When I was a kid, I’d wake up early to do my homework while my dad was already at his drafting table. I marveled at his ability to effortlessly maneuver between a straight edge, triangle, and circular stencil. As I got older, I’d visit jobsites with my mom who, at the time, was the production manager of CG&S (now owner). I felt like her little assistant holding her black binder, saying hello to the carpenters and vendors. To see the drawings my father created turn into physical buildings felt like some kind of magical process. We at CG&S create spaces for homeowners that reflect and nurture who they are. CG&S has always done that. And that is what home is to me.
Babies, Babies, And More Babies
In 2014, a young couple with their first child hired us to renovate their modest Deep Eddy home into a home with space to grow their family. Growing up in Connecticut, the couple was used to homes with a storied past, which is what drew them to the Craftsman in the first place. A few years after their Deep Eddy remodel, they added four more kids to their bunch, so it was time again for a new home. This time we built a new house in Tarrytown with an aesthetic more akin to the homes they knew back home. We completed the project in 2019 just a few months before the pandemic hit.
Home Is Where Your Friends Are
Dungeon & Dragons is a tabletop cooperative role-playing game consisting of 3-5 players. A campaign can last on average six months playing in session intervals of about 3-4 hours each. For our long-time Rob Roy clients, D&D night was essential to their lifestyle, and they needed a dedicated space that could host game night. Inspired by the Umlauf Sculpture Garden, the new addition features a grand “wall of glass” overlooking the reservoir below allowing natural light to fill the space. It really glows at night, perfectly setting the mood for D&D campaigns all these years later.
A Blended Home
A lot of our work is blending an existing space with new work. Two families starting a new life together is a wonderful reason to renovate one’s house, which was the case for this Central Austin family who needed more space in their 1950s Allendale ranch house. Now with three active kids and work-from-home parents, this family needed a fun, design-forward solution. One approach would have been to add on in the same existing style of the house (something we love and do often), however, the family wanted a more modern take. The new box form with its sleek monolithic shape strategically tied into the corner of the 1950s home creating a new flex space for the kids, level two kid bedrooms and shared bathroom with an indoor/outdoor connection to the new pool, outdoor living room, and dining space. The blending of these two juxtaposed spaces made for a creative solution—the best of both worlds!
The reasons why people come to us to renovate their home or build new ones are varied and it’s these variables that make what we do fulfilling. No two CG&S homes are the same just like no two people are the same. Home is where you are. Home is where your hobby is. Home unites families.
I still go home. Every time I hear my dad’s straight edge, I’m home. Every time I visit a job site with my mother, I’m home. Every time I step inside a CG&S project, I feel right, at home.
