History has a way of charming us in unexpected ways. Designer Cindi LaPietra toured at least 80 prospective houses in her search for a new family home. None struck her until the day she and her daughter were driving around looking at a few listings and they spotted a stately Federal-style home set on a manicured lawn in North Potomac.
She immediately fell for the property. Known as the Manor House at Belvedere, it was the 19th-century estate of landowner John Lawrence duFief. “As soon as I opened the front door and looked in,” she recalls, “I said, ‘This is the house I want. I want to live here.’”
The fact that the home was in a state of disrepair did not deter LaPietra. “It needed quite a bit of work,” she admits. “It was in distress.” A three-week process ensued to convince her husband Joe, an insurance executive, that buying the 71-year-old house was the right thing to do. It needed a new boiler and a new water treatment system. There were pinhole leaks throughout the house, so all the pipes had to be replaced. The bathrooms were a mess, as was the fishpond in the backyard, which was brimming with 17 full-grown koi.
Her husband had reservations about the amount of work it needed, but LaPietra had a vision of what the house could become. She recalls telling him, “I want that charm. The trim, the big plaster walls, all of that had some kind of history to it.”
duFief’s original estate was built on the property in 1850. He owned 700 acres between what is now Route 28 and the C&O Canal, where he transported 10,000 barrels of flour a year to Georgetown. The original house was purposely burned down in 1935 to build a newer home, but its stone foundations can be seen in the basement today. (duFief’s land was sold long ago, but his legacy remains, albeit with modified spellings, on such area landmarks as DuFief Elementary School and Dufief Mill Road.)
Her husband had reservations about the amount of work it needed, but she had a vision of what the house could become. She recalls telling him, “I want that charm. The trim, the big plaster walls, all of that had some kind of history to it.”
It was with a deep respect for its past that the LaPietras wound up buying the house, pinhole leaks and all. Cindi LaPietra immediately began a transformation that would restore the home to working order and accentuate its stature, embellishing it with her own historical interpretations along the way. Before she and her husband, their daughter and two sons moved in, she addressed the big-ticket items right off the bat, hiring contractors to install heating and plumbing systems, overhaul the bathrooms, strip and refinish the hardwood floors and paint the entire house.
As she planned her design program, she knew she wanted a total departure from their former home, with its light color scheme and formal interiors. Enthralled by the timeworn patina of Tuscan architecture, she focused on the Old World style as she selected colors and furnishings. One of her goals was to avoid the use of white, preferring an aged look throughout the home. As a first move, she painted the whole first level a creamy yellow (Duron’s Millet, perhaps in reverence to the property’s agrarian days).
“One way I like to create a flow is painting a house within the same card of color and then building on that with an array of faux finishes or maybe a deeper shade of that color,” she explains. With a consistent base in place, LaPietra hired decorative painter Christine N. Barnette of Christine Nicole Productions to help execute her vision throughout the main rooms.
They started in the foyer, creating a crackled effect on the walls for texture. On the staircase, Barnette aged the white spindles and added a copper glaze to the handrails. “I wanted something that was durable,” says LaPietra. “With the home being old, we are going to have cracks here and there. So I wanted to kind of fit in with that and also have it be resilient to kids’ fingerprints going up and down the stairs.”
The room to the left of the foyer was the formal living room—until LaPietra decided to convert the large space into a comfortable family room instead. It boasts a large sectional, a flat-screen TV and a grouping of family photos on the wall. “I knew for a fact I did not want a formal living room like my last home,” she explains. “I’m not a formal person. I want anyone who comes to my house to feel like they can curl up anywhere and put their feet on my furniture.”
On the other side of the foyer, in a smaller, cozier space, LaPietra decided to create a one-of-a-kind adult lounge. It’s a sophisticated spot with a wood-burning fireplace where she and her husband can regroup with a glass of wine after a long day or couples can gather and chat, away from the distractions of TV. A faux-leather finish on the walls, and one on the ceiling that resembles copper lend the room a clubby feel, as does the hand-painted bar in one corner. The seating arrangement—four comfy chairs upholstered in different, complementary fabrics and a pair of ottomans—encourages intimate conversation.
“I wanted four chairs and two ottomans as opposed to sofas,” explains LaPietra. “I wanted everyone to have their own individual place to sit. I bought the ottomans in because I thought they were versatile and we could pull them out if we have extra couples, which we do so often. And I love mixing fabrics together. I like combining different fabrics on a piece. I think it makes a world of a difference...Sometimes you have to push yourself to be a little brave and basically say to yourself, ‘If it’s in the same colorway, it’s going to blend together.’”
