"Years prior, we had hired Mary Beth Stilwell to redesign a mudroom. She did a great job with that so when we decided to add a new kitchen we hired Mary Beth again.
My husband and I enjoyed working with MaryBeth. She was efficient, on time and full of good ideas. We especially liked the way she navigated the conversations between my husband and myself- conversations that had the potential to be testy. Her drawings were well thought out, her lighting ideas were spot on and when we had questions about choices we had to make, she was full of ideas (most often accompanied by visual examples). MaryBeth also worked well with our builder.
Overall, this was a pleasant and successful experience!"
-Beth Nelson
"MaryBeth Stilwell was great to work with. She had innumerable architectural ideas and efficiency considerations that helped us arrive at a gorgeous and functional addition to our home. She is practical yet passionate about her projects. Couldn't recommend her highly enough."
- Anna
"Mary Beth Stilwell served as the designer for an almost two-year project (fall 2013-spring 2015) that began as a modest renovation and ended up being a major rebuild. She did a wonderful job of modernizing a 200-year-old New England farmhouse while maintaining its historic style, designing entirely new kitchen, door and window trim, baseboards, fireplace and mantel, stairway, built-ins, cabinets, etc., while preserving the period look. In reconfiguring the floor space, she was particularly creative at figuring out how to make the most out of small spaces so that they would serve multiple purposes. She had an excellent working relationship with the builder, and she always did her best to implement the needs and desires of the owners. The project could never have achieved the extraordinary overall success that it did without her skill, creativity, and patience. I am happy to recommend her to anyone for whom quality is a premium."
-Peter Gregory
"We were in the final stages of our kitchen design when we sought out Mary Beth. There were still decisions to made about the details of our island design, uppers or no uppers, stove hood design, counter thickness, toe kicks, drawer front style and hardware choices, It was challenging to visualize the look we were seeking with only the CAD drawings before us. Following a visit to our home and some discussion Mary Beth presented us with several options to peruse with her free form, organic pen and ink drawings. Her renderings made the kitchen come alive in a way that the CAD drawings had not. She clearly understood the look and feel we wanted in our kitchen and she helped us to arrive there. Her input was valuable and we would highly recommend her for your project.
-Anne Cady and Stuart MacCrellish
"I worked with Mary Beth Stilwell of MB architecture + design from July 2014 through September 2015. Mary Beth worked with me to design my new farmhouse. She understood exactly what I wanted and was able to incorporate my ideas with her intuition of my personality and needs. For instance, I wanted a fun space for my grandchildren to sleep. They now have a cozy bunkroom with beds for up to 8 (including 4 pull out trundles) with a dutch door to a balcony overlooking the living room. As I was giving up a 150 year old farmhouse, she encouraged me to re-purpose some of the features: built-in cabinet, closet doors, butcher block, etc. By scouring salvage stores and yards, I was able to come up with more repurposed materials, which worked with her design details.
Mary Beth is very easy to work with and immensely thorough in her work. She walked me through every detail, checked in weekly with upcoming plans and work to be done, was a perfect liason with the contractor, making sure work was going smoothly. In other words, she made this process as low stress as possible for me.
Though everywhere I look I remember our work together, Mary Beth has slipped away, leaving me with a beautiful, new house which is quickly becoming a comfortable home for myself and my extended family."
- Christie
"We enjoyed working with Mary Beth, and we love the addition that she designed for us! We found her to be an excellent listener and she really understood our needs, desires, and restrictions. She was great at communicating her ideas as well as distilling our choices to simplify decision making. Mary Beth was committed to keeping our project within our budget and she had a good sense of what was feasible in terms of the construction. The spaces that she designed are efficient and comfortable, and the addition itself is beautiful. It fits and compliments our original home, our yard, and our neighborhood. We would certainly hire her again if we ever had another project."
- Sara
"So happy to be working with Mary Beth for our new construction. We begin building this spring, and MB has been an invaluable resource throughout this process. Our plans have been in the works for over a year now (the slow time table had nothing to do with her) and she has been incredibly patient, and insightful as we have worked through our goals for this space. As the homeowners we started out "drafting"our own version of the plans (think coffee stained, crinkled graph paper) and she has been able to take our random visions, and make the whole project come together. This will be a new home, but our hopes had been that we could make it a space that had the charm and warmth of an old farmhouse, that was also modern and efficient. This speaks right to Mary Beth's strengths, and she has helped us create plans for a home that will fit our personality, our lifestyle and our budget."
- Krista Jones
"Mary Beth was quick, insightful and very professional, not to mention she is very talented at what she does. I would definitely recommend her and use he her again."
- Victoria Blewer
"Mary Beth designed a house around our needs , and it is great. She took our ages, interests , family , into the design. It is easy to take care of , and as we get older it should be a good house to get around in.
She is easy to work with, and asks questions and emails when needed."
- Eira
"We hired Mary Beth to help us design built-ins to create a library/study/guest room in our home. She was friendly, capable, flexible and easy to work with. We were very pleased with how she worked with us. Her work was timely and reasonable. We are thrilled with the room which now has a murphy bed integrated into two walls of bookshelves/desk/window seating. We would highly recommend MB architecture + design"
- Kathleen
"When adding a new addition to our traditional farmhouse, Mary Beth did an excellent job addressing our concerns of keeping the historical aesthetic . Easy to work with, creative and professional, we'd definitely recommend her to others who are looking to add onto an existing home and wondering how they can remodel and not lose the "feel" of their original house."
-Olga Moriarty
"We recently had the good fortune to work with Mary Beth on a custom new home we built in Lincoln, Vermont. For both the client and us Mary Beth did a stellar job of streamlining the design and decision making process. Her design talent speaks for itself but it warrants mention that she designed a cost effective, gorgeous and tailor made house for our client that will certainly stand the test of time."
