Volume 01 · Published monthly
The Journal
Notes from the studio on architecture, interior design and material culture. Written by the team. New entries land regularly.
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From the studio
102 essays
Interiors · Oct 2, 2026 · 4 min
Navy Sofa Styling Ideas: Material Before Color
Every guide hands you five or six color schemes to choose between. The decision that actually matters is the stone, wood and metal already built into the room, chosen before the sofa.
Interiors · Oct 2, 2026 · 7 min
Interior Designer Miami FL: How to Vet One Before You Hire
Miami's interior designer listings sort firms by budget, style and awards. None of them show who decides the wall, the window height or the zoning limit before a single finish gets chosen. Here is how to look past the directory.
Guides · Oct 1, 2026 · 7 min
The Luxury Kitchen Checklist That Starts Before Finishes
Most luxury kitchen checklists rank finishes. This one orders the decisions the way a builder actually has to lock them, before cabinetry gets drawn.
Architecture · Oct 1, 2026 · 4 min
What Gaudí's Structural Principle Means for a Miami House
Gaudí's buildings get read as curves and ornament. The actual design decision underneath them is about structure, and part of it scales down to a Coconut Grove house.
Architecture · Sep 30, 2026 · 4 min
How Luxom Chooses an Architectural Style for a Coconut Grove Lot
Style lists rank categories by taste. What actually decides Mediterranean Revival, Miami Modern or contemporary glass and concrete is the lot itself, its canopy, setback and light.
Architecture · Sep 29, 2026 · 6 min
Architecture Terms Every Coconut Grove Buyer Should Know
Massing, fenestration, cantilever. A working vocabulary for the words that show up on a real set of drawings, defined against an actual Coconut Grove house instead of a textbook page.
Residences · Sep 28, 2026 · 5 min
What $29,000 a Month Gets You in Waterfront Miami
Inside a 3,904-square-foot Brickell penthouse renting at $29,000 a month, and what its terrace, amenities and layout reveal about how Miami actually defines waterfront luxury.
Development · Sep 28, 2026 · 4 min
How to preview a custom home's design before construction begins
A walkthrough of how design renders and material previews let a client see a home before ground is broken, and why reviewing them early protects the budget.
Architecture · Sep 28, 2026 · 4 min
Cross Ventilation Is Decided at the Floor Plan Stage
Cross ventilation is not a window you crack open after the house is built. It is a pressure difference the floor plan either creates or blocks, and it belongs on the drawing board before the first wall goes up.
Architecture · Sep 27, 2026 · 5 min
What Zaha Hadid's Miami Tower Teaches About Structure as Form
One Thousand Museum is the only Zaha Hadid building in Miami, a tower whose structure is also its ornament. Here is what that idea actually carries over to a custom home, and what does not.
Architecture · Sep 27, 2026 · 6 min
What a Master Plan Actually Fixes Before a Home Is Drawn
A master plan is not a mood board or a legal formality. It is the single site document that fixes footprints, guest structures, and zoning compliance before an architect draws a single room.
Architecture · Sep 26, 2026 · 4 min
What Makes Architecture Read as Luxury, Not Just Expensive
Luxury in architecture is not square footage or finish cost. It is proportion, sequence and material honesty decided before a single finish is chosen.
Architecture · Sep 26, 2026 · 3 min
A House That Works With Miami's Light, Not Against It
Big windows are not the same thing as good light. Why Luxom decides where glass goes by the sun's path first, and treats orientation as a structural decision, not a finish.
Architecture · Sep 25, 2026 · 5 min
A Big House Is Not a Luxury Home
Square footage is the easiest number to sell and the least reliable sign of quality. What actually separates a big house from a luxury home, and how a developer decides which is which.
Development · Sep 25, 2026 · 6 min
The Land Development Checklist, Read In the Right Order
Every generic checklist online lists the same categories in no particular order. Here is the sequence we actually run before making an offer on a Coconut Grove lot.
Architecture · Sep 24, 2026 · 5 min
What Makes an Entrance Read as Grand, Not Just Big
A tall foyer is not a grand entrance. It takes a sequence: compression before release, one sightline that resolves, and a single material carried through. Here is how that gets decided.
