Home & Design

River Dance While flipping through a newspaper, architect Theresa del Ninno noticed an enticing advertisement for a waterfront property offering sunset views. That led her to check out the for-sale lot facing the Potomac River in Valley Lee, a town in southern Maryland.

“I got out of the car and all I could focus on was the panoramic view of the water,” recalls del Ninno. “The house that was there wasn’t worthy of the property.”

Nevertheless, she and her husband Carlo, a World Bank economist, bought the cottage in 2004 as a getaway from their permanent home in Alexandria, Virginia. About six years later, they decided to replace the small, one-story dwelling with a contemporary, energy-efficient house big enough for themselves and their three adult children.

“We discussed a lot what we wanted to have,” recalls Carlo. “Then Theresa would draw it up and then we would discuss it again. One thing was sure, we wanted to have the living room and kitchen upstairs.”

In designing the home, del Ninno stayed within the footprint of the original house, reusing its foundation to anchor a taller structure. “The existing home was in the right place in terms of required setbacks from the water,” she says. “The idea was to go up and capture the views.”

Topped by arcing and slanted roofs, the 1,500-square-foot house has a sculptural profile meant to represent the place where the surf meets the shore.

“I wanted to try and capture the beauty of this little beach on the grand Potomac,” says del Ninno. “It is six miles across to Virginia and during storms, the waves reach six feet high. So the curved metal roofs covering the blue volumes are like cresting waves breaking over the vegetated roofs of the sand-colored volumes.”

Inside, the living/dining area and kitchen are positioned on the second floor under a barrel-vaulted ceiling punctuated by fir beams and bamboo paneling. “It’s like the inside of a boat,” notes the architect. Lined with windows, the open space feels connected to the outdoors and the family room on the lower level.

Above the kitchen, a loft reached by ladder houses sleeping quarters for guests. The railing extending across the mezzanine is made from a piece of driftwood found on the nearby beach.

On the ground level, three bedrooms and a bathroom are arranged around the two-story family room, which leads to a deck. Oak flooring from the existing cottage was recycled and installed on this level, while bamboo extends underfoot in the living/dining area.

Connecting the upper and lower floors is an open staircase made of layered bamboo plywood. Its treads are supported by a complementary bookcase built into a wall of the family room. “I tried to incorporate as many sustainable features as possible,” says del Ninno, noting the renewable materials.

Slanted roofs over the bedroom wing and carport are covered in planted trays of sedum to filter stormwater runoff. Multiple windows and glass doors, framed in durable fiberglass, are precisely set into the grid of fiber-cement panels wrapping the super-insulated exterior walls. Mature maple and oak trees preserved on the property shade the home during hot summer months.

To save money, the del Ninnos built the kitchen themselves with concrete countertops and Ikea cabinets, and recycled a ship’s porthole bought in Bangladesh as a window in the adjacent bathroom. At the front of the house, they sheathed the cedar-framed porch in translucent polycarbonate panels that turn the structure into a glowing lantern at night.

The del Ninnos completed the house in 2013 and spend most weekends there, sailing on the river, playing volleyball and entertaining friends. Below the deck off the family room, they installed a hot tub and an outdoor kitchen with a wood-fired pizza oven. “My son found the plans for the oven and we all built it together,” says Italian-born Carlo. Evenings with guests, he notes, typically end with a meal of fresh pizza as the sun sets.

During one such party, the economist recalls, “A friend was sitting on the deck and said, ‘What a place! You look toward the water and you have a beautiful view, then you turn around and you see an amazing house.’ We are so lucky to be able to spend time in such a great place.”

Frequent contributor Deborah K. Dietsch is based in Washington, DC. Judy Davis is a principal at Hoachlander Davis Photography in Washington.

Architecture & Interiors: Theresa del Ninno, AIA  LEED BD + C, Maginniss + del Ninno Architects, Alexandria, Virginia. CONTRACTOR: Mike Adams, A & A Painting and Restoration Company, Inc., Leonardtown, Maryland.

Preserving History After living in their three-bedroom house in Washington’s Barnaby Woods neighborhood for about a year, Jennifer and Jason Bertsch decided it was time to remodel and expand the 1935 structure. They needed a new kitchen, a family room and more bedrooms for their three children and guests, but sought to avoid building a massive, multi-story addition.

“We wanted the design to be integrated into the house and not be a radical departure,” says Jason Bertsch, senior vice president of development at the American Enterprise Institute. “The house is different from the average Colonial in DC and that became a challenge.”

Among the unusual features of the Tudor-style dwelling is a two-story living room with a cathedral ceiling where dark-stained beams and timbers at roof height are best appreciated from the second-floor balcony that leads to two bedrooms and a bathroom for the kids.

Previous owners had expanded the small, original house at the back to accommodate a master suite, a breakfast room off the kitchen, an enlarged dining room and a wooden deck. “The old kitchen was dark and lacked functional storage and usable counter space,” recalls Jennifer.

Seeking a solution that would both modernize and respect the original architecture, the owners turned to architect Christopher Snowber of Hamilton Snowber Architects. “I like the way Chris integrates old and new,” says Jennifer. “He was open to different possibilities that preserved the character of the home.”

Snowber’s biggest move was to extend the back of the house, expanding the walk-out basement and providing a new family room that is open to the renovated kitchen on the main level. Inside the gabled family-room addition, the architect exposed the beams and rafters to create what he calls “a cousin to the living room.”

The cathedral ceiling of the former interior served as a point of departure. However, in the new space, he says, “the beams are lighter and have been painted to tie into the room, the ceiling is covered by beadboard and lighting is unobtrusive.”

Adjoining the addition is the new kitchen, configured within what were the cooking and dining areas, located at the back of the original house. Kitchen designer Jennifer Gilmer created an efficient, clean-lined design, integrating the kitchen and family room by extending the addition’s light, airy sensibility with open shelving, a white marble backsplash and a brushed stainless-steel countertop on the island. “It’s a classic look,” says Gilmer of the pale Shaker-style cabinets and engineered quartz countertops. The exhaust hood over the range aligns with the center of the cathedral ceiling to emphasize its strong lines.

Gilmer maximized the space with cabinets that stretch along one wall of the addition to supply extra space for storage. “We created a pantry using pull-out cabinets on either side of a window and installing a counter that feels more like a buffet,” she says.

Next to this built-in sideboard, a wooden harvest table and metal-mesh chairs are arranged to create a dining area. The remainder of the family room, furnished with an eclectic mix of vintage and contemporary furnishings, serves as a casual space to hang out and watch television.

Next to the kitchen, the master suite was reconfigured to encompass a new bathroom and closets. Two more bedrooms and another bath were added to the enlarged walk-out basement and a rec room was created for the kids.

“We wanted to integrate the bedrooms into the house, rather than extend them over the family room,” explains Jason. “When our daughter gets older, she’ll move down here.”

New staircases lead from the basement to the main level and to a wooden deck off the master bedroom and family room. “We use the deck for everything from grilling and gathering with friends over the fire-pit to watching the kids playing in the yard,” says Jennifer.

Framing this outdoor space is the cottage-style family-room addition, its tall windows centered within a shingled façade that blends with the rest of the house. “It looks cozy from the back of the house,” comments Jennifer. “That isn’t always the case with additions.”

Frequent contributor Deborah K. Dietsch is based in Washington, DC. Bob Narod is a photographer in Herndon, Virginia.

ARCHITECTURE: CHRISTOPHER R. SNOWBER, AIA, principal in charge; BRIAN GRUETZMACHER, project manager, Hamilton Snowber Architects, Washington, DC. KITCHEN DESIGN: JENNIFER GILMER, CKD, Jennifer Gilmer Kitchen and Bath, Chevy Chase, Maryland. CONTRACTOR: MAUCK ZANTZINGER & ASSOCIATES, INC., Washington, DC.

Going Modern Building a new house typically requires choosing an architectural style and sticking with it through construction. Countering this practice, a couple combined both historical and contemporary designs to create an Arlington home that steadily grew more unconventional as it was completed in 2013.

“Our taste changed through the course of the project,” says the wife, a lawyer who enjoys browsing Houzz. “We started out more traditional and ended up much more modern.” Rooms once envisioned with archways and crown moldings gave way to open, flowing spaces with low-slung, European furnishings.

Designed by GTM Architects, the home appears classically dignified from the outside. Its porches, pediments and façades clad in cedar shake are inspired by Queen Anne and Shingle-style architecture. To one side, the three-car garage is designed as a complementary pavilion with a pitched roof and dormers.

