Client Testimonials
Below are reviews of Garrison Foundry Architecture that are posted on Houzz
“Annie is a very talented architect and designer. She has an incredible eye, and really understands space and scale. She designed a beautiful outdoor living space (large deck) for us that stayed true to our home and environment, and flowed naturally, optimizing space and views. She incorporated details like beautiful stonework that tied the space in with the rest of the house. She worked closely with contractors and made sure things were done on time and accurately. The result is a true extension of our home - a lovely outdoor living and dining space that we enjoy whenever the weather allows. We have also used Annie to help us update things in our home like lighting, furniture, and windows. Everything she has done for us is beautiful, thoughtful and respectful of what is already in place. She's truly talented, and a pleasure to work with!”
“The house was a post & beam, flat roofed, mid-century modern designed by my father. It was built bit-by-bit starting in 1964 and for lots of reasons never did get finished. By 2019 it was in pretty bad shape and in need of a complete gut renovation. Annie was able to look past the mess and not only see the beauty of the original design but pay homage to my father in her design. Annie was great to work with, her circle of contractors are top-notch (shout out to Eric and everyone at WB Classical Builders) and her communication throughout the project was excellent. She transformed a very disheveled house into my little Shangri-La. I'm so pleased that I had the opportunity to work with Annie on my project, she is an amazing architect & interior designer.”
“Working with Annie on our addition was a joy from beginning to end. During the design phase, she listened to our hopes and needs. She offered lots of supportive ideas which got us to a specific plan efficiently. During our request for proposals from contractors, she presented an impressive list of of firms with whom she had worked, who respected her, and who each had a unique strength to test our goals. She was accurate in guiding our expectations about the project budget. She was accessible all thru the construction phase and helped to bridge questions of design during the building. As the project drew to a close, she had excellent ideas to assist with decorating and follow up maintenance planning. We can not recommend Annie too highly for her professionalism, kind demeanor, and efficient working style. We look forward to working with her again!”
“Annie is an incredibly talented architect and interior designer who brings with her an equally high-caliber network of individuals (contractors, structural engineers, electricians, etc.) We did a major renovation of our home which required a very creative approach given our budget, timeline, and limited ability to add square footage. Our home (late 1800s) was purchased before we had children and after many years of living in the house, we needed to create more living space to accommodate a family of five. The renovation managed to maintain the character and charm of the home while adding lots of light, ceiling height, storage, efficient new layouts for living, and a gorgeous master suite. During the demo, Annie also salvaged antique bricks and original beams to incorporate into the design. Every square inch of our home was thoughtfully designed to maximize functional use while also providing a beautiful space. It truly was a miracle what she and her team were able to do with our home, and we feel the benefits of her work every day. The project was completed on time and on budget. She brought so many incredible design touches and ideas to our home and was so much fun to work with on this project. We look forward to working with Annie and her team again.”
“Annie was amazing and a joy to work with, She did an incredible job designing and modernizing our cozy A-frame house. The original house was build in the 1970's and she has completely transformed the space. Annie worked with us to design the new interior to improve the house and to enhance the lighting to maximize the natural beauty of our home, We are very happy with the final result and I would recommend her highly.”
“Annie designed an extension for our 165 year old home and did a terrific job of keeping the spirit of our home alive in the the newly renovated area. This was important to us as we wanted to ensure the new addition felt like it had always been here. Annie brought detailed research to the project, combining the past history of the Italianate style home with a modern twist. We asked for an extension to our kitchen, and she provided so much more while still keeping us within budget. In the design phase, Annie was collaborative, creative and thoughtful, guiding us through the selection of materials and decisions we needed to make. In the field, she was responsive, quick with answers and pivots when needed, and an excellent communicator with our contractor. Throughout the entire process, Annie was a strong partner to all parties involved. She is talented, whip smart, and a very good listener. She made every effort possible to deliver what it was we wanted in our home renovation, while making sure the solution was sound, practical and beautiful. We highly recommend Annie!”
