Rosario S. Mannino 10/14/20 Rosario S. Mannino 10/14/20

Luxury Home Tour in Franklin Lakes, NJ

Dream Home Work in Progress. Take a Behind the Scenes Tour at our latest luxury home renovation in Franklin Lakes, NJ.

What do you think of the incredible grand radius staircase? Stay tuned for more project update videos! Follow @rsmannino for more home inspiration!

Luxury Home Tour Video

Rosario S. Mannino 3/27/20 Rosario S. Mannino 3/27/20

Stuck in the House? Here's How to Plan Your Next Dream Home

Just like you, I am stuck inside as well…needing a change of pace and some visual distraction (and maybe some inspiration to keep you motivated and away from the refrigerator during all this commotion). Which is why today’s blog post is helping you plan your dream home.

Just like you, I am stuck inside as well…needing a change of pace and some visual distraction. And if you're like me, you might also need some inspiration to keep you motivated and away from the refrigerator during all this commotion.

Which is why now feels like as good of a time as any to share several good ideas to jumpstart your next dream project.

1. Assess Your Current Home

Since we will all be spending a lot more time in our homes in the near future, it's probably also a good time to ask yourself, “What part of my home needs improvement? Or an addition?”

Maybe it's adding a home gym or yoga studio, a home office, or even a meditation room. What are you wishing you had right now to feel as supported, comfortable, and luxuriously taken care of as you’d like to be?

2. Start to Pin Your Design Ideas

One way I look for inspiration is books. I'm an architecture bookworm, though, so obviously I wouldn’t expect you to have as much hard copy inspiration as I do. So what’s the next best thing? Pinterest. Pinterest is a great way to collect ideas, sort them, and prioritize them. It's a great tool to help get the juices flowing.

One of the great features of Pinterest is the ability to create "boards". Boards are a place to organize your wish list by room. Keep in mind, it's great to separate and organize, but it is also important to make sure your decisions are all in line with a single theme or design aesthetic.

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It's a good idea to create boards that will represent the overall feel for your new or renovated home. That way, when you’re getting side-tracked by other beautiful images, you can always go back to your main board. Whatever you end up calling it - "big ideas", "starting point”, or even "main inspirations" - this board will help bring you back to the overall feel you desire in your new space.

As you browse and pin things on Pinterest, the images don’t necessarily have to be so literal. Meaning, you don’t just have to pin images of kitchens you like. You can pin an image of a beautiful piece of walnut wood, representing warm, earthy tones that you feel are important to your new home.

As an Architect, a client who brings a well-organized Pinterest board is a tremendous asset to us. It helps start the conversations early. In our pre-design services phase, we spend a lot of time scrolling through books, Pinterest, Houzz, etc. to see what sparks our clients’ interest. So, when these inspiration collections are already created, we are one step closer to the final drawing board.

3. Hone Your Aesthetic

After you've created all your Pinterest boards, it's a good idea to step back and review each board or room individually to see what the images have in common. If you have images that are contradicting, decide why you picked those photos and determine which direction fits closer with your main "big picture" board. This is a very important task before showing your Architect or Designer your Pinterest account so that everyone is on the same page.

4. Define Your Non-Negotiables

Create a list in a separate document that captures all your “must-haves”. They can be items, features, or functions (like natural light). Another example would be wall sconces - you might prefer decorative wall accent lighting over general non-decorative lighting, etc. Or how about an apron sink with a view?

5. Separate Your Wants from Your Needs

Now comes the difficult part. Create a list of what you really want, but could probably live without if you had to. I call this the “release valve”.

It's a good place to go back to when the design is starting to exceed your desired investment (like that tub you really wanted but know that you will probably only use twice a year OR the built-in cubbies in the mudroom when you could use coat hooks instead). There should always be a little room for compromise.