“We didn’t want to build an imposing house, but one that felt welcoming and fit with the neighborhood,” says the husband, a security consultant. He and his wife bought the property in 2012 and razed an outdated rambler on the corner lot to construct the larger, two-story home.

Part of the architects’ challenge was deciding where to place the house on the parcel, which abuts a wooded ravine. “We were limited to the flat part of the yard,” says GTM associate Douglas Roberts. “We set the house on an angle to the street to make the most of the views across the ravine and bring in lots of natural light.”

Reinforcing the home’s mix of classical and modern elements is the landscaping designed by J. Mark White of GardenWise. “We used traditional plantings like roses and boxwood, and large, sweeping masses that are more modern and organic,” says White.

Midway through the project, the homeowners decided to change the interiors to reflect a more open, contemporary style. “We were drawn to very clean, modern interiors and our builder recommended that we consider FORMA Design,” says the wife. “It was not an easy decision, but at the end of the day, architect Andreas Charalambous of FORMA did exactly what we had hoped.”

Living and dining rooms at the front of the home are now joined into one long space for entertaining. Each function is defined by a lower section of the ceiling, an area rug and distinctive lighting. The owners refer to the side furnished with four swivel chairs as the “martini lounge.” Says the husband, “Formal living rooms really don’t get much use, so we created a place to enjoy a cocktail.”

At the back of the house, the kitchen and family room are also treated as a single space. Accessible from this area are a porch and a mudroom leading to a patio for grilling and outdoor dining. Tall windows and doors on two walls bathe the interiors with sunlight and offer views of the wooded ravine.

The nearly all-white kitchen designed by Lauren Levant Bland, then of Jennifer Gilmer Kitchen & Bath, incorporates an island with stools for dining. For more seating, Charalambous designed a banquette under a window to accommodate a table and chairs from the Italian company Porro. The light-filled family room, where the homeowners spend time with their three-year-old daughter, is comfortably furnished with an L-shaped sofa and swivel chairs for watching TV.

In the center of the house, a stair hall is designed as a “buffer zone between the front and back rooms,” notes Charalambous. The staircase incorporates open risers and glass side panels to allow sunlight to pass through it from windows and doors on the landings. The treads extend from two thick walls, one clad in porcelain tile resembling stone to convey a sense of solidity.

The tiled wall rises through all levels of the house to visually anchor the stair and adjacent rooms. On the second floor, it is visible in the master bedroom next to the custom leather headboard. Near the bed, French doors open to a balcony overlooking the ravine. “It’s like a tree house,” says the husband. “It’s awesome to watch the fall leaves change from here.”

The master bathroom, also designed by Lauren Levant Bland, resembles a minimalist spa and adjoins a large walk-in closet. Symmetrically arranged on either side of the room are glass cubicles—a frosted enclosure for the toilet and a transparent shower stall—and his-and-her vanities. The centerpiece of the snow-white space is a sculptural tub placed under the windows.

The third floor provides a home office where custom desks are tucked into the dormers. This area and the finished basement are carpeted, in contrast to the main and second levels which feature ebonized oak flooring.

Rather than replacing all the furnishings from their previous home in Rosslyn, the couple recycled their dining set, kitchen stools and other pieces to furnish their guest rooms, basement and office. Advises the attorney, “Never assume that the pieces you have picked up along the way won’t amplify your evolving style.”

Writer Deborah K. Dietsch is based in Washington, DC. Geoffrey Hodgdon is a photographer in Deale, Maryland.

ARCHITECTURE: GEORGE T. MYERS, AIA, principal; DOUGLAS ROBERTS, associate, GTM Architects, Bethesda, Maryland. INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN: ANDREAS CHARALAMBOUS, AIA, IIDA; LAURENCE KOEHRSEN, AIA, FORMA Design, Inc., Washington, DC. KITCHEN & BATH DESIGN: LAUREN LEVANT BLAND, Jennifer Gilmer Kitchen & Bath, Chevy Chase, Maryland. BUILDER: MILLER/Custom Builders, Bethesda, Maryland. LANDSCAPE DESIGN: J. MARK WHITE, ASLA, GardenWise, Inc., Arlington, Virginia.

 

River Vista We always thought a waterfront home was out of reach,” says Kassie Genovere, co-owner of an Annapolis hair salon for kids. But when her close friends announced they had found an affordable riverside home in Annapolis, Genovere convinced her husband Larry to start looking for their dream house on a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Their search led to the purchase of a muddy lot at the confluence of the Rhode River and Cadle Creek in Edgewater, Maryland. “Standing here, I knew I was home,” says Kassie, pointing toward the shoreline. “The creek is so close and it’s such a beautiful, peaceful place.” They decided to buy the land and build a new house that would take in the views.

After interviewing several local architects, the couple chose the firm Hammond Wilson to design a house big enough for themselves, their teenage kids, Jake and Carly, and guests. “It was truly a wonderful experience,” reflects Larry Genovere. “They listened to us and created what we were looking for.”

Architect Leo Wilson organized the house as an L-shaped structure wrapped around a patio with swimming pool and spa. “We designed the interior spaces to flow into this large, outdoor living space,” says Wilson. “As far as the image of the house, the owners wanted something that looked like it belonged on the Chesapeake Bay.”

So the architects took their design cues from historic Shingle-style houses. They distinguished the exterior with varied rooflines, projecting bays and balconies and wide, overhanging eaves that visually reduce the size of the 5,500-square-foot house. “The gables and dormers in this home aesthetically add interest in addition to providing the opportunity for more water views,” says project architect Sandie Martino.

Inside, the rooms are arranged around a double-height foyer centered on a spacious stairway with a built-in bench. “We use the staircase as the focal point of a house,” says Wilson. “It’s an opportunity to create a first impression, a sense of craft and quality as soon as you open the front door.”

Among the homeowners’ unique requests were two family rooms, one on the main floor and another on the second floor. “We needed an out-of-the-way place for the kids since they were getting older,” says Larry of the upper-level space. Both rooms offer river vistas through banks of windows; the second-floor family room opens to its own balcony.

The main floor includes a small, formal living room, now used by Kassie as her private retreat. Across the hallway, the dining room, with its tall wainscoting and chandelier, is reserved for dinner parties and holiday meals. “It’s not just for show,” insists Kassie, “but we usually entertain in the kitchen.”

It’s easy to see why—the airy cooking and dining space captures wide water views through an entire wall of windows and doors. Annapolis kitchen designer Sandy Payne centered the room on two 12-foot-long islands used for food preparation, casual meals and buffets. French doors open directly to the limestone-covered pool deck, one of several stone structures on the property built by Larry Genovere’s masonry restoration company.

At one end of the kitchen, doors flanking a fieldstone fireplace lead to a screened porch that serves as another gathering spot. “It’s my favorite room,” says Larry. “It’s tranquil and quiet, but you still hear the boats and wildlife outside.”

On the upper floor, the master suite offers some of the best water vistas from a built-in window seat and a balcony. The kids’ bedrooms are located at the ends of the hallway, a short distance away from the second-floor family room.

As the home’s construction drew to a close, Kassie tapped Dream House Studios of Annapolis to decorate the main rooms in neutral colors that don’t compete with the views. “She wanted to keep the furnishings comfortable, nothing too formal,” says designer Erin Olexia. “We went with a country, Ralph Lauren feel and made sure there was furniture that the kids could sit on.”

Evident throughout the house are well-crafted architectural details, from ceiling beams in the family room to air grilles hidden within doorways. They establish a feeling of traditional authenticity within family-friendly interiors supportive of the Genoveres’ daily activities.

“Of all the new houses we’ve designed,” asserts Wilson, “this is the most livable.”

Writer Deborah K. Dietsch is based in Washington, DC. Kevin Weber is a Baltimore-based photographer.


Architecture: Leo A. Wilson, AIA, LEED AP, principal; Sandie P. Martino, project architect, Hammond Wilson, Annapolis, Maryland. Interior Design: Kim Mohr, Erin Olexia, Dream House Studios, Annapolis, Maryland. Builder: Bret Anderson, president; David Attenberger, project manager, Pyramid Builders, Annapolis, Maryland. Landscape Architecture: Kevin Campion, Campion Hruby Landscape Architects, Annapolis, Maryland.

 

Remote Control sojourn in Guatemala didn’t stop economist Ugo Fasano and photographer Manuel Morquecho from purchasing a townhouse in Washington, DC, and finding an architect to renovate it. Before moving to Guatemala City in 2009, the two had been living in the District’s Tenleytown neighborhood. When a property down the street from that home came on the market, they decided to buy it, anticipating their return to Washington in 2013. 

