FINALIST AWARD WINNER

This young couple recently purchased an older split level home in Annandale, VA hoping to relocate themselves and their expected kids. The existing structural is pretty ragged, first level closed up from side addition and just small door at connecting it. Kitchen was sitting on back of this house and was pretty dark and small. The two bedroom and two small bath was not given them enough room for their growing family. When our staff met with the couple they have explored the possibility of taken the roof and build up above entire first level. They also wanted to convert the old carport to finished double door garage and a second floor workshop over it. The original entrance was through the basement level and that did not serve them well. Designers recommended an intricate front porch with stone columns and distressed stained cedar post lifted up from ground by the way of seven steps. That put the new front door entry in the main level. The entire roof was lifted up and we have framed a second story floor with Master bedroom/ master bath suite, Nursery/second bedroom and an in nifty corner his new in home office just set higher by few steps. The new office has wall to wall of south side window facing the new pool and pool house.   We have raised the ceiling eight from 8’ to 9’ on the main level   The cinder block wall between old home and side addition was removed by the way inserting a huge structure beam support. Then we have implemented a double sided stone fireplace just in the middle this space. This has given an open floor plan for a much larger kitchen, dining room and great room area on first level. Installing a wide bay window and few other windows on south and west walls allowed much needed natural light inside. Implementing new wooden staircase from second level to new addition was very involved and challenging. We have created a new powder room just to the left side of front entry. The old basement bedroom was converted to Laundry/ mudroom connecting the new garage to main home. The New second level is designed for each specific requirement. The Master bedroom with tray ceiling and his and her separate walk in closets: each furnished with built-in closet systems. The Master bathroom has double entrances for his and her: each with their own vanity and commode space , but come together to a common slipper tub under a large window on south side and walk in shower for both on the north walls. All these bathrooms were colorfully decorated to fit in to their colorful lives. The Nursery room was built outside of master suite with built-ins and decorated with specific theme for new Baby boy. His new bathroom as well was built with a tub and double vanity, colorful glass tile.   “Sparkling teal“ was the main theme for second floor. The new exotic Brazilian Walnut flooring has playing his parts on this Art Deco home theme. The exterior structure covered with mixture of horizontal and shaker style Hardie siding in two contrasting tones, and the gables was interesting Spokes where setting the tone for Art deco style home. The front porch in stain cedar ceiling panel and columns also brought in a bit of Ranch and Art deco mixture. The interior and exterior stone selection has complimented the exterior fascia as well of the interior finishes. The new Kitchen is furnished with upscale appliances, much more cabinetry. And the very exotic counter top has set the center island up as a jewel of this project. The light fixture selections whether they are pendent lights, exterior lights, or vanity lights all enhanced the era of this remodeling. Seating down around this beautiful fireplace whether having dinner on one side or chilling on the great room side is one for the books. They have just moved in to their dream house, and had their new kid. The transformation of this project has been so massive that they could even imagined what the old home used to look.

2016 NARI Capital CotY Finalist Award Winner, Residential Addition Over $250,000

Young couple are planning to expand their families. Their colonial home in Falls Church area have three smaller size bedroom. And that is not quite big for the expecting parents. They also need additional room for the staying over grandparents. The design staff agreed to bump up a new addition of one story garage to create larger Master bath and Master bedroom suite. A large walk in closet. Converting the old master bedroom to new Nursery, and hallway to connect to new addition. This second story addition owns to tall cathedral ceiling, a bump out seating area, walk in closet, matching hardwood flooring, recess light and so on. The Master bathroom is heavenly. Surrounded with Honed marble stones, free standing tub under a south side window, large shower stall with built in Niche, rain shower and all amenities, private commode stall with pocket French door. Large double vanities with embedded mirror on glass and stone tiles, just a few of designer’s touches in this bathroom. The seamless connection both from exterior and interior is flawless. The siding and front gable molding have been designed and implemented in a way that shows no sign of this job to be an addition. A new HVAC system was designed and installed in garage behind a closet to serve this new addition area. Now happier than ever this young family are enjoying the much needed living space and new converted nursery.  