Architecture · Sep 24, 2026 · 5 min
Architects close to me: what proximity does not tell you
Searching architects close to me returns a shortlist filtered by distance and reviews. It does not tell you which candidate only draws and which one also builds under a single contract.
Development · Sep 23, 2026 · 4 min
What Causes Construction Cost Overruns on a Coconut Grove Build
Cost overruns rarely come from bad math. They come from split teams, padded bids and unclear accountability. Here is how Luxom's integrated model closes the gap.
Interiors · Sep 13, 2026 · 5 min
Your rug should not match your furniture. It should talk to it.
The generic advice says find one matching thread. What that actually looks like in a finished Luxom room is a planned material conversation, not a matched fabric swatch.
Interiors · Sep 13, 2026 · 5 min
Three Rules for Mixing Wood Tones Without Getting It Wrong
Never let every wood match, pick one lead wood, and watch the undertone. Two or three tones is enough, and here is what that looks like built into a real Luxom hallway.
Materials · Sep 13, 2026 · 4 min
Five Walls That Aren't Painted
Plaster, cement, wood and stone, four crafted finishes we specify instead of a coat of color, and the one rule that decides which wall gets which one.
Process · Sep 13, 2026 · 4 min
The First Question Top Buyers Ask Before Choosing a Coconut Grove Builder
Before a serious buyer signs with a Miami luxury builder, one question separates a coordinated home from a mediated one: who decides the layout, and do they also build it.
Interiors · Sep 13, 2026 · 6 min
Doorless Showers: How to Design a Walk-In Shower That Works With No Door
A shower doesn't need a door. It needs the right size, slope, drain and threshold material, decided before the tile goes down. Here is what actually makes a doorless shower work.
Materials · Sep 13, 2026 · 4 min
The Tub Decides the Bathroom: A Buyer's Guide
The tub is the one fixture that has to be chosen before anything else in the room. A working comparison of freestanding, built-in, stone-carved and soaking tubs, and what each one decides for the space around it.
Philosophy · Sep 13, 2026 · 5 min
A Fireplace Is Not a Hole in the Wall
A fireplace is a planning decision made with the floor plan and the furniture around it, not a hole cut into a finished wall after the fact.
Architecture · Sep 4, 2026 · 4 min
Inside the Full Onaway Tour: Porch, Library, Gym and Pool Deck
Two rooms of the Onaway tour already have their own story on the journal. This is the rest of the walkthrough: the porch, the library, the gym and the pool deck, and why each one sits where it does.
Development · Sep 4, 2026 · 5 min
Why the Land, Not the House, Is the Asset in Coconut Grove
An old or ordinary house on a good Coconut Grove lot rarely moves the price. The land underneath it, and what it is legally allowed to become, is what a buyer is actually paying for.
Development · Sep 4, 2026 · 3 min
What actually happens after the builders leave
Handover starts a new phase of ownership. Here is what to verify as systems enter daily use, open items are documented, and maintenance routines begin.
Materials · Sep 1, 2026 · 5 min
One Timber, Fourteen Rooms: White Oak and Walnut Joinery
Why timber is the one finish that improves with use, and how a single white oak and walnut joinery program runs through closets, panelling, doors and ceilings in one Luxom home.
Materials · Sep 1, 2026 · 8 min
What Kitchen Precision Actually Signals About the Rest of the House
The kitchen is the easiest room in a house to fake and the hardest one to fake well. Here is what aligned hardware, matched stone and silent doors actually tell you about the rest of a Luxom build.
Development · Sep 1, 2026 · 5 min
Building the Broadview Residence, Start to Finish
From a stepped Coconut Grove site to a 7 bedroom, 6,185 square foot home with water views from every primary room: how Broadview came together, phase by phase, designed, built and finished by one team.
Interiors · Aug 31, 2026 · 6 min
Fourteen Bedrooms, One Rule: Glass on the Long Wall at Luxom
A bedroom is judged at seven in the morning, not in a photograph. Why every primary bedroom Luxom builds in Coconut Grove puts its floor to ceiling glass on the long wall, not just any wall with a view.
Philosophy · Aug 31, 2026 · 6 min
Decorated Buys Objects. Designed Buys Decisions.