“It was bigger, wider and had taller ceilings than our other house,” says Fasano. “But it is in the same convenient location, close to public transit and shopping.” The home also offers independence for his 85-year-old mother, Rita DiMatteo, who lives in an apartment on the ground floor.

While attracted to the size and location of the townhouse, the partners found its 1970s interiors bland and in need of remodeling. They searched online for a DC-based architect to transform the upper two levels while they were in Guatemala and selected Andreas Charalambous of FORMA Design. “We wanted something new and different from the traditional décor and all the color of our previous house,” says Morquecho. “What we liked about Andreas was the clean but elegant look of his designs.”

For Charalambous, long-distance client relationships are familiar; he has worked with homeowners living in South Korea, Hong Kong and Colombia. “The most important ingredient for success in this type of effort is to be on the same wavelength with the clients on expectations, budget and taste,” says the architect. “This is achieved by having them create idea books of images they like from other projects, as well as asking them for a brief essay on their hopes and wishes for the project.” 

Once Fasano and Morquecho supplied this information, Charalambous created an open-plan living level and spacious master suite on the top floor. He stripped the rooms of crown moldings, built-in bookcases and fussy details to establish a neutral backdrop for colorful rugs, pillows, accessories and artwork. 

“Given the fact that Manuel is an artist and he and Ugo have an extensive art collection, lighting became of the utmost importance,” Charalambous observes. “We used a plethora of light sources that allowed the owners to set various moods according to the time of day or the events taking place.”

Adjustable track fixtures, halogen down-lights and LED cove lighting are accompanied by floor and table lamps. A dropped ceiling with a dramatic, sculptural chandelier defines the raised dining area. 

Sliding glass panels on the rear wall were replaced with taller French doors to brighten the living area. Skylights inserted above the staircase, master bathroom and dressing area introduce abundant daylight to the top floor. 

A new stone fireplace anchors the living area, where dark-stained wood floors contrast with their light-colored surroundings. “They make the furniture and rugs appear to float,” notes Charalambous of the wide, ebonized planks. 

At the front of the home, Vincent Sagart of Poliform | sagartstudio designed the galley kitchen to blend into the adjacent dining and living areas. Lacquered upper cabinets, a glass-tile backsplash and synthetic-stone countertops extend the pale background. 

Unifying the main level are wood furnishings in walnut, including Danish designer Hans Wegner’s three-legged Shell chair and a custom coffee table on wheels. “We didn’t need much furniture, so those pieces had to be of great quality,” says Charalambous. 

Upstairs, the architect widened the stair landing and erected a new wall of shelving to display books and artwork. Behind this partition, a former bedroom is now a walk-in closet, part of a master bedroom suite that’s been reconfigured with a spa-like bath. 

A guest room, which also serves as an office, is now framed by double-pane windows, which were installed throughout the house to increase energy efficiency. 

Fasano, who works for the International Monetary Fund, only traveled to DC three times during the six-month renovation process to meet with the architect and review the construction progress. Says Charalambous, “In this global environment, email, telephone and even video-conferencing can supplant the need for face-to-face meetings—even if the client is in Rockville.” 

Frequent contributor Deborah K. Dietsch is based in Washington, DC. Photographer Geoffrey Hodgdon is based in Deale, Maryland. 

RENOVATION ARCHITECTURE & INTERIOR DESIGN: ANDREAS CHARALAMBOUS, AIA, IIDA, FORMA Design, Inc., Washington, DC. CONTRACTOR: MICHAEL APERGIS, MCA Remodeling, Inc., Montgomery Village, Maryland.

At Home with John Riggins Football legend John Riggins keeps souvenirs of his career as a running back for the Washington Redskins in the basement media room of his newly built home. Riggins’s team helmet sits on a coffee table and, leaning against the walls, framed photos and newspaper clippings document his pivotal role in Super Bowls of the 1980s.

These days, though, “The Diesel” is more interested in talking about his current venture than past glories. After stints as an actor and sports commentator, he now hosts his own television show on Comcast SportsNet Washington called “Riggo on the Range.” The episodes combine hunting and fishing adventures with cooking game caught in the wild.

“We’ve got pheasants, venison, antelope and Hungarian partridge in the freezer right now,” says Riggins. “When the game is processed and prepared properly, it’s as good as it gets.” The bounty came from his recent 48-day stint on location in the Midwest and West, while traveling in an RV called the “Riggobago.”

The cooking segments of upcoming shows, some with DC celebrity chefs, will be filmed in the kitchen of his Cabin John, Maryland, home. Far from being rustic, the house is urbanely contemporary with walls of glass framing vistas of the C&O Canal and Potomac River through the trees.

“If you didn’t know better, you’d think you were in Montana or Alaska,” says Riggins, pointing to the shallow area of the river where he sometimes fly-fishes. “It’s like The Swiss Family Robinson; you feel like you are in a tree house.”

The Hall-of-Famer clearly likes the proximity of his pared-down home to the great outdoors, but admits his taste runs to “timber-frame structures with a lot of stone and wood.” He credits the unconventional design to his wife Lisa Marie, an attorney and a yoga instructor, who worked with DC architect Robert Gurney to realize her vision. “I prevailed on the modern design,” she says. “We used to have a loft in Manhattan and I wanted to recreate that feeling here.”

Before they could build the house, the Riggins family lived in a nearby rental until their dream location on the Potomac finally went up for sale. After purchasing the property in 2008, the couple razed the Tudor-style residence on the lot and hired Gurney to design a new four-bedroom home. “They were both open-minded about my ideas for the site,” says the architect.

John’s preference for rugged materials is reflected in the home’s exterior of dry-stacked slate, mahogany and cement board, and a lava-stone-clad wall extending around a huge fireplace in the living area. The pivoting front door is also mahogany and supersized at five feet wide by 10 feet high. Gurney strategically placed windows and interior openings to offer views straight through the house to the outdoors so the connection to nature is always present.

Lisa Marie’s wish for a loft was fulfilled in an open space for cooking, dining and entertaining on the main level. In furnishing the house, she worked with DC interior designer Therese Baron Gurney to recycle streamlined pieces from her previous homes and complement them with new contemporary designs.

“The house is modern but not sterile,” says Lisa Marie. “We accomplished a warm feeling through all the different materials and daylight that comes into the rooms. It’s conducive to socializing and enjoying great food.”

The couple’s favorite space is the galley kitchen where marble countertops and walnut cabinetry are configured around the commercial-grade gas range and refrigerator from their New York loft. “The kitchen is the magnet of the house; everyone is drawn to it,” says the former football player, who does most of the cooking for family and friends.

On the second floor, the couple’s shared home office overlooks one end of the living area through floor-to-ceiling glass. Bedrooms for their two daughters, Hannah, 17, and Coco, 9, and a first-level guest suite are placed at the front of the house. The main-floor living space and second-level master suite with sitting area are located at the rear overlooking the river.

Joining the front and back rooms, a two-story hallway extends from the front door to the basement staircase. On the upper level, the two sides of the house are connected across the hallway by a pair of steel bridges whose glass floors have unnerved even the toughest guests. “Dexter Manley [former Redskins defensive end] wouldn’t cross the bridge,” John Riggins says, recalling a party attended by former teammates at the house. The couple frequently entertains and, after moving in, shifted the living room sofa to make more room for dance parties.

Although Riggins says he conceded most of the design decisions to his wife, his involvement in elements of the house became clear during a recent tour. “I call him the optimizer,” says Lisa Marie of her husband. “He researches and explores every situation before making a decision.” That attention to detail led him to insist on a geothermal heating and cooling system to save energy as well as heated floors throughout the house. Outside, he leveled the front yard to make way for a lawn and recently planted rows of arborvitae to shield the property from the street. “John took an interest in how the whole house was put together,” says Gurney.

When he wants to relax, Riggo enjoys a long soak in the large, sculptural tub he chose for the master bathroom. He also insisted on matching vessel sinks for the vanity. Is the outdoorsman a fan of contemporary design after all? “I’m a practical-minded guy, but beauty needs to be celebrated and respected,” he says. “That’s what this house represents.”

Frequent contributor Deborah K. Dietsch is based in Washington, DC. Maxwell MacKenzie is a photographer in Washington, DC. 

ARCHITECTURE: ROBERT M. GURNEY, FAIA, principal; BRIAN TUSKEY, project architect, Robert M. Gurney Architect, Washington, DC. INTERIOR DESIGN: THERESE BARON GURNEY, ASID, Baron Gurney Interiors, Washington, DC.

