Serena & Lily, the California retailer known for its laid-back, coastal vibe, opened a Bethesda Row shop on August 3. The company’s first location in the mid-Atlantic (taking the former Redwood Restaurant space) showcases indoor and outdoor furniture, bedding, rugs, lighting, wallpaper, upholstery and accessories.
Open by appointment only, the 3,000-square-foot storefront offers items that homeowners won’t find online. “We have four times as many fabrics in our shops than are shown online,” says Allyson McGrath, vice president of design shops. “And in Bethesda, we partnered with the Capital Artist Collective to showcase the work of local DC artists.” Design consultations are available. 7121 Bethesda Lane; 240-531-1839. serenaandlily.com
Washington’s central library has the distinction of being the only building Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed in the city—and the only library in the German architect’s portfolio. Another distinction: It was named after Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1971, just before opening.
Decades later, the building had fallen into disrepair. Its gloomy, utilitarian interiors created a less-than-welcoming experience for visitors and staff. A visionary plan, based on years of research, community outreach and architectural review, was hatched to reimagine it. Following a three-year, $211 million renovation, the library is scheduled to reopen on September 24—under safe-distancing conditions.
The redesign spearheaded by Mecanoo, a Dutch architecture firm, and OTJ Architects’ DC office honors the legacies of both Mies and King. Though it preserved the iconic exterior and main-level grand entry hall, other moves took the structure in entirely new directions. Two spiraling staircases with skylights replaced dingy bricked stairwells. There’s an indoor slide for kids, a new dual-height reading room, a café with an outdoor terrace and a two-story auditorium. An events atrium—built atop the original four-story structure but set back so it doesn’t alter the view from the street—is rimmed by a public roof garden.
Richard Reyes-Gavilan, executive director of the DC Public Library system, looks forward to welcoming patrons. “The building is night and day from what we replaced in 2017,” he remarks. “Talking about a structure built primarily for the use and enjoyment of District residents, this is the most inspirational, useful and democratic building in the city now.”
In early 2020, Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC in Georgetown put the finishing touches on three new terrace suites and five renovated presidential suites. The $2 million upgrade by New York’s Wimberly Interiors outfitted suites with custom furnishings like private pieds-à-terre. Lamps are from Visual Comfort; fabrics are by Opuzen and Jim Thompson with trim by Samuel & Sons. Deluxe rooms from $550 and suites from $1,090. fourseasons.com
Ideal for crisp autumn evenings, CH Carolina Herrera’s black-and-white poplin dress is emblazoned with a joyful floral spray; it’s available at the CityCenterDC boutique ($550). To help those in need around the world, the Carolina Herrera Heart for Hope initiative will donate 10 percent of all handbag and accessories sales across its brands to the Red Cross through December 31, 2020. carolinaherrera.com
As a girl, Jodi Berger loved to sketch floor plans of her dream home. “I knew I wanted to be a designer,” she affirms. So it was clearly fate when her father married DC designer Marlene Weiss Alexander and Berger, then a teenager, began to learn the ropes interning for her stepmom.
After studying interior design at University of Florida and working for a few DC designers, she headed to New York. A stint at One Kings Lane “was a great opportunity to learn that part of the business,” says Berger. “I took the leap and went out on my own in 2016.” Though she moved back to Maryland in 2018, Berger and her staff of five take on projects in both the DC and New York areas.
Whether completing a new build or a simple makeover, Berger coaches clients on when to splurge or not. “I’m a big believer in high-low,” she says. “Not everything has to be custom and high-end; that mix is what brings beauty and interest to each space we design.”
Interior Design: Jodi Berger, JLA Designs LLC, Potomac, Maryland. Kitchen Design: Amy Collins, Division 12 Design, Glen Echo, Maryland. Renovation Contractor: Edgar Gonzalez, Home Renovations, LLC, Frederick, Maryland. Portrait: Michael Ventura.
Following an early career in child-welfare nonprofits, Kiyonda Powell switched gears to pursue her lifelong passion: design. She earned an interior design degree at Marymount, then joined a boutique studio focusing on hotel and restaurant projects.
