Home & Design

A fascination with air travel convinced a couple to buy a condo with runway views of Reagan National Airport. “We were sitting in the car at Gravelly Point watching the planes land and I said as a joke, ‘We should get an apartment nearby so we don’t have to sit outside,’” recalls one of the homeowners.

The light-hearted comment led to the 2013 purchase of a two-story, 2,700-square-foot condo in Crystal City, Virginia. Soon after, the owners—who then worked for an international refugee agency—were whisked off to their final assignment in Thailand.

While overseas, they rented out the three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath dwelling and plotted their retirement—and a remodel. “The space was fantastic; we’d purchased it with a view to its eventually being our forever home,” one partner explains. “But though the previous owner had done some renovations, it was stuck in time.”

A professional referral and a series of interviews led the couple to hire interior designer Kathryn Ivey, whose firm recently relocated from Alexandria to Paris. “The building dates back to the 1980s, so it needed an update,” recounts Ivey. “They wanted to freshen it up, to make it suitable for their retirement.”

Because it’s a condominium, no major structural changes were possible. But the wish list was still ambitious. It included revamping the kitchen, adding built-in shelving in the living room and removing two half-walls that separated it from the dining area. The owners' bath would get a major overhaul while other custom design and decorating tweaks touched nearly every space of the condo.

Ivey sketched out the design for the main-level living areas and upstairs bedrooms and also spearheaded the décor. She recommended Tom Gilday, founder  of Pinehurst Design Build, to take on the renovation. Melanie Morales, an architect on his team, prepared the construction drawings and another colleague, kitchen designer Ellen Witts, also joined the project. “It was a real collaboration between the two firms,” observes Gilday.

The design process began in October 2019 and finished in March 2020—just before covid shut the building down. Construction finally commenced in July when the homeowners were still in Thailand. First on the agenda: refinishing the wood floors to remove their red tones. Once the living room’s half-walls were gone, the team designed custom built-ins made from ebony-stained red oak to frame the TV and linear fireplace, as well as shelving for art and accessories. Walls around the staircase were removed, banisters were replaced and treads and risers were refreshed.

Overhauling the outmoded kitchen was Witts’ job with an assist from Ivey. The tasks included removing an awkward peninsula that blocked traffic flow. Dark-wood cabinets gave way to custom blue-painted cabinetry paired with Silestone countertops and backsplash in the same hue. In a nod towards aging in place, the homeowners eschewed upper cabinetry.

The chic, monochromatic kitchen now centers on a roomy island; a custom-designed pantry cupboard made of quarter-sawn oak offers additional storage and paneled Bosch appliances contribute to a streamlined look.

Upstairs, the primary suite also underwent a makeover. The bedroom was softened by silk wall covering and a plush, upholstered headboard. The bathroom’s awkward layout made way for a more functional configuration; a suspended ceiling was removed to create a sense of space and height. The original oversized soaking tub was traded for a spacious shower. A clerestory window near the ceiling overlooks the stair; light pours in through an existing oculus skylight positioned over the stairwell.

When it came to decorating the interiors, “we felt it was a huge opportunity to create an aesthetic from the beginning,” relates the homeowner. “We were able to build a framework for our art pieces. The condo is designed to reflect
a particular look.”

With that aesthetic—dubbed “modern Asian” by the clients—in mind, Ivey established a coherent feel throughout with a neutral palette accented by pops of color. “The clients weren’t coming back with any furniture, so we were starting from scratch,” notes the designer. She conveyed an Asian sensibility via the lines of the furniture and the use of dark, rich woods.

Art and other treasures picked up on the clients’ travels created the finishing touches—including “a woven fabric that we used as a jump-off point for the color palette,” Ivey remembers. The fabric was transformed into a three-dimensional triptych that eventually made the journey from Thailand to the dining area wall.

Despite the challenges of covid and the far-flung locations of the decision-makers while the job was underway, both design team and clients are delighted with the outcome. Says Ivey, “The homeowners are surrounded by the things they’ve accumulated and reminded of the joyful time they had traveling abroad.” The fabulous airport runway views are just a bonus.

 

DRAWING BOARD

How do you pull off a design theme that’s unrelated to a home’s location?
Katherine Ivey: You don’t want to be too thematic. Wherever a home is, it needs to be connected to the local vernacular. There are ways to bring in influences through art, fabric and prints. In this project, we relied on the design of furniture and dark, rich woods.

How did you collaborate while the homeowners were half a world away?
Tom Gilday: A lot of the decisions were already made, so it was a matter of filling in the details. We sent three-dimensional drawings by email, so distance wasn’t much of a factor.

