A family with a dated, dark, closed-off kitchen envisioned a clean, bright cohesive space. They turned to Ateliers Jacob to realize their vision. “We did a complete overhaul of the layout of this space to enhance functionality and aesthetic appeal” recounts Catherine De La Sablonnière, Creative Director for Ateliers Jacob.
Removing non-loadbearing walls made way for an open-concept plan that integrated the kitchen with the surrounding rooms. Abundant cupboards, ample drawers, a designated coffee station, and surfaces for food prep answered the owners’ functionality needs.
Four cabinetry materials were used, including cream-colored lacquer, wood-look laminate, velvet touch black, and black aluminum. “The mix of materials and cabinet door models is balanced, so it doesn’t challenge the eye but still makes a statement,” Catherine explains. The Calacatta Gold Quartz countertops and backsplash from Silestone tie it all together. Fisher & Paykel and Bosch appliances complete the transformation.
Kitchen Designer: Linda Archambault
Ateliers Jacob delivers a premium collection of custom cabinetry, meticulously crafted to inspire and expand the creative horizons of the design industry. Coming soon to Georgetown.
ateliersjacob.com/en-us
[email protected]
202-525-2527
3330 Cady’s Alley, Georgetown
The Kitchen Guru’s Joey Olson brings more than 20 years of experience as a kitchen-and-bath designer to his partnership with interior designer Susan Kuehhas, Allied ASID, of SK Interiors. “We work together to make our clients happy,” Olson says. “We listen to clients, show them options so they can choose their favorite aspects from each design, and merge them to create their perfect kitchen.” He adds: “I have been in customer service since the age of 14 and love to meet and get to know my clients.”
Kuehhas specializes in full-service residential interior design. “We pride ourselves on creating uniquely stunning homes with livable and luxe designs,” she notes. “On every project, we collaborate with a team of highly talented industry professionals to make our vision a reality.”
Each kitchen shown is collaboration between The Kitchen Guru and SK Interiors, working with Crestwood Custom Cabinets.
kitchengurujo.com
703-855-2140
skinteriorsllc.com
703-282-1851
 | “A well-designed bedroom balances comfort, functionality and tranquility. Clutter creates visual and mental noise, so keep furniture and knickknacks to a minimum. We use a layered approach: textured wall coverings, plush fabrics and soft colors to promote calm. A subtly patterned paper on the ceiling adds coziness.” |
 | “We start with a soothing color palette for the walls and rely on fabrics with minimal contrast. Then we bring in beautiful linens, plenty of pillows and gentle lighting that provides the right illumination for every stage of the day.” |
 | “Cohesive colors, textures, fabrics and furnishings will create visual harmony. Mixing textures, like a chunky, knit throw and silk pillows, inspires interest while maintaining a tranquil vibe. Built-ins and stylish baskets help keep clutter at bay.” |
 | “Understanding a client’s personal style allows me to create a space that reflects their sense of calm. I layer in cozy, natural textures which convey warmth without being overwhelming. Minimalist furniture helps a room feel relaxed and balanced.” —Samantha Friedman, ASID, NCIDQ, Samantha Friedman Interior Designs, LLC |
 | “Well-traveled clients often want their bedroom to evoke a luxury hotel room. That typically means room-darkening window treatments, layered lighting and a subtle color scheme. In a neutral space, we’ll add depth with textured wall covering instead of a saturated paint color.” —Rebecca Penno, Penno Interiors Photo: Angela Newton Roy Photography |
 | Laura HildebrandtInteriors by LH Photo: Christy Kosnic Photography |
 | Laura FoxLaura Fox Interior Design |
 | Sarita SimpsonInterior Matter |
Home & Design unveiled its November/December 2024 issue on November 7th with a party at Ferguson in Friendship Heights. The event also honored winners of the magazine’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards.
A number of regional chapters of the American Institute of Architects honored the best in local architecture with the 2024 AIA Excellence in Design Awards. The following pages showcase residential winners from the AIA’s Northern Virginia, Potomac Valley, Chesapeake Bay and Maryland chapters, along with a few non-residential highlights.
For a complete list of winners, visit homeanddesign.com. Winning projects are also on view at aianova.org/design-awards and mdaiaawards.secure-platform.com.