2016 NARI Capital CotY Merit Award Winner, Residential Addition Under $100,000

Retired couple living in this prominent neighborhood of Annandale, VA wished to expand on their first level for several reasons. They loved their old neighborhood and not willing to move out of the area to gain few square footage. Their aged backyard has a lot of natural beauty that they wanted to gain access and be able to enjoy from inside.   The plan was to take out the entire load bearing south wall of Living room and dining room. Then install a massive structural steel beam. We also eliminated the partition walls among living and dining room. Then build a 12’x40’ addition behind the living space with vaulted ceiling, huge arch transom and wall to wall of glass windows and French door. The backyard have a bad soil and in order to achieve the crawl space of solid foundation ground, we had to remove a lot of dirt and dig far down. The new foundation walls all above 5-6 feet below ground level, the crawl space was used for mechanical room for new HVAC system.   The exterior of this sun room addition was covered in a custom color stucco with coined corners. The entire first floor were replaced with new wide plank maple flooring, new crown and trim moldings. The left side of this sunroom leads to a sun deck through a set of French doors and access this scenery backyard. The right of leads to stone and gravel lead walk through another set of French door, bird feeds and bistro café style patio furniture has set this portion of the side yard heavenly. Enjoying their afternoon coffee on their newly decorated sunroom and viewing their scenery backyard was a dream come true for this tow baby boomers.

2016 NARI Capital CotY Grand Award Winner, Residential Addition Under $100,000

2016 National NARI CotY Southeast Regional Award Winner, Residential Addition Under $100,000

Retired couple lived in their split foyer Mount Vernon home for over 30 years. Their dream has been a large kitchen foe her to be able to entertain her baking skills to its max. They had no main level powder room which has been a big problem for years. They own couple of large birds that has been with them for years and fly freely in the house. They needed a space for contain them while being able to monitor them. The back concrete patio was falling apart and needed to be removed, while the slope of the backyard created a big problem to replace the patio with a bigger and more usable space. We had to suggest a big overhaul of backyard, changing the grading and excavating 25 ft of backyard to allow new addition and patio in that space. We have implemented a retaining stone wall to control the runoff and grade of back yard. The back bearing wall of the house was demolished to connect this new 10’ x 24’ addition to old kitchen. This required a major beam to take over the bearing wall in order to have a flush and seamless connection.The outside was carefully matched with old style shingle siding to keep up with original Cape Cod style. A new large window and French door was installed on back wall allowing maximum southern exposure, while side windows in bird’s room, hallway, kitchen and powder room brought daylights from all angles. The old kitchen was dragged, dark and uninviting, galley style with limited access. The wanted brighter and lighter , a large working island to offer casual seating , prep sink, wine fridge and whatever they can get their hands on. Task while sound simple not was pretty involved and complicated, wiring was old, under size breaker box, leaking cast iron plumbing and a lot of skeleton in closet. The new space now owns a large sink under double window, a prep sink in island, double microwave/ ovens for her baking events. The bird’s room was separated with a double French door to allow light from west side. A small hallway was built with window at end connecting to the new powder room. Detail molding over soft color painted shell color cabinetry lightened up the space. An Exotic stone was carefully selected to further enhance the look of this kitchen. Pendent lights, and marble brick look backsplash were all part of grand scheme of this major project. The seemliness connection of hardwood flooring tithed the back addition with rest of first floor, The side wall of the kitchen was moved two feet to dining room creating a wider kitchen, (closet and duct return was relocated to allow this task) Walking from this beautiful kitchen through the French door into the new flagstone cover patio and taking advantage of backyard breath taking scenery now is making this transformation most amazing one. This project has been the talk of town among all neighbors and made the couple most proud.