In 2018, she launched her firm. “It felt right once I jumped into it. I was ready to have my own independent voice,” reflects Powell, who now splits her time between commercial and residential work.
Many clients ask the designer to instill their homes with the same sense of whimsy apparent in her hospitality work. “One of my specialties is pattern play and color combinations,” she says. “I like coming up with interesting palettes. I’m really eclectic in how I mix things.” Recent projects include a DC residence, an Atlanta apartment and a home she’s wrapping up in California.
Not a day goes by that Powell doesn’t put her original degree in psychology to use. “My clients say I’m good at listening,” she observes. “I make sure they feel good every step of the way.”
Interior Design: Kiyonda Powell, Kiyonda Powell Design Studio, Washington, DC. Styling: Charlotte Safavi. Portrait: Michael Ventura.
Amanda Friend goes glam in a master bath makeover.
Barry Dixon revives a 19th-century bath in period style.
Organic elements and natural light define a Zen escape.
When clients in a stylish home on Maryland’s Eastern Shore called on Amanda Friend to reimagine their cramped and awkward master bath, the designer suggested a best-case scenario. If they were willing to move an adjacent office into an upstairs room, she could use the extra space to reconfigure their ground-floor bath into the sophisticated oasis they desired.
Once they agreed, Friend gutted the space and used its length to her advantage. From the bedroom, she designed a corridor that leads into a secondary room, creating an air of mystery. The passage houses a soaking tub and small laundry area on the left side; on the right, a wall lined with an acrylic-and-brass bench and mirror opens to the wife’s closet. The room at the end of the hall is equipped with custom vanities and storage, a luxurious shower and WC.
In response to the wife’s request for a beyond-the-ordinary bath, Friend went in a glamorous-yet-subtle direction. Penny tiles in an array of textures and tones pave the floors. “They almost look like sequins,” she enthuses. Cork wall covering in iridescent bronze and metallic pendants and sconces echo textures in the flooring. Even more dramatic is the shower, where Friend applied a curated selection of glass and mosaic tile to dazzling effect.
Bath & Interior Design: Amanda Friend, ASID, Amanda Friend Interiors, Newark, Delaware. Renovation Contractor & Millwork Fabrication: Warrington Builders, Easton, Maryland. Styling: Charlotte Safavi.
RESOURCES
Wallpaper: thibautdesign.com. Tile: jeffreycourt.com through tilemarketofde.com. Bench: safavieh.com. Mirror: uttermost.com. All Sconces: shadesoflight.com. Chandelier: hammerton.com. Bath & Shower Fixtures: moen.com. Sink Fixtures & Bathtub: kohler.com. Quartzite Countertops & Limestone Tub Surround: ancientartstone.com. Cabinet Hardware: emtek.com. Ceiling & Vanity Paint: benjaminmoore.com.
Though the Neoclassical residence in Washington had a storied past—once serving as the Turkish ambassador’s residence—it had seen better days by the time new owners hired Barry Dixon to restore its former grandeur. To update the modest master bath, the designer first incorporated a neighboring bedroom, complete with fireplace, into the space. “The idea was to create a luxurious and leisurely bath where you could have coffee and breakfast with your hair wrapped in a towel, or enjoy a soak in front of the fireplace,” he explains.
Dixon’s vision pays homage to the home’s vintage, but through a light, present-day lens. Tumbled limestone and marble tiles pave the floor and walls, recalling a time during the 19th century when “people first learned about germs and wanted surfaces they could wipe down,” he says. An antique table topped with stone and a clawfoot Waterworks tub floating in the middle of the room evoke bygone days, as does Dixon’s custom, his-and-her vanity with legs made of hand-forged iron.
Despite the nostalgia, comfort comes first in this bath, which also features a private WC and steam shower. In lieu of built-ins that would look “too suburban,” says Dixon, he sourced a timeless armoire for storage. And Anichini terrycloth covers the Century chairs—designed for lingering après spa. As the designer remarks, “This is not a bathroom to hurry in.”
Interior Design: Barry Dixon, Barry Dixon, Inc., Warrenton, Virginia.