The parlor leads to a narrow sunroom that LaPietra has made her home office. With a computer and fabric samples tucked into an armoire and plenty of natural light, it’s the ideal workspace. Barnette painted the existing white bricks on the wall with earthy shades to extend the outdoor feel.
The most dramatic faux treatment embellishes the dining room. LaPietra and Barnette pored over a book of Italian landscapes as they discussed how the room would evolve. “She brought me pictures of buildings in Venice, Old World buildings with water stains. She wanted to capture that whole entire feel on the wall,” recalls Barnette. “The challenge was how to capture this, make it stylish and work with the colors and fabrics in the room. That was my focal point.” A seven-layer process ensued that ultimately replicated the exterior walls of a crumbling Italian villa, complete with copper “streaks” leaking from the “roof.” Metallic copper and gold embellish the tray ceiling.
LaPietra knows how to play up the details, even in small spaces. In the foyer powder room, she also achieved an “outdoor” look. Italian river rock paves the floor and climbs the wall. Water from a faucet in the wall spills into a hammered copper sink, evoking a fountain in a rustic town square. Says LaPietra, “I didn’t want to put the mirror over the sink. I wanted you to feel like you were outside, kind of going up to the spigot and washing your hands.”
In the large kitchen, in addition to the house built in 1985, the kids do their homework and the family has dinner together every night at the roundtable. “Eighty percent of our time is spent in the kitchen,” says LaPietra. “We always cook dinner and feel like it’s very important as a family to have dinner together at night no matter what we’re doing. You find out a lot about kids during the dinner hour.” A grapevine trellis painted on the ceiling by Barnette creates a credible bridge between the indoors and out.
The family’s three-acre parcel of land recalls the property’s farming days. A horse barn and granary dating back to the early 1900s still stand on the grounds, along with modern-day amenities like a large pool and stone patio with an outdoor fireplace. Then there’s the koi pond they also inherited. “Something else I had to learn after coming into this house was how to take care of koi. I used to kill every goldfish that the kids brought home,” LaPietra reminisces. “We came upon Harmony Ponds, which really got the pond up and running.” When she was told the pond was overpopulated, LaPietra gave some of the koi to a homeowner who was expanding his fishpond. The change must have done well for the LaPietra school, she says, because “Lo and behold last spring, I found 11 new babies swimming around.”
Bill Bandy, landscaper of the Manor House at Belvedere for more than 30 years, still tends its lawn and gardens today, which are home to centuries-old maple and oak trees.
With the first floor and children’s rooms done, LaPietra is turning to the master bedroom and bath, where’s she’s planning to create a spa-like retreat. She also has her eye on the barn. “One of my dreams of living here is to turn the barn into my office. It will take a lot of refurbishing,” she says. With Cindi LaPietra’s creative energy and enthusiasm, it’s just history in the making.
Designer Cindi LaPietra’s stately Federal-style home (this page) is built on the former estate of John Lawrence duFief. In her sunroom-turned-home office (opposite), she pores over fabric and color samples in the company of her two boxers, Roxy and Riso.
Photographer Gwin Hunt is based in Annapolis.
Interior Design: Cindi LaPietra, Bella Interiors, North Potomac, Maryland Decorative Painting: Christine N. Barnette, Christine Nicole Productions, Inc., Glen Burnie, Maryland
Landscaping: Bill Bandy, Lawns Unlimited, Poolesville, Maryland
A faux grapevine climbing the walls and doors opening to the back
yard create an outdoor ambiance year-round in LaPietra's kitchen.
Robert and Jan Levine travel for a living, searching the globe for gemstones, fossils, art glass and carvings to bring home to Fire & Ice, their store with 11 locations from Philadelphia to Northern Virginia. Not only has an itinerant lifestyle enabled them to amass their own collection of these treasures, but it has also introduced them to some of the world’s most innovative inns and hotels. So when it came time for them to design their master bath—the last leg in the renovation of their Baltimore home—their inspiration came from many sources, with Mother Nature leading the way.
The Levines had worked for years with architect Rebecca Swanston on their home’s renovation. When they began discussing their new master bathroom with her, it became immediately clear that this was not going to be a typical cosmetic makeover. They told her about the steam shower they enjoyed in a hotel in Petra, Jordan, and their room at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, California, designed to look like a subterranean cave complete with a waterfall shower.
