Our ask a designer posts.

Ask a Designer

Why and How We Get Pricing Early

If you’ve started a design project in the last few years, you’ve likely experienced an unfortunate shock when the pricing estimate rolls in. We hate that feeling, just as much as you. Instead of leaving it to chance, we take a different approach to helping our clients navigate the confusing and variable world of construction costs.

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Ask a Designer, Custom Residential

Hiring an Architect vs. a Design-Build Firm

It’s a question that comes up fairly often: “Should I hire an architect and a separate general contractor, or hire a design-build firm as a one-stop-shop to both design and build my space?” There are pros and cons to each; but, before we jump in, let’s pause for a moment and take this conversation more slowly.

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Ask a Designer, Custom Residential, Multifamily Residential

Tips for Ensuring Your Home Has Good Air Quality

With wildfire season continuing into the late fall and a global pandemic still keeping millions of people indoors, there's a lot going on in the world. Both these natural disasters have brought to the forefront the importance of ventilation for your health: well-designed ventilation in buildings is important to address present and future pandemics, wildfires, and other airborne pollutants.

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Ask a Designer, Custom Residential, Multifamily Residential

How a Heat Recovery Ventilator Can Make Your Home Healthier

Indoor air quality has never been a more pressing or popular target than it is today. With smoke from wildfires all over the West and the continuing global pandemic of COVID-19, many of us are wondering whether our indoor air is safe. The good news is: it can be, with the right systems in place.

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Ask a Designer, Custom Residential

Options for Updating Your HVAC System for Better Indoor Air Quality

There have been a lot of discussions and varied information on how the built environment affects the spread of COVID-19. Now, we are also seeing more intense wildfires and smoke than we’ve seen in the past decade. With both these environmental issues keeping people indoors, healthy ventilation strategies are more important than ever.

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Ask a Designer, Custom Residential

Five Takeaways From Remodeling Our Home As Our Own Contractor

With construction costs rising (and construction budgets feeling the pinch) it’s becoming more and more popular to self-perform at least some of the work on a remodel that might normally be left for a general contractor. Luckily, Kaysie did just that not too long ago, and she’s sharing her five takeaways from the experience.

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Our Story

Board & Vellum is vibrant design firm built on the idea that an informed and engaged team leads to better design and happy clients. We wouldn’t be where we are today without passion and hard work, and those same two things keep us going strong today.

Our Process

Bringing your project from “idea” to fruition is a little different at Board & Vellum. We give personal care to each of our projects, and you’ll be in the loop every step the way. The bonus: we are an integrated firm, so each project has access to plenty of great knowledge — and that leads to better design.

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