A decorator styles the room you already have. A designer decides the proportion, light and layout before that room exists, and only one of those choices still holds up ten years later.
Development · Aug 30, 2026 · 7 min
What an $11.4M Coconut Grove Sale Actually Bought
A closed $11.4 million sale in Coconut Grove, broken into the land, the glass, the ceiling height and the years of unrushed building that the price actually paid for.
Interiors · Aug 30, 2026 · 6 min
The Living Room Furnishing Order We Used at Onaway
Rug first, sofa second, lighting and tables third, the art last. That order is not a styling preference. It is why the Onaway living room reads as finished instead of decorated.
Materials · Aug 30, 2026 · 6 min
Fourteen Bathrooms, One Rule: Book-Matched Marble at Luxom
Book-matched marble only forgives a joint drawn first. How that seam gets planned, where the mirror and window sit around it, and how the discipline runs across Luxom's Coconut Grove bathrooms.
Architecture · Aug 29, 2026 · 6 min
Onaway Residential: Eight Bedrooms Built Around One Pool Courtyard
Onaway is not one block with rooms inside it. It is a series of pavilions wrapped around a central pool courtyard, and that single decision is what gives all eight bedrooms their own light.
Philosophy · Aug 29, 2026 · 5 min
The Kitchen Sets the Plan, Not the Other Way Around
Across fourteen island kitchens built in stone and white oak, Luxom draws the plan around the kitchen first and lets every other room negotiate around it.
Architecture · Aug 29, 2026 · 7 min
The Facade Is the One Thing the Whole Street Reviews
Fourteen Luxom elevations later, the facade comes down to four decisions: white stucco, glass, an oak door and a canopy worth keeping. Here is how those four hold together.
Development · Aug 29, 2026 · 5 min
Design is the cost you never see on the invoice
Every luxury build pays for design somewhere. When one studio designs, builds and finishes the home, that cost never shows up as its own line, it is folded into every dollar spent downstream.
Philosophy · Aug 27, 2026 · 6 min
The Pool Is the Main Room, Not an Amenity
In a Miami luxury home, the pool gets designed before the bedrooms do. Here is why Luxom treats it as the first room on the plan, not a rectangle added to the yard later.
Development · Aug 25, 2026 · 5 min
Building the Pinta Residence, from an Empty Lot to a Finished Home
From an empty Coconut Grove lot to a finished single storey residence: how the Pinta Residence in Bay Heights went up, phase by phase, the same way every Luxom home does, start to finish.
Development · Aug 9, 2026 · 7 min
Read the Zoning Before You Read the Listing
The listing price tells you what someone thinks the lot is worth. Zoning tells you what the lot is actually allowed to become: height, setbacks, density. Read it first and the numbers start to make sense together.
Development · Aug 8, 2026 · 6 min
How the Samana Residence Kitchen Went From Block to Marble
Inside the kitchen fit out at our Samana Residence in Coconut Grove: the concrete block, the conduit, the plaster and the joinery, and why the grey and gold marble waterfall edge went in dead last.
Development · Aug 8, 2026 · 6 min
Same Land, Split Smart: Why One Lot Split Changes the Math
Two developers can buy the identical lot in Coconut Grove and walk away with two different deals. The difference isn't the house, it's whether the land gets split into two buildable sites or built as one.
Materials · Aug 8, 2026 · 5 min
The Details You Only Notice In Person
Joinery, lighting and stone are easy to list and hard to fake. Here is how a Luxom home builds each one by hand, and why a walkthrough proves it in a way no photo can.
Residences · Aug 8, 2026 · 6 min
Four residences, four ways to live in Coconut Grove
Every Luxom home starts with a question: how do you want to live? Four residences in Coconut Grove, four distinct architectural answers. A closer look at what makes each one different.
Philosophy · Aug 7, 2026 · 6 min
What Mies van der Rohe Taught Luxom About Building
A line long attributed to Mies van der Rohe, that architecture starts when two bricks are carefully put together, reads as history. At Luxom it reads as a daily standard for materials, proportion and restraint.
Interiors · Aug 7, 2026 · 4 min
Wellness at home: the sauna, cold plunge, and gym room
The at-home wellness suite is now a serious part of the luxury brief. How to design the sauna, cold plunge and gym as one integrated space rather than three appliances in a spare room.
