FAME Architecture and Design

David and Marina are incredibly talented. We worked with them to renovate our kitchen and a bathroom and their work brought our whole house back to life. They were able to seamlessly combine the original character of the home with fresh and modern touches to not only improve the functionality of the space, but also revive the original intent of the design. Not an easy task! From the very beginning, David and Marina were incredibly detailed and thoughtful in their process to understand our home and our vision for the renovation. They provided numerous presentations with renderings of our home and material options that helped us feel confident in their plan for our space and helped us make hard design decisions as the process went on. In the end, their attention to detail and communication gave us our dream home and we couldn't be happier. Not only do David and Marina have incredible taste and design ability, they are also amazing people. They turned what is normally a stressful process into a very enjoyable one, which wasn't easy considering I was a new mom during both projects! We will be forever grateful for David and Marina and couldn’t recommend them more!

I was referred to FAME by a well-known realty agency, The Shelhammer Group! Although FAME Architecture and Design is advertised as specializing in high-end modern homes, Marina and Dave took on my smaller project (townhouse remodel) with the same time and effort used on bigger and more expensive homes. Unfortunately, the first floor of my condo was flooded due to piping issues, and I needed quite a bit of guidance. Since I was covered by insurance, Marina and David were sensitive that I needed to stick within a budget; however, their wonderful ideas as to how I could improve the aesthetic of my home led to my happily spending additional funds to reach my goals! Marina, who worked primarily with me through the project, had a terrific design sense, was extremely timely in returning emails, offered a variety of price points for suggested items, took into consideration my particular taste with her opinions, and was funny, calming (when dealing with occasional contractor issues!), and was the consummate professional. One design idea that took me by surprise was using wallpaper for my powder room! When it came down to choosing between two wallpaper ideas, Marina suggested a print that I felt was “out of my comfort zone”. Since I trusted her wonderful design sense, I decided to go for it, and I am so glad I did. The gorgeous subtle peony design is absolutely stunning! The powder room is now my favorite room in the house! I was especially impressed by their initial design presentation which offered different ways I could change my home, starting with the least amount of construction and design to more substantial changes. Taking in consideration that my place lacked sufficient light, they suggested brightening up the first floor with lighter walls and floors, a result that definitely leaves an impression! I would definitely recommend Marina and David to my friends and family, as they listen to your preferences, offer great suggestions, and make the whole experience worthwhile!

We had not remodeled our home in Venice for over 20 years. Being confined in our home during Covid, we saw daily the aging that had taken place over the years. We decided it was finally time to update the house with a new modern look, while still maintaining its warmth. We were referred to Fame through a well known architect in Venice, Steven Ehrlich. We knew the moment we met David and Marina they were the perfect architects/designers for our remodel. They are a top notch team, and extremely enjoyable to work with. They are always available to answer questions, advise and provide their expertise, and troubleshoot, if needed. David and Marina created a new vision for the house, and a game plan for how to transform it to a more modern and spacious look. They are a full service team. They take all of the hard work out of the remodel by referring companies with whom they have experience to perform the work, including contractors, cabinet makers, and other essential workers. Additionally, as designers, they perform all of the research and advise on design elements throughout, typically presenting three choices with a star to indicate their first choice. They were involved and advised on every step of the project, including: replacing the wooden floors, new and brighter kitchen counters and cabinets, recessed lighting, painting and refinishing of all the walls, new window coverings throughout, replacement of all the interior doors with upgraded hardware, and transformation of the primary bathroom with a sleek new vanity and marble countertop. Importantly, they also provided design choices for new updated furniture and rugs throughout the house (while retaining the pieces we couldn’t part with) and lighting fixtures which transformed both the kitchen (a mobile-like chandelier in the kitchen which frames the high ceiling of the room) and a dramatic hanging pendant light in the primary bathroom. We cannot express how happy we are with the finished product. It exceeds all of our expectations. We highly recommend David and Marina, and will miss working with them!

