The winners are in. The 2026 Best of the North Shore Home Awards celebrate the architects, builders, designers, craftspeople, and shops that make homes on the North Shore so special.
Dedicated to all things hearth and home, we highlight both Editors’ and Readers’ Choice winners for best architect, builder, interior designer, landscape service, fabrics shop, antiques, auction house, and more. Choose a category below to meet the winners.
This year’s winners will be celebrated in person on Tuesday, November 17, at Historic New England’s new museum in Haverhill, and you’re invited.
Get tickets to the BONS Home Awards event →
The Categories
Editors’ Choice · chosen by our editors
Readers’ Choice · voted by you
01 / 09
Blueprint
Architect Firm/Traditional
Editors’ Choice
Carpenter & MacNeille, Essex
The architects of Carpenter & MacNeille want to design homes that become long-lasting legacies. To do this, they draw inspiration from classic New England home designs, adapting their work to suit each building’s natural surroundings, and complement this deep respect for tradition with a dedication to contemporary standards of craftsmanship.
Readers’ Choice
Benjamin Nutter Architects, Topsfield
Architect/Contemporary
Editors’ Choice
SV Design Architecture and Interiors, Beverly
Those seeking a home that blends clean, modern lines with materials and details that respect and reflect the North Shore’s natural beauty can do no better than SV Design. The firm’s people-centered process ensures that clients’ visions are heard and incorporated in designs that are at once contemporary and timeless.
Architect/Renovation & Restoration
Editors’ Choice
Benjamin Nutter Architects, Topsfield
Looking to turn a hundred-year-old summer cottage into an elegant seasonal retreat? Or restore an aging captain’s home to its former glory? The Benjamin Nutter team excels at cherishing and highlighting the heritage of a home while transforming it into a place that is a joy to occupy in the here and now.
Architectural Firm/Coastal
Editors’ Choice
Olson Lewis + Architects, Manchester-by-the-Sea
You’re in luck: The firm behind Gloucester’s stunning Beauport Hotel also does residential design, integrating modern standards, traditional architectural elements, and the natural surroundings to create coastal homes as luxurious and welcoming as any waterfront escape.
Design/Build
Editors’ Choice
Treehouse Design, Inc., Rockport
Treehouse Design’s collaborative, holistic approach to residential design and construction ensures that every home in the firm’s portfolio strikes a beautiful balance between aesthetics, practicality, and environmental sustainability. Each design is personal, rooted in the clients’ tastes and values, ensuring homes with enduring appeal.
Green Architect
Editors’ Choice
Steven Baczek Architect, Reading
With deep experience in LEED-certified building and passive home architecture — a highly energy-efficient standard — Steven Baczek brings an unparalleled knowledge of sustainability to his work. But his designs are as beautiful as they are functional, incorporating elements from the classic to the contemporary to bring clients’ visions to life.
02 / 09
Build
Builder, Custom Homes
Editors’ Choice
Payne|Bouchier Fine Builders, Essex
Born of its founders’ reverence for the art of fine building, Payne|Bouchier brings passion, expertise, and an unmatched eye for detail to every job. The team works closely with clients’ designers to ensure a seamless process from the first nail to the owners’ first night in their new space.
Builder, Renovation
Editors’ Choice
BSA Construction
When you’ve got a house with good bones that needs a little something more, BSA Construction should be your first call. The firm has extensive experience adding light, flow, and contemporary style to aging spaces without sacrificing historical or structural integrity. Ongoing communication and collaboration ensure a satisfying transformation.
Builder, Restoration
Editors’ Choice
Red Hammer, Essex
In an area as rich in history as the North Shore, opportunities to renovate traditional homes abound. Red Hammer has deep expertise in the aesthetics and engineering of transforming older properties into exceptionally livable spaces that embrace the past while offering the comfort, energy performance, and style that will ensure that the home endures well into the future.
Building Materials
Editors’ Choice
Rocky’s Ace Hardware & Lumber, Rockport
Tucked away down a small road in a small town, the Rockport location of Rocky’s Ace Hardware is a surprising treasure trove of building materials, lumber, hardware, and tools. The exceptionally knowledgeable staff helps you find what you need (even if you’re not exactly sure what that is when you walk in the door).
Exterior Remodeling
Editors’ Choice (Tie)
BLB Design / Build, Amesbury
The BLB team handles all aspects of your remodel—design, permitting, construction—for a smooth, anxiety-free process. Past clients rave about how the firm’s craftsmanship, attention to detail, and management of subcontractors yield impressive and seamless transformations.
C2MG Builders, Topsfield
Specialists in renovating historical buildings, C2MG has a passion for and abundant experience retaining the character of traditional New England homes while bringing them solidly into the 21st century. Its precise workmanship ensures the exterior of your home will be both beautiful and enduring.
Cabinetry
Editors’ Choice
Platt Cabinetry
Platt delivers custom kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, and built-in bookshelves that are so much more than storage. Working closely with clients to ensure a design that matches their space and aesthetic, the team builds meticulously constructed pieces using premium materials and finishes.
03 / 09
Craft/Trades
Decorative Painting
Editors’ Choice
DP Luxe Finishes, Newburyport
With a specialty in Venetian plaster, David Parziale elevates interior painting well beyond simply choosing a color. His impeccably hand-applied finishes add texture and refinement to any surface, with a decidedly European flair.
Furniture Making/Built-Ins
Editors’ Choice
Carpenter & MacNeille, Essex
Carpenter & MacNeille builds custom furniture, cabinetry, and millwork in its own Essex shop—one-off pieces, designed for a particular room and made by hand. Part of a design-build firm practicing since 1996, its cabinetmakers welcome clients into the shop to see their work in progress.
Furniture Restoration
Editors’ Choice
Manzi Appraisers & Restoration, Woburn
Manzi Appraisers & Restoration in Woburn brings antique and vintage furniture back to life. Their Prospect Street workshop handles structural repair, refinishing, and reupholstery, matching stains and finishes to a piece’s original era—preserving as much original material as possible. Manzi also serves fine art, metals, and decorative objects.
Home Services (Mechanical/Maintenance)
Editors’ Choice
Cranney Home Services, Danvers
Cranney has a highly trained crew of HVAC technicians, electricians, and plumbers that allows homeowners to call one number—whether they need to troubleshoot an electrical connection or install a new water heater—for first-class service and fair prices.
Millwork
Editors’ Choice
Carpenter & MacNeille, Essex
In a light-filled studio adjacent to the firm’s offices, Carpenter & MacNeille artisans create unique moldings, railings, and panels to fit each client’s space. The company’s dedication to craftsmanship means each piece is thoughtfully designed and meticulously made to add character and elegance.
Painting/Interior/Exterior
Editors’ Choice
BLC Painting, Salem
Whether your exterior needs a facelift or the living room wants a refresh, BLC Painting offers the cleanliness, consistency, and professionalism that make them a pleasure to work with. The team is ready to tackle the unique challenges sometimes presented by the region’s historic homes, from aging surfaces to intricate moldings.
Upholsterer
Editors’ Choice
Zimman’s, Lynn
Zimman’s incredibly thorough upholstery shop does more than replace fabric—they carefully strip off existing upholstery, reglue joints, replace worn padding, and reconstruct the piece with a meticulous eye for detail. Then they top it all off with your choice of the store’s more than 50,000 fabrics. Zimman’s has you covered.
Wine Cellars
Editors’ Choice
Groom Construction, Salem
With decades of experience building not just homes, but health care facilities and commercial buildings, Groom understands how to combine beautiful construction with the temperature regulation, humidity control, and meticulous sealing needed to protect your bottles.
04 / 09
Fixtures
Appliances
Editors’ Choice
Tri-City Sales, Salem
With an unmatched selection of kitchen, laundry, and climate control appliances, Tri-City definitely has the products you want. And the friendly, expert staff have the comprehensive knowledge to help you find exactly the dishwasher or dryer for you. Happy customers praise the staff’s helpful, no-pressure approach.
Bath Fixtures and Fittings
Editors’ Choice
Sink & Spout, Beverly
Faucets, towel racks, and showerheads are the sorts of details that elevate a bathroom from a merely functional space to a welcoming retreat. Sink & Spout’s expansive yet carefully chosen selection of design-forward options make it easy to add the perfect, stylish finishing touches to your room.
Kitchen Fixtures and Fittings
Editors’ Choice
Sink & Spout, Beverly
Sink & Spout offers a plentiful selection of faucets, fixtures, and hardware for your kitchen as well. Decades of experience in the industry, helpful and responsive customer service, and a range of styles and price points seal the deal.
Lighting
Editors’ Choice
Newburyport Lighting Co., Newburyport
Newburyport Lighting Co. works with more than 60 different suppliers, displaying the best and, well, brightest in sconces, chandeliers, table lamps, and more. Where the shop really shines, though, is service: Customers rave about the staff’s dedication to finding the right products, answering questions, and ensuring complete satisfaction.
Readers’ Choice
Lucía Lighting and Design, Lynn
05 / 09
Furnishings
Antiques & Consignments
Editors’ Choice
Andrew Spindler Antiques & Design, Essex
Eclectic but carefully curated, abundant but never overcrowded, the shop is always inviting and thought-provoking. Spindler stocks the store with the honed eye of a joyful collector, bringing together folk art, midcentury modern furniture, and vintage curiosities in ways that inspire and delight customers.
Auction & Appraisers
Editors’ Choice
Manzi Appraisers, Woburn
The staff here know a good appraisal is not just about putting a price tag on an artwork or antique; it’s about understanding its value, in all senses of the word. The company’s deep expertise is elevated by the staff’s warmth and willingness to go the extra mile for clients.
Kaminski Auctions, Beverly
If Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart trust Kaminski Auctions, shouldn’t you? The company backs up its celebrity cred with decades of experience and a sterling reputation that ensure sellers get the best prices with minimal complication, and buyers find unique pieces rich with history.
Furniture
Editors’ Choice
MAK & Co., Andover
With a vibe that is at once rustic and sophisticated, upscale and unpretentious, MAK & Co. offers furniture that will create a simple elegance in all your spaces. Expert staff are happy to help customers find the perfect pieces to transform their homes into tastefully serene retreats.
Kids Furniture
Editors’ Choice
Boston Interiors, Burlington
For styles the kids won’t outgrow like they do their shoes, check out Boston Interiors’ selection of timeless basics that can anchor your children’s rooms for years to come. Take advantage of the store’s free design services to create a custom plan that will have enduring appeal.
Outdoor Furniture
Editors’ Choice
The Patio Zone, Peabody
The Patio Zone stages its collections on real paver hardscape across a 5,000-square-foot Route 1 showroom, so a dining set reads the way it will at home. POLYWOOD, Seaside Casual, and Gathercraft cover the seating; Fire Magic, Big Green Egg, and Solo Stove handle the fire.
06 / 09
Home Décor
Art
Editors’ Choice
Newburyport Art Association, Newburyport
The Newburyport Art Association is the ideal destination for distinctive art that has a profound sense of place. With more than 500 talented members, the Newburyport Art Association offers an ever-evolving selection of paintings, photography, sculpture, and more from some of the region’s best artists.
Fabrics
Editors’ Choice
Zimman’s, Lynn
Boasting perhaps the largest retail selection in the country, Zimman’s keeps more than 50,000 fabrics in stock — and if you don’t see it, they can probably special order it. It’s no wonder designers and homeowners will drive hours to shop at this iconic fabric destination. It lives up to the hype.
Flooring
Editors’ Choice
ARC Flooring and Tile, Peabody
The first thing you’ll notice is the selection of tile, wood, carpet, and more, all chosen for their beauty and quality. Then you’ll experience the service: expert staff that help you choose the ideal products for your budget and lifestyle, and highly professional installers who get every detail right.
Frames
Editors’ Choice
Newburyport Framers, Newburyport
Choose Newburyport Framers for both their keen aesthetic eye, which guides customers to the framing that will best highlight their art and enhance their space, and their skilled hands, which will craft your custom frames with exceptional precision and care for detail.
Hearth Products
Editors’ Choice
Frank Webb, Salem
From fireplace inserts and cast-iron stoves to faux logs and outdoor fire pits, Frank Webb has everything you need to create a warm, captivating hearth at home. Expert staff help customers navigate the logistical, safety, and aesthetic considerations.
Home Accessories
Editors’ Choice
MAK & Co., Andover
MAK & Co.’s selection of lamps, mirrors, and other décor and accents reflect the store’s signature style: sophisticated, refined, and approachable. The stunning showroom is an oasis for design lovers, so be prepared to spend some serious time browsing.
Rugs
Editors’ Choice
Dover Rug & Home, Burlington
Over the course of more than three decades, Dover Rug has built an unrivaled reputation for quality, selection, and service. Choose from a vast array of options including custom designs hand-woven in Pakistan, India, and Nepal; antique handmade rugs; and wall-to-wall carpeting, all at some of the industry’s best prices.
Stone/Tile
Editors’ Choice
Cumar Marble and Granite, Everett
With seven generations of experience in the stone industry and long-standing connections with premier marble suppliers in Italy, Cumar has a depth of expertise that is hard to match. Their skilled craftsmen use cutting-edge equipment to execute even the most ambitious projects with a commitment to detail and quality.
Wallcoverings
Editors’ Choice
Home Décor Group, Salem
From delicate florals to colorful contemporary designs, and even entire murals, the Home Décor Group has a wallcovering to fit your needs. Come browse through the store’s extensive library of wallpaper books, order samples of your favorites, and choose an installer from the list of recommended pros.
Window Treatments
Editors’ Choice
Zimman’s, Lynn
Zimman’s designers visit your home to recommend window treatments tailored to your style and needs. They then help you navigate more than 50,000 fabric options and handle everything from measurements to installation.
07 / 09
Outdoors
Decking Design
Editors’ Choice
Works by JD, Beverly
Works by JD employs its extensive experience to design decks, porches, and patios that are natural extensions of the home, in flow and materials. Expert in-house carpenters bring the designs to life with scrupulous workmanship, creating gathering places that extend and enhance your living space.
Decking Materials
Editors’ Choice
Works by JD, Beverly
The decks, patios, and porches created by Works by JD are welcoming extensions of home. And the firm brings the same level of thoughtful attention to selecting and sourcing the wood, composite, stone, and railing materials that elevate their designs to true outdoor oases.
Garden Center
Editors’ Choice
Wolf Hill Garden Center, Ipswich
Wolf Hill’s expert staff members help customers navigate the center’s botanical abundance to find the flowers, shrubs, and trees that suit their style, soil, and sun. Premium loam and mulch, pottery and garden statuary, and a selection of stone and pavers make it easy to outfit an entire landscape.
Garden Designer
Editors’ Choice
Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design, Stoneham
Matthew Cunningham’s garden designs are created through a highly collaborative process, to ensure a final product that is both expressive and inspiring, creating a cohesive, livable connection between indoors and out to enhance each homeowners’ experience of both.
Hardscaping Materials
Editors’ Choice
M. O’Mahoney Company, Lawrence
There’s a reason M. O’Mahoney has been in business for more than 150 years: The company knows how to keep customers coming back. Its secret includes an extensive range of products, and staff that knows how to help customers navigate the differences between bluestone and limestone, and responsive, helpful customer service.
Hardscaping Services
Editors’ Choice
Masco Construction, Peabody
A fourth-generation mason, Matt Mastromarino builds fire pits, pool surrounds, stairs, and walls with hammers, chisels, and an artisan’s passion for his craft. The innovation, creativity, and hard work he brings to every job shine through in the final product.
Landscape Architect
Editors’ Choice
Gregory Lombardi Design, North Billerica
Gregory Lombardi’s work embodies a belief in finding harmony between natural and built environments, to create enduring landscapes that both reflect and enhance homeowners’ lifestyles. Rather than cling to a single style, the firm works closely with each client to design individualized landscapes of timeless beauty.
Landscaping Services
Editors’ Choice
Leahy Landscaping, Lynn
Whether you need someone to bring your landscape design to life with meticulous detail, or maintain your existing property with dedication and skill, Leahy Landscaping has the crew, the experience, and the commitment to excellence that will keep your property looking its finest.
Outdoor Kitchen
Editors’ Choice
McCormick Kitchens and Baths, Saugus
The designers at McCormick have a long reputation for thoughtful, beautiful kitchens. But they can also take these skills outdoors, creating spaces that combine the right appliances, storage, and seating to make hosting a joy.
Outdoor, Specialty
Editors’ Choice
Hilarie Holdsworth, Rockport
With a background in illustration, Hilarie Holdsworth brings the art to landscape design, combining form and function with plenty of texture and color to create yards that transform how clients think of their outdoor spaces.
Readers’ Choice (Tie)
360 Sportscapes, Beverly
SLS Outdoor Living & Landscaping, Rowley
Pools
Editors’ Choice
ZEN Associates Inc., Woburn
ZEN Associates’ talented designers, guided by the firm’s philosophy of creating harmony throughout a landscape, are experts at incorporating pools into a complete design, considering surface-level finishes, underwater features, and the connections between pool, house, and yard.
Readers’ Choice
Andover Landscape Design and Construction, Andover
Stonework Masons
Editors’ Choice
Raffaele Construction, Swampscott
The masons at Raffaele hand-cut every stone they place, using traditional Old World techniques passed down over centuries. This process allows them unparalleled control over the shape and placement of each piece, creating stone walls, walkways, and fireplaces with distinctive character and unmistakable quality.
Water Features
Editors’ Choice
Country Gardens of Rowley, Rowley
As longtime specialists in water features, Country Gardens has the know-how and the products to create a serene oasis in your backyard. Their palpable passion for ponds means they are delighted to help customers envision, expand, or enhance their water features, and almost certainly have what you need to make it happen.
08 / 09
Smart House
Home Automation
Editors’ Choice
Kreative AV Inc., Malden
Integrating smart appliances, climate control, lighting, and audio and video is anything but daunting with the Kreative AV team. They create comprehensive plans and execute them impeccably, leaving happy clients with more relaxing, comfortable, and sustainable homes.
Home Theater
Editors’ Choice
TCS Communications, Salisbury
What elevates TCS Communications’ audiovisual systems is the unparalleled combination of user-friendliness and technical excellence. The company both designs and installs its systems, for a seamless experience, and keeps up with the latest developments in all the hardware and software it uses, to make sure clients’ home theaters bring joy for years.
Solar Services
Editors’ Choice
BD Electrical & Solar, Gloucester
With a Gloucester location serving North Shore homeowners, BD Electrical & Solar brings local expertise to customized solar and whole-home energy solutions. The team handles everything from solar panels and battery storage to EV charging and backup power, helping homeowners make smart, efficient energy choices.
Water Filtration Systems
Editors’ Choice
Blue Ribbon Water, Newburyport
Blue Ribbon Water goes well beyond simply installing or replacing water filters. Each filtration system is tailored to remove the specific impurities in your water supply, for delicious, clean water, no matter where you live. A dedication to transparent communication and meticulous customer service completes the package.
09 / 09
Spaces
Bath Design
Editors’ Choice
Justine Sterling Design, Stoneham
Justine Sterling’s design philosophy is that your home should be a place where you can just relax into yourself. Nowhere is this approach more telling than in the bath, where the firm combines materials, light, and thoughtful use of space to conjure a true retreat that is as welcoming as it is functional.
Interior Design/Contemporary
Editors’ Choice
Justine Sterling Design, Stoneham
Clean lines, serene neutrals, and thoughtful use of color and light are the distinguishing features of Justine Sterling’s designs. The firm’s unique, 15-step “Discovering Home” process ensures a collaborative experience from beginning to end, in which clients know what to expect at each stage of the process, allowing for worry-free transformations.
Readers’ Choice
Kristina Crestin Design, Manchester-by-the-Sea
Interior Design/Traditional
Editors’ Choice
SLC Interiors, South Hamilton
You can be sure you’re in good hands with SLC Interiors: Firm founder Susanne Lichten Csongor is a member of the New England Design Hall of Fame, after all. SLC’s designs are characterized by a traditional sense of elegance and refinement without stuffiness, each created to reflect homeowners’ unique sense of style and space.
Readers’ Choice
Main Street Home, Lynnfield
Kitchen Designer
Editors’ Choice
Heartwood Kitchens, Andover
As kitchen specialists, the staff at Heartwood Kitchens have a deep understanding of all the subtleties that go into the layouts, finishes, and appliance choices. An iterative process, honed over decades of successful kitchen jobs, keeps clients in the loop and ensures clear lines of communication from the first brainstorm to the final reveal.
Professional Organizer
Editors’ Choice
Nested Organization & Design, Boxford
From taming an out-of-control home office to streamlining a long-neglected closet, no home organization project is too tangled for Nested’s methodical, patient organizers. Start with an in-home consultation for a truly personalized plan, then reap the rewards of working with their experienced, meticulous professionals.
Storage, Specialty
Editors’ Choice
Revel Garage Solutions, Wilmington
The magicians from Revel do the seemingly impossible: Turn your garage’s jungle of tools, old storage boxes, and yard equipment into a peaceful, well-organized space where you can find what you need with ease. The process is collaborative, from understanding how you want your space to function, to choosing the right shelving.
Congratulations to Every 2026 Winner
From the architects and builders who shape our homes to the craftspeople, shops, and designers who fill them with character, these are the people who make living on the North Shore so special. Congratulations to all of this year’s Editors’ and Readers’ Choice winners.
Prefer print? The BONS Home Awards appear in the Fall 2026 issue of Northshore Home. Subscribe or purchase the magazine.