A 2024 Year in Review

Written By Sam Lowe
A blue kitchen with a piece or orange marble behind the range

It’s been a wonderfully busy year at SDL Residential Design! As we close on 2024 and enter into 2025, we thought we’d think back on the some of the highlights of the year for us. From trade shows, to new projects, collaborations and a new website, there’s a lot to reflect on.

We want to thank you, our clients, vendors, family and friends for your continued support. We couldn’t do this without you.

Here’s to an inspiring and productive 2025! We’ve already got a lot in the works that we’ll be excited to share with you early on in the new year.

The interior of a house designed by Frey in the hills overlooking Palm Springs, a large boulder outcrop looms in the middle of the room, the house built to integrate it
3 pendant-style shower heads designed by Kohler spraying water in a display on the show floor of the International Builder's Show in Las Vegas

In February we took the time to attend the International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas as well as Modernism Week in Palm Springs. Both experiences were wonderful sources of inspiration. The Builders’ Show was an informative mix of product showcases by different vendors and seminars on many different subjects, such as “The Future of Net Zero Homes” and discussions of of AI in the industry. We participated in symposiums, rubbed shoulders with fellow creatives, and got interesting insights into the cutting edge of home products. By contrast Modernism Week was a playful tour of 50’s desert architecture and interior design that in years past inspired our design of the Midcentury Modern Kitchen project. Of particular interest was seeing how current designers and architects tastefully re-imagined classic properties with contemporary sensibilities.

If you’re interested in the details we wrote a specific newsletter about it!

A wine bar with 2 wine fridges and blue cabinetry. Glass hutches sit atop the counter top with illuminated liquor bottles in the interior. A low lounge table with ochre leather chairs in the foreground.
A dark, moody photo of a powder room, contemporary black patterned wallpaper applied inside wall panelling, a black vanity and mirror contrast against beige wall paint.

We had 7 projects completed in 2024 (some of which we can’t show you yet but we look forward to revealing in early 2025!). Two of our favorites; The Sistina Kitchen, a small addition and remodel project designed around two passionate wine country home cooks and the Forest Hill Baths where we indulged in moody, transitional interior design for a San Francisco home.

A mix of vases, bowels and cups of fantastical shapes and earthy hues sit on a black table

We’re especially excited to reveal a project where we had the opportunity to work with Ink + Porcelain who supplied ceramics for a gorgeous Napa home. We love these handmade touches for truly elevating a home. Keep an eye-out for these in the new year! You can see a sneak peek of these ceramics “in action” on our instagram.

A half-built 2-story garage with the framing exposed.
Raked stucco exterior under construction prior to being painted
A bathroom under construction, Taj Mahal quartzite stone forms a shower bench and tub deck.
The front entry of a house under construction,roof framing and concrete formwork under construction

We’ve been on-site for a large portion of the year, at one point we had 6 projects in construction at the same time all around the Bay Area! The support we provide during construction is a lot like being a creative director: we keep the design vision on track, help coordinate with contractors and their subs, solving problems as they arise. Now that the rainy season is upon us, many construction efforts have moved inside. As such lots of our current construction support efforts revolve around reviewing tile, stone and cabinetry installation. Some of these projects have been in the work since the early days of the pandemic, so it’s exciting to finally start getting close to the finish line.

Whitfield Construction and SDL Residential Design members at the ZFA 50th anniversary party

In September we attended ZFA Structural Engineers’ 50th anniversary party at the Sonoma Raceway. We've worked with ZFA a lot on projects and it was great to rub shoulders with our go-to engineers at the firm, as well as one of our most client-appreciated contractors Whitfield Construction who we ran into at the event. It’s not often we get to relax with our local professional network off-the-job, as relaxing as a spin around the racetrack gets anyway. More photos of the event can be found here.

The SDL Logo

And finally, we updated our website! It’s a fairly major redesign bringing us up to 2024 standards of web design from the previous mid-2010’s portfolio format we followed. For the redesign, we’re putting a lot more focus on easy to find information for existing and new clients. Breaking down our services, digging into our process, as well as providing specific information about local city/ county jurisdictions that we operate within. And of course, bigger images alongside a better mobile experience. We hope prospective clients find the new website a helpful resource in the beginning of their journey.

Thanks as always for your continued support. If you or someone you know has a potential project in mind big or small, don’t hesitate to contact us for a free consultation. We’d love to hear about what you’re stewing on.

With that, we bid 2024 a farewell. Here’s to a great 2025!

Sam Lowe https://www.sdlresidential.com
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A Decade in Design