TAB Designs

TAB Designs TAB Designs is a custom residential and commercial design firm and showroom providing quality design It's a complete custom design from start to finish.

Our mission is to bring quality design, products, and materials to homeowners- whether it's for a first home, second home, or vacation home. We pride ourselves in focusing on what is important to each individual's design aesthetic, direction, and budget. Good design should be an opportunity for everyone; it's about creatively crafting the best design for each individual. Our vision is to provide a

unique and custom design experience with honesty and integrity. TAB Designs specializes in remodels, new construction, CAD drawings for both, and space planning of existing and new furniture. We provide selections for all materials necessary for a home- from exterior stone and its mortar to the sheets placed on the bed. Design is what we know and love, so we brought these skills back to the lake. We wanted to be a part of the community where we both grew up, enjoy living, and see growing around us!

This niche could have been an awkward leftover beside the stone wall.Instead, the arch softens the stone, the wood shelv...
08/12/2026

This niche could have been an awkward leftover beside the stone wall.

Instead, the arch softens the stone, the wood shelves connect to the mantel, the wallcovering adds depth, and the cabinets hide the things nobody wants styled in a photograph.

Built-ins should give a room character and give real life somewhere to go.

Lighting is not jewelry you add after the room is done. It's part of the architecture.A fixture has to look right, but i...
08/11/2026

Lighting is not jewelry you add after the room is done. It's part of the architecture.

A fixture has to look right, but it also has to hang at the right height, light the right surface, and make sense from the rooms around it. In an open plan, one oversized light can set the rhythm for the entire space. The wrong scale can make even a beautiful room feel off.

That's why lighting decisions belong on the plan early - before the electrical locations are fixed and before the ceiling starts telling us what we can't do.

Go big on the fixtures, or keep them understated?

A kitchen isn't finished when every finish is pretty. It's finished when the room works at 7 a.m., 6 p.m., and when twel...
08/10/2026

A kitchen isn't finished when every finish is pretty. It's finished when the room works at 7 a.m., 6 p.m., and when twelve people wander in at once.

Before we think about hardware and paint, we think about the path between the refrigerator, sink, and range; where hot dishes land; how guests gather without standing in the cook's way; and what needs to be within reach.

That's the difference between decorating a kitchen and designing one. One gives you a look. The other gives you a room that keeps earning its place in the house.

What matters most in your kitchen: more storage, more prep space, or better room for people to gather?

This is the part nobody photographs for the magazine spread.Drywall's taped. Trim stock is stacked against the wall wait...
08/06/2026

This is the part nobody photographs for the magazine spread.

Drywall's taped. Trim stock is stacked against the wall waiting its turn. There's blue tape on the timber that says what goes where.

That arched beam and the stair going up behind it were coordinated long before anyone hung a single piece of sheetrock. Where the arch springs from, how the newel post lands relative to it, whether the iron balusters read too heavy against the wood... Those are all drawings and decisions, not happy accidents that happen on-site.

Construction selections aren't the most glamorous thing we do, but they are one of the most important. Because when you get them right the finished room comes together exactly like you imagined.

Two metals in one bathroom, complimenting instead of clashing.The cabinet pulls and mirror hardware are matte black. The...
08/05/2026

Two metals in one bathroom, complimenting instead of clashing.

The cabinet pulls and mirror hardware are matte black. The faucets and sconces are a cooler brushed nickel.

Black does the framing, with the mirror, the strap detail across the top of it, the pulls on the vanity. That's the outline of the room. The faucets sit down at the counter where your hands actually go, reading like jewelry against the white quartz. The sconces stay quiet on purpose, because the seeded glass and the light are already doing the work up there.

If you're mixing, pick one finish and repeat it at least three times. That's your anchor. Everything after that is an accent, and accents get to be different.

The place people get in trouble isn't mixing, it's putting two almost-matching finishes side by side on the same fixture. Brushed nickel next to chrome on one faucet looks like something went wrong at the order desk. Across the room, on separate elements, nobody blinks.

Not every kitchen is built to cook dinner in.This one sits upstairs, next to a conference table, in a lake house the own...
08/03/2026

Not every kitchen is built to cook dinner in.

This one sits upstairs, next to a conference table, in a lake house the owner uses for company trainings. So it got designed for the job it actually does, with a long counter run for setting lunch out, deep drawers instead of a wall of uppers, and open shelves with lighting underneath so glassware and mugs stay within arm's reach. Nobody's digging through cabinets while a room full of people waits.

The fluted tile pulls the bronze out of the afternoon light coming through those windows. The dark cabinetry keeps it from reading like a break room.

Design, architecture, and construction planning all worked out together.

Count the places to sit.Screened porch for the buggy hours. Open deck for the afternoons worth getting sun for. Covered ...
08/02/2026

Count the places to sit.

Screened porch for the buggy hours. Open deck for the afternoons worth getting sun for. Covered patio below when it rains and nobody's ready to go inside. Fire pit on the paver circle after dark. Hot tub for whoever's still up.

That's not five outdoor spaces because somebody kept buying furniture. It's five because a lake house on a holiday weekend holds three generations at once and they don't all want to be doing the same thing. Give people somewhere else to go and they stay longer.

The catch is that this gets planned while the grade and the footprint are still on paper, like where the stairs land, how far the roof carries over the lower patio, where the power runs for the hot tub. Because otherwise adding a gathering space to an already finished house is how you end up with a very crowded deck.

Where does everybody end up at your place?

Loving how vibrant this material board is!
08/01/2026

Loving how vibrant this material board is!

A chair in a guest bath isn't just decoration.Lake houses run on a rotation. Someone's coming in wet, someone's heading ...
07/31/2026

A chair in a guest bath isn't just decoration.

Lake houses run on a rotation. Someone's coming in wet, someone's heading back out, and someone's waiting their turn. A seat means nobody's balancing on one foot peeling off a swimsuit or stacking dry clothes on the edge of a sink.

Leather sling, low profile, tucks into the corner without crowding the room. The built-in niche handles the rest with towels, paper, and a hamper that stays out of the traffic pattern but still in reach.

Which lamps are our favorite?
07/30/2026

Which lamps are our favorite?

Address

Littleton, NC
27850

Telephone

+19198185646

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