2016 National NARI CotY Southeast Regional Award Winner, Residential Addition Under $100,000

2015 NARI Capital CotY Merit Award Winner, Residential Addition Under $100,000

Wanting to enjoy their backyard more than before, this family of four decided to have a around glass sunroom, a first floor deck and an on ground patio. Also they were interested to get a second floor balcony over new sunroom just outside of the Master suite. The backyard was facing parkland and had beautiful scenery. We wanted to take most advantage of this view, so we had directed the new sunroom and deck in a way to face all of that. Challenges: the entire backyard was set on backfilled dirt and in order to construct this four seasons unconditioned sunroom we needed to dig down about 9 ft to basement footing level and then build up our footing and foundation up from there. The retaining wall that was part of areaway had to be underpinned and supported to act as a foundation wall on that end. Resolution: build a 26’x26’ one story hexagonal addition on the back of kitchen to make an all around glass enclosure with a flat rubber roof. This room best captures the back parkland view due its multiple angles. A major steel beam had to be inserted in middle this addition to handle roof span load of 2nd floor balcony. The second floor balcony was designed to have Trex decking board installed over the rubber roof without puncturing the rubber. This space was connected by converting a window to double French door from Master suite area. Tastefully we have build benches and planters for this space. The first floor deck was built just outside of new Sunroom and connected by French doors to that and existing family room. Our designers creatively drafted and implemented multi color decking and starburst in the middle. With flaring staircase the deck was connected to a new 12’x20’ multi-color flagstone patio. The stone color and decking boards are all complimenting each others. The wood pattern tile floor in new sunroom gives this space indoor and outdoor feel. Relaxing in this sunroom while sun is setting is just breath taking view. This family gets to enjoy their large group gathering whether it is inside or outdoor.

2015 NARI Capital CotY Merit Award Winner, Residential Exterior $100,000 to $200,000

2015 Chrysalis Award South Region Winner, Residential Addition $100,000 to $250,000

For a family in McLean expansion of their home was a high priority. The old and dark kitchen was driving the wife off the walls, space was limited. The first level floor plan was to chopped up and no real flow between Family room, kitchen and the rest. In order to facilitate this now addition in back of existing dwelling, all power and utility lines and meters were to be relocated prior to excavation, Several trees were taken out and new one replanted . The laundry room in main level was not convenient to use and she wanted it to be moved to second floor. powder room was just outside of family room and very odd position. The living room has a tight entrance to foyer and made the foyer just a narrow hallway. The master bathroom was small, and the tub/shower was not used for over five years due to rusty pipes and leaks. Objectives:

• Large Master suite
• Second floor laundry room
• Large walk in closet
• Transform the exterior to much updated one
• A loft/alcove addition & closet for teenage daughter’s bedroom
• Open floor plan for first floor
• Screen porch and a grilling deck
• Gourmet kitchen, butler area
• A real mudroom and new powder room
• Added much needed storage
• Front covered porch and lead stone walkway