Pure Modern Four years is a long time to spend creating the perfect home, but for Bruno Lassus, the design of his penthouse has been well worth the wait. This bi-level apartment in historic Georgetown is the antithesis of the traditional homes in the neighborhood. White marble floors flow through open, pared-down spaces illuminated by skylights and large windows. The staircase connecting the two floors resembles a large piece of abstract artwork assembled from blocks of marble.

“It looks simple, but it was complex to achieve,” says Lassus of the Minimalist design. “There were technical and logistical challenges as well as the rules set by the condo board.” The French-born homeowner, who works for 3M Cogent in biometric identification technology, bought the penthouse in 2005 for its location. He enjoys running and biking on the nearby C & O Canal towpath, and kayaking on the Potomac River a few blocks away. Balconies off both levels of the apartment provide views of those waterways and rooftops in the heart of Georgetown.

After deciding to remodel the condo in 2007, Lassus sought the advice of two architects before turning to Christy Schlesinger of Schlesinger Associate Architects. “I wanted to open the place and make it light and airy, but those first architects kept designing closed rooms with doors,” says Lassus. “My goal was to create timeless spaces so 50 years from now, people will say they are modern.”

Schlesinger understood her client’s desire for a spare, bold aesthetic, having designed a sleek loft in nearby Cady’s Alley as well as food stalls made of re-purposed shipping containers near Nationals Park. “My sensibility is about the development of classic Modernism,” she says. “Bruno and I both wanted everything to be perfect and kept simplifying the design, taking things out to make sure it was the purest it could be.”

On the main level, the architect lowered the ceilings over the kitchen and dining area so the adjacent living area feels taller and more spacious. Glowing cove lighting accentuates the planes of the ceilings and linear fireplace wall to help define each space. Sleek European cabinets and appliances in the kitchen are partially screened from the living space by a gumwood cabinet stretched between columns hiding ductwork and pipes.  

“Without the wood, the interior would have been too sterile,” says Lassus, whose preference for glass, metal and stone is clearly evident. His furnishings, collected over decades, mostly comprise modern classics, including 1920s designs by architect Le Corbusier. The dining table is designed by British architect Norman Foster and paired with contemporary chairs from Spain. After searching for the perfectly streamlined bed, Lassus had one custom-made by Sarabi Studio in Austin, Texas, so shelves for lamps are attached to the headboard.

The staircase leading to the upper level is clad in plain and veined marble to create graphic patterns accentuating the movement through the space. In developing its sculptural design, Schlesinger studied the play of vertical and horizontal geometries through physical and computer models. “The configuration of the stair changed about 10 times before we were done,” the architect recalls. “It was a labor of love.” Stone slabs quarried in Turkey and Italy had to be lifted by crane and passed through a window to be installed on the floors and staircase.

Upstairs, a bedroom and a bathroom were demolished to make way for the open study at the top of the staircase. Dark, marble-clad columns and a gumwood cabinet in the workspace repeat the downstairs finishes to establish visual continuity between the two levels. The master suite stretches from the bedroom at the front to the bathroom at the back. In between the two spaces are closets enclosed in frosted glass.

Even the most utilitarian spaces in the apartment feel like an art gallery. In the master bath, the veined marble of the staircase is repeated on the walls and backsplash. The freestanding bathtub, which Lassus admits he rarely uses, is displayed against the marble through a wall of glass. The rectangular, Australian-made sinks are so minimalist in design that they share a long recessed slot at the back to catch the water rather than using conventional drains. The wall-mounted Italian toilet resembles an egg-shaped sculpture.

A globetrotter who has been to Antarctica and frequently travels to Africa, the homeowner has judiciously placed tokens from his trips around his home. Photos and artifacts provide some of the few accents of color in the clutter-free interiors, where every detail is painstakingly considered. As Lassus notes, “Only a perfectionist can live in a home like this.”  

Writer Deborah K. Dietsch is based in Washington, DC.  Photographer Paul Warchol is based in New York City. 

ARCHITECTURE: Christy Schlesinger, Schlesinger Associate Architects, Washington, DC. CONTRACTOR: PETER C. SANDS, 22nd Street LLC, Arlington, Virginia.

Hard-edged contemporary architecture is rarely kid-friendly, but a Modernist house in the Baltimore suburb of Lutherville proves otherwise. The homeowners and their three young children enjoy the openness of this light-filled dwelling where banks of windows allow for parental supervision of outdoor activities and plenty of storage keeps toys out of sight. “This is a happy house,” says the wife, a physician who works at Johns Hopkins Medicine. “We use every bit of it.”

The main level has no formal living or dining rooms, but a glass-lined, multi-purpose space offers clear views of the front lawn and swimming pool at the back. The kitchen, dining table and living area occupy this big, open area where the family spends most of its time. “The design is inspired by a loft,” says the husband, who works in the financial industry. “We can be making lunch or dinner and still see the kids swimming in the pool or playing soccer on the lawn.”

The couple decided to build the house after finding a generous lot that provided a more suitable children’s play area than the steeply sloping terrain of their previous home, a 1960s rancher in nearby Ruxton. “We wanted a big, flat yard and a home that was open and airy,” says the wife. “Traditional houses make me feel claustrophobic. I can’t stand clutter and knick-knacks.”

A shared interest in contemporary architecture led the couple to check out the custom homes of Merry-Go-Round Farm, the upscale Potomac development, and hire the architect responsible for some of its most modern designs, Bethesda-based Mark McInturff. “He was the only architect we talked to,” says the husband. “We liked that his work is so clean and bright.”

McInturff tailored the house to family life by concentrating on flowing spaces used on a regular basis by both parents and children. “Their kids aren’t relegated to a play room in the basement, but are active throughout the house,” he says. “That meant the design had to be robust and anti-precious.” 

Long and narrow to capture sunlight and views, the home is simply organized to allow for transparency and togetherness. The open kitchen and living/dining space dominate the ground level while second-floor bedroom suites are clustered at the front of the house and connected by a single hallway illuminated by skylights and clerestory windows.

Given the neighborhood’s strict design rules, McInturff drew on local agricultural history to treat the house like a barn with a pitched roof. He transformed that simple shape into a more sophisticated design through variegated building materials applied to define each part of the house.

The standing-seam zinc roofing extends to the upper-story walls “like a cloak or a metal jacket,” the architect says. Slatted wooden panels suggesting shutters are interspersed among the windows to express a rhythmic pattern. Walls of cast-stone blocks anchor the base of the building and extend inside to create a sense of permanence. Stucco clads the ends of the house, screened porch and garage to establish the crisp planes associated with modern architecture.

Set back from the street to create a generous front yard, the house is accessed from a driveway at one side leading to the garages and entrance. The front door opens to a hallway extending to the dining/living space and staircase. In developing the entrance sequence, McInturff and project designer Colleen Gove Healy considered every detail of the family’s routine, from stowing the kids’ backpacks in the mudroom to hanging up mom’s lab coats.

The couple enjoys casually entertaining family and friends, and makes use of two kitchen islands for food preparation and buffets. “We can have 14 people around the dining table and everyone has their own space,” says the wife. Overnight guests stay in a bedroom suite tucked into a corner of the main level and a second-floor study with a sleeper sofa.

For the kids, dedicated play areas are integrated into rooms throughout the house. Spaces for toys and games are part of the basement and a section of the kitchen originally envisioned as a breakfast nook. On the upper floor, the corridor is widened to allow for a kids’ zone that can be transformed into a library or a home office as they grow older.

Storage is incorporated into walls for hiding clutter and finishes are sleek but sturdy. “Because of the three small children occupying this house, we focused on detailing that looks delicate but is durable,” says Healy. “Built-ins appear to hover above the floor but are secured to the ground with hidden steel supports underneath.” 

Contractor Design Alternatives ensured that every one of these architectural details was accurately translated into reality. “The house we built looks almost exactly like Mark’s first sketch,” says the husband. “We couldn’t be happier with the results.” 

Frequent contributor Deborah K. Dietsch is based in Washington, DC. Julia Heine is a photographer and designer with McInturff Architects in Bethesda, Maryland.

ARCHITECTURE: MARK MCINTURFF, FAIA, principal, and COLLEEN GOVE HEALY, project designer, McInturff Architects, Bethesda, Maryland. INTERIORS: JULIA HEINE, McInturff Architects. BUILDER: MIKE BOWERS, principal, and JIM HEAGY, project manager, Design Alternatives, Hunt Valley, Maryland.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALAIN JARAMILLO

"Creative and contemporary” is the way interior designer Michael Winegrad describes his work. His family home in Bethesda reflects this approach in pared-down, open spaces accented by built-in cabinetry, tall windows and a notable collection of artwork. 