THE DETAILS
Tub, Tub Filler & Sink Fixtures: waterworks.com. Sinks: kohler.com. Drapery Fabric: scalamandre.com. Drapery Trim: samuelandsons.com through hinescompany.com. Armoire: olystudio.com. Custom Vanity Design: barrydixon.com Hang-Forged Vanity Legs: kellymetalwork.com. Chairs: centuryfurniture.com. Terrycloth Chair Fabric: anichini.com. Antique Table & Urns: Gore Dean Antiques. Lantern: vaughandesigns.com through hinescompany.com. Sconces: jlambeth.com. Custom Mirrors: davidiatesta.com through hollyhunt.com. Tile & Vanity Countertop: renaissancetileandbath.com.
Building a home from scratch puts owners in control of decisions large and small. With this unfettered spirit, a couple enlisted architects Mark McInturff and Colleen Healey to design their new Virginia residence—a modern vision in white stucco with black trim.
The master bath reflects the home’s overall architecture in symmetry and palette. “Serene, quiet and reserved” is how McInturff describes the open space, its floors covered in white Thassos marble.
A vessel tub creates a focal point, flanked by tall windows, frosted for privacy and framed in dark-bronze aluminum. The other walls harbor a steam shower, a sculptural wash basin and a floating vanity. “We tried to relate these four elements in terms of detail and materiality,” explains Healey (who has since launched her own firm).
Julia Walter of Boffi Georgetown collaborated on the selection of fixtures and materials, including panels of Salvatori limestone applied on each wall. One panel anchoring the tub ascends into a skylight that bathes the room in natural light. Another skylight illuminates the shower, which boasts a floating stone bench long enough to recline upon.
Though a TV is hidden in the mirror, this bathroom invites quiet introspection. “Our lives are so cluttered by technology,” Walter comments, “that you really want to relax in a place where you don’t have a lot of distractions.”
Architecture: Mark McInturff, FAIA, principal; Colleen Healey, AIA, project architect, McInturff Architects, Bethesda, Maryland. Builder: Added Dimensions, Inc., Silver Spring, Maryland.
THE DETAILS
Windows: solarinnovations.com. Skylights: velux.com. Bathtub, Bath Filler, Vanity, Mirror, Accessories: boffi.com. Washbasin, Stone Surfaces & Slabs: salvatori.it through boffi.com. Marble Flooring: marblesystems.com. Recessed Lighting: eurofase.com. Lighting Strips: luminii.com. Shower Fixture: gessi.com.
Since launching FORMA Design 25 years ago, Andreas Charalambous has split his time between residential and commercial work. So when a client tapped him to renovate a penthouse that would bridge both of these worlds, the architect jumped at the challenge.
The owner, an entrepreneur who resides in Maryland, acquired the Adams Morgan apartment to serve as an urban pied-à-terre and a workspace for his real estate and entertainment companies. “I wanted a way to collaborate with staff in a non-sterile environment—something cutting edge,” he explains.
Client and architect saw potential in the two-story loft that features panoramic city views, two en-suite bedrooms, dual terraces and a roof deck. But aesthetically, it was woefully outdated. “The apartment had an ’80s or ’90s vibe and an explosion of cherry wood on the countertops, cabinets and floors,” the owner recalls. “It was screaming for the right eye.”
After touring the space, Charalambous agreed, “It was not very inspired. The kitchen was generic, the lighting was poor and railings blocked the views.” Charalambous and associate Juan Gutierrez developed a plan to transform the bland interiors with an avant-garde vibe. Rather than gutting the space, they sought to transform it by better articulating the architecture, introducing a whole-house lighting program, updating the kitchen and opening up the views.
Most of the drama centers around the apartment’s double-height atrium. Charalambous designed a sculptural wall as a bold focal point above the existing fireplace. He also opened up a second-floor office to forge a visual connection to the atrium and views beyond, and further expanded sight lines by replacing conventional railings with glass panels. Other creative gestures—from a cut-out screen near the dining area to floating, interlocking ceiling panels with built-in lighting—define spaces and introduce a bold, modern language.
“These active, three-dimensional ceilings make the space more exciting,” explains Charalambous. “And opening walls lets you experience the atrium from all over the place. Before, it was a missed opportunity.”
In place of a single pendant that hung in the atrium, they selected blackened-steel Super-Oh fixtures by Delta Light in three different sizes, hung so they make a strong statement but don’t obscure views from the upper floor. “Lighting is a big part of what makes this space amazing,” says Charalambous, who collaborated with Vincent Sagart of Poliform | sagartstudio on the lighting plan.
The designers set out to create moods for both intimate and party settings. Linear Splitline fixtures are integrated into channels and niches that ascend the fireplace wall and traverse the ceiling to reach the loft. “I decided to pick up some of Andreas’ architectural lines,” Sagart explains. “In the end, this unified both levels and brought the spaces together.” Meanwhile, adjustable Topix fixtures bathe the staircase wall with wide and narrow beams of light, creating a 3-D effect. Splitline and Topix, also made by Delta Light of Belgium, can be dimmed and adjusted in myriad ways.
Charalambous set out to eliminate visual clutter, creating a pared-down background for contemporary furnishings and architectural accents. In the kitchen, for example, traditional cherry cabinet fronts were replaced with flush panels free of hardware. A busy backsplash gave way to back-painted glass, while a new island of Snow White Krion from Porcelanosa provides gathering space for work and leisure. Reducing the color palette throughout to gray and white, contends Charalambous, “simplifies the way you see the space so that whatever we decide to play up—such as new upper cabinets with glass doors from Poliform—becomes a focal point.”
Now complete, the project meets the owner’s request for dual functionality. “The way we set it up, the dining area is also a meeting area, the kitchen is a bar and the living room is also a lounge,” says Charalambous. Upstairs on the open landing, another lounge area with a built-in flat screen was designed for meetings and brainstorming sessions.
The architect notes that the success of the project was driven by a few strategic moves. “It wasn’t about tearing out everything and redoing it,” he reflects. “It was about making the space exciting by investing in lighting, upgrading the kitchen and creating the sculpture wall above the fireplace—the things you actually experience.”
Drawing Board
Why is lighting crucial to a successful renovation?
Charalambous: Lighting can transform a space depending on the mood you want to create. You can have the most beautiful interiors but if they’re not lit well they won’t work.
We design lighting for all of a room’s potential functions.
What makes a partial renovation challenging?
As opposed to gutting a home, a partial renovation means you have to adjust existing elements so the result feels like it was all done at the same time, with the same intent and quality.
You shouldn’t have a sense of what is new, what is old or what was renovated.
How do you help clients allocate costs?
When we start looking at finishes, we keep in mind whether the budget is on the high, middle or lower end. Don’t spend all your money in one room or it will look out of place. The project should
feel consistent in the quality of materials, lighting and finishes.
Renovation Architecture & Interior Design: Andreas Charalambous, AIA, IIDA, principal; Juan Gutierrez, project architect, FORMA Design, Washington, DC. Lighting Design & Kitchen Consultant: Vincent Sagart, Poliform | sagartstudio, Washington, DC. Renovation Contractor: HBW Construction, Rockville, Maryland.
After a couple purchased a home in Rockville, they tapped Case Architects & Remodelers to overhaul its outdated kitchen and master bath. The latter was beset with a shower the size of a phone booth and a sunken tub requiring acrobatic entry and exit. On the plus side, the existing footprint gave designers April Case Underwood and Elena Eskandari plenty of room for a redesign. The duo created a shower for two, complete with bench and access from two sides. A glass frame and partial wall (with a niche to store shampoo) separates the shower and a floating vessel tub. They selected gray porcelain flooring and marble-look wall tile, punching things up with a wall mosaic in the shower. “We also added some bling with hardware and lighting,” says Eskandari, pointing out the chandelier hung with crystals. Dual sinks top the corner vanities to the left of the tub; a WC is tucked away to the right. The finished project, says Underwood, invites the owners to linger in “a relaxing oasis in their home.”
Bath Design & Contracting: April Case Underwood, CR, CKBR, GAC; Elena Eskandari, Allied Member ASID, CKBR, UDCP, Case Architects & Remodelers, Falls Church, Virginia.
The owners of a Potomac home were tired of their 1990s-era bath. Not only did it have inadequate storage and a tub that took up too much space, but the walled-in shower induced feelings of claustrophobia. Called in to renovate, designers Daniel Carrero and Andrea Pohl reconfigured the layout to make way for an efficient new design and developed an aesthetic that would measure up to the rest of their clients’ elegant home. They carved out room for a large, open shower with a floating bench, a freestanding tub, a separate WC and a 12-foot wall of customized cabinets offering a place for everything from toiletries to a pull-out trash receptacle. The linen cabinet even harbors hidden plugs. Custom-framed mirrors and sconces offer the perfect setup for make-up application. Quartzite countertops and Calacatta tile on the floor and shower walls add a graceful touch. The clients love their new, spa-like escape. Says Carrero, “Even the husband, who was a bit skeptical about the project, is in awe over it.”
Bath Design & Contracting: Daniel A. Carrero and Andrea Pohl, House to Home Solutions, LLC, Rockville, Maryland. Photography: Chris Zimmer.
OUTDOOR OASIS
Glenstone has always practiced its own brand of social distancing. Since its inception, this private museum in Potomac has capped admissions so that patrons can experience its art, architecture and landscape unfettered by crowds. Though indoor galleries and cafés are still shuttered at press time, Glenstone reopened its grounds on June 4, welcoming a limited number of visitors to explore a 300-acre sanctuary of rolling meadows and forest dotted with outdoor installations by luminaries such as Jeff Koons, Richard Serra and Ellsworth Kelly. The property is open from Thursday through Sunday; advance reservations and masks are required. glenstone.org
PAPER TRAIL
Hillwood Estate recently reopened its 25-acre grounds to members. But if you prefer an armchair visit, Kate Markert’s A Garden For All Seasons: Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Hillwood documents how Post (above, left, with Lady Bird Johnson in 1966) and her design team created one of Washington’s most celebrated outdoor treasures, complete with formal parterres, luxuriant lawns and cutting beds. Photographs by DC’s own Erik Kvalsvik capture Hillwood’s pristine beauty. Rizzoli, New York, 2020; $50.
VIRTUAL VIEWING
When covid-19 forced its closure, the National Museum of Women in the Arts launched NMWA@Home, a virtual portal of podcasts, videos and online exhibitions. One of its most compelling shows, “Delita Martin: Calling Down the
Spirits,” features seven large-scale portraits that explore the lines between the earthly and the ethereal. Audio commentary by Texas-born Martin sheds light on the influences and techniques behind her immersive works, including “Soul Keeper,” right. nmwa.org
ARTISTS IN QUARANTINE
In response to the pandemic, the Hirshhorn launched “Artists in Quarantine” on April 23. This video-diary series will spotlight nearly 100 artists from around the globe, with new entries released twice weekly on Instagram, YouTube and the museum’s website. “The goal is to collect insights during a time when artists, like billions around the world, have had their daily lives and routines disrupted in extreme ways,” says artist and Hirshhorn board member Theaster Gates, who’s spearheading the project. hirshhorn.si.edu
Kohler’s latest smart-home innovations bring touch-free technology to the bath. The Verdera Voice mirror features a high-quality grooming mirror; adjustable LED lights for makeup and skin-care regimes; a motion-activated nightlight; and hermetically sealed speakers—all of which can be run via Bluetooth and Amazon Alexa. And voice-activated or wall-mounted controls power the DTV+ Shower System to adjust sound, water, steam and lighting. kohler.com
When Ifat Pridan ordered a zip-front frock made of natural Japanese fabric ($580) for her summer collection, little did the owner of Georgetown’s LiLi the First boutique know how on point it would be: A strip of yellow tape on the back reads, “I need space.” As Pridan marvels, “No one anticipated we would need this message so much.” Though the pandemic gave her time to open a shop online, Pridan looks forward to welcoming customers face-to-face. “The whole point of a boutique,” she says, “is to have personal interaction.” 1419 Wisconsin Avenue, NW; lilithefirst.com