How does a condo makeover differ from the renovation of a detached home?
Katherine Ivey: You’re working with concrete walls, ceilings and floors so in terms of what you can do structurally, it’s very limited. There are support beams and plumbing holes you can’t move. And the logistics of getting in and out are challenging.

Renovation Architecture: Melanie Morales; Renovation Contractor: Tom Gilday; Kitchen Design: Ellen Witts, Pinehurst Design Build, North Bethesda, Maryland. Interior Design: Kathryn Ivey, Kathryn Ivey Interiors, Paris, France. Styling: Stylish Productions.

Modern Flow Spotting an ugly duckling in a desirable neighborhood isn’t difficult—but precious few can envision the swan that will emerge after an extensive renovation. The bird in question is in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and its original configuration was an architectural puzzle—a conglomeration of styles that included the characteristics of a rambler combined with classical elements like dentils under the eaves. “We wanted a modern house,” says the homeowner. “Our previous house in Bethesda was a center-hall Colonial and very traditional.”

The owner, an attorney, and his wife hired Fernando Zúñiga-Pflücker of Baltimore-based plan Z architects to design a renovation that would update the circa-1960s house, transforming its traditional interiors and giving it greater openness and visual consistency within the original footprint. They tapped Finecraft Contractors; both firms had worked on previous remodeling projects with the owner. “They told us they wanted to give the house an exterior facelift and create a modern look,” says Finecraft principal George Papaheraklis. They also wished to convert the attic into a real second floor for the master bedroom suite.

The house is built on a downward slope, so the ground-floor rooms are elevated at the back. “The house had good bones but a very peculiar layout. It didn’t really fit into any design scheme,” Zúñiga-Pflücker recalls. To open up the floor plan, he removed most of the interior walls. On the main floor, the front entry provides a direct line to the living room past a staircase to the second floor. The living room adjoins a light-filled, open-plan kitchen/dining area/family room where a vaulted ceiling—borrowed from the attic—is clad in tongue-in-groove wood panels. New windows are carved into what used to be attic walls.

In the living room, Papaheraklis was tasked with replacing the traditional fireplace surround with a clean-lined, modern version made from a single slab of marble. “We wanted it to look monolithic, with no visible seams,” he says. Once the slab was selected, the builder cut a three-sided section out of the middle and adhered it to the wall as one piece.

The formal dining room became a cozy library where wainscoting and floral wallpaper have been replaced with built-in cabinetry. The closed-in staircase now boasts wider treads and a steel-cable bannister that kept the contractors on their toes. “All those parts had to be ordered separately and you have to be very exact to make it fit,” explains Papaheraklis.

The kitchen was expanded to occupy an elevated porch that once overlooked the backyard. Rockville-based Elite Kitchens helped design the layout, in which white, Shaker-style cabinetry combines with gray granite counters and KitchenAid appliances. Although Zúñiga-Pflücker usually dislikes kitchen islands, he likes the way this one works. “Many times the island turns into something you have to walk around,” he observes. “This island is minimal but effective.”

In order to create a full-height second floor, Papaheraklis and his team raised portions of the roof significantly and gutted the space to accommodate a spare bedroom as well as the master suite, complete with a covered balcony at the front of the house. The upstairs hallway overlooks the kitchen/family room; two ground-floor bedrooms have been converted to home offices.

The owners can also enjoy the views from an elevated outdoor deck that wraps around the chimney at the back of the house; it’s accessible from the living room through French doors. “That was my wife’s idea,” says the homeowner. “It gave us an easier transition to the outdoors.”

Although the home looks compact from the street, it stretches to more than 4,000 square feet and has grown from four bedrooms to five. At the front, overhangs above the entry and balcony are accented with pine boards stained a warm honey color. Brick exterior walls have been painted a rich cream color. The owners extended the modern aesthetic with clean-lined, contemporary pieces sourced by Janice Kanter of Theodores in Upper Georgetown. Red oak floors throughout are stained a dark, mahogany hue.

After a year of construction, the renovation was completed in May 2013. Everybody on the design team is happy with results that transformed a series of poorly laid-out rooms into a design that defines good flow. “I love the openness, “says Zúñiga-Pflücker. “The spaces just open up to you.”

Writer Scott Sowers is based in Washington, DC. Randy Hill is a Washington, DC, photographer.