AIA Northern Virginia
RESIDENTIAL
Awards of Merit
Flint Hill: Gardner Architects.
Le Parc: Teass\Warren Architects.
Awards of Excellence
Cushner: David Jameson Architect.
Shepherdstown Grandparents’ House: Reader & Swartz Architects, P.C.
NON-RESIDENTIAL
Award of Excellence
Institutional Architecture: National Museum of the United States Army—Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
AIA Potomac Valley
RESIDENTIAL
Gold Award
House in a Clearing: McInturff Architects.
Merit Awards
2/ Historic Shaw Rowhouse: Hill & Hurtt Architects.
Special Recognition, Adaptive Reuse
3/ Farm to Table: McInturff Architects.
NON-RESIDENTIAL
Honor Award
1238 Wisconsin: McInturff Architects.
AIA Chesapeake Bay
RESIDENTIAL
Honor Award
Residential, New Construction: House on a Hill—The Story of a Forest— Studio 3 Architecture, Inc.
Merit, Sustainability
Residential, New Construction: Modern Woodland Getaway—Kimmel Studio Architects.
Citation
Residential, New Construction: 100 Ridgely Avenue—Hammond Wilson.
Merit
4/ Residential Renovation/Addition: Butterfly House—Galczynski Architects.
Honor & Preservation
Residential Renovation/Addition: Ships Point— Wiedemann Architects, LLC.
NON-RESIDENTIAL
Honor Award
Non-Residential Renovation/Addition: St. Michaels Community Center—McInturff Architects.
Merit Award
Non-Residential Renovation/Addition: RAR—Chessie’s Wharf—Hammond Wilson.
AIA Maryland
RESIDENTIAL
Merit Awards
Single Family: Exeter Road House—Robert M. Gurney, FAIA Architect.
Single Family: Vapor House—David Jameson Architect.
Interior Architecture: Woodmont 17th Floor— McInturff Architects.
NON-RESIDENTIAL
Merit Award
Institutional Architecture: E.A. Fernandez IDEA Factory—Page.
Home & Design unveiled the Fall 2024 issue of its sister publication, Chesapeake Views, with a soirée at T.W. Perry in Annapolis on November 13th. Guests enjoyed libations and toured the showroom’s high-end window and door installations.
 | The Kitchen Guru and SK InteriorsThe perfect partnership: creating designs for living well |
 | Ateliers Jacob Custom CabinetryA stylish kitchen merges clean lines, warmth and light |
 | LXRYA kitchen remodel imparts a chic, moody vibe |
 | Denny + GardnerA kitchen remodel embraces form and function |
 | Serendipity Design GroupA stylish kitchen marries Beauty and Innovation |
 | Annapolis InteriorsForm and function unite in a stylish renovation |
 | Bowers Design BuildA modern makeover brings the outdoors in |
 | Collaborations Joining Forces
|
 | Backyard AerieMcHale Landscape Design revamps a McLean property for year-round living |
 | Al Fresco OasisPristine Acres blends form and function in a stylish backyard retreat |
 | Fire + WaterEd Ball Designs crafts a backyard oasis that beckons in the colder months |
Ed Ball Designs devised a multi-use backyard in Great Falls, with spaces intended for year-round enjoyment. A covered deck and heated spa and pool beckon, while a gas-fueled fire table and separate wood-burning fire pit provide alternatives for gathering well into the off-season.
“A pool at the heart of the design offers a ‘vacation-at-home’ feel,” says principal Ed Ball. Multiple living areas, including lower and upper decks, are an extension of the home’s indoor spaces.
DESIGN FEATURES
Ed Ball Designs
At Ed Ball Designs, we create transformative landscapes that seamlessly blend disparate natural elements while creating bespoke designs that fulfill clients’ needs. Our design goals revolve around nurturing well-being, tranquility and joy in every project.
edballdesigns.com
703-433-1863
Masterminded by Pristine Acres, a three-acre property in Leesburg, Virginia, became a destination for homeowners who love the outdoors and wanted to be able to enjoy their yard year-round. The plan centered on a freeform swimming pool and custom waterfall with a natural boulder surround. Elements that address cool-weather needs include a pavilion equipped with a fireplace and kitchen; a natural-boulder fire pit; and a covered golf simulator. Beneath the deck, a sauna beckons, with a cold plunge for heat and cooling therapy.