Residences · Aug 7, 2026 · 7 min
How a Family Compound Works on One Coconut Grove Lot
A main residence, a guest house, and a shared pool on a single lot: what a family compound actually requires in Coconut Grove, and how Luxom plans one from day one.
Development · Aug 7, 2026 · 6 min
Building the Rooftop Plunge Pool at Crystal Residence
From a bare roof slab and a rebar cage to a filled plunge pool: how Luxom engineered and built a pool at the very top of Crystal Residence, on the same schedule as the rest of the house.
Development · Aug 7, 2026 · 5 min
From Lot to Handover: The Crystal Residence Build
Land, design, build, handover: the four phases behind Crystal Residence in Coconut Grove, from a 5,625 square foot lot to the finished home Luxom delivered in 2022.
Materials · Aug 6, 2026 · 7 min
One Slab, Three Kitchens: The Same Marble at Samana, Crystal and Onaway
How one Calacatta marble language runs through three different Luxom kitchens: a single waterfall island at Samana, a full counter to backsplash run at Crystal, and the same stone at a much larger scale at Onaway.
Interiors · Aug 6, 2026 · 4 min
High-end kitchen design: the principles that hold up
The expensive kitchen and the enduring kitchen are not the same thing. The principles behind a high-end kitchen that still works in fifteen years: materials, ergonomics and restraint.
Architecture · Aug 6, 2026 · 6 min
Why the Courtyard Goes in the Center of the Plan
Why Luxom centers the courtyard in a floor plan instead of the back: a centered void gives every room its own light and view, keeps hallways bright, and creates privacy from the plan itself, not from taller walls.
Development · Aug 6, 2026 · 6 min
Building the Pool Terrace at Broadview, Start to Finish
From excavation to a brim full lap pool: how the terrace at our Broadview Residence in Coconut Grove came together, stage by stage, on the same schedule as the rest of the house.
Development · Aug 5, 2026 · 4 min
Why Integrated Design and Construction Reduce Handoffs
Architecture, construction and interiors can be split across separate scopes. An integrated team gives a Coconut Grove client one place to resolve the decisions that cross those boundaries.
Interiors · Aug 5, 2026 · 4 min
The private home theater, designed right
A home theater is an acoustic and architectural problem before it is a screen. What separates a real cinema room from a dark room with a projector, and how to build one into the house.
Development · Aug 5, 2026 · 7 min
Why the Best Coconut Grove Homes Sell Before They Are Finished
The best new construction in Coconut Grove rarely reaches an open listing. Here is what building design, construction and finish under one team actually buys a buyer who commits before the walls are finished.
Interiors · Aug 4, 2026 · 4 min
Modern luxury interior design: defining the language
Modern luxury is one of the most used and least defined phrases in interiors. What the language actually is, the principles behind it, and how it differs from the version sold in showrooms.
Development · Aug 4, 2026 · 5 min
Land assemblage: why we buy the whole row
Sometimes the right site isn't one lot, it's several. Buying adjacent houses on the same row and combining them into one buildable site is how estates that can't be copied get built.
Development · Aug 4, 2026 · 6 min
How the Crystal Residence Kitchen Went From Shell to One Run of Stone
Inside the kitchen fit-out at our Crystal Residence in Coconut Grove: the concrete shell, the rough-in, and why the counter, island, and backsplash only became one run of stone once everything under it was locked.
Guides · Aug 4, 2026 · 6 min
How to Build an Interior Moodboard That Holds Up
A mood board is easy to make and easy to trust too much. Here is how to build one that still matches the finished room once the site, the structure and the real materials are locked in.
Interiors · Aug 3, 2026 · 4 min
Designing the wine cellar as a home amenity
How to design a wine cellar that is both a working store and a room worth showing: climate control, racking, placement and the materials that make it feel like part of the house.
Development · Aug 3, 2026 · 5 min
What waterfront actually costs in Coconut Grove
Inland, you can always build again or add on later. On the water, the view and the direct access are fixed by the lot itself, which is the real reason waterfront never trades like ordinary land.
