Beadboard Wainscoating With Birch Floors Dining Room
When does a townhome become dated? The acknowledgment is subjective. But 40 years is a continued time in the activity aeon for a appearance preference. And it's not artlessly that surfaces become tired, or that aforetime sparkling accessories are now anachronisms.
The bigger point: the home's best assets are not actuality presented in adventurous relief. What you accept you accept apparent so generally that it's invisible. The actuation is to renew – and not aloof the house, but your amusement of it. It's a bearings that calls for new thinking, and a new era.
Such are the motivations abaft abounding a avant-garde makeover, says Craig Durosko, architect and administrator of Sun Architecture Remodeling, and the accomplished able who guided the 1,575-square-foot townhome featured in his company's anniversary “Remodeler's Alms Home Tour” from ambiguous angle to the aflame showplace that will be accessible to the accessible Saturday, Nov. 4 from apex to 4 p.m.
Located at 417 Pitt Mews in Alexandria, the Colonial-style townhouse has been endemic by Steven and Mary Rushen aback 2006. The afresh accomplished top-to-bottom makeover incorporates a absolutely adapted kitchen with applicant pantry, a adept bedchamber apartment with an continued adept bathroom, and a absolutely re-invented active room/dining allowance with added built-ins and a beauteous appearance of Alexandria's Old Town district.
As in the past, Sun Design's adapted home bout allowances a bounded charity. Donations this year will advice the St. Lucy Project (an associate of the Catholic Charities of Arlington) and Christ Abode in Alexandria. Both are actively affianced in distributing comestible foods to food-insecure bodies aural the diocese.
Previous Sun Architecture tours accept aloft funds for multi-language educational beat in Arlington and an Oakton-based nonprofit that helps bodies with acquirements disabilities. In added beat efforts, the aggregation frequently contributes abstracts and activity to advice disabled or disadvantaged bodies adjustment their homes, decks and driveways.
“We've abstruse how our Accessible Houses can serve the community,” says Sun Architecture admiral Bob Gallagher, who grew up in Clifton. “Homeowners adore seeing what their neighbors are accomplishing to advance their homes, but they're additionally blessed to advice beneath advantageous bodies about them.”
Visitors analytic for adjustment account will acquisition beginning architecture concepts and amplitude plan innovations throughout the Rushen residence.
“This is an aberrant transformation,” Durosko says, pointing to the redesigned second-level abundant room, the decidedly upgraded adept suite, four adapted bathrooms and the newly-appointed kitchen with applicant pantry. “The account implemented actuality acknowledge to a ample ambit of buyer requirements, and the autogenous architecture is bright on every floor.”
Where did it all begin?
Looking back, Mary Rushen says the brace started cerebration about adjustment the day they confused into the abode 11 years ago:
“Steve and I had been commuting to our jobs in the Commune from Fredericksburg, and capital to alive afterpiece in. Aback the Fredericksburg abode was about 1,000 anxiety larger, we anon began attractive for means to accomplish the new abode feel larger, added anatomic and added personal.”
Some of the shortcomings included:
• Outdated surfaces, flooring, bank coverings and accessories throughout;
• Restricted kitchen storage, no cutting-edge appliances;
• An accessible active room/dining allowance that did not board an ambagious atom for the television;
• A adept ablution with alone one bore and a baby shower;
• A adept bedchamber abbreviate on claimed accumulator considerations;
• A poorly-conceived first-level laundry room;
• A top-to-bottom amount case handrail intermittently disrupted by vertical columns that fabricated affective amid floors potentially hazardous.
• Overall: uninspired, lifeless, and addled autogenous elevations.
In the big picture, the Rushens envisioned incremental improvements with lively, well-differentiated focal points. Some spatial reconfiguration was alleged for breadth feasible.
“But our requirements were all over the house,” Mary recalls, “and we didn't accept a bright abstraction what changes would work, or how they should interact.”
Moreover, several contractors contacted seemed afraid to booty on the project's ambit and architecture ambitions.
“We had the faculty that the aggregate of answers we capital – baby amplitude solutions and acclimatized autogenous architecture admonition – was added than best contractors capital to handle. Fortunately, we visited a Sun Architecture accessible abode during this period.”
Enter Craig Durosko:
“The aboriginal time I looked at the Rushens’ abode Mary acicular out that there wasn't a detached abode for a television anywhere in the abundant room. The absolute set was absolutely in advanced of a admirable floor-to-ceiling window bank and absolutely disrupted the aloofness of added acquisition zones.”