DESIGN FEATURES
Pristine Acres
At Pristine Acres, we are passionate about what we do. Something unique happens when a special design is paired with construction executed at the highest level; that feeling is what we strive for in our work.
pristineacres.com
Homeowners in McLean tasked McHale with an overhaul that would create outdoor living spaces suitable for at least three seasons. The existing deck was upgraded and enlarged, with a portion of it screened; staircases at each end connect to a kitchen and living area installed beneath. An adjacent gas fireplace is a cozy gathering spot for the cooler months.
New patios, walkways, retaining walls, a putting green, drainage systems, lawn areas, plantings, and irrigation and lighting systems all enhance the outdoor experience year-round.
DESIGN FEATURES
McHale Landscape Design
McHale Landscape Design is a residential landscape design-build firm. Our educated, experienced, passionate staff of designers, masons, carpenters and landscape technicians implements the highest standard of craftsmanship, from concept to impeccable creation and aftercare.
mchalelandscape.com
301-599-8300
 | Industrial LightTwo riverfront baths celebrate nature |
 | Getaway at HomeA modern bath rocks a hotel vibe |
 | Peaceful VibeJapandi style rules in a serene spa |
A hint of nature breezes through Sophia Belkin’s urban studio in a graffiti-bedecked warehouse in Baltimore’s Station North neighborhood. As overhead fans turn one end-of-summer day, Belkin’s fabric collages seem to drift across the all-white walls. Within these artworks, pools of pastel colors emerge as if seen through a fog. Appliquéd forms resemble water droplets or leaves buoyed in the air. Patterns flow along cascading or more precise paths. Bound together by embroidery, all parts coalesce in complex arrangements of lyrical balance and beauty.
“My inspiration has always come from nature,” says Belkin. Dressed in a white top and verdigris-turquoise jeans that echo the smoky palette of her compositions, she explains the specialized nature of her art: “I like that contrast between the fluidity of the water elements of painting that are unpredictable, and the tight, controlled embroidery parts.”
A recent exhibit of Belkin’s large-scale paintings at Washington’s Hemphill gallery presented several pieces produced during a six-week artist residency in New Orleans. Belkin reflects on that time in the city where she also lived for six years: “I think of things being so lush down there, and color feels more saturated. The humidity in the air actually changes the way things look; it creates an interesting lens that fundamentally alters the way light is absorbed and refracted.”
While there, the artist took digital photos of swamps and wetlands. Back in her Baltimore studio, those and a wealth of other source materials are transformed into photographic elements in her collages. After manipulating the images on a laptop, she sends them out to be printed on fabric. Later, without any plan or sketch heading in, the artist pulls intuitively from different piles of fabric, selecting pieces that might coordinate with others.
Among the piles are swaths of linen and denim that Belkin previously hand-painted. Treating the dyes as watercolors during that stage, she may have allowed them to spread and blend, perhaps throwing salt on the surface in one of several resist processes. Or, she might have applied a wide brush to the fabric in broad gestures, producing striated, wavy lines and bumps that resemble woodcuts or sedimentary layers.
Her cumulative techniques don’t end there. “It’s not really clear-cut,” the artist notes. “If I start with bigger pieces, I may decide to cut them up, or I might make the collage even bigger by adding smaller chunks.” Once the basic layout is decided—typically on the floor—Belkin moves to her computerized embroidery machine to attach the assembled parts.
In addition, she often takes photos of completed, hand-dyed paintings. Once those images are photoshopped and digitally transferred to fabric, Belkin cuts up and uses the snippets in new works, as the cycle begins again. If results prove unsatisfactory, she may decide to cut up the fabric and recycle it later, observing, “I’ll eventually find a place for every piece—whether in the first iteration or somewhere down the line.”
The studio, in fact, has become its own force in her work. “More and more I find that an ecosystem happens within the studio,” the artist explains. “I think of fabric pieces as having a life of their own—their own patterns and movements and relationships. So even though my inspiration comes from nature, right now I’m working with the nature of the world of fabrics within my studio.”