- Silver Maple Construction
My husband and I enjoyed working with MaryBeth. She was efficient, on time and full of good ideas. We especially liked the way she navigated the conversations between my husband and myself- conversations that had the potential to be testy. Her drawings were well thought out, her lighting ideas were spot on and when we had questions about choices we had to make, she was full of ideas (most often accompanied by visual examples). MaryBeth also worked well with our builder.
Overall, this was a pleasant and successful experience!"
-Beth Nelson
"MaryBeth Stilwell was great to work with. She had innumerable architectural ideas and efficiency considerations that helped us arrive at a gorgeous and functional addition to our home. She is practical yet passionate about her projects. Couldn't recommend her highly enough."
- Anna
"Mary Beth Stilwell served as the designer for an almost two-year project (fall 2013-spring 2015) that began as a modest renovation and ended up being a major rebuild. She did a wonderful job of modernizing a 200-year-old New England farmhouse while maintaining its historic style, designing entirely new kitchen, door and window trim, baseboards, fireplace and mantel, stairway, built-ins, cabinets, etc., while preserving the period look. In reconfiguring the floor space, she was particularly creative at figuring out how to make the most out of small spaces so that they would serve multiple purposes. She had an excellent working relationship with the builder, and she always did her best to implement the needs and desires of the owners. The project could never have achieved the extraordinary overall success that it did without her skill, creativity, and patience. I am happy to recommend her to anyone for whom quality is a premium."
-Peter Gregory
"We were in the final stages of our kitchen design when we sought out Mary Beth. There were still decisions to made about the details of our island design, uppers or no uppers, stove hood design, counter thickness, toe kicks, drawer front style and hardware choices, It was challenging to visualize the look we were seeking with only the CAD drawings before us. Following a visit to our home and some discussion Mary Beth presented us with several options to peruse with her free form, organic pen and ink drawings. Her renderings made the kitchen come alive in a way that the CAD drawings had not. She clearly understood the look and feel we wanted in our kitchen and she helped us to arrive there. Her input was valuable and we would highly recommend her for your project.
-Anne Cady and Stuart MacCrellish
"I worked with Mary Beth Stilwell of MB architecture + design from July 2014 through September 2015. Mary Beth worked with me to design my new farmhouse. She understood exactly what I wanted and was able to incorporate my ideas with her intuition of my personality and needs. For instance, I wanted a fun space for my grandchildren to sleep. They now have a cozy bunkroom with beds for up to 8 (including 4 pull out trundles) with a dutch door to a balcony overlooking the living room. As I was giving up a 150 year old farmhouse, she encouraged me to re-purpose some of the features: built-in cabinet, closet doors, butcher block, etc. By scouring salvage stores and yards, I was able to come up with more repurposed materials, which worked with her design details.
Mary Beth is very easy to work with and immensely thorough in her work. She walked me through every detail, checked in weekly with upcoming plans and work to be done, was a perfect liason with the contractor, making sure work was going smoothly. In other words, she made this process as low stress as possible for me.
Though everywhere I look I remember our work together, Mary Beth has slipped away, leaving me with a beautiful, new house which is quickly becoming a comfortable home for myself and my extended family."
- Christie
"We enjoyed working with Mary Beth, and we love the addition that she designed for us! We found her to be an excellent listener and she really understood our needs, desires, and restrictions. She was great at communicating her ideas as well as distilling our choices to simplify decision making. Mary Beth was committed to keeping our project within our budget and she had a good sense of what was feasible in terms of the construction. The spaces that she designed are efficient and comfortable, and the addition itself is beautiful. It fits and compliments our original home, our yard, and our neighborhood. We would certainly hire her again if we ever had another project."
- Sara
"So happy to be working with Mary Beth for our new construction. We begin building this spring, and MB has been an invaluable resource throughout this process. Our plans have been in the works for over a year now (the slow time table had nothing to do with her) and she has been incredibly patient, and insightful as we have worked through our goals for this space. As the homeowners we started out "drafting"our own version of the plans (think coffee stained, crinkled graph paper) and she has been able to take our random visions, and make the whole project come together. This will be a new home, but our hopes had been that we could make it a space that had the charm and warmth of an old farmhouse, that was also modern and efficient. This speaks right to Mary Beth's strengths, and she has helped us create plans for a home that will fit our personality, our lifestyle and our budget."
- Krista Jones
"Mary Beth was quick, insightful and very professional, not to mention she is very talented at what she does. I would definitely recommend her and use he her again."
- Victoria Blewer
"Mary Beth designed a house around our needs , and it is great. She took our ages, interests , family , into the design. It is easy to take care of , and as we get older it should be a good house to get around in.
She is easy to work with, and asks questions and emails when needed."
- Eira
"We hired Mary Beth to help us design built-ins to create a library/study/guest room in our home. She was friendly, capable, flexible and easy to work with. We were very pleased with how she worked with us. Her work was timely and reasonable. We are thrilled with the room which now has a murphy bed integrated into two walls of bookshelves/desk/window seating. We would highly recommend MB architecture + design"
- Kathleen
"When adding a new addition to our traditional farmhouse, Mary Beth did an excellent job addressing our concerns of keeping the historical aesthetic . Easy to work with, creative and professional, we'd definitely recommend her to others who are looking to add onto an existing home and wondering how they can remodel and not lose the "feel" of their original house."
-Olga Moriarty
"We recently had the good fortune to work with Mary Beth on a custom new home we built in Lincoln, Vermont. For both the client and us Mary Beth did a stellar job of streamlining the design and decision making process. Her design talent speaks for itself but it warrants mention that she designed a cost effective, gorgeous and tailor made house for our client that will certainly stand the test of time."
- Silver Maple Construction