6. Describe Your Dream Home in a Wish List

Now onto the most exciting step, your ultimate wish list! This is a place to express your ultimate dream home. What will it look like? Where will it be? What will the views look like? Where will the fireplace and gathering rooms be located? This is the time to have fun, dream big, and be as expressive as possible. This will be a tremendous help when working with your Architect.

7. Locate Your Design Team

Now that you've created your lists and accumulated your Pinterest boards, you need to find an Architect and Designer that mesh well with your goals. Pinterest and Instagram are great places to search for your design team. You can quickly see the designer's portfolio and determine if it connects with you.

As we are all sitting inside our homes, think about all of those times you wished you had a weekend to yourself. With our current circumstances, you might not have it entirely to yourself (since your kids are home, too) but I'm sure you can still find plenty of time on your tablet, phone, or computer to finally do the things you've been putting off, like creating your dream home inspiration board.

Hopefully, we won't have too much time to take advantage of this lockdown. So, let’s make the best of it and have fun by being imaginative.

If you're interested in scheduling a free consultation phone call about your next home renovation, addition, or new home build, please give me a call (as long as you don't mind some screaming kids in the background), because like you, I have plenty of phone time.

Until next time,
Rosario

Rosario S. Mannino 2/24/20 Rosario S. Mannino 2/24/20

Everything You Need to Know about Our Luxury Kitchen Design Process

Most of our clients with existing homes have dysfunctional kitchen layouts… but they dream of a luxury kitchen. Here’s our design process for updating features, bringing your home into this decade, and making it work uniquely for you.

Most of our clients with existing homes have dysfunctional kitchen layouts… but they dream of a luxury kitchen. Originally, their kitchens were often designed as "servant" type kitchens with closed doors – not very inviting and definitely not enough counter space.

These dated kitchens typically have dark and weary cabinets and lack modern accessories like garage doors for your mixer, under-cabinet lights, paneled dishwashers, etc. The layout doesn’t serve open space for gathering or amenities for entertaining in the kitchen.

We are experts at updating these features, bringing your home into this decade, and making it personal to you. Here’s how we create our incredible luxury kitchens.

Pre-Consultation

When thinking about your luxury kitchen renovation, there are many decisions to be made. Our team will help prepare you by giving you some questions to ask yourself before meeting with the architect to design your kitchen.

Do you like to entertain? If so, how many are you typically entertaining?
Do you like to cook and bake? If so, do you need more than a range? Maybe even a double oven with one combi-steam oven?
Would you like views from the sink looking into the backyard?
Do you want a focal point range/hood?
And many more…

Our step-by-step process and dedicated team of designers and architects will help you move from consultation to completion with ease.

Step 1: Initial Discovery & Consultation

The first step in our luxury kitchen design process is a consultation phone call where I get to understand your project goals, budget, and timeline. If I feel that you and I are aligned in aesthetics, budget, and schedule, we then set up an on-site consultation.

On-site we dig a little deeper into your goals and style. This site visit also gives me an opportunity to express some potential design ideas that might be different, new, or further develop your project.

Step 2: Design & Budget

After the consultations, I provide a total project budget as well as a design agreement. The project budget breaks the project into 2 main categories:

Hard costs (which includes construction costs of labor and materials, as well as construction management fees to manage and supervise the entire project.)
Soft costs (which is another name for professional services. These are the intangible costs of the project – architectural fees, cabinetry design, structural and mechanical engineering, styling, and furniture design/selection, etc.)

All of this gets totaled up to determine if our design intent is aligned with your budget.

Remember, at this point, the only fixed proposal you will receive is the architectural design. It is critical to have an accurate budget of all the future costs before designing to make sure we have a target budget while designing.

Step 3: Approval & Project Launch

After you have approved the design agreement, our team begins with pre-design. (The pre-design phase is typically unique to existing homes with an addition or alterations.)

During this phase, we will survey and document the existing home and import it into our 3D software. Then we go back to the basics with those floor plan backgrounds and start sketching broad stroke ideas on paper.

First, we focus on the basic diagrams to demonstrate the main goals of the project in sketch form (i.e. views, sun orientation, the flow of the space, focal points, etc.)

