architects new england
See our blog for new projects, announcements, and all things TMS Architects.Outdoor Fireplaces Add Charm, Elegance, & ROI to Any Yard
Outdoor fireplaces are a definite source of warmth and lend an air of coziness to any landscape that tends to draw people together wherever they are situated. While these reasons may be high on your list for having a fireplace on your wish list, there are also other added benefits such as higher resale value or increased equity in your home and defining your outdoor space.
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Hardy Ground Covers that Excel in Your Garden
Garden ground covers provide many benefits beyond being decorative. Moisture retention, erosion prevention, and weed control are just a few of the more important reasons to ensure you have sufficient cover. Rather than the typical mulch, gravel, or cedar bark that require replacement over time, why not use hardy ground covers that excel in your garden?
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Create a Thriving Organic Landscape with TMS
Strong chemical weed killers, pesticides and fertilizers were once considered the best way to have a picture-perfect landscape. Over time and with further research however, we have learned just how damaging that practice was to our environment. As strong proponents of organic growing, TMS Architects would like to help you with creating an organic landscape.
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Gardening for Fido: Garden Surprises for our Fur-ever Friends
Your dog or cat is likely more than just a pet but like an actual family member to you that you share your home and outdoor space with. Have you considered including any surprises for your fur-ever friend in your landscaping? Not only will it help stop boredom, it can protect the areas that are not conducive to gardening and pets.
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Reclaimed Materials: Fashionable and Environmentally Friendly
Preserving our environment, or “green living” has moved past the stage of being a fad and is now a priority by the majority of society. While many designers and architects focus on the energy systems and environmentally-friendly high insulation values of building, TMS Architects also incorporates reclaimed materials in home design whenever possible to support our commitment to sustainable architecture.
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Ideas to Bring to Life Your Dream Porch this Summer
A porch is an excellent way to extend your living space into the outdoors to create that dream space to entertain, or relax and just enjoy the fresh air. If you treat your porch just like any other room of your home and put together a design plan, you can bring your dream porch to life this summer. TMS Architects will get you started with some summer porch design ideas.
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Invite Birds & Nature in with Beautiful Flowers & Foliage
Some species of birds, bees, and butterflies are becoming less common due to environmental changes and a lack of sustenance. Gardening for nature can help your garden thrive and provide you with countless hours of enjoyment when you attract any or all of these species.
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Peaceful Garden Fountains Evoke Inner Peace & Enhance Surroundings
On a hot summer day when life’s stress is getting to you, there is not much that is as soothing as lying back in a comfortable chair with your eyes closed for a few moments while you listen to the bubbling and light splashing sounds a water feature creates. The sound of water evokes a sense of inner peace and a beautiful fountain greatly enhances your surroundings. Creating a garden fountain might well be one of the best things you can do your for yourself and your outdoor living space.
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Garden Pathways are Great for Sending Visitors on a Nature Walk
The time and effort you put into your garden and landscaping are worth the reward of having beautiful outdoor spaces. When you have a variety of areas or an expansive property, creating garden paths and walkways are great for sending visitors on a nature walk. If crafted properly, the paths and walkways cannot help but attract visitors’ attention and they will save your lawn from trails made due to foot traffic.
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Designing Gorgeous Rain Garden with Style & Functionality for Landscapes
Looking for something extra to add visual interest to your outdoor landscape? If you’re unfamiliar with the idea of rain gardens, you’ve been missing out on a quintessential, sustainable garden staple. The things that attract us to gorgeous rain gardens are their undeniable reduction in pollution, their contribution to water preservation, and they allow you to enjoy beautiful native plants.
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Shape the Landscape to a Working Rainscape
With so much recent knowledge about rainscaping, the flood of information can often be overwhelming. So, we’ve taken our favorite tips and compiled some of them to help you learn more about shaping your landscape into a functional, working rainscape.
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Practical Ideas for Planting Drought & Native Plants
For your new wildlife retreat or rain garden, you’ll want to seek out drought resistant and native plants. The reason is simple — they’re well adapted to your specific climate, soil type, and pests. Ultimately, these advantages allow such plants to sustain themselves on less water, fertilizer, and pesticides. Without any help from humans, these plants will thrive, giving way to an eco-friendly landscape that still looks fantastic. Luckily, most native plants are also drought resistant and can handle poor soil conditions as well.
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Create a Resplendent Outdoor Garden Room with TMS
Having a great yard design is a blessing in itself, but maintaining incentives to spend even more time outdoors can be optimally rewarding. So, why not give yourself something to look forward to when you step outside? Our designers at TMS Architects can help bring structure and beauty to your landscape regardless of your lifestyle. While there are a huge array of possibilities for charming outdoor garden rooms, we’ve taken a few hints from classic garden designs to compile some of our favorite ideas.
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Ravishing Hardscapes that Welcome Greenery & Spring Blooms
Hardscapes aren’t limited by their sharp edges and abrupt angles. Think of them merely as the canvas upon which you can splash greenery and spring blooms to create charming garden looks. While some may have settled for mundane shrubbery and annuals jammed between the driveway and sidewalks, your exterior has the potential to be dynamic and cohesive. Keep the flow in your garden by considering these ideas for utilizing hardscaping to suit your landscape desires.
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A Home Grows To Greatness!
Many thanks to Selectwood, a wonderful building supply resource center in Portsmouth, NH, for featuring a TMS designed home in the Spring 2015 Builder’s Price Guide. The project, A Seaside Renovation, was a collaborative project between TMS Architects, CM Ragusa Builders and, of course, the homeowners!
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Delightful Metal & Wood Gazebos to Highlight Gardens
When you picture a gazebo, you might visualize the grandiose setup of the wedding you recently attended. You might picture whimsical flower arrangements, twinkling candles, and the spirit of romance in the air. However, gazebos can actually serve as wonderful landscape staples — places to picnic with your family, enjoy the breezes on a warm summer day, and cultivate your favorite flowers.
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Brilliant, Vivid Moonlit Gardens for Tepid Summer Nights
With the right plants, you can make your garden come to life even after the sun goes down. While we mostly think of enjoying gardens as a daytime activity, there are a variety of plants and landscape design elements that can be incorporated into gardens to make them just as vivid and awe-inspiring at night as they are in the sparkling sun. Imagine having your very own moonlit garden to enjoy while dining al fresco, hosting an elegant soiree, or simply taking a nighttime stroll.
Here are some of our favorite moonlit garden design ideas.
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Stunning Cupola Designs that Flatter the Home
Looking to make a statement with a refined, unique architectural feature? Long forgotten in the design world, people are once again starting to take notice of an iconic rooftop structure — the cupola. So, what is a cupola? And why has it taken the spot of the most pinned Pinterest photo for TMS?
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Appealing Pergolas Add Beauty to Gardens & Landscapes
Don’t be deterred by the name. The concept of the pergola is in reality very straightforward. It’s simply a row of vertical columns constructed to support a trellis or horizontal beams that are situated above. As the temperatures climb, you might be looking for a way to continue to enjoy your landscape without suffering in the stifling heat of Summer. Pergolas are classic, beautiful structures you should consider because of their ability to provide a versatile reprieve.
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Sloped or Grading Landscapes Unite with Visual Appeal
Dealing with sloped landscapes can be difficult, but it’s not impossible to manifest an alluring garden. It’s certainly not easy and requires a lot of effort, but all you really need is time, devotion, and an attentive eye. To overcome the hurdle of a sloped landscape, we must carefully shape and contour the land in order to establish a set framework for the landscape’s design. This process, called grading, is crucial because it places the groundwork for proper water flow and drainage.
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