Architecture & Interiors: Rebecca Swanston, AIA, Swanston & Associates, Baltimore, Maryland; General Contractor: Roy Cox, Roy Cox Remodeling, Parkville, Maryland; Photography: Alan Gilbert, Baltimore, Maryland
“The idea of making the space into a rather Zen atmosphere and architectural theme was consistent with things we had been seeing on recent trips to Southeast Asia,” says Levine. “We were also looking for a place to heal ourselves from the many hours it takes to run a business.”
So a dialogue ensued among Swanston, her clients, contractor Roy Cox, a team of tradespeople—and even a reptile curator from the Baltimore Zoo—all dedicated to translating the homeowners’ visions into reality.
To best execute their plans, Swanston recommended that they create a new pavilion off of the couple’s master bedroom to house the bathroom, where it would enjoy both natural light and privacy in the rear of the house. One of Swanston’s goals was to blur the barriers between the bathroom and the garden beyond, which she accomplished with the generous use of clerestory windows and natural materials throughout the structure. The pavilion is constructed of Douglas fir, with an array of exotic stone and wood materials embellishing the interior. Stained-glass doors and a glass floor mark the transition from the main house into the pavilion. Panels of green onyx from Pakistan clad the tub and the vanities, which are lit from within, creating an ethereal glow that shows off the stone’s natural striations. The sinks are made from Japanese eroko; the cabinetry, Indonesian teak.
“Our clients like to collect fossils. What became very obvious was to use a lot of natural materials, but we like to make interesting twists on these,” says Swanston.
When the slate floors from India came in, the Levines discovered that they contained actual fossils. “The floor contained pristine fern fossils—millions of years old—some of the tiles are each worth more than the whole price of the floor, and we see them every day,” says Levine, who decided to weave other ancient objects into their custom stone shower.
“We asked our mason to embed 21 fossils into the waterfall—a gastropod from Western Maryland, a fish from Wyoming and ammonites from Russia and Germany,” says Levine. Accomplishing this and integrating a plumbing system into the stone wall to include a waterfall “thunder” showerhead, four discreetly hidden shower jets and a steam shower—all encased in glass—posed no small challenge to the design team. The shower is also wired into the home’s sound system
The Levines’ request for a terrarium for sheltering their outdoor plants in the winter also evolved into something a bit beyond the ordinary. Avid reptile enthusiasts, they set their sights on creating a walk-in space with a habitat suitable for live species. Consultations with Baltimore Zoo reptile curator Anthony Wisniewski enabled them to simulate the desert habitat of Australian bearded lizards; they have spoken to a breeder and plan to acquire these pets when their busy travel schedule subsides.
Despite the challenges, the project was a true collaborative effort. “Everybody wanted to do their best,” recalls Levine. “It wasn’t a matter of getting through it, but making the artwork come out right.” All of the hard work and creativity that went into the bath has not gone unnoticed; it has won national design awards.
As for Robert Levine, he reflects, “Not a day goes by without our satisfaction that one of the great pleasures in life is building one’s nest.”
Design and Build: Jonas Carnemark, CR, CKD, Carnemark systems + design, inc., Bethesda, Maryland Photography: Maxwell MacKenzie, Washington, DC
Calm and cool
This soothing space combines asian inspiration with clean, modern lines
If a bathroom is supposed to feel like a Zen retreat, this recent renovation by Jonas Carnemark hits the spot like a good Shitsu massage. The project evolved as part of a kitchen addition executed on the first floor that bumped out the rear of the house. By making use of this new four-by-13-foot space on the second floor and raising the roofline into a tower, Carnemark created a master bath that provides his clients with the clean, open space that they wanted but also integrates plenty of storage.
Carnemark ditched the original clunky tub, which cramped the bathroom, and the standard white cabinets with brass trim. He devised a simple layout comprising an oversized shower with glass wall and a custom-made double vanity. The new material palette took on a tropical rainforest theme, with pale bamboo floors, large-format flamed-impala granite wall and floor tiles and a teak vanity topped with a six-inch concrete countertop. Under the vanity, boxes made from renewable rain-forest wood stow away everyday essentials. Shoji-screen doors conceal the lavatory and a generous linen closet. The room is rimmed by clerestory windows that frame views of the treetops in Rock Creek Park. A light-switch remote powers open every other clerestory window to let in fresh air.
