A crumbling home in Chevy Chase, Md., is given new life
Design-integrated areas spotlight an in depth artwork assortment
They wrote about 80 letters to their neighbors and requested in the event that they needed to promote. “We stated, ‘In the event you’re serious about promoting now or down the highway, we’d love to speak to you,’ ” stated Allison, 50, who owns Sightline, an artwork consultancy enterprise she runs out of her residence.
Inside 15 hours they discovered the home they ended up shopping for and had six extra replies.
The Marvins got here by the method in 2012 paying greater than $2 million for a 3,600-square-foot, six-bedroom, five-bath, three-story Colonial that was in-built 1957.
They lived of their new home for eight years, all of the whereas pondering a mild renovation. They started interviewing architects, and thru a private referral scheduled a seek the advice of with Catherine and VW Fowlkes, each principals at Fowlkes Studio primarily based in Washington.
“That they had a really eager design eye,” Fowlkes says. “The thought of highlighting their artwork assortment got here up.”
Fowlkes says the couple needed to raise the home whereas bettering the first suite. The thought of the screened-in porch was integral as properly. At one level, the Marvins weren’t going to renovate the house’s unique galley-style kitchen. However issues began to go improper with it.
“The kitchen was a late add-on,” says Chris, 47, a software program govt. “A cupboard broke, and the home equipment had been breaking down. “We acquired to know the equipment restore man rather well.”
Many residence renovations start by eradicating all the house’s inside partitions and reconfiguring the area, however that didn’t occur right here. “We needed to respect the home for what it was,” Chris says. “We weren’t attempting to make it one thing that it wasn’t.”
In addition to updating the kitchen and first suite, the plans referred to as for changing all of the home windows. Door heights downstairs could be raised to present the home a extra open, gallery-like really feel. Crown molding and chunky baseboard trim was scheduled for removing. A bay window searching on the yard would change into modernized and squared off. A brand new main suite was laid out above the again porch, which must be demolished and rebuilt.
Earlier than demolition may start, the household wanted to cope with their intensive artwork assortment, which incorporates work, ceramics and images. It included greater than 100 bins.
“I created a spreadsheet to maintain monitor of every part, and we had specialty crates constructed,” Chris says. A few of the objects went into storage, however most of it lived with Allison’s dad and mom through the renovation.
The demolition started October 2020 and the household moved again in June 2021, whereas the punch checklist objects had been nonetheless being punched. That course of and exterior enhancements stored going till fall.
The entrance of the home seems to be just like what it did earlier than the hammers started swinging. The entrance door opens right into a hallway working the width of the home with the eating room straight forward. There’s a comfy den across the nook to the left, and a powder room is tucked between the den and kitchen. The lounge is to the precise. A lot of the unique hardwood flooring on the decrease degree survived and had been patched the place wanted.
The gracious front room that helped promote the home to the household the primary time they walked in solely wanted a couple of tweaks. The double-hung home windows had been changed with casement items with decreased mullions, and the facet home windows acquired a bit bigger. The hearth and egg crate-style built-in bookshelves survived, whereas the trim was scaled again.
There are two entrances to the eating room, leaving expanses of wall area giant sufficient for greater items of artwork. The room runs alongside the again of the home. A brand new metal and glass door was put in and gives entry to the screened-in porch.
The den connects to the kitchen by way of a pocket door. The kitchen, regardless of being gutted, maintained its unique galley-style association. Higher cupboards that used to flank the range had been eliminated, together with higher cupboards on the facet wall. They had been changed by a spare quantity of shelving to open up the area. A customized, slim, pullout spice rack hides in plain sight subsequent to the range. The kitchen home windows had been up to date and elevated in measurement.
The fridge is a Sub-Zero paneled to match the off-white painted end of the cupboards, which had been provided by D.C.-based Ferris Custom Cabinetry. Doorways that result in the basement had been disguised as cupboards with an identical end and {hardware}. The vary and range are each Wolf; the countertop and backsplash are Caesarstone.
Gadgets deemed nonessential to cooking had been relegated to a floor-to-ceiling wall of cupboards that borders an eat-in breakfast nook. A big stone hearth used to sit down on the again wall that constricted the circulate to the again porch. It was eliminated and a brand new double set of metal and glass doorways supplies easy accessibility.
The again porch was some extent of emphasis through the course of. It’s a favourite household hangout however was affected by a rotting ground and crumbling ceiling. It was additionally the logical place to help a second-floor bump-out that was wanted to create area for the principle suite. The unique porch was demolished together with its basis all the best way all the way down to the basement degree. The one covid-related delay on the undertaking was securing the metal beams wanted to hold the load of what was occurring on the second ground.
The porch roof additionally gave the design crew an opportunity so as to add a bit of contemporary affect by the usage of slotted, industrial-looking cementitious siding completed in grey. A loggia was added to the again of the home on the basement degree to assist body the rear patio and tie within the new eating room home windows.
The second ground features a laundry room; Chris’s workplace, with a full tub; one of many child’s rooms with a full tub; and the principle suite. The first bed room seems to be out onto the yard and features a hearth set into an accent wall. There’s a big walk-in closet with built-in cupboards and drawers.
‘One other dwelling area’
The first rest room is adjoining to the principle bed room and options a big window overlooking the yard and golf course past. The window is partially shaded by roof-mounted planters and turned out to be one of many residence’s most distinctive options.
“We needed it to really feel like one other dwelling area. One other room with furnishings,” Allison says.
Privateness issues had been checked out by Chris, who confirmed there have been no sightlines into the bathe. Ferris additionally did the floating self-importance in the principle tub, which is topped with Caesarstone. Tile within the bathe was nixed in alternate for Venetian plaster, and the ground is handled hardwood. The house’s third ground holds Allison’s residence workplace, one other baby’s room and a full rest room.
The most important problem the household confronted through the ordeal was their very own discerning eyes.
“I used to be anxious about making issues come out the best way we needed them to,” says Allison. “We’re very detail-oriented.”
Though a lot of the home remained untouched through the renovation, the overhaul got here with a major price range that the owners declined to disclose. Even with the delays incurred whereas rebuilding the porch, they had been in a position to keep inside 5 % of their deliberate prices.
To get the home they needed, working the best way they needed, the household went the additional mile. Financially they really feel like they’re near even. “Based mostly on the neighborhood and the transactions that occur round right here, what we put in, we really feel like we will get it again out. Particularly as the costs have jumped,” Chris says.
Allison provides, “That is the house we need to be in for the lengthy haul. … We’re making a giant funding, however the concept is we’ll be right here for some time. The village is a particular place.”
