An Alexandria Row House’s Drab Addition Receives a Chic Overhaul

Someday in the 1980s, the homeowners of a regular 1920s brick row home in Previous City Alexandria included 400 sq. ft of area to the back again. Perhaps the two-story addition, complete with an atrium, was just the point at the time. But over the a long time, its appeal experienced dimmed.

“The addition had an open kitchen area/relatives room structure,” recollects the house owner, who has shared the row home with her spouse and their 14-12 months-outdated son, 10-year-previous daughter, and goldendoodle, Lily, for 14 several years. “But the kitchen area in no way competently utilized all the house that it could have experienced, and the spouse and children room was undersized, accommodating only a couple folks in the seating place at any supplied time.”

It just did not operate any longer, so interior designer Anne Marie Hauer of Choux Designs, who has a studio in The Plains, helped spearhead a full redo of the room. The addition once showcased an L-formed kitchen to its suitable, with a small island for two, a tiny seating location further than, and French doorways onto the backyard. It was painted gray and experienced a rooftop skylight and a glass-paned facet door.

“They desired me to help layout an improved kitchen structure and larger spouse and children room, a much more open, flowing place,” says Hauer. “How to changeover from the aged portion of the row property to the new aspect in a fluid fashion was also crucial, as was choosing a kitchen style that felt fresh but integrated all the storage solutions so remarkably sought following in Aged Town.”

Really perhaps the oddest characteristic in the old addition was a flooring-to-ceiling tower of open up cabinets constructed to disguise a vertical aid beam. It rose up like a periscope at sea, breaking the line of eyesight and separating the kitchen area and family area. Dispensing with that and increasing the total footprint was the initially buy of business for Hauer, who worked along with architect Brad Linden of Linden + Kehyari Associates. In between losing the kitchen’s L-shaped structure and bumping out the rear footprint by absorbing section of the again deck, they added an supplemental 130 sq. ft to the space—and in the end to the spouse and children area.

Along with the home owners, they made the decision to make the back again wall all substantial-paned glass framed in black aluminum, creating an open up spot with an industrial really feel that the household liked. Home windows had been also placed on either aspect of the new fire that served to anchor the newly enlarged household place.

“To develop separation in between the kitchen area and household room, we designed a broad cased opening,” states Hauer, referencing the architectural form that also secretes the freshly bolstered structural beams supporting the addition. The open up balcony was sealed off, but the skylight nevertheless provides in light above the new, more substantial kitchen island.

“We wished to regard the regular aesthetic of the initial entrance section of the home,” suggests Hauer. “But we also wished to embrace a extra modern sensibility in this article, with cleaner strains and furnishings.”

For example, oak herringbone flooring were being picked out for the rear addition, with a gentle all-natural stain. The full house has minimal moldings and is painted white. Instead of leaving the L-formed kitchen area to one particular facet, Hauer intended a multipurpose cooking and entertaining place with multiple personalized storage options on possibly aspect of a larger central island, showcasing ample seating and a waterfall edge.

“The kitchen’s new structure would make what was the identical square footage feel so much greater now,” claims the house owner of the kitchen’s redesign.

Hauer instructed a mix of Shaker-style cabinets in quarter-sawn oak in a blend of each organic and white-painted finishes the cabinetry was equipped by Distinctive Kitchens and Baths.

“The brass components and plumbing fixtures increase warmth to the place, as do the organic wooden cupboards,” Hauer says. “But we retained the hardware traces thoroughly clean and modern day.” Despite the fact that the pulls and knobs are contemporary in feel, the library sconces previously mentioned the cabinets are much more regular in style, nodding back again to the home’s architectural roots. The brass mesh on the bar cupboards, instead than glass fronts, is also in trying to keep with this theme.

“It was give and just take with the conventional-vs .-present day vibe,” says Hauer. “For instance, we picked a rolling ladder to arrive at the higher cupboards, but we did not really like the antique-feeling foundation that came with it, so we omitted the wheels, and I experienced a area tool store wrap the base ft of the ladder in brass for a present day glimpse.”

Exclusive kitchen characteristics incorporate a complete-sizing wine fridge, a crafted-in desk/office environment space, and a vent hood with a plaster end for texture and warmth, as well as a gorgeous custom made bar with traditional brass mesh cupboard fronts.

“We love blue,” claims the home owner of the blue-and-gold specialist gasoline array the group selected. “It’s the focal issue of the kitchen. We preferred how it embellished the casual, coastal California vibe we have been going for with all the purely natural woods and neutral décor.”

For palette continuity, the blue finds its way into the relatives area by way of a fake linen–wrapped cocktail table and a pair of deep-blue porcelain table lamps. A hanging yet neutral beaded chandelier defines the seating area and will make a restrained statement. Spouse and children area seating incorporates a pair of clear-lined product sofas in a stain-resistant Perennials cloth and a bamboo-and-rattan settee. Linen panels on a black iron curtain rod add a diploma of sophistication and coziness to the industrial-design back wall.

“All our picks ended up built to convey the over-all house with each other, to make it gorgeous, comfortable, usable, and, of system, pet- and family-pleasant,” suggests Hauer.

Simple interest was additional on possibly facet of the new fireplace/Tv wall in the sort of double window seats. Bookshelves are set into every single market, and there is down below-bench storage as nicely as overhead matched pendants for reading or ambient mild at night.

“One of the homeowner’s requests was environment aside a committed space for the spouse and children pet,” suggests Hauer. “In the redesign, we built room for Lily below the window bench to the still left facet of the fire.”

Lily’s area of interest has the similar brass metal mesh used in the kitchen’s bar, reflecting the researched continuity in layout utilized to this refreshed addition.

“The extra 7 ft on the relatives space and the kitchen’s redesign make this area livable for our total relatives with additional area for company,” states the home-owner. “We lived in this space in advance of, but now, it is so a great deal much more comfy and prettier. And we even managed to establish a room for Lily!”

This tale originally appeared in the April issue of Northern Virginia journal. Subscribe for much more tales like this.