Skip Sroka knows how to throw a party. As one whose soirées are divine enough to appear in a magazine (this one included), the designer leans into largesse when hosting an event. So after he and his partner John Kammeier downsized from a spacious Phillips Park residence to a Georgetown row house a few years ago, it wouldn’t take Martha Stewart to predict that compact living would eventually cramp their style.

“John was the one who first verbalized that he didn’t like the tightness or lack of gardens in Georgetown. And I felt like I was going to hit somebody every time I backed out of our garage,” Sroka admits.

An ensuing house search ended when Sroka laid eyes on a 1939 center-hall Georgian in DC’s Foxhall neighborhood, set on enough land for a pool. “I saw potential in the private lot and how much light flowed through the house,” he recalls. “The layout wasn’t right, but I knew we’d be renovating anyway.” To this designer who has overhauled or built his six previous Washington homes plus two pieds-à-terre in New York (where Kammeier runs a menswear brand), a little dust and debris are par for the course.

But first the couple lived in the home for nearly a year, brainstorming ideas for a redo. They engaged architect Dale Overmyer and landscape architect Marion Oxford Dearth to help them craft a dwelling that would comfortably live for today while respecting its classical lineage. The scheme would reorganize interiors, heighten indoor-outdoor connections and construct a side addition containing a kitchen, breakfast room and primary suite. A landscape update called for a new arrival courtyard, pool and rear terrace.

“We worked off of the strengths of the traditional center-hall plan, taking some of the formal elements and enriching them,” notes Overmyer.

In one flourish, a new portico bump-out made way for an oval-shaped foyer and staircase. In the now-complete abode, a mural depicting 1820s Paris sets the scene; acrylic balusters add a contemporary touch. “I love how the rods catch light and make passing through the space a delight,” shares Sroka.

From the foyer, the dining room and kitchen/breakfast room unfold to the right. The family room lies straight ahead and to its left, a library, powder room and sunroom await. The second floor harbors two guest suites along with the primary suite; a third-floor guest room doubles as Sroka’s painting studio. The lower level contains a gym, guest suite and catering kitchen.

With its modern art and bold palette, the house doesn’t take itself too seriously. “I wanted to honor the Georgian architecture with touchstones like classic moldings, but don’t want to feel like I’m living in my grandmother’s house,” Sroka asserts. “I wanted a balance between stately and informal. I contrasted polished and textured, patterns and plains.”

A vintage rock-crystal chandelier gleams in the dining room, where walls and ceiling are drenched in pale blue semi-gloss. Two abstract paintings and black-lacquered Modern History chests lend heft. A pale-blue thread extends to chair upholstery in the sun-dappled breakfast room. Here, Sroka fashioned decorative shelves to display vintage pottery.

The home serves as a testing ground for ideas that may find their way into the clients’ domain. For example, the kitchen island is faced in nickel-studded leather. And in the library, shelves were painted bright green, then coated in a glossy finish in lieu of lacquering. “It’s not as involved but gives you the same result,” Sroka reveals.

Every room enjoys views of the verdant gardens. Traveling up a steep driveway off a street of closely knit houses, visitors round a bend and are pleasantly surprised to come upon this hilltop property where the gracious arrival court replaced a circular drive. Still a work in progress, Marion Oxford Dearth’s landscape plan sited the pool to the right of the entry since the narrow backyard harbors a mature oak that needed to stay. “Once everything is grown in, a hedge of linden trees and a fence covered in Euonymus will create total privacy between the pool and arrival court,” she says. The couple love to entertain around the pool and recently hosted a chic, seated dinner for 32 on the arrival court.

As Sroka marvels, “The house now has space to entertain on one floor, indoors and out.”

Since embarking on this passion project, he has taken a laid-back approach to furnishing their nest, repurposing many keepsakes from former abodes. Art, however, was another story. “My biggest concern was what was going to fit where,” he explains. Paintings, sculptures and other treasures the couple have collected personalize every space, from watercolors bought for their first home to a French tapestry hung in their bedroom. As Sroka reflects, “This house is a repository of our life in Washington.”