Development · Aug 3, 2026 · 5 min
Building bespoke vs. buying existing: what you actually inherit
What buying an existing house in Coconut Grove actually hands you, and what building bespoke removes: the layout, the finishes and the compromises you never chose.
Development · Aug 3, 2026 · 7 min
How a Luxom Bedroom Gets Built, Block to Paint
Block, conduit, plaster, then paint: how one of the bedrooms at our Samana Residence in Coconut Grove went from an open block shell to the room in the clip, on the same schedule as the rest of the house.
Materials · Aug 2, 2026 · 4 min
Travertine in the bathroom: warmth underfoot
Why travertine has become the bathroom stone of choice: the warmth it brings underfoot, how it handles water, and how to seal and care for it so it lasts a lifetime.
Development · Aug 2, 2026 · 7 min
Building the Backyard Pool at Pinta, Start to Finish
From dirt and rebar to a beach entry turquoise pool: how the backyard at our Pinta Residence in Miami's Bay Heights came together in four acts, on the same schedule as the rest of the build.
Development · Aug 1, 2026 · 6 min
Building the Samana Residence, Start to Finish
From an empty Coconut Grove lot to a finished 3,227 square foot home: how the Samana Residence went up, phase by phase, built and finished start to finish by the same family behind every Luxom home.
Development · Aug 1, 2026 · 6 min
Building the Backyard Pool at Samana, Start to Finish
From excavation to a brim full turquoise pool: how the backyard at our Samana Residence in Coconut Grove came together, phase by phase, on the same schedule as the rest of the build.
Interiors · Aug 1, 2026 · 4 min
2026 interior design trends through the Luxom lens
The interior movements shaping 2026, read through a studio that builds for permanence. Which trends have substance, which are noise, and how to adopt them without dating your home.
Development · Aug 1, 2026 · 6 min
Building the Ingraham Residence, Start to Finish
From an empty Coconut Grove lot to a finished 8,197 square foot home: how the Ingraham Residence went up, phase by phase, the same way every Luxom home does, start to finish.
Architecture · Aug 1, 2026 · 5 min
Designing the Crystal Residence Primary Suite Around Its View
Inside the primary suite fit-out at our Crystal Residence in Coconut Grove: how a room actually gets built around a view, and why that decision happens long before the glass goes in.
Guides · Aug 1, 2026 · 5 min
Acre vs Hectare: What a Coconut Grove Lot Actually Measures
An acre and a hectare are not close in size, and mixing them up changes how a Coconut Grove lot compares to a listing abroad. Here is what each unit actually measures.
Interiors · Jul 31, 2026 · 4 min
Outdoor kitchen design: layout and materials for the tropics
How to plan an outdoor kitchen that survives a Miami climate: the working layout, the finishes that hold up to salt and sun, and the details that decide whether it lasts.
Interiors · Jul 30, 2026 · 4 min
Wabi-sabi in high-end residences
The Japanese aesthetic of imperfection reads, at the top of the market, as the deepest form of luxury. What wabi-sabi is, and how it works in a high-end home.
Architecture · Jul 29, 2026 · 4 min
Architect vs. design-build: which your project needs
Two ways to build a home in Miami: hire an architect and manage the rest yourself, or hire one design-build team that owns the whole thing. How to tell which fits.
Interiors · Jul 28, 2026 · 4 min
Designing the spa bathroom at home
The spa bathroom is made from a short list of decisions: warm materials, layered light, and a layout that gives the room room. How to design one that actually calms.
Materials · Jul 27, 2026 · 3 min
Quartzite countertops: the hardwearing stone for real kitchens
Why quartzite earns its place in kitchens that get used: how the stone behaves, where it beats the alternatives, and what to know before you specify it.
Interiors · Jul 26, 2026 · 4 min
What a full-service interior design firm actually does
The phase-by-phase reality of hiring a full-service interior design firm in Miami: what the work covers, where the value sits, and what a signed brief buys you.
Materials · Jul 25, 2026 · 4 min
Fluted wood: texture as architectural detail
How fluted wood panels turn a flat surface into an architectural detail. Where to use them, which species and finishes work, and how to keep the effect quiet rather than busy.
Interiors · Jul 24, 2026 · 4 min
Organic modern interior design, explained
What organic modern actually means, how it differs from plain minimalism, and how it relates to warm minimalism and quiet luxury. The materials, the palette, and the discipline behind the calm.