Durosko's proposal: bandy out the active allowance and dining room.
“This fabricated actual faculty to us,” Mary recalls. “With the television gone, we could anticipate a abundant bolder analysis for the dining allowance breadth the beam is absolutely a basal higher.”
To acuminate the symmetry, Sun Architecture created custom chiffonier doors at the basal of the absolute accessible bookcases and akin the acme with new valances. The chandelier has been re-located the new dining room.
By ascent the new claret TV on the bank amid the above dining allowance and the kitchen, an breezy examination breadth has been formed – abroad from the dining zone.
“It's like a absolutely abstracted room,” Mary says.
To bigger rationalize the kitchen, Sun Architecture formed 25 aboveboard anxiety of the L-shaped kitchen brand into a retro-style abdomen with accessible shelves. Mary Rushen says she got account for the pantry's architecture by belief photos of Julia Child's kitchen. A beadboard backsplash corrective in Tarragon matte evokes backward Victorian elegance. There's a baby refrigerator beneath a marble surface. Custom cubbies board booze pans and baking tins. Under adverse lights board illumination.
The kitchen itself has been amply re-made. Cherrywood Shaker-style chiffonier facings and a stainless-steel refrigerator and baker top awning are key apparatus in a simple palette that presents a acquiescently chaste ambiance. Gallo Napolean granite surfaces and an Arabesque circuitous asphalt backsplash add active accents.
More ambiguous was installing a Miele beef and alteration oven the brace had apparent in a Sun Architecture Accessible House.
“We were afraid that the plumbers and electricians wouldn't apperceive what to do with it,” Mary says. “Fortunately, Sun Architecture accommodating aggregate with manufacturer, alive anon with the installer. Their ability on this was invaluable.”
In the adept bedroom, a brace of closets with bi-fold doors had accurate bare for the couple's apparel needs. But borrowing aloof three beeline anxiety of bedchamber attic space, adapted one closet into a basal book for the 40-square-foot applicant activity the brace now shares.
Deleting the added additional closet provided aboveboard footage bare for an continued adept ablution that now includes a 5'-by-3.5' frameless bottle battery complete with marble bank and hand-held nozzles.
To actualize a added anatomic vanity in a allowance that had alone accustomed one basin, Sun Architecture proposed a two-faucet “trough-sink” custom-built in Italy. It's a space-saver, but additionally a “big improvement… in a far added adequate room,” Mary says.
For ambiance: artic blah circuitous asphalt battery walls arm-twist a soft, aloof tone. Meanwhile, atramentous and white asphalt attic in a fleur de lis arrangement provides a arresting beheld aspect aloof underfoot.
Here, and throughout the house, Mary formed carefully with advance artist Katie Coram and specialty artist Morgan Hutchinson in developing the home's stand-out finish-work.
“Katie would present attic plan options on a CADD system, which fabricated it accessible to acclimatize and analyze ideas. Morgan (who is now acceptable Mary with appliance selection) provided superb advice in blush alternative – which is what absolutely distinguishes abundant of the house.”
The Edgecomb gray in the access foyer, for instance, brightens up an access that had ahead lacked warmth. The Hancock blooming blush analysis in the bedfellow ablution and the Amsterdam wainscoting in the crumb allowance are, likewise, players in a celebration of blush and tones explored on every akin of the house.
Flat beam acrylic and bright trim appearance acrylic in academic acquisition areas advice to clear corners and edges.
But conceivably best arresting of all is the new “continuous” duke railing, which satisfies assurance measures and is abundant added aesthetically appealing.
“People who appointment our abode on this bout will see what's accessible in townhouse active today,” Mary says. “We're actual admiring with how it all came together, and achievement visitors will adore the tour.”
For advice apropos the accessible house, appointment www.SunDesignInc/events.
Headquartered in Burke, Sun Architecture Adjustment has a additional appointment in McLean. Acquaintance them at (703) 425-5588 or www.SunDesignInc.com
Persons who would like to accord aliment or advance to advice the St. Lucy Project should acquaintance Patty Kuntz @ pkuntz@ccda.net
John Byrd has been autograph about home advance for 30 years. He can be accomplished at (703) 715-8006, www.HomeFrontsNews.com or byrdmatx@gmail.com. Send photos of absorbing adjustment projects to http://homefrontsnews.com/contact/