When my wife and I decided to renovate our Venice home instead of moving, we knew we needed help. We were fortunate to receive a referral from friend and renowned architect Steven Ehrlich of EYRC Architects to David and Marina of Fame Architects. From the first meeting we knew we were in good hands and felt a great confidence in their expertise. They are very easy to work with and yet are able to integrate their knowledge and expertise with the clients desires and particular needs. I know that this requires tact, diplomacy and a strong grounding in their own artistic values. The four of us were always able to work out any problems and made adjustments along the way, including the difficult issues of availability of products and supply chain problems Our remodel was extensive including new interior paint, all new lighting (replacing old track lighting and fixtures with recessed lighting), new kitchen countertops, new cabinetry, a custom made vanity in the primary bathroom with a beautiful marble top, many pieces of new furniture and several light fixtures. The beautiful hanging chandelier in the kitchen is what everyone first comments on when entering our home now. One piece that is especially important to me now is the hanging pendant in the bathroom. It was one of the last pieces that was chosen and by that time I had learn to trust their sense of design. At first I was hesitant about the piece but it has become my favorite, especially in the early evening when the soft glow of light with the dimmer switch gives the bathroom a felling of beauty and luxury. David and Marina are efficient, capable, trustworthy, and easy to work with. They always did what they said they were going to do and were scrupulously honest in their pricing and billing. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them (and have) as their technical understanding combined with their artistic and design concepts and their knowledge of materials and furniture allow them to work well in many different environments.

We are so thankful for FAME Architects starting us on this remodel journey. As this was our first remodel ever, we had no idea what we wanted and were a bit apprehensive of what we were getting ourselves into. A friend had referred us to David and Marina, but after checking out their website, we thought our humble remodel was not the type of project they would take on based on the luxury homes in their portfolio. We couldn’t have been more wrong. David and Marina created a vision plan for us after getting to know what our lifestyles were like and the things we like to do together with the family. They addressed all our questions and concerns and were honest in their feedback, letting us know if they did not recommend a particular change and their reasoning behind it. The whole process was definitely a huge learning experience for us and we felt we were definitely in good hands the entire time. We appreciated their guidance, encouragement, patience, and advice in creating the vision plan for us and helping us imagine all that our home could be. David and Marina are so gifted at what they do and we enjoyed getting to know them and know you will too. We have recommended FAME Architects to our neighbors!

We thoroughly enjoyed working with FAME. They are responsive, thoughtful, and have a good sense of humor. They felt like trusted partners. Every step of the way, they’ve been there to answer questions and provide considered guidance. We were blown away by the designs they proposed. The vision package was a great way to see how they synthesized our needs, desires and the conditions of our property to form three different solutions. We could see directly how what we’d shared around budget, style, and functional needs came to life in their designs. An example of this was the inclusion of the sun studies which helped us see that the designs they provided were derived from real data, not just cool ideas. One of the biggest challenges we gave FAME was the request to integrate the house more into our sloped property and garden. We were thrilled to see how they met that challenge - something the previous architects had completely ignored.

We wanted something much more special and different than what we had seen done before locally. David and Marina were the perfect duo to do exactly that. Our home feels like it is special to us. FAME wasn’t the first architect and design firm we worked with for our project. There were other designers that were plenty talented but didn’t have the vision that they brought. Our experiences with other designers were always a bit underwhelming because they didn’t really try to get to know us before designing something they thought would suit us. David and Marina began our project by asking thoughtful questions about how we currently live, how we would like to live, and the big desires we had for our new family home. With them, it felt they were fully invested in our happiness beyond just designing something “nice”. We knew what kind of aesthetic we liked, but couldn’t articulate exactly why we liked it. FAME took our inspiration and improved on it, making it way better than we could have imagined. We are so impressed with their smart and thoughtful designs. David and Marina are so unique as a team and individually, and it really shows in their craft. Our finished home is better than we could have ever envisioned. We are very grateful and happy clients, and anyone else lucky enough to have the opportunity to hire them will feel the same.” We were always eager to see what innovative ideas they had coming our way and it was a joy to discuss design possibilities with them. The duality of their styles always came through in the multiple designs options they provided us. It was always an exciting time for us to see what they came up with. They never pushed ideas on us and were very good at understanding our thoughts and deciphering our wants and needs. There were always a lot of smiles and “Oooh’ing “and “Aah’ing” on design discussions days. We always looked forward to design discussion days because FAME never disappointed. The thing that surprised us the most in working with them was how stress-free we were as clients. We felt safe, understood, and confident that we were going to get a fantastic product with them leading the way. During construction, there are always a million decisions that need to be made and we were always confident in the ones we were making because we always felt like a team. We were always informed every step of the way in the design process and beyond. As issues would inevitably come up, we never felt lost or confused because FAME would always have either the issues solved already or a solid well thought out plan B or even plan C. Even at the most frustrating times during our build, we would still describe the process as stress-free because they were always with us 100% and carried us all the way through to the finish line. FAME was a dream team to work with and honestly I look forward to the day we can do another project together.