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In today’s housing market, the lack of supply hits home keenly in the Washington D.C. area, where tasteful buyers often have their eyes set on particular neighborhoods– like Bethesda, Potomac, Georgetown, or Chevy Chase– to accommodate schools, commutes, and/or the desired amenities of a modern full life. Many clients come to Lorla Studio after finding the perfect location, but with a house lacking a great layout and updated features desired to make a house a modern home. You may be considering a less-than-perfect house in the ideal location, but are concerned about how to make it work. Maybe you’re in a house now that feels cramped and unable to suit your current needs. The home that worked for you 15 years ago may no longer suit your current life. Whatever the reason, rest assured, we are here for you! Look no further to discover how you can make even the ugliest house on the block a sparkling gem with a modern full home renovation.
Step One: Dream Big! Anything Is Possible!
Full home renovations can be daunting in the Washington DC area, where the old housing stock can make a big project quite intimidating: there are historic districts that require extra approvals and permits (Chevy Chase, Georgetown, Kensington, Takoma Park), dated homes with a laundry list of needed improvements, or limited appetite to live through a lengthy timeline of planning and construction. You have your heart set on that perfect home in Spring Valley, but hate center-hall Colonials! That single-family home with a huge backyard near Cleveland Park already has you picturing a short walk for groceries and al fresco dining on your new deck, but you can’t see yourself in a Tudor. Many dated homes have great bones, and are waiting to shine.
The old real estate adage holds true in Washington DC: the three most important features of a home are LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! As such, once you know where you want to live, an older home in need of updates presents a great opportunity and value proposition for you to live in and enjoy your investment. With a full home renovation, it’s important to consider what you want, how you live, and to be unconstrained by the existing home. Some clients have done one renovation, only to break ground on a larger scope of work within a decade of the first project. It pays to envision the home you want, and