“You sort of feel like you’re in a forest with bright light streaming down,” says Carnemark.
Careful planning and an eye for detail contribute to a truly seamless design. The single wall of glass in the oversized shower makes it look transparent. An almost undetectable pitch in the shower floor angles water into a gutter drain, so that the tiles would not be interrupted. Carnemark even utilized special accessory edging so that the bamboo and granite flooring flush perfectly, with no need for grout.
Tiny recessed halogen lights in the ceiling can be raised to full brightness or dimmed to provide just enough light for a trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night. “It’s just like moonlight,” likens Carnemark.
Sleek European Style
A couple transforms their ordinary bathroom into a hip ode to modernism
Alex Stefan and Helena Pulyaeva, a husband-and-wife real estate agent team with RE/MAX, had a pretty clear vision of what their ideal bathroom would encompass. On the heels of a major renovation that transformed their mid-1980s Bethesda home into a clean, modern masterpiece, they wanted their master bath to reflect the contemporary look they’d achieved in the rest of the house.
“We also wanted to upgrade amenities by introducing modern high-end fixtures that are well-made, aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly with features that are important to us,” said Stefan. A search began for just the right fixtures and furnishings that would make a bold design statement and meet the couple’s specific needs.
“The idea was to make a bathroom for simultaneous use by two working people,” says Pulyaeva. Luckily, the original master bathroom was large enough accommodate their plans, once they disposed off the enormous beige whirlpool bath with gilded fittings that dominated the space. Rather than one large custom shower, the couple chose to install two freestanding showers by Porcelanosa—one of which is a steam bath and a sauna equipped with 25 jets that can be operated in a variety of combinations and spray patterns. In addition, they chose a corner whirlpool bath, also by Porcelanosa, that is big enough for two but makes optimum use of space in the new layout.
The couple honed in on a burgundy and white theme to tie in with design elements in the rest of their house (burgundy island in the kitchen, white furnishings in the living room). With the help of their kitchen designer Daniel Popsecu, they discovered the perfect combination: burgundy vanities and white sinks by Italian manufacturer Rifra. Tired of conventional sinks, Stefan and Pulyaeva fell in love with the round, tilted design of these vessels. They reinforced the spherical theme throughout the bath, with round oversized pendant lamps by Ferruccio Laviani, a bold red pouf for sitting in front of the mirror and a round wall clock made out of a computer board. White flooring and light faux-painted walls provide perfect contrast to the deep red elements.
Now the morning routine is a breeze for Stefan and Pulyaeva. “Having the two showers and two sinks on the opposite sides of the room, and a separate commode room really helps,” says Stefan. “The new bathroom makes our lives more enjoyable and less stressful.”
Porcelanosa designer David Carmona sums it up best: “If you have those kind of showers in a bath, you never want to leave.”
Design Consultants: Daniel Popescu, Daniel Popescu Interiors, Crystal City, Virginia, and David Carmona, Porcelanosa, Rockville, Maryland Photography: Bob Narod, Sterling, Virginia
A walk-in reptile habitat features a faux painted ceiling.
Photo by Alan Gilbert.
The bath extends off the rear of the house and incorporates skylights
for natural lighting. Photo by Alan Gilbert.
Jonas Carnemark soothing space that combines Asian inspiration with
clean, modern lines. Photo by Maxwell MacKenzie.
A custom teak vanity with a concrete top hold vessel basins. Shoji
screen doors lead to storage and the commode.
Photo by Maxwell MacKenzie.
The shower's single glass wall is nearly invisible.
Photo by Maxwell MacKenzie.
A couple transforms their ordinary bathroom into a hip ode to
modernism with the help of Daniel Popescu Interiors and
Porcelanosa. Photo by Bob Narod.
Red lacquer cabinets conceal clutter. Photo by Bob Narod.
The Porcelanosa shower has steam bath, sauna and 25 jet-sprays.
Photo by Bob Narod.
Custom Shower
Grohe’s custom showers let homeowners mix and match showerheads, body spray and hand showers, providing an endless combination of spray patterns. Temperature controls deliver safety and comfort for the whole family. Visit www.groheamerica.com.
Smooth Surface
Lacava’s new Tatami shower base system replaces unsightly floor drains with a clean new solution to draining shower spaces. The system is comprised of two to five porcelain bricks, which can be configured to accommodate any shower size. Water vanishes between the bricks. Visit www.lacava.com.
Low Profile
WaterTile, a new shower fixture by Kohler, boasts a sleek, streamlined design installed nearly flush with the wall. WaterTiles can be placed in a myriad of ways on walls, ceilings or angled surfaces. The line also includes a complementary wall-mounted showerhead. Both bodyspray and showerhead are available in two spray intensities. Visit www.kohler.com.
Asian Inspiration
Santa Barbara designer Susan Hugo of Terra Acqua creates exquisite basins handcrafted from stone and copper. The Fuera, part of the Montecito Stone Collection, is shaped by hand from a single block of stone. It’s available in two sizes in Black Pearl (granite), Green (onyx) and Honey (onyx, pictured on a Sable Granite counter). Visit www.terracqua.net.
Corinthian Order
Ancient Greek artifacts inspired the design of Stone Forest’s Corinthian sink. This drop-in vessel reflects the capitol portion of a classical Corinthian column. It’s made of papiro cream marble imported from Egypt. Custom pedestal sinks are also available in the same style. Visit www.stoneforest.com
Flight of Fancy
Kohler’s Take Wing lavatory utilizes a new glazing technique to achieve its detailed paisley design evocative of a cluster of butterflies. Available in indigo (pictured) and sepia, Take Wing is part of Kohler’s Artist Editions collection. Visit www.kohler.com.
Ahead of the Curve
Part of Sonia’s collection of bath storage solutions and vessels, Venecia marries classic and modern styles. Pictured here in beechwood with a frosted glass basin, it also comes in wenge. Available at the Bath and Kitchen Showroom in Rockville (301-816-2990), or
visit www.sonia-sa.com.
On the Surface
Italian tiles and vanity surfaces from Domani utilize a glass laminate created in a patent-pending process that yields an amazing array of colors and textures. Styles evoke the look of rare gemstones, from tiger’s eye to titanium. Visit www.domanitile.com.
A Clean Approach
Marking his tenth year of collaborating with Duravit, Philippe Starck has released the Starck X collection. Marked by clean lines and high-gloss surfaces splashed with bright colors, the line includes sculptural bathtubs, washbasins (pictured), furniture pieces and more. For more information, visit www.duravit.us.
Foot Fetish
Aficionados of professional pedicures can now enjoy the pampering experience at home with MTI Whirlpool’s new Jentle Ped Foot Bath. The foot spa uses heat, massage and whirlpool jets to soothe aching feet. Adjustable jets target trouble spots. The spa is available in more than 50 colors to fit into any color scheme. Nail polish not included. Visit www.mtiwhirlpools.com.
Mirror Image
The morning news or late-show standups are there when you want them in your bathroom with Séura’s new Television Mirror. Concealed unobtrusively behind a mirror until it’s turned on, this LCD TV saves space and blends seamlessly into any bathroom décor. It’s available at Ferguson showrooms throughout DC, Maryland and Virginia. Visit www.seura.com.
Jacuzzi’s Salon line brings new technology to the company’s original whirlpool baths. Pure Air bath technology circulates air through a heated blower and releases it through channels in the bottom of the bath, surrounding bathers with thousands of effervescent bubbles. Pure Air can be used on its own or in tandem with the traditional water-jet action. The Salon line comes in a number of designs, including the Fuzion bath, which boasts a teak or wenge wood surround (pictured). Visit www.jacuzzi.com.
Ultimate Bathroom Design by Barcelona-based architect Alejandro Bahamón approaches the loo as a refuge for those seeking purification, warmth and respite. More than 700 color photographs of bathrooms around the world illustrate how aesthetic values can be combined with functionality. This multi-lingual edition includes text in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. (teNeues Publishing Company, 2005, New York, NY; $39.95)
Creating Your Dream Bathroom: How to Plan & Style the Perfect Space by Susan Breen sets out to show readers how they can create their own “pamper space” with spa-like amenities in their own home using available space and a budget. The author examines dozens of interesting bathrooms and surveys myriad design choices and materials, from colors and floors to soothing multiple shower heads and furniture-style vanity units. (Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York, New York, 2006; $24.95).
Grohe's custom shower
The Bronzed Look
Ann Sacks, in collaboration with California-based tile artisan Tres Feltman, has created pillowed bronze tile treated with a metallic bronze glaze. Available in multiple dimensions, the tiles are available in 80 custom colors, including jewel and earth tones or exotic metallics. Visit www.annsacks.com for details.
