Design · Building Science · Project Consulting · Colorado
We are experienced guides for the decisions that come before construction: building design, building science, and project consulting, along with kitchens, baths, specialty finishes, and the practical, resilient systems that keep a place comfortable for decades.
01 — Ethos
We are not trying to become a large custom home builder. Our greatest value comes earlier — helping you evaluate a property, test an idea, and understand your home as a living system of sun, water, air, structure, and daily life.
Robin and Shelley bring two decades of hands-on construction to the drawing table. Advice here is paid, unhurried, and unbiased — we are not selling you a project. We are helping you decide whether there is one, and what shape it should take.
02 — How we help
Consulting and conceptual design come first, supported by the hands-on remodeling and fine finish work we have done for twenty years.
Clear, paid advisory sessions on property, siting, solar, water, and material choices — before anything is drawn or poured.
ExploreRobin works with you before architectural drawings begin — clarifying ideas, improving layouts, and solving practical problems early.
ExploreSequencing, budget realism, permitting strategy, and long-term maintenance thinking before construction begins.
ExploreAn honest read on what your existing home can become — what is worth changing, and what is better left alone.
ExploreCareful, hands-on renovation of the two rooms that carry the most daily life — planned well, built once.
ExploreFaux painting, artistic wall finishes, murals, custom textures, and fine skip trowel work applied by hand.
Explore03 — Building science
A house is a system. Sun, water, air, structure, and landscape are already acting on your site every day — good design simply works with them instead of paying to fight them. These are the principles behind everything we advise.
Orientation, glazing, and thermal mass do free work every day for the life of a building. Get the sun right and the mechanical system gets smaller, quieter, and cheaper.
A simple roof with generous eaves sheds water, shades summer glass, admits winter sun, and protects siding. Complexity in a roof is usually just future leaks.
Air sealing and continuous insulation are the only upgrades that never wear out and never need service. They pay back every single winter, silently.
Before drainage is plumbing, it is landform. Grading, swales, and planting decide where water goes for decades — and whether it becomes an asset or a repair bill.
A home should sit on its site as though the land had been waiting for it. Access, trees, wind, and views shape the plan long before style does.
We choose materials for how they look in their fortieth winter, not their first photograph. Serviceable, repairable, honest, and locally sourced where it is real.
Gardens, greenhouses, and growing systems belong in the plan, not the afterthought. Sun, water, and soil are site resources like any other.
The best solution is usually the simplest one that still works in twenty years. We plan for maintenance, aging, and change rather than pretending they will not come.
04 — Selected work
Conceptual Design & Consulting · 2024
A family had owned the parcel for eleven years and never found a plan that fit it. The ridge was too exposed for the house they had drawn. We turned the home ninety degrees, sank the north side into the slope, and let a wide flat eave do the work the pitched roof could not. They took the concept to their architect and built it. The aspens stayed. So did the view they bought it for.
Remodeling Consultation · 2023
The original deck had been failing quietly for a decade — a rotted ledger hidden behind good-looking cedar. We found it, explained it plainly, and planned a true cantilever off new steel that freed the ground below and put the family twelve feet out over the meadow. They eat dinner out there most of the summer now.
Pre-Construction Planning · 2023
Three generations, one small cabin, and a standing rule that nobody eats in shifts. We planned an eleven-hundred-square-foot timber-framed room, matched the reclaimed fir, and sequenced the work so the family kept using the cabin throughout. Guests ask which half is original. The old cabin is still the heart of it.
05 — Coming soon
An upcoming Harmony initiative: modular hydroponic and aeroponic growing systems that let families produce fresh food year round, in a Colorado climate that only offers a few months of garden. Food production belongs in the plan for a property — alongside sun, water, and shelter — not as an afterthought.
06 — A longer view
Harmony Development Coop is the foundation of a broader vision — a small family of efforts connected by one philosophy: thoughtful design creates better homes, better lives, and stronger communities.
The foundation. Consulting, conceptual design, and careful remodeling across the Colorado high country.
Books exploring thoughtful living, humanity, design, and the future we are quietly building toward.
Beautiful reusable gift wrapping that reduces waste, made with the same care we give a house.
Visit siteHydroponic and aeroponic growing systems that help families produce food year round.
A long-term vision for stronger communities through practical ideas and meaningful collaboration.
07 — Begin
Considering a property, weighing a remodel, or unsure whether your idea works — a single consultation often saves far more than it costs. We answer every inquiry within two business days.