Design challenges: In order to expand the first and second floor to back of this house, a large portion of back bearing was to be removed. A clever steel beam flush design beam was implemented in this place creating a seamless connection between new and old spaces. A new 8’x24’ addition was built behind existing garage, now the home for new powder and mudroom. Built in benches, charging station, built ins and coat closet made this space most useful. The new 12’ x 24’ two story back addition now is the new kitchen breakfast room in first floor and master bathroom, walk in closet in second floor. Double French door and big windows in kitchen bring in light from backyard into this new kitchen, while a side French door leading into grilling deck. The new kitchen with all new sinks and appliance location has added a lot more storage and place for large gathering and more informal entertainment for them. Use white paint cabinetry and a marble top has put a nice spin to this classic transformation. Carefully add soft subway tiles and blue tone glass tile amplifies the French country theme of furniture setting. The bearing wall between family room and kitchen was removed and now replaced with a large dividing island, one breakfast side serving as a wine fridge and more storage and one family room side home for Tv and media equipment. The garage entrance was relocated from family room into new mud room. The old kitchen was converted to a butler area between kitchen and new formal dining room and added built pantry space (separated by a French pocket door). A large 5’x 10’ island equipped with prep. sink, dishwasher and display glass cabinet under hanging chandeliers taken over the center of this gourmet kitchen. Offering stool seating and buffet style counter space. New wood floors installed throughout the entire first floor with a natural stain opened up the flow in this first level. A new side entrance from dining room is taking you to a secluded side screen porch .Just what the husband dreamt of spending quite afternoon ready his book and smoking a cigar. Through a wide double opening between foyer and Living room, we installed a set of pocket French doors surrounded with built in bookcases The master piece of this project is the basket weave pattern of multi color wood floors in center of this foyer, setting it off a most interesting aspect of any project. The front door now is covered by an arch covered porch and square columns with a new flagstone lead walkway In second floor the old bathroom was converted to new laundry room and new hot water heater. A new HVAC system was installed inside the attic to handle entire second story. The interesting 8’x8’ sleeping alcove and walk in closet with small square windows were built over the screen in porch, as an addition to daughter’s bedroom. New Master bath overlooking the backyard with a large whirlpool tub under it, a large marble shower stall , long double vanity and lots of storage and marble floors are all part of this new space. Add linen cabinets, and walk in closet with small windows were build just outside of new bathroom giving both parents jut enough space for all their clothes. (“Never enough space for her shoes” husband said) Crown molding throughout first and second floor, shadow boxing in dining room, hallway and stairway, wood floor in master bedroom and closet and new carpeting on rest of 2nd floor are few of upgraded items that was accomplished during this remodeling. The spruce of the exterior, the entire old siding and existing windows were stripped down and replaced with hardie plank siding, trim, fascia board, gutters, roof and downspouts. Use of small and round window sizes, added roof lines and angular corner have all added more interest to curb appeal of this project. Living so close to work and keeping in the circle of 20 years neighbors and friends has been priceless for this couple. Walking in from front door into this revamped house never looked the same

2015 NATIONAL NARI COTY, SOUTHEAST REGIONAL AWARD WINNER, ENTIRE HOUSE $250,000 TO $500,000

After 20 years of living in this contemporary style home in the area of Vienna, VA this couple was ready to remodel their old master bathroom which was tight, dysfunctional, with loose tiles and had a nonfunctional tub. Also a small standing shower stall surround by walls located in a corner with no lighting made this bathroom less desirable to use. Objectives: Softer and lighter color schemes, more Natural light source, two person shower stall, transitional to contemporary style, wider bathroom, separate vanities and dressing for his and hers, more storage space, commode is in a separate area. The challenges were limited space, masonry exterior walls, adjacent interior walls holding a lot of ducts and second floor plumbing pipes. Our design staff had to think outside of box in order to make the floor plan work. We relocated the wall behind bathroom and rerouted all contained plumbing and ducts. We relocated the shower where the old tub used to be, then added arrow of transom windows above to gain daylight. This meant cutting through brick walls and insert steel header in to hold the bearing wall and brick. Then created a separate area where shower used to be for commode closet, while adding another transom window to allow light inside We installed double frosted French doors and a grand entrance to this new rejuvenated bathroom. The electrical and plumbing were removed and relocated on two opposite walls for set off a vanity area of their own. The new shower stall has a spa set of double shower heads, rain shower and multi-functional features, all behind a heavy glass enclosure. The new free standing tub was now featured just across the entrance. The theme is simple yet elegant. Color scheme are settled but breath taking. A combination of stone, porcelain and linear tiles with vessel sinks and just the right tone of brown cabinetry made this remodeling project one to be posed as “glory of all baths”. The carefully designed lighting fixtures and chrome finish of all fixtures were just what this couple had been asking for.