“Annie is simply terrific. In addition to having great ideas, she is a good listener and works with her clients to collaborate in achieving wonderful end results. We chose Garrison Foundry for a whole house, largely cosmetic “facelift” and the results exceeded our expectations. Her attention to detail is invaluable and the experience working with Annie, start to finish, was great. While our renovation was definitely a collaborative effort, Annie has such great ideas and taste that we would feel completely comfortable having her direct a project for us solo. And now 2 years after our large renovation was completed, Annie/GF is helping us again on a smaller project.”
“We did a gut renovation of our country house. Annie made it a very special space! She has exquisite taste and brilliant design ideas. She was a pleasure to work with -- attentive to details, and had great skill in communicating with the contractor and millworker. She selected beautiful finishes, guided me in choosing fixtures and furnishings, and knew where to find unique things.”
“Annie is a fantastic architect who helped us transform our house by designing and overseeing a new front porch and rear decks. She was attentive and understood our style to create a truly useful and beautiful, space.”
“Annie is one of the most talented architects and interior designers in the Hudson Valley and is a terrific person. She helped us with a major gut renovation of our home, working through design details, materials and furnishings and coordinating contractor work. It was a collaborative project and she was very flexible to ensure we had the home we loved. We couldn't be more pleased with the results - check out 34 Fort Defiance Hill on projects. I would be happy to serve as a reference if you had any questions, we couldn't recommend more highly.”
“This is the second project Annie has done on our home. She first helped us with a re-working of the hardscape of our driveway and yard, coordinating with a landscape architect - to whom she referred us - on the soft elements. It completely changed the way we use and enjoy our outdoor space. Recently she worked on the renovation of our kitchen, which included re-configuring an adjoining room. The resulting space is not only beautifully finished but a much better use of a part of the house we spend a great deal of time in. Annie is creative, detail oriented and was at all stages responsive and open to our input. As a person she is friendly, engaging and very easy to work with.”
“I can’t say enough good things about Annie Mennes. She’s incredibly smart and capable and has terrific taste and spot-on judgment, which makes all the many many decisions that go into a renovation much easier. She has great ideas of her own and was also great at hearing our ideas and translating them into a concrete plan. She was always on top of the process, always timely and responsive and just kept at it, even when parts of our project extended past when she might have expected to be done managing the work. Above and beyond all that, she’s just a pleasure to work with as a person - a great communicator and total pro at coordinating lots of people and personalities. We’re so happy we decided to work with her. Highest recommendation!”
“We hired Annie for a first floor gut renovation on a newly purchased 1886 colonial. Annie was tasked with providing ideas/recommendations on a new layout, drawings for the town, and finally helping us design the newly renovated space. Annie exceeded our expectations and we couldn’t have completed the project with out her. She provided tons of guidance from sourcing some of the contractors to helping find cost friendly lighting. It was a pleasure to work with her and we couldn’t be happier with the final product.”
“Working with Annie to design a high end residential building was an extreme pleasure. It was the best experience I've had with an Architect. She is very attentive to details and always accomodating for all mechanical and plumbing requirements. As an engineer, I truly enjoyed working with Annie and looking forward to work with her on future project.”
“Annie designed my bar and townhouse in Brooklyn. She has impeccable taste, material samples of everything you can imagine, the patience of a 1st grade teacher and a keen sense of what was possible within my budget. For my bar she designed everything from the look and spacing of the place to the counter materials and even my actual booths. She sent me contractors to work with and did my lighting design. The project took about 11 months because of the usual holdups but whenever I needed something tweaked from Annie she always made herself available. Knowing I could rely on her was, honestly, one of the reasons I didn't lose my mind.
For my town home she was amazing. Everything from out amazing bathrooms (she is a whizz at bathrooms and kitchens, I couldn't say enough on this topic) to our staircase, bannisters, wall colors, moldings...and our floors she had sanded and bleached. When friends come over they marvel at the floors. She also drew up our backyard design and facade - we are in the process of completing both and should have pictures soon.”