After the diagram is all worked out, we start to layer our sketches with more refined plans and elevations to think about the design as a three-dimensional space.

Step 4: Project Management

Our architect-led design-build service is quite unique in that we are designer-led (not the more common contractor-led design-build in which the design is often subbed out).

What that means is that we, as the architects, play the critical role as the homeowner’s liaison to the subcontractors. In essence, we are cutting out the general contractor.

Don't get me wrong, I am not implying that you are saving money with this method because we still provide a dedicated project manager. The difference is a more streamlined process from design to construction. There are fewer communication errors because our project manager is brought onto the job site during design and is familiar with our team.

Besides the traditional project manager, we also put a dedicated selections coordinator on all jobs during construction. The selections coordinator assists the project manager, client, and design team to ensure all material deliverables are being met according to the project schedule.

Our clients love our design-build service because of the relationships they build early on with our whole team. It makes the job more personal, fluid, and most of all, easier on you.

Step 5: Kitchen Installation

Once our project is in the punch list stage, it is truly all hands on deck. We try to tackle as much as we can prior to you moving in. In essence, we are actually trying to eliminate the punch list.

The design team, selections coordinator, project manager, and myself go through each appliance, plumbing fixture, and cabinet hardware to make sure everything is installed as per spec.

Next, we make sure there are enough champagne glasses for the team and you to start celebrating and enjoying the space.

Step 6: Move-In Day

In reality, most of our projects are not like the ones on TV where the homeowners have no idea what to expect. We work closely with you throughout the whole process, so move-in day is very exciting but isn't necessarily the big reveal. It's more of a "I finally I get to enjoy my dream kitchen" day.

The kitchen is by far the most dramatic lifestyle change of any room renovation in a home. It's where we gather with our family. It's where we unwind. It's where we spend the most time, which is why it's so life-changing.

Yes that may seem dramatic, but it's true. When you upgrade from a dated range top to a steam oven, a pot filler, and so many other functional design decisions, your life does change.

I encourage you to read our newsletter for other articles related to kitchen renovations or visit our sister company's Instagram account @mannino_cab.

And if you’re ready to love your kitchen and feel proud to call it your own, we can help.

Warmly,
Rosario

Rosario S. Mannino 10/4/19 Rosario S. Mannino 10/4/19

Cliffside Contemporary

This modern single-family home is built atop the palisades, overlooking the Hudson River and Manhattan. The design consists of four main forms; porcelain box, glass boxes, metal roof/facade and concrete stair. The porcelain box takes the shape of the existing square foundation and holds 3 full floors of living space and a loft with a large sliding door to a roof-deck with 180 degree views of New York City. The glass boxes are aluminum clad projections with windows that intersect the porcelain box at the corners of the structure with the greatest views of the city. In the master bedroom and kitchen/ dining area the floor to ceiling windows face south towards midtown while the smaller box faces north east and is positioned in the master bath to give views directly towards the George Washington Bridge. The metal roof/facade folds over the porcelain box to provide cover over the deck and entry way and is positioned to emphasize direction towards the city. The concrete stair is also formed to frame a view of the river landscape, while entering the home; the tall board formed concrete walls on either side of the stair blocks any view of the suburban street and brings attention to the entry. The interior is a mixture of minimalist forms with warm textures. The living areas are separated with the minimum amount of walls and structure needed to support the floors above and provide storage and privacy where granted. The central stair is opened from first floor all the way to the roof structure where a large square skylight brings indirect sunlight into the interior core.

Rosario S. Mannino 7/12/18 Rosario S. Mannino 7/12/18

beautiful kitchen in rutherford, Nj

There are few things that are better than custom wood countertops. But these concrete countertops formed to look like real live edge wood may be one of them. What a great way to create a soft and subtle look.

Architect & Builder: RSMANNINO
Interior Designer: Kara Theresa
Photographer: Iris Bachman
Countertops: @JMLifestyles