2015 National NARI CotY Southeast Regional Award Winner, Residential Exterior $100,000 to $200,000

Large estate home in the heart of town of Clifton was home to this baby Boomer couple love to entertain outdoors. They wanted it all. Large screened in porch, even larger deck and grill area, lower patio, middle level outdoor fireplace and a second floor pergola. Design staff wanted to take advantage of the large backyard facing wooded and secluded area, taking off the old and run down the deck and spruce it all up a low maintenance decking. The new octagonal screened in porch was placed just outside of the family room, featuring a beaded ceiling panel with ceiling fan, porcelain floor, gas fireplace covered in field stone. Offering a relaxing setting for spring and falls afternoon to hang out and enjoy the scenic view of the backyard. Just within few steps the wide and larger deck offering a big space for outdoor entertaining, grilling and a lot more. The new larger and wider staircase leads you to the backyard and lower patio. A stone walkway just to the right of it takes you to a round seating patio with a stone mantel chimney fireplace and a 16’x34’ under the deck stoned patio. This space was designed for gaming and table tennis area. The second floor balcony over the garage was converted to a pergola deck covered with Trex decking and new wrought iron railing under the white beams & columns. Design staff suggested a spiral staircase taking you from the first floor deck to pergola second floor deck. This enabled the homeowner to offer larger group parties to float in all three levels of this splendid outdoor space. The cleverly planned lighting fixtures have made this project jewel of this private neighborhood. The details into the fine masonry of outdoor fireplace, patio, and lead walk has made the outdoor setting an immaculate space for all kinds of gatherings.

2014 NARI Capital CotY, Merit Award Winner, Residential Exterior $100,000 and Over

2014 NARI Capital CotY, Grand Award Winner, Residential Addition $100,000 to $250,000 This family decided to have the elderly grandfather move in to their home. They needed an aged in place in law suite in main level to accommodate his needs. While doing this their two growing teens were in need of more space in their respective rooms with their own bathrooms. Objectives: A two story addition with in law suite in main level, two extended second floor bedrooms with added full bath. A seamless front elevation connection with a new covered front porch. A much larger kitchen with lots of windows for larger family Challenges: the only place that this addition could have been added was left side of the existing home. This space was not part of building restriction line and required a specific and lengthy process to allow such structure. The power line and gas line were to be relocated allowing this addition to be built. The AC compressor need to be relocated and the window wells to basement needed to be covered and new ones added on other side to allow light into the basement. This house was located on the back fill area which required 12 ft tall structural concrete foundation walls and footing , enable the addition to be built over. The seamless front elevation meant carefully matching the brick masonry .While implementing a covered front porch to add a new dimension filling in the bare existing front elevation. We have brought everyone to final drafting table and got a unanimous vote to proceed as planned with this two story addition. It was time to go to work: Grandfather desired a suite with Master bedroom, lots of closet space, tall ceiling, aged in placed bathroom with large shower stall, vanities with lots of drawer, his own private seating room with lots of window and separate entrance to front covered porch. He wanted to sit on his rocking chair every afternoon waiting for kids to get off the school bus. (I think he wanted to smoke his cigar, just between us). The new seating room was designed with tray ceiling, lots of windows of two sides and recess lights, exotic Brazilian cherry wood floors to match the rest of main level. The new addition required a new HVAC system on it’s own placed in attic of new addition in order to offer separate climate control. The second floor addition was divided to two space: both expansion of adjacent teenage bedroom, offering added space, lots of window, more closet space and each now have their own private bathrooms. (No more early morning fights to get ready) The bearing wall of second floor was busted open through placement of structure beam to create a seamless opening of old and new spaces. Now it was time to make mom’s dream come true. The old kitchen was no longer satisfying her gourmet cooking style. She wanted it all, large kitchen with big size appliances and lots of counter space, middle island to serve four or more, durable flooring, lots of lights, lighter and brighter cabinets and more daylight. The bearing wall between old kitchen and dining room was busted open , all plumbing and electrical was re-routed . The entire kitchen was expanded into old dining room, the old dining room window was widened and now home to a big Garden style window. The sink was relocated under new garden window, the old kitchen window was covered ( that meant new siding on entire house), New French slider with top transom was placed on old kitchen leading to back deck. The back wall of the kitchen was filled with new cooktop and refrigerator. The inherited hutch form grandmother was carefully placed in the new kitchen surrounded with matching pantries on both side. The new contrasting Island offers large group gathering all around it while serves as much needed storage space. Everyone in this family has gotten their wish and now with grandpa being around it feels much more than a family.

2014 NARI CAPITAL COTY, GRAND AWARD WINNER, RESIDENTIAL ADDITION $100,000 TO $250,000