Home & Design

Modern History When then-newlyweds Spence and Renata Patterson purchased a century-old house in Chevy Chase, Maryland, in 2009, they planned to update the kitchen and move right in. But the project soon spiraled into something much bigger. By the time the couple took up residence two years later, they had renovated and outfitted the entire place. Through it all, their mantra remained constant: “Respect the bones of the house.”

“The home has this big wraparound porch and great street presence,” explains Renata. “We couldn’t see ourselves walking into super-contemporary spaces.”

Instead, they envisioned an old house “jazzed up a bit,” as Spence says. Modern, but respectful.

The dwelling’s past certainly warrants the tribute. In the late 1800s, DC developer Harry Martin bought land bordering Cummings Farm, the last working farm in Chevy Chase, and began selling lots. The Pattersons’ abode, built in 1916, is one of the originals in the community now known as the Village of Martin’s Additions.

1997 remodel by previous owners preserved the farmhouse-style exterior and, through a three-story addition, increased the size to 4,200 square feet. But inside, it left a legacy of chopped-up spaces and dated features. The Pattersons brought together architect Mark Giarraputo and builder Patrick Keating to reconfigure and rejuvenate the interiors while preserving the home’s architectural lineage.

Except for a small mudroom added onto the back, the project stayed within the home’s existing parameters. The design team knocked out walls to improve the flow and open up the kitchen; added and replaced windows; and relocated the great room’s fireplace to an interior wall to capture the backyard view. The kitchen and all five bathrooms underwent total transformations. And crisp architectural elements, such as new ceiling treatments in the dining and great rooms, now reinforce a modern sensibility.

The homeowners, who both work for the federal government, reached their project-management limit about six months into the design-build process. “There’s an overwhelming number of decisions you have to make,” reveals Renata. “We hit the point where we couldn’t do it anymore. It was a full-time job.”

So they approached designer Mike Johnson, formerly of DC-based Lori Graham Design + Home. One meeting convinced them to bring Johnson on board. “Mike walked around and said, ‘We could do this and we could do that.’ It terrified me, but I kind of liked it, too,” admits Renata.

Johnson helped them choose materials, finishes and fixtures that, he explains, “appreciate the older house.” The kitchen redesign, for example, features time-honored marble countertops on the two islands and hand-scraped, wide-plank oak flooring. Stacked stone replaced overpowering river rock when the fireplace shifted to its new position in the great room.

Before the dust cleared, Johnson began an interior-design plan “to play up the home’s character but reflect an updated feel,” he says. Sophisticated hues went a long way toward creating the desired look. “We suggested a neutral palette,” he continues. “The gray tones work well with the materials used in the house. The only color is from art and fabrics.”

Indeed, vibrant artwork—including a Teo González abstract commissioned for the dining room—is sprinkled throughout the house. Andy Warhol lithographs from his “Endangered Species” series hang in the repurposed living room, now a cozy, grasscloth-clad library off the foyer. “They’re perfect on the dark grasscloth,” explains Johnson. “Additional color in the room would fight with them.”

Creating an environment for guests was paramount, as friends and family visit often. “We didn’t want a cold, sterile house,” says Renata. “We like to have people over and didn’t want them to feel like they couldn’t sit down.”

Johnson’s design scheme is approachable, yet dramatic. The foyer combines a playful, geometric rug with glamorous, glass-bauble lighting. A spirited interpretation of a classic wing chair invigorates the adjoining dining room, while a shimmery, Capiz-shell pendant offsets relaxed furniture in the main gathering area. But the most dramatic space by far is the upstairs master bedroom, where the designer challenged his clients’ comfort zone with bold moves, such as marrying two fabrics on an upholstered settee. The new suite wasn’t ready when the couple moved in, so they slept in converted-attic guest quarters on the third floor for the first six months.

For the Pattersons, the long wait paid off. “We were on vacation when Mike installed the master bedroom,” recalls Spence. “The coolest part of the entire process for me was walking into that room. It looked so spectacular. I thought, ‘Okay, six months of living on the top floor? Totally worth it.’”

Writer Catherine Funkhouser is based in Arlington, Virginia. Kevin Allen is a photographer in Washington, DC.