RENOVATION ARCHITECTURE: FERNANDO ZUNIGA-PFLUCKER, AIA, plan Z architects, Baltimore, Maryland. RENOVATION CONSTRUCTION: GEORGE PAPAHERAKLIS, Finecraft Contractors, Inc., Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Signature Style A Nantucket vacation provided inspiration for the sleek, spare design of a Northwest DC apartment. The homeowners—both attorneys—stayed in a cottage designed by Jacobsen Architecture and fell in love with it. When they purchased their co-op in a post-modern building, they contacted the renowned Modernist firm to update their new home while creating a similar modern sensibility.

“It was like a rabbit warren, and the large windows face north so it was dark,” observes Simon Jacobsen, who collaborated with his father, Hugh Newell Jacobsen, on the project. The clients had some general requirements, including larger rooms and space for entertaining—but they also wanted the signature Jacobsen aesthetic. As Simon Jacobsen explains, “About 90 percent of our clients come to us knowing what we do. They already know our look.”  

The architects begin each project with a questionnaire for prospective clients. “It’s about seven pages, asking the client how they live,” says Simon Jacobsen. The questionnaire includes such items as “How many feet of books and clothes do you have?”

Six weeks after the homeowners filled out the form, the design was finished. Demolition on the 2,000-square-foot space began in 2010 and the project was completed in just over a year.

Today, dramatic results await visitors behind the nondescript apartment door. Inside, a vision in spare, contemporary white unfolds, with a foyer bordered by a translucent glass half-wall that partially hides the view into the main living area. 

“We wanted to open the space and hide the eye from the rest of the room without ruining the surprise,” says Simon Jacobsen. The foyer is dominated by a limited-edition print by German artist Simone Nieweg; a return for the HVAC system has been transformed into a vertical design element. 

The floors throughout the apartment are pale, bleached oak. The doors are full height with no moldings, casings or trim—a characteristic Jacobsen design element. The door handles rest 30 inches above the floor. “The Europeans place their door handles lower than we typically do in America, which Hugh noticed while traveling,” explains Jacobsen. “We do it to make the ceiling height look taller.” 

The main living area includes Jacobsen-designed sofas and a coffee table. A limited-edition print by Italian photographer Massimo Vitali slides out of the way to reveal a flat-screen TV. The room also holds a Steinway. “Hugh loved the idea of the curved lines of the piano as a contrast to the symmetry of the space,” says the homeowner. A corner niche houses a bar that can be concealed behind pocket doors. 

Adjacent to the living room, a formal dining room can also be sealed off from the main living area with translucent-glass sliding doors. The custom, Saarinen-inspired dining table—surrounded by Mies van der Rohe Brno dining chairs—is welded to the floor, eliminating the need for table legs; its Verde Antico marble top is a beacon of color. Egg-crate shelving along one wall frames an open niche that works as a sideboard. 

The galley kitchen has been deliciously updated, with a Sub-Zero fridge, Viking range and Bosch dishwasher. The flat-faced cabinetry is made of engineered-laminate with hidden hinges. The countertops are Corian—a surface that often takes criticism. “A lot of people use Corian badly,” comments Simon Jacobsen. “We like its crisp edges. Natural stone doesn’t always come in the long lengths that we like. And you can make Corian look seamless.” 

A compact home office showcases a built-in desk and egg-crate shelving, while another stand of egg-crate cabinets delineates a master bedroom with expansive city views. Adjoining the bedroom are two large closets and a Corian-clad master bath that features twin vanities, a separate W.C. and shower.  

The renovated apartment is another star in the Jacobsen design universe. “It was like having an haute couture dress designed,” says the homeowner. “We knew we were in the hands of a master."

Writer Scott Sowers is based in Washington, DC. Anice Hoachlander is a principal of Washington, DC-based Hoachlander Davis Photography.

RENOVATION ARCHITECTURE & INTERIOR DESIGN: HUGH NEWELL JACOBSEN, FAIA; SIMON JACOBSEN, AIA, Jacobsen Architecture, Washington, DC. CONTRACTOR: ADDED DIMENSIONS, INC., Takoma Park, Maryland.

   

 

HOME&DESIGN, published bi-monthly by Homestyles Media Inc., is the premier magazine of architecture and fine interiors for the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia region.

The company also publishes an annual H&D Sourcebook of ideas and resources for homeowners and professionals alike. H&D Chesapeake Views is published bi-annually and showcases fine home design and luxury living in and around the Chesapeake Bay.

The H&D Portfolio of 100 Top Designers spotlights the superior work of selected architects, interior designers and landscape architects in major regions of the US.

Stay Connected with HOME & DESIGN Newsletter

Copyright © 2024 Home & Design. All rights reserved. | Back to top
magnifier