to my advantage. We're moving steadily along with the Andover addition, and I'm installing siding to match the existing fiber cement board with new LP SmartSiding that is wood based product. The texture is an exact match, and I was able to find a pre-painted color (with a 15 year factory finish warranty) that was maybe a 98% match. Because the two sidings will match up in the corners, this works, given that wall colors always looks differently on different angled walls (the one photo is from my living room, that I'm staring at while I write this). I'll have to paint some of the siding around a new window that we installed in the original house, but by ordering pre-painted siding here, I saved the client $1,500, reduced a step and some risk with painting up on ladders, and can provide a higher quality paint finish than I can do on site.

07/19/2026

I love Frank Lloyd Wright's use of large eaves on his homes. I don't often get to add this detail as the goal with every one of my additions is to make it look like it was original to the home so we're just matching to whatever was there. However at this Andover addition, it made sense to stretch it out a bit. Newer energy codes required me to set the trusses about 4" higher than the original trusses while maintaining the same ceiling height inside. It was more important that the fascia (the edge of the roof) lines up rather than having the same size of the eaves, so we stretched the new eaves to 31" rather than 24" to make it look right, while making the whole place look better in my opinion, and protecting the whole house a bit more from rain.

07/18/2026

A newer basement project, just painted this week so about halfway complete. I love the geometry of the ceiling over the stairway. Well, now I do. Honestly, I hated it for about 2 hours as I figured out how to frame it myself, in order maximize the headroom going down to the basement to maintain code compliance, while working around the furnace exhaust, air conditioner lines, some structural headers. While I always work hard to keep things simple and clean, it's sometimes nice to add a more complicated piece of character like this to the space.

07/16/2026

Here's a kitchen remodel with new maple floors to match the 110 year old floors. Does it match? Not quite....yet. Even though we sanded and refinished all the floors, the color is quite different. Eventually it won't be so noticeable, but it will take 5 years or more years for the new floors to darken. So in this case, we installed a header board to divide the two spaces.

We could have fingered in the old and new, but it:

1) Would have cost about $800 more to do that.
2) And would make the difference more pronounced in the near term.

This is mostly an issue with maple, is less of a problem with birch, and there's almost no problem when matching red oak that looks seamless immediately.