The main level has no living room but centers on an interconnected kitchen/family room where the designer, his wife Roz and their 11-year-old son Aaron spend most of their time. “I wanted to design a house that was more like us,” says Winegrad. “It has less space than our previous house but better quality space.”

The family used to live in a more traditional home in Darnestown, but decided to move closer to the city so Roz, an executive with Marriott International, could reach the airports more easily for business travel. In 2010, they bought a Cape Cod near the C & O Canal in Bethesda, “knowing we would demolish the house,” says the designer.  The couple then enlisted Chadsworth Homes of Rockville to replace the older structure with a new dwelling that Winegrad tailored to the property.

“Even though the house is contemporary, I wanted it to feel in harmony with its place,” the designer says. The steep slope of the site proved challenging, requiring dry wells to dissipate storm water and concrete retaining walls to buttress the hillside. 

The dwelling negotiates the grade, with the front extending from the lowest point of the slope so that it encompasses three stories. Winegrad runs his firm from an office on the lowest level of the house that is reached from a separate entrance off the driveway. At the back, the home rises to two stories along the terraced, upper side of the hill. A narrow garden, lined with greenery, centers on Adirondack chairs grouped around a fire pit.

“I designed the house from the inside out, not the outside in,” Winegrad says. “I laid out every room so it works well and allows a place for artwork.” To prevent strong sunlight from fading the modern and contemporary art displayed throughout the home, he eliminated windows from the east and west ends. Large areas of glass—minus draperies and shades—are strategically placed on the front and back to direct light into specific areas and capture views. “I didn’t want the spaces to feel cold, so the colors are soft,” says Winegrad, pointing to gray wall paint and taupe upholstery fabrics.

While the color palette is neutral, the finishes and fabrics are varied in texture and the artwork is strategically placed throughout the house. A brightly patterned silkscreen by Frank Stella hangs at the top of the stairs and a graphic work by Louise Nevelson fits between built-in shelving in the dining room. The well-crafted cabinets throughout the house were designed by Winegrad and custom-built by Ronald Hostetter of Little Cove Furniture in Smithsburg, Maryland.

The main level is treated as one big room where separate functions are defined by cabinetry and furniture rather than walls. “I like the openness in the house, the feeling you can breathe,” says Roz Winegrad. A stone-clad partition divides the family room from the nearby dining room and stairway to the second floor.  “I didn’t want to walk down the stairs and see a wall, so I suggested we put in a see-through gas fireplace here,” she says. Her husband’s wish for a wood-burning fireplace is met in the glass-enclosed porch off the kitchen that provides access to the backyard through sliding glass walls. 

Roz Winegrad, who started her career as a chef, made sure the kitchen was big enough to accommodate two cooks. Centered on a 10-foot-long island, the space is wrapped in German-made cabinets with a niche specially sized for a Robert Rauschenberg lithograph.

While the house has a separate dining space, the Winegrads admit they rarely use it, preferring to enjoy their meals—even Thanksgiving dinner—at the kitchen table with its reclaimed teak top.

From the main level, a spacious staircase illuminated by a tall window leads to three bedroom suites on the top floor. Winegrad designed the master bedroom to feel like an upscale hotel room with subdued colors and lighting. He salvaged Art Deco chairs for the space and prominently displayed a pencil rubbing of a sculpture by Maryland artist John Ruppert there; the original work is downstairs near the entrance. Down the hall, his and hers walk-in closets are fitted with their own sinks and vanities, leaving the master bathroom clean and spare.

As the home was developed, Roz Winegrad says she offered practical suggestions but left her husband to make all of the major creative decisions. “When you are married to a designer, you don’t co-design because you could end up with a compromise everywhere,” she says. “I trusted him implicitly.” 

Frequent contributor Deborah K. Dietsch is based in Washington, DC. Alain Jaramillo is a photographer in Stevenson, Maryland.

ARCHITECTURE & INTERIOR DESIGN: I. MICHAEL WINEGRAD, I. Michael Winegrad Interior Design, LLC, Bethesda, Maryland. CONTRACTOR: CHADSWORTH HOMES, Rockville, Maryland. 

The commercial real estate developer and his wife had renovated three homes in the DC area before deciding to build a house from scratch. As their two daughters grew closer to leaving home, they began looking for land in Annapolis where they could construct a large family residence for their retirement. “We had a summer home on the Severn River for many years and loved being in a water-oriented community,” says the developer.

Their search led to the purchase of a five-acre parcel on Aberdeen Creek that is close to downtown Annapolis yet feels secluded. The property, however, offered several challenges to building a dream home. The shoreline was badly eroded, wooded areas and wetlands were overgrown with invasive vegetation and an outdated ranch house still stood on the site. “Because the property was within the critical area of the Chesapeake Bay, there were severe restrictions on exactly what and where we could build,” the developer says. 

Seeking expert advice, the homeowners turned to Annapolis architect Catherine Purple Cherry, who specializes in designing waterfront homes and is used to navigating the permitting processes required of building on the bay. For Cherry, the project “was a unique opportunity in that the client comes from the real estate industry and appreciates quality design and details.” 

In designing the new, six-bedroom home, the architect drew on traditional elements of coastal architecture—“Tidewater Maryland meets Nantucket,” she says. The hybrid, Shingle-style design led her to separate the home’s various functions into complementary wings. Gables, dormers, towers and porches keep the three-story building from appearing too massive and create spatial variety inside the home. “One of my goals was to humanize the design so every room has a comfortable scale,” says Cherry. 

Taking advantage of the site, she opened the living room, breakfast area and kitchen to views of the water at the rear. “The owners wanted to be able to entertain in different ways, and be able to go from the kitchen straight into the screened porch at the back,” says Cherry.

A more formal dining room at the front is illuminated by the Murano glass sconces and chandelier purchased by the owners on a trip to Italy two decades ago. 

These ground-floor rooms anchor the three-story “farmhouse” at the home’s center, where a graceful, light-filled staircase rises to the upper levels. The living spaces lead to the owners’ offices and garage at one end, and family room and swimming pool pavilion at the other. 

On the second floor, the master suite overlooks the waterfront through banks of windows on three sides. Adjoining the bedroom is an airy sunroom where the wife likes to read. This level also includes another bedroom suite, an exercise room and a home theater over the garage.

The third floor offers several guest suites, including a wood-lined bunkroom for the couple’s visiting grandkids. A tower room in the back corner of the house provides a retreat for enjoying expansive views of the creek and bay. 

Well-crafted architectural elements enliven each space, even in the most practical rooms. The movie room’s kitchenette is illuminated by eyebrow dormer windows and the hallway-turned-library is topped by carved timber beams and beadboard ceilings. Elegant moldings, wainscoting and woodwork ground even the tallest rooms so they feel comfortable and inviting. “The millwork helps to create a sense of intimacy,” says Cherry.

Wide-plank cherry floors add richness throughout the house. Douglas fir beams and paneling in the family room and pool pavilion create the woodsy look of a mountain lodge.

“We wanted to use natural materials, but we also wanted the structure and systems to be cutting-edge,” says the owner. High-performance wall and roof insulation, triple-pane windows and geothermal heating and cooling ensure the house is energy-efficient.

Cherry and her team also worked with the owners to select interior finishes and furniture. The furniture, lighting and artwork are mostly contemporary in contrast to the more traditional room settings. “The idea was to create bright, open, modern interiors—not too formal,” says the developer. 

Adds Cherry, “The overall approach to the house was not to be completely minimalist or traditionalist, but to have a foot in both worlds.”

Some of the more unusual art pieces include a sleek, metal sculpture made from an airplane wing and a chair fashioned from a supermarket shopping cart. Groupings of bells, bear sculptures, train paintings and dog prints throughout the house attest to the husband’s avid collecting habits.

His impressive holdings of antique cars, motorcycles and gas-station artifacts are stored in the red “barn” at the front of the property. The Maine Barn Company built this post-and-beam structure based on Cherry’s design to house a garage, workshop and small apartment, and also constructed the timber-framed wing for the indoor pool.

Between the barn and house, Annapolis landscape architect Jay Graham restored the marsh and thinned out the woodland to preserve trees and open the view to the water. He then created new gardens of mostly native plantings that already look mature. “This design was about creating four-season interest and adding depth to the landscape,” Graham says. Evergreens, inkberry and viburnum, among other plantings, ensure visual interest year-round.

Working with him on the project, landscape architect Kevin Campion helped to design a walled garden that is intended to be viewed from upper-story rooms as well as at ground level. The contemplative space, framed by a row of hornbeam trees, features a graphic pattern of bluestone pavers and grass, and a bubbling fountain.

“These weren’t clients who just looked at the drawings and told us to plant,” says Campion, who now runs his own practice. “They were involved in the design process every step of the way.” 

Writer Deborah K. Dietsch is based in Washington, DC. Tria Giovan is a photographer in New York City.

ARCHITECTURE: CATHERINE PURPLE CHERRY, AIA, LEED AP, Purple Cherry Architects, Annapolis, Maryland. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE: JAY GRAHAM, FASLA, Graham Landscape Architecture, Annapolis, Maryland. CONTRACTOR: PILLI CUSTOM HOMES, Millersville, Maryland

Penthouse Style Washington designer Karen Bengel launched her firm Design Milieu in 2004 when a business executive asked her to remodel his small house in Arlington, Virginia. Two years later, the single homeowner decided to purchase a pair of one-bedroom condominiums in a Rosslyn building designed by Cunningham | Quill Architects. Before the construction was even finished, he tapped Bengel to join the adjacent apartments into a seamless suite of spaces with a contemporary vibe.

“He has very modern tastes and appreciates textures, materials and subtle, sophisticated colors,” says the designer of her client. “He liked the openness of this space and all the windows on three sides.”

For the next couple of years, she worked on every detail of the loft-style penthouse to define areas for living, working, entertaining and sleeping. “I contrasted the light-filled, voluminous spaces with cozier spaces where you can be comfortable,” says Bengel, who is trained as an architect. “My design starts with paying attention to walls, floors, ceilings, doors and windows, and how spaces relate to one another.”

Once the two units were combined, the designer converted the kitchen in one unit into a spa bathroom with a freestanding tub. She then enclosed that space and the remaining kitchen in the other unit with maple-clad partitions to create what she calls “the two cubes” at the center of the residence.

The area in between the cubes, just off the front door, was turned into a small library closed off by sliding glass doors to allow sunlight to penetrate the space. On the walls, bookshelves appear to float but are supported by steel rods anchored to beams hidden in the ceiling. “It’s a space where the owner can relax after work, have a glass of Scotch and read the paper,” says Bengel, pointing to the room’s pair of comfy “Papa Bear” armchairs, reproductions of 1951 creations by Danish designer Hans Wegner.

Beyond the cubes, each end of the penthouse offers a spacious living area and a bedroom suite. The more formal spaces extend from the galley kitchen where the designer made the most of every square inch. “It was challenging to build in efficiency and get a lot of storage into such a small space,” she notes.

Cabinets are positioned on all sides of the kitchen and even below the peninsula on the side facing away from the appliances. A sculptural chandelier of nesting orbs hangs over a walnut table to define the dining area within the larger living space.

This side of the condo is mostly used for entertaining, so Bengel arranged the streamlined furnishings to accommodate groups. The eclectic designs include the sculptural Eames “La Chaise” and Italian sofas and an ottoman arranged on a geometric-patterned cowhide rug. A ponyskin-covered armchair is paired with a 1950s floor lamp to create a reading nook. A leather bench is positioned by the floor-to-ceiling windows to capture the best view in the house—a scenic juxtaposition of the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument.

Just off this living area, the master bedroom reflects the owner’s corporate pedigree in wool wallpaper resembling pinstriped suiting fabric. Bengel designed the king-sized bed to incorporate a buttoned-up shagreen headboard and a drawer within the base for linens.

In the adjacent dressing area, a leather-covered wall above a built-in chest of drawers extends the masculine décor. The master bath features more unusual natural touches, including baseboards made of bamboo rings set into epoxy. “I’m a minimalist, but I like a lot of textures,” says Bengel. “Subtle variations in color can make a big difference to a design.”

At the opposite end of the penthouse, the casual living space centers on a media area with an eco-friendly fireplace designed to burn denatured alcohol. A nearby wet bar and beverage center are handy for movie nights. Behind the maple-paneled media wall, a home office extends next to the guest suite tucked into the corner.

The TV-watching area is furnished to emphasize the textural contrasts found elsewhere in the home. A high-backed leather sofa is combined with a coffee table made of tree branches and a Danish wicker  chaise for contemplating the view. A large print by Czech artist Jiri Anderle, one of many works of art collected by the owner, is displayed on an easel in the corner.

Just outside the windows, a narrow terrace wraps around the three sides of the condo to create a serene buffer from the city. Staircases at both ends of the penthouse lead to a second terrace at roof level. The long, outdoor spaces are made more intimate with container gardens, bamboo, clustered seating and fountains designed by J. Mark White of  GardenWise, a landscape firm in Arlington.

Bengel played a part in providing access to the lower terrace off the library and kitchen without the intrusion of a staircase. Her solution was to design wooden panels that lie flat to the wall, but can be pulled up and flipped out to create steps.

“The owner is one of my rare clients willing to invest in details like these,” says Bengel. “He had a real vision for what he wanted. It’s so amazing to work with someone to make his dream come true.” 

Deborah K. Dietsch is a frequent contributor to Home & Design. Photographer Stacy Zarin Goldberg is based in Olney, Maryland. 

INTERIOR DESIGN: KAREN BENGEL, ASID, Design Milieu, Washington, DC. STYLIST: COURTNEY APPLEQUIST, Washington, DC. RENOVATION CONTRACTOR: KEITH REEVE, Construction Professionals, Leesburg, Virginia.

 

A Curated Mix Antiques look right at home with contemporary furnishings in the new store opened by Washington designer Darryl Carter in DC’s Shaw neighborhood. The carefully chosen old and new designs, displayed in a remodeled 19th-century building, reflect Carter’s eclectic yet tailored approach to interiors.

“This is an opportunity for my design services and philosophy to be gatherable in small bites,” Carter says. Shoppers can buy his furniture, fabrics and lighting, and consult with his staff of designers who work in a carriage house behind the store.

After purchasing the dilapidated property in 2008, Carter collected old doors, sinks and architectural pieces for its rooms, while enlisting the help of Wnuk Spurlock Architecture and Glass Construction in the renovation. Many of the building’s eccentricities, including broken-through brick walls, are celebrated rather than disguised. “I wanted you to sense the organic evolution of the building,” he says.

Carter organized the store like a house to “encourage people to meander and engage.” On the ground floor, a “library” of china and glassware is reached through a grand stone archway salvaged from a Tudor-style house in McLean.

Many of the products, including soup bowls and salt cellars, are created by local artisans. Handmade trivets and cheese boards are stacked on the rustic table in the second-level dining room set between a working kitchen and a courtyard.

The third-floor “living area” features sofas, chairs, leather goods and fabric samples, which are displayed in old wire baskets. In the attic, where ceiling framing is left exposed, linens and pillows are arranged on a bed of Carter’s design. “Everything can be customized,” says the designer. “You can pick the threading on the sheet to match your wall color.” 1320 9th Street, NW; 202-234-5926. darrylcarter.com.  

 

Consulting an interior designer for the first time can be intimidating, especially when it means throwing out cherished belongings and starting from scratch. But for a couple of empty nesters who decided to redecorate their McLean home, the process turned out to be calm and reassuring under the guidance of District designer Nestor Santa-Cruz. 

“I never felt pushed into anything,” says the wife, a substitute teacher for Fairfax County Public Schools. “Nestor considers your color preferences and what you already own as part of the design. He really listens.”

The homeowners selected Santa-Cruz, a design director at Gensler who also runs an eponymous residential practice, based on his interiors in the law offices where the husband works. “I liked his sense of style, color and space,” says the attorney. “He made the experience fun. And he got us some ‘wow’ factor.”

Instead of demanding a complete makeover, the designer suggested a “decorative lift” by selectively refurbishing some of the owners’ furnishings and complementing them with new pieces to create a sophisticated suite of rooms on the main floor. “It was a way of establishing trust through familiarity, a way of transitioning to a more contemporary design than what they had,” says Santa-Cruz. 

The change came after the couple and their daughter had lived in their home for 16 years. The pair bought the four-bedroom Colonial in 1995 after deciding to move from a smaller town house in Alexandria. “The home was new and we liked the open floor plan,” says the wife. “But after living here for a while, some of the furniture was starting to go and it was time to upgrade.”

In 2009, the homeowners remodeled the kitchen, adjacent butler’s pantry and laundry room. Distressed, painted cabinets and granite countertops replaced counterparts in plastic laminate and Corian. About a year after completing that project, the homeowners moved on to refresh the rest of the ground floor where mahogany furniture, muddy paint colors and heavy draperies made the rooms feel dark and claustrophobic. 

Before suggesting a style, Santa-Cruz presented a floor plan showing the furniture placement in each space. “Having this map allowed us to work as a team to develop the design over time,” he says. 

In the revamped rooms, an envelope of dark stained wood floors and pale painted walls was established to set off furnishings in similar contrasts. Reproduction Turkestan rugs in subtle, neutral-colored patterns extend under living and dining furniture to offer softer versions of the Oriental carpets previously in the rooms. 

“Before, each space had its own independent coloration,” the designer says. “Now the rooms flow and provide access to daylight.”

Instead of insisting on all new seating in the living room, the designer reshaped the couple’s old sofa and slipper chairs, and reupholstered them in solid fabrics. “When Nestor looks at a worn piece of furniture, he sees the design possibilities,” says the wife. The only new seat in the space is an armchair that repeats the curved shapes of the older pieces. They also kept mahogany side tables owned by the couple, along with a bold, abstract print salvaged from a room in the basement. 

In the adjacent dining room, the homeowners’ sideboard was partially stained to impart a more graphic look. A new Barbara Barry table and Louis XVI-style chairs were paired under a delicate, 1925 French crystal chandelier. 

Tucked off the entrance hall, the library/study recycles a wood shelving unit, a leather-topped desk and a chest of drawers, all refreshed with paint. A new Eames leather office chair now serves both computer station and desk, and an Indian print of a horse complements the small sculptures of bronco busters owned by the couple. 

Next door, the powder room was turned into a miniature townscape with Piero Fornasetti-designed wallpaper depicting rows of Mediterranean-style buildings, some with golden domes. “We never would have picked wallpaper like that on our own,” says the husband. “I fell for it the moment I saw it and smile whenever I look into that room.”

Softer wallpaper in a subtle floral pattern extends through the foyer and stairway to harmonize with the light colors in the adjacent rooms. “At first I wasn’t sure about the design,” admits the wife. “But I’m glad we did it because it breaks up any sense of uniformity.” 

In playing off the traditional décor preferred by the couple, Santa-Cruz suggested several reproductions of Deco pieces by French designer André Arbus from the late 1930s and ’40s. The ebony cocktail table and ivory “Indochine” credenza in the living room and the marble-topped table in the entrance hall add rich finishes and streamlined shapes to the more conventional furnishings already in the homeowners’ possession.

Off the kitchen, the family room was updated with comfortable armchairs, a leather Chesterfield sofa and a clock from Restoration Hardware. A classic Eames lounge chair and a glass-topped Mies van der Rohe table raise the modern design quotient.

Santa-Cruz, who is trained as an architect, upgraded the room’s fireplace with an elegant mantelpiece of his own design. Inspired by the work of French designer Jean-Michel Frank, the mantel’s crisp moldings and limestone hearth epitomize the simplicity and restraint evident throughout the interiors.

Since completing the redesign, the homeowners say they now spend more time in every room, including the rather stately living and dining areas, than they did in the past. Says the wife, “We are not formal people, so it was important to make every space comfortable and usable.”

Deborah K. Dietsch is a frequent contributor to Home & Design. Photographer Angie Seckinger splits her time between Potomac, Maryland, and Spain. 

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

 

Modern Symmetry The homeowners pondered the decision to renovate their 1980s Colonial or build a new house on their secluded, 25-acre property outside Ellicott City, Maryland. “We did a lot of soul-searching. We even thought of moving, but we love the site. It’s so quiet and private,” says the husband, an entrepreneur whose business portfolio includes publishing, transportation and athletic footwear companies.

After discussing scenarios for improving their home with three architects from different firms, he and his wife turned to a fourth—Cunningham | Quill Architects of Washington, DC. “They were the first ones who really listened to us and built the design on our ideas,” says the wife, who teaches students with disabilities. Together, the couple and their architect made the decision to tear down the Colonial and build anew.

The homeowners’ wish for what they call “comfortable elegance” led architect Ralph Cunningham to organize the residence like a traditional country house with two wings splayed outward from a central pavilion. While that symmetrical arrangement sounds stuffy, the completed house feels light and airy.

Stone cladding around the base visually reduces its apparent size, particularly at the rear where the building rises to three stories. HardiePlank siding above the stone is accented by the graphic lines of mahogany screens around large windows, which supply plenty of daylight to interior spaces.

Inside, streamlined furnishings and soothing colors defer to the views of nature from nearly every space. “We wanted to blur the line between indoors and out,” says Cunningham. “The connection between this house and the landscape is very important.”

The architect decided to place the new house in the same spot as the couple’s previous dwelling, on the prow of a hill within a clearing encircled by tall trees. This location allowed for a walk-out basement on the lower side of the site that provides rooms for family games and movies, and an indoor pool enjoyed year-round by the couple and their two children. A freestanding garage at the front of the house is connected to the basement through an underground tunnel.

Principal rooms, including the kitchen, family room and master bedroom, are positioned at the back of the house to take advantage of views across a lawn to the Middle Patuxent River. To maintain this vista, the original pool was demolished and a new infinity-edge pool built on a terrace along the lower side of the house so it isn’t visible from the main floor. “It’s great to go to a pool, but not so great to look at it all the time, especially during the winter,” says Cunningham.

Landscape architect Kevin Campion achieved a smooth transition between the house and its natural surroundings through raised terraces, fountains and layered plantings. “The gardens are an extension of the architecture,” Campion says, pointing to low walls that continue the stone from the house into the landscape.

From the gravel driveway, a travertine-lined portal leads to a double-height entry foyer. One end of the hall opens to the expansive living room and views across the stone and grass terraces on the east side of the house. The other leads to a room where the wife holds classes; students can enter directly from the parking court at the front of the house. Behind this space is a secluded library with a fireplace where the owners enjoy reading and watching television.

Beyond the foyer, curved walls lead into the open kitchen and family room at the center of the house. The dining room extends to one side and the wife’s office flanks the other. A staircase between the kitchen and living room leads to the second floor, where the children’s bedrooms occupy the east wing and guest suites the west. The light-filled master suite occupies the center bay above the family room with windows on three sides offering river views during late fall and winter.

In designing the interiors, Cunningham collaborated with Massachusetts-based architect—and former Washingtonian—Bruce Danzer. This is Danzer’s first residential project and he approached it with the same rigor as his commercial work. “I was very methodical in showing the owners options of how we might furnish each room,” he says. “It wasn’t about creating a show place but a comfortable house for a family.”

Trips Danzer made with the couple to showrooms in Boston, New York and DC led to a mix of high-end pieces by New York designer Dakota Jackson and French manufacturer Hugues Chevalier, and less expensive finds from Crate & Barrel and Room & Board. “Once we had a collection that worked,” recalls Danzer, “we spent weeks developing a chalky, impressionistic color palette similar to the landscape outside.”

In the main rooms, armchairs, tables and sofas are grouped into conversation areas for family gatherings and frequent parties. “There can be 50 people in this house and you don’t realize they are here,” says the wife of the interconnected spaces both inside and outside the house. The couple ensured the home would meet their future needs during retirement by installing an elevator and insisting on wheelchair accessibility throughout the interiors.

Practicality aside, the two clearly consider their new house, with its swimming pools, movie theater and game room, as a year-round retreat with better amenities than a resort. As the husband notes, “Even on vacations, we find ourselves wondering when we can go home.” 

Deborah K. Dietsch is a frequent contributor to Home & Design. Maxwell MacKenzie is a Washington, DC-based photographer.

ARCHITECTURE: RALPH CUNNINGHAM, FAIA, Cunningham | Quill Architects, Washington, DC. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE: KEVIN CAMPION, ASLA, Annapolis, Maryland. INTERIOR DESIGN: BRUCE SKILES DANZER, JR., AIA, LEED AP, LAB [3.2] Architecture, Provincetown, Massachusetts. CONTRACTOR: POTOMAC VALLEY BUILDERS, Bethesda, Maryland.

A Blended Style Bethesda architect Stephen Muse, principal of Muse Architects, has earned a reputation for sensitively renovating and expanding houses so that his designs feel like they have always been there. “I try to respect the history of a house and play up to the best parts of its architecture,” he says. His own remodeled home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, well reflects his skills in its elegantly proportioned rooms filled with unusual furnishings and artwork collected over more than two decades.