Development · Jul 23, 2026 · 5 min
Building a custom luxury home in Miami, start to finish
What it takes to build a custom luxury home in Miami, from land and design through permitting and finish. The real sequence, the local constraints, and where a builder earns their keep.
Materials · Jul 22, 2026 · 4 min
Marble countertops: types, care, and where they belong
A clear guide to marble countertops: the main types, what the stone will and will not tolerate, and the rooms where marble earns its place rather than becoming a maintenance problem.
Materials · Jul 21, 2026 · 4 min
Limewash on brick: refinishing exteriors the quiet way
How limewash transforms a brick exterior into a soft, mineral finish that ages into character. The process, the durability, and the restraint that keeps it looking right.
Development · Jul 20, 2026 · 4 min
Turnkey whole-home renovation: one team vs. many contractors
The case for a single accountable team on a whole-home renovation in Miami, and what coordinating many separate contractors actually costs you in time, risk and finish.
Interiors · Jul 19, 2026 · 4 min
The dressing room: walk-in closets as architecture
How to design a walk-in closet that reads as a room, not storage. Layout, proportion, materials and lighting that turn a closet into a dressing room.
Materials · Jul 18, 2026 · 4 min
Choosing stone: quartzite, marble, and travertine
A working guide to natural stone countertops. How quartzite, marble and travertine differ in hardness, look and upkeep, and when each is the right choice.
Development · Jul 17, 2026 · 4 min
The spa-grade bathroom remodel: a Miami guide
What a spa-grade bathroom remodel in Miami actually involves, from the first survey to the sealed finish, and the decisions that drive both the result and the cost.
Materials · Jul 16, 2026 · 4 min
Microcement: a guide to seamless surfaces
The thin, jointless surface behind the monolithic bathroom. What microcement is, how it wears, and how it compares to venetian plaster and tile before you specify it.
Interiors · Jul 15, 2026 · 4 min
The Miami outdoor kitchen, designed like an interior
Why the best outdoor kitchens are planned with the rigor of a room, not bolted on as an afterthought. Materials that survive the climate, and a layout built for entertaining.
Development · Jul 14, 2026 · 4 min
Luxury kitchen renovation in Miami: process, timeline, and cost
What a high-end kitchen remodel in Miami actually involves. The real sequence of work, an honest timeline, the cost drivers, and why one team beats a chain of subcontractors.
Development · Jul 14, 2026 · 8 min
An $8.2M development cost breakdown, from land to finish
How a luxury development budget at this scale divides across land, architecture, construction and finishes: the categories, the logic behind each one, and what they mean for a buyer.
Materials · Jul 13, 2026 · 4 min
Venetian plaster: hand-applied surfaces
The troweled lime finish that turns a wall into depth and sheen. What Venetian plaster is, how it is applied, where it belongs, and how it compares to microcement and limewash.
Interiors · Jul 12, 2026 · 3 min
Warm minimalism: luxury without the cold
The branch of minimalism that keeps the calm and loses the chill. How material, light and texture turn a spare room into one you want to stay in.
Architecture · Jul 11, 2026 · 4 min
How to choose an architecture firm in Miami
The criteria that separate a residential architect who fits your project from one who does not. Portfolio, permitting, delivery model, and the red flags to catch early.
Materials · Jul 10, 2026 · 4 min
Limewash: the finish behind the quiet-luxury wall
The mineral paint that gives a wall depth instead of a coat of color. What limewash is, why it reads as quiet luxury, where to use it, and how it ages.
Interiors · Jul 9, 2026 · 4 min
Quiet luxury: the anti-trend that lasts
The design language that reads as expensive without announcing it. What quiet luxury is, the materials that carry it, and how to build a home that ages into value instead of out of it.
Development · Jul 8, 2026 · 3 min
Where luxury developers actually make money
It isn't the house. The margin is decided the day you buy the land, and protected by everything you refuse to cheapen.
Interiors · Jun 30, 2026 · 3 min
Trends 2026
A guided reading on the materials, tones and quiet gestures shaping interiors in the coming year, observed across thirty residences from Tulum to Lake Como.
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