Over the years, Belkin’s art has evolved toward greater size and increased abstraction. The largest piece—70 inches high and 10 feet wide—suggests her fascination with different ways of viewing. “I like working at a bigger scale because there’s that impossibility of both seeing the big picture and picking out details. You can’t hold those visually at the same time,” she says. Comparing the experience to being in a landscape, Belkin recalls that while growing up in Gaithersburg, Maryland, she spent hours hiking and searching for mushrooms in the woods. “When you’re foraging for mushrooms, your vision is honed in a very different way from regular walking. That’s relevant to the work too—channeling your vision to be narrow or wide.”
The artist first encountered the textile world by chance. A few years after earning a degree in printmaking and drawing from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2012, she worked at a small yarn-dying shop. The owner offered her use of the premises as a studio after hours. Working more and more with the material, she took a digital-embroidery class in 2017 that soon hooked her on the technique.
Still, Belkin credits the main inspiration for her visual direction to her mother and father, both microbiologists. As she relates, “My parents always talked about science almost through the eyes of artists—the creative process within science, having a hypothesis and researching and testing it. It’s like the creative process in my studio, how I experiment with all the different fragments of fabric. I think if I hadn’t become an artist, I would definitely be involved in the sciences.”
For more information on the artist, visit sophiabelkin.com.
Every year, Home & Design polls hundreds of industry professionals and consumers to discover their favorite local home-furnishings resources in the DC Metro area, from furniture and lighting to cabinetry, appliances, carpets and flooring, fabric and wallpaper and more. The results are in and here are the winners and runners-up of our 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards.
 | FABRIC + WALL COVERINGOsborne & LittleWashington, DC; osborneandlittle.comHonorable Mention: F. Schumacher & Co.; Thibaut |
 | CONTEMPORARY FURNITURELigne RosetWashington, DC; ligneroset-dc.comHonorable Mention: Poliform; Roche Bobois |
 | WINDOW TREATMENTSEverett DesignSilver Spring, MD; gretcheneverett.comHonorable Mention: Rockville Interiors Interior Design: Erica Burns Interiors. Photo: Jennifer Hughes |
 | KITCHEN + BATH FIXTURESKONST UnionBethesda, MD; konstunion.comHonorable Mention: GROF USA |
 | CUSTOM CABINETSJennifer Gilmer Kitchen & BathArea locations; gilmerkitchens.comHonorable Mention: Jack Rosen Custom Kitchens, Lobkovich |
 | TRADITIONAL FURNITUREBelfort FurnitureSterling, VA; belfortfurniture.comHonorable Mention: Green Front Furniture; Room & Board |
 | TILE + STONEMMG Tile & StoneElkridge, MD; mmgmarble.comHonorable Mention: Architessa; Renaissance Tile & Bath; Best Tile |
 | ART SOURCEMerritt GalleryChevy Chase and Baltimore, MD; merrittgallery.comHonorable Mention: Torpedo Factory Art Center |
 | LIGHTINGVisual Comfort & Co.Timonium, MD, and Washington, DC; visualcomfort.comHonorable Mention: Dominion Lighting; Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting |
 | OUTDOOR FURNITUREYardbirdArea locations; yardbird.comHonorable Mention: JANUS et Cie |
 | APPLIANCE SOURCEAjMadisonTysons, VA; ajmadison.comHonorable Mention: ABW—Appliances a Better Way; ADU—Your Appliance Source |
 | CUSTOM CLOSETSCapitol Closet DesignAlexandria and Vienna, VA; capitolclosetdesign.netHonorable Mention: California Closets; Closets by Design |
 | PAINTFarrow & BallBethesda, MD; farrow-ball.comHonorable Mention: Benjamin Moore; Sherwin-Williams |
 | CARPET + FLOORINGFloor & DecorArea locations; flooranddecor.comHonorable Mention: Classic Floor Designs; Stark |
 | BEST NEW SHOWROOMBoss Design CenterBethesda, MD; bossdesigncenter.comHonorable Mention: LXRY; Poliform |
 | SMART HOMEINI Inc.Sterling, VA; iniav.comHonorable Mention: A.B.E. Networks; Integrated Media Systems |