The 1923 dwelling is atypical for Washington in its Spanish Colonial Revival style, a melding of design influences seen by Muse as symbolic of his family. “Renovating and living in this house has allowed us to represent our blending of two cultures,” he says. While the architect is a native Washingtonian, his wife Farideh, who works at Muse Architects as the office administrator, was born in Iran. The couple has two children, daughter Mercedes and son Arman, both now in their 20s. 

The Muses bought their home in 1990 after deciding they needed more space for their family. They had long admired the Spanish-influenced house in their neighborhood and when it went up for sale, the couple bought it without hesitation. “It was a great opportunity to move into a house with so much character,” says Farideh, standing in the high-ceilinged living room. “You don’t often see details like this fireplace carving or these moldings.” 

The original house was designed by Washington architect Reginald Geare, who is best known for the Knickerbocker Theatre in the District’s Adams Morgan neighborhood. (Tragically, the movie house collapsed in 1922 under the weight of snow from a blizzard, killing 98 people). Geare’s well-proportioned architecture of stucco walls, arched openings and red tile roofs creates the romantic feeling of a Mediterranean villa. 

Inside, the homeowners changed the choppy floor plan to establish a better flow between the rooms. The front door now opens to a spacious foyer created from part of the original dining space. Two ground-floor bedrooms were transformed into a library and a new dining room. Doorways were shifted to create a view straight through the house, from the living room at the front to the dining room windows at the back. 

Before undertaking these renovations, the Muses remodeled the walkout basement so they could live in its rooms while the upper floors were overhauled. Part of this transformation required shoring up the basement guest room ceiling with cross-braced wooden beams bolted to the floor joists. “We liked the look and that’s when we decided to introduce similar designs in the rest of the house,” recalls Stephen Muse. 

Ceilings of oak timbers, terracotta-tiled floors and iron chandeliers in most of the main-floor rooms reinforce the home’s Mediterranean flair. New moldings around doorways and windows were designed by Muse “to be consistent with the detailing of a Spanish Revival house,” he says. 

Within this framework, the homeowners created a charming, European-style look with furnishings carefully selected for each space. “We don’t buy a major piece unless we both agree on the purchase,” says Farideh Muse, recalling how a settee purchased by her husband was sold after she nixed it. 

Years of scouring shops and galleries have yielded unexpected finds, from bookends shaped like miniature buildings to paintings purchased on trips to London, Paris and Venice. Antiques are mixed with new upholstered chairs and sofas, and symmetrically arranged to convey a sense of balance and order. “Everything here is very personal,” says Stephen Muse. “It’s important to me that it is eclectic. I don’t like to walk into a home and see a uniform look by a decorator.”  

In 2004, the homeowners decided to extend the back of the house with a three-story addition that included a basement expansion. The family room in the new wing is reached from the kitchen, which was remodeled with pine cabinets and marble countertops. Its pale colors, reclaimed oak floors and furnishings were inspired by the French painted panel hanging over the fireplace. “I often say it was the most expensive antique we ever bought because we had to build a new room to accommodate it,” jokes Stephen.   

The space provides a dining nook and a desk, as well as club chairs for watching TV. Windows fitted with hinged screens were based on similar designs Muse created for a home on the Eastern Shore. “It’s my favorite room because it is lighter and cozier than the living room,” says Farideh. 

On the second floor of the addition, the master bedroom rises to a tray ceiling to emulate the shape of the living room. Down the hall is the original master bedroom, reassigned to son Arman, and an enclosed sleeping porch converted into a bedroom for daughter Mercedes, who now lives in Paris. The Muses admit they have more room than they need, but have no plans to downsize or move. Notes Stephen Muse, “It is important to us that we stay in this house so our children will always be able to come home.” 

Deborah K. Dietsch is a frequent contributor to Home & Design. Erik Kvalsvik is a photographer in Washington, DC.

RENOVATION ARCHITECTURE & INTERIORS: STEPHEN and FARIDEH MUSE, Chevy Chase, Maryland. 

Collected Style Good “bones” convinced interior designer Martha Vicas and her husband Robert, a financial consultant, to buy a stately 1925 dwelling in the District’s Cleveland Park neighborhood. “We love the scale of the rooms, the high ceilings and big front porch,” says Martha Vicas. “It has an intimacy so we knew we’d feel comfortable here after our three teenagers leave home and we embark on the next stage of our lives.”

While drawn to the sound skeleton of the stone-and-stucco house, the former New Yorkers found the interiors to be run-down and unsuited to their family life. So they embarked on a major renovation with the help of Georgetown architect Merle 
Thorpe, who revived and expanded the Four Square home in a sensitive and seamless manner.

“The idea was to keep the original features center stage and continue them through the new work,” says Thorpe. He maintained the sense of discrete rooms but also introduced a spatial flow from the front to the back of the house. The central hallway leading from the front door now reaches all the way to the rear garden through a spacious kitchen addition.

On one side of this corridor, the architect extended the enfilade of living and family rooms with a new office wing and an outdoor courtyard at the back. On the opposite side, he moved the staircase leading to the basement and second floor bedrooms so it sits closer to the front of the house and brings in daylight from an upper story window. Upstairs, a new master suite was created by adding a bedroom above the kitchen and converting the adjacent bedroom into a bathroom centered on a freestanding tub.

While the house was torn apart and rebuilt to accommodate modern systems, many of its new elements are now indistinguishable from the old. “We tried to be as authentic as possible in our treatment of the architecture so it would be in keeping with the era of this neighborhood,” says Thorpe.

The new staircase features an elegant balustrade that continuously winds up from a simple newel post to the second level. Original pocket doors still slide to close off living spaces from the hallway. New floors made of smoked and stained rift-sawn oak unify the first and second floors. Replaced windows and reinstated moldings look like they always belonged.

Within this historically responsive setting, Vicas furnished the rooms in what she calls her “collected” style of decorating. “I use creative sourcing to design spaces that blend found objects with both new and vintage furniture from different periods,” she says. “Texture and careful use of color support this purpose and add further interest to the room.”

In the living and dining rooms just off the foyer, Vicas created the most formal settings, but an unexpected mix of antiques, Mid-Century Modern finds and contemporary furniture and artwork keeps them from feeling staid. The living room is symmetrically arranged around the fireplace with club chairs pulled up to a coffee table designed by Vicas. The homeowner also designed the walnut dining table and based the dining room décor around the unusual horn chandelier hanging above it.

Her eclectic taste is even more evident in the family room where the walls are covered in sheets of bark paper to create a subtly textured backdrop to 1950s chairs and a boldly patterned rug and fabrics. In the adjacent office, a Womb chair covered in velvet upholstery adds a note of luxury to the Mid-Century classic. Walnut bookcases and desks are built-in to save space and open the view to a small outdoor courtyard beyond the window.

Visible through this garden retreat is the spacious porch extending across the back of the house that serves as a second living and dining room. “We use the porch 10 months of the year, for entertaining and just relaxing,” says Vicas, who hosts guests nearly every weekend. Drapes made of mosquito netting can be pulled across the porch to keep out summer pests. A large fireplace at one end provides a source of warmth during colder months.

Thorpe designed the porch as a garden pavilion, allowing vines to climb up its paired columns and disguise the structure. The roof and top of the adjacent office addition are covered in a green carpet of sedum to insulate the structures and absorb rainwater. Their planted surfaces provide an attractive view of nature rather than a scene of bare roofs from the second floor.

One step down from the porch, the rear yard is designed by landscape architect Gay Crowther as another outdoor room. Evergreen trees and boxwood shrubs around the perimeter screen the property from the neighbors. A  lap pool on one side serves as both a reflecting pond and a place to cool off during hot summer days.

Both the garden and porch are strategically located off the kitchen where the Vicas family spends most of its time. “This is where we drink a quiet cup of coffee at 6 a.m. and have guests gather for dinner at 6 p.m.,” says Vicas.

The large room centers on a long, marble-topped island and incorporates separate areas for sitting and dining. Closest to the porch, a mahogany dining table set with 1960s Milo Baughman chairs adjoins an inglenook for cozying next to the fireplace. As Vicas notes, “We have a crazy, busy life so it was important to create a calm place to be.”

Deborah K. Dietsch is a frequent contributor to Home & Design. Tony Giammarino is a Richmond, Virginia-based photographer.

RENOVATION ARCHITECTURE: MERLE THORPE, AIA, Merle Thorpe Architects, Washington, DC. INTERIOR DESIGN: MARTHA VICAS, M.S. Vicas Interiors, Washington, DC. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE: GAY CROWTHER, G.P. Crowther & Associates, Annapolis, Maryland. BUILDER: Peterson and Collins, Inc., Washington, DC.

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