EnviroHomeDesign LLC

Simply put, Marta is wonderful. Not only is she a talented architect, she is a warm and caring person. From the time we began working on our project with her, through its completion, I felt like she was our partner--she worked with us every step of the way to design the home we wanted. She helped guide us through the process from start to finish, patiently asking us questions to help us better understand the home we wanted, and, with her tremendous knowledge of design and construction, turned our dream into reality. When we ran into some challenges with our project (no fault of Marta's--it had to do with the difficulty of adding to a 1941 colonial), she creatively and confidently turned those challenges into opportunities. There are many things I love about Marta, but above all else, I felt entirely at ease and comfortable working with her. I have complete confidence in her professional abilities and talents, and I love that she cares about giving her clients not just a house, but a home. I highly recommend her. PS--My husband also submitted a review and also highly recommends Marta. You can see his review below. While his name is also associated with this review, it's actually his wife who is writing it!

Beautify designs that are efficient, conscientious, and environmentally friendly. With her old world charm and attention to detail, Marta is a wonderful asset to Arlington and Northern Virginia metropolitan area! She added new life to my 1940 Arlington colonial.

Marta at EnviroHomeDesign brought vision, imagination and clarity to our projects. She really thought about how we would use the space we were creating, anticipating our needs, and finding design solutions which worked for us. Marta is more than a talented designer. She has a deep knowledge of construction processes, materials and budgeting. Her energy is an inspiration. She is detailed, thorough, and very accessible. Marta is a great partner to have on a renovation.

Our 1920 “cottage” in the Courthouse area of Arlington, which we bought in the 1970’s, was originally, we believe, a summer getaway from Washington DC. It was a one-story, 2 bedroom house on a small lot. The house had deteriorated to the point where we had to either do major renovations or sell the house to someone who would tear it down. Since we loved the neighborhood, and the house, we decided to discuss our options with Marta Laysecu, who seemed to share our desire to modernize the house while maintaining some of its original character, in an affordable way, and also, to incorporate environmentally friendly practices. Marta patiently spent many hours discussing ideas with my family, who all had differing ideas of how the renovation should be done. We wanted a flexible design that would allow for different living arrangements in the future as our needs changed. The other complicating factor was finding ways to comply with zoning regulations on our undersized lot. Marta spent many hours working with the county zoning office to understand our options. Marta listened to all the ideas from family members, and was able to come up with a design that managed to mesh many of the ideas into a plan that was acceptable to all, and she always took into account our budget. We ended up adding a second story, an addition on the back, and a complete renovation of the entire house, so we basically ended up with a new house, but with the basic character of the original. Marta was involved and available throughout the renovation. As a perfectionist, she insisted on quality work, and did not hesitate to have work redone that did not meet her standards. If we ever do a renovation in the future, we hope Marta will be available to help.

Marta had the depth of knowledge of both design and construction to work with real-world budgets, to hold subcontractors accountable, to prioritize items on our project, and to help us coordinate with all the many teams needed to complete a full home renovation. Marta is a passionate, creative, problem solver. She was with us every step of the way - from the initial design to the final construction. And she had the imagination to see our house as we would want to use it. She was detailed, persistent, patient – and a tireless advocate for my new family. I recommend Marta highly.

We used EnviroHomeDesign for our home renovation project. This design-build company was fabulous from start to finish! Marta Layseca, the architect/designer, did a brilliant job of understanding our family’s needs and desires, and using our limited footprint to enlarge our kitchen, living, and closet space. Her creative ideas made our space more practical, spacious, environmentally-friendly, and beautiful. Ms. Layseca stays very involved in the renovation project all the way through to completion. Her design experience, exceptional attention to detail, and commitment to our vision were invaluable. As an example, Ms. Layseca designed an elegant bathroom with a roll in shower for our son who is in a wheelchair. She created a perfect storage nook for his shower chair (requiring ingenuity and numerous careful pre-measurements), and designed important details into the construction and tilework in order to frame the shower beautifully without sacrificing accessibility. Harver Bautista (MKC group), the general contractor who partners with Ms. Layseca, was very reliable and impeccably responsive. We never sent an email that wasn’t responded to within a day – and usually within the hour. We had a tight timeline for our project. Mr. Bautista assured us that the project would be completed on schedule, and it was! The project remained on budget as well. The only extras were things we chose to add on. Mr. Bautista’s dedicated team of workers was at our house almost every day for 4 months, and delivered an excellent product. We are particularly admiring of their detailed work involving lowering floor joists, recreating a 1920’s crown molding on a room that was enlarged, and ensuring that all window and door trims matched the older trims in the home. On a personal note, Ms. Layseca and Mr. Bautista were a pleasure to work with, as was Fermin Contreras – the on-site manager of our project.

It may be over four years ago, but every day -- we still LOVE the kitchen and dining room renovation that Marta Layseca, EnviroHomeDesign, created for us. She developed several innovative options – staying per our request, within the existing footprint– and within our budget -- and we have a beautiful kitchen and dining room that no one who saw the previous space can believe was possible. She designed every square meter with efficiency, ease of use, warmth, and visual pleasure in mind. She listened to what we wanted but offered great ideas that expanded our horizons – we loved working with her. Her attention to detail is awesome – nothing was left unfinished and she worked closely with the builder to ensure every specification was carried out as planned. When we felt uncertain about the walls, she introduced us to Bryan King of Artifice Inc. who suggested and painted a warm parchment glaze – which still wows people that see it for the first time. We wanted to lower our home carbon footprint as much as possible; and Marta connected us with an experienced insulation firm—the spray foam insulation in our kitchen and attic reduced our home energy use between 20-25 percent. Next year, we plan on renovating another part of the house – we will be calling on Marta’s expertise and ideas for that job.

We had a wonderful experience working with Marta Layseca of EnviroHome Design. We live in Arlington and she designed a large addition to our house which was completed seven years ago. Not a day goes by that I am not grateful for the beautiful and functional house Marta designed for us. In developing the design, Marta was so careful to really understand how we used all of the existing space and find out what we liked and didn't like. She encouraged us to make specific changes in the old part of the house that make it fit so perfectly with the new that you would never know it wasn't designed all at once. Marta is very committed to green building and we were able to participate in the Arlington Green Home Choice program. Ours was one of the first projects to qualify as a green home under the project. Thanks to the green and energy efficient systems we installed, our power bills are less now than they were when the house was half the current size. I know that once building projects begin, many architects bow out and the contractors take over. Not with Marta. She stays involved until the project is complete to be sure everything is done to plan and to help with decisions that need to be made along the way. I can't say enough about how happy we are with our beautiful home thanks to Marta Layseca and EnviroHomeDesign.

We were extremely pleased with the outcome of our project working with EnviroHomeDesign (See: “Traditional Spanish Colonial”). What started out (for us) as a simple kitchen remodel ballooned into something much larger – a complete renovation with a second-story addition and many ‘green’ upgrades. Marta, the architect, helped us come up with a wonderful architectural design that not only preserved the original character of our 1925 Spanish bungalow, but made the transition from old to new so seamless that it is hard to believe it used to be a 1-story house. She was able to integrate the addition into the existing floor plan without the awkward or wasted space, and brought much more natural light into the house with the use of skylights and solar tubes. We were grateful for Marta’s expertise in sustainable design and were impressed with all the strategies she had for making the house more energy-efficient, improving the indoor air quality, and using recycled or sustainable materials. Her efforts helped us earn a number of green certifications and awards for our house and have reduced both our carbon footprint and our utility costs. Marta was extremely thorough and detail-oriented, and even assisted us with the interior design of the kitchen and bathrooms, which saved us a lot of extra work when it came time to choose cabinets, appliances, and fixtures. She remained involved with the project throughout the construction phase, and made sure that any issues that came up were resolved to our satisfaction. Our friends, family, and even complete strangers have commented on how beautiful, comfortable, and “livable” our house is, and we couldn’t be happier with the results.

EnviroHomeDesign worked closely with us to remodel and add to our mid-1950's, brick home. The result is very pleasing to us for several reasons. Our architect tuned in to our aesthetics, working with us to design a two-story addition that added south glass to our home, opened the interior for a much roomier feel with a relatively modest increase of floor area, and improved energy efficiency significantly. The existing style, quality and sturdiness of the old house was nicely integrated with and reflected in the new structure. Upgraded systems and insulation improved our comfort and air quality while decreasing our energy consumption. Our architect produced detailed plans, worked closely with us through the design and permitting stages, was very involved throughout the entire construction process, collaborating with our contractor to resolve any issues for positive outcomes. We were able to conserve trees near the house, and feel much more connected with the outdoors through the view into the trees from our living space, increased sunlight, and renewed patio. The addition has certainly become our favorite place to be in at home. A few of the aspects that improved our project include tasteful extension of an existing arched doorway theme throughout the transitions from old to new areas, integration of solar tubes for interior lighting, sealing and increasing insulation quality in the attic space above the entire house, Increasing Kitchen work and storage space, and increasing the amount of south glass many times over. See the photos posted by the company for their "My Morning Coffee" project: http://www.houzz.com/photos/12758669/My-Morning-Coffee-traditional-family-room-dc-metro

We are working with Marta Layesca on a partial demolition and addition/reconfiguration of our 100+ year old home. She has done a wonderful job in designing the project to fit our needs and budget, and has been exceptionally responsive to our questions and concerns. Great attention to detail, from site views to interior layout to finishes.