ARCHITECTURE: MARK GIARRAPUTO, Studio Z Design Concepts, Bethesda, Maryland. INTERIOR DESIGN: MIKE JOHNSON, Lori Graham Design + Home, Washington, DC. BUILDER: PATRICK KEATING, PKK Builders, Garrett Park, Maryland.

 

Hidden Gem If ever Cinderella came back as a house, this enchanting beauty would be it. Once upon a time, not long ago, this same dwelling sat on the market looking drab and dreary in DC’s Forest Hills neighborhood. No one recognized its potential—that is, until Ann Roddy and Jill Johnson came along. They realized it would take all the powers of their longstanding interior designer, Nestor Santa-Cruz, to bring the home’s charms to light.

“It was truly hideous before,” Roddy says bluntly of the outmoded 1950s split-level they first encountered. Still, it held some appeal. “We were looking for a more open floor plan and fewer stairs than in our Colonial house. And from the description, it sounded like a lot of space.” The large, finished basement promised an extensive play zone for their three children, ages 10 to 13. Having worked with Santa-Cruz on two earlier houses, they were ready to consider another renovation. “We thought that with Nestor’s help, we could definitely turn it around,” explains Roddy, the founder, and director of an elementary school chorus program.

Enter Santa-Cruz, as if packing a magic wand. “I walked through space and knew what needed to be done,” he remembers. “We would not need to move anything major. All the assets were there.”

Within three months, the family moved in. The original floor plan remained. Yet throughout, a serene sense of comfort and elegance had emerged.

“It’s always a balance between visual and physical comfort; though, I admit, often the visual part wins,” says Santa-Cruz, who heads his own interior design firm. With a master’s degree in architecture, three decades as an interior designer and a lifetime studying design history, he is recognized for his ability to align classic principles and contemporary design. “Every building has assets and negatives,” he says. “If the assets are not very good, we need to turn them around.”

His solution seemed simple: Enlarge all windows and doorways to open up the house to light and nature. Gone were the small, awkward aluminum windows and shutters dotting the red-brick façade. In their place, large wood-casement and nearly full-height windows bathe the house in light. Interior doorways were raised, widened and in some cases moved, creating symmetry and stunning vistas through the main living spaces and accentuating the high ceilings on the main floor.

“This is a modern house from the ’50s,” explains the designer. “But before, it was just a series of rooms—not successful as a modern house where the rooms flow and open up. Now that’s possible, while still keeping the concept of the individual, separate rooms.”

The dining room also changed dramatically. Once “dark, claustrophobic and sad,” Santa-Cruz recalls, it is now an inviting space at the center of an enfilade sweeping from the living room in the front to a screened porch and garden in back. The year-round porch and an adjoining pantry are the only additions to the home’s footprint.

In the dining room, Santa-Cruz blended casual and formal elements with unexpected touches. Philippe Starck Ghost chairs mingle with Directoire-style seating covered in luxurious velvet. Overhead, a Mondrian-esque ceiling treatment accents the architecture—a custom touch that required only a can of Benjamin Moore gold paint. Paintings of nude figures, two by sisters Cynthia and Leslie Packard, are grouped on the wall in an unconventional placement. “Even though the female form might be considered more appropriate in a bedroom or private quarters,” notes Santa-Cruz, “I thought ‘these women’ would be spectators, like the classical female figures in Salvador Dalí’s Surreal and enigmatic landscapes.”

The owners are delighted with the transformation. Roddy, who calls the living room “a special jewel,” observes, “The light is magnificent there and on the whole first floor.”

They are also pleased that Santa-Cruz was able to slip their existing furnishings into new positions. “We used everything we had,” cheerfully reports Johnson, a retired nonprofit director.

Trust between the designer and his clients helped foretell the happy ending. When Roddy first requested built-in bookcases in the living room, Santa-Cruz hesitated. He wanted to preserve the few remaining walls for art, yet he relented. “Now it’s cozier,” he concedes. “I’ve learned you have to listen, and it will make the project better.”

Similarly, it took some convincing when the designer recommended bleaching oak floors to brighten the house. “We’ve always had ebony floors and adored them,” says Johnson. “But Nestor was right. His ideas really stand the test of time.”

Even though the project is complete, the designer returns regularly as a friend. “When I’m in this house, I think I’m on vacation in L.A. or the Hamptons,” he beams. “It has urbanity and casualness, and a connection to the exterior. It’s also a Washington house that respects its locale.” Reflecting on the transformative magic of renovation, he continues, “Is this a small house, or is it big? It fools you. This isn’t about size. You don’t need to tear down a house and build a big house. This is about how the character can be achieved without destruction.”

Writer Tina Coplan is based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Photographer Angie Seckinger splits her time between Potomac, Maryland, and Spain. 

INTERIOR DESIGN: Nestor Santa-Cruz, NCIDQ, IIDA, LEED AP, Nestor Santa-Cruz Decoration, Washington, DC.

Quiet Refuge A light snow covered a wooded Great Falls, Virginia, property in a lacy veil as a couple pulled into the driveway. On a whim, they’d followed “open house” signs here after going for brunch nearby. Having relocated from Chicago the previous year, they’d spent 18 months living in a DC apartment while looking for the perfect home.

Their hopes plummeted when they glimpsed the dark and dated 1950s rambler for sale. But the real estate agent on site convinced them it was worth a look inside, where they were greeted by a stunning view of the four-acre lot through a wall of windows in the open living/dining room. Looking past the saffron-colored walls, oddly placed chair rails and swag, they agreed the house had potential.

“We literally walked into a 1950s time capsule,” the husband recalls. “But it was solidly built and hadn’t been altered in any way.”

Taken by the house’s clean lines, simple layout and generous glass exposures, the couple bought the property in 2014 and hired interior designer Barbara Hawthorn to bring it into the 21st century. She embarked on a comprehensive, five-month makeover that would strip the interiors down to the studs, replace the original floors and windows, upgrade the electrical and lighting systems and overhaul the outdated kitchen and baths.

Hawthorn also redefined the interior architecture, removing moldings and wainscoting and concealing brick walls. “When I start a project, I can see ‘beyond.’ I look at the bones, I look at the structure, I look at the flow of a space and I get rid of all of the static,” she says.

The couple envisioned their new home as a soothing escape where they could recharge and unwind. “Their lifestyles are so busy, they realized they wanted a more bucolic setting, a retreat where they can really relax,” the designer explains.

To create this environment, she focused on a soft, neutral color palette; richly textured fabrics and floor coverings; and organic materials that would blend in with the natural surroundings. In the living room, a wall of tiles by Porcelanosa, billowing Stroheim drapes, and fabric depicting gingko leaves on new lounge chairs convey minimal, understated elegance. Serene blues impart a sense of calm in the master bedroom, from the grasscloth wallcovering to the damask bedding and luxurious drapes.

One of Hawthorn’s greatest hurdles was finding a way to meld the aesthetic her clients wanted with the pieces they each brought from their disparate collections. Married just three years ago, the homeowners both travel extensively. The husband, who spent decades in the diplomatic corps, has amassed a vast collection of Asian art and antiques. The wife, who grew up in Europe, has inherited a number of family heirlooms and antiques. “Making the antiques come together and live compatibly was a challenge,” Hawthorn relates.

Throughout the home, the designer expertly bridged the gap between styles. The squared-off, geometrical chairs in the living room stand up well to antique Korean chests flanking the fireplace. A pair of chairs and an antique desk from the wife’s collection introduce feminine lines in the bedroom, offsetting a modern armoire of Hawthorn’s design. “As far as my pieces go,” says the wife, “they were really important to me. They soften the Asian influences.”

Where possible, Hawthorn repurposed her clients’ furnishings and art, including a Japanese screen that she mounted on the living room wall and customized to conceal a TV. “To me,” says the designer, “what people have in their collections is what makes a house feel like home.”

On the lower level, she created an office for the husband with custom bookshelves to accommodate his impressive library. He also has room to display many of the mementos he’s collected abroad. Three guest bedrooms, a new guest bathroom, and a powder room welcome visitors in style.

When the couple travels these days, they can’t wait to return to their new “getaway” in Great Falls. “We just want to come home and ‘be,’” says the wife. “This is our haven, our retirement home, and our vacation home—all in one.”

Kenneth M. Wyner is a Takoma Park, Maryland, photographer.

INTERIOR DESIGN: BARBARA HAWTHORN, Barbara Hawthorn Interiors, McLean, Virginia. RENOVATION CONTRACTOR: ROB LOAR, Loar Home Improvement, Mount Airy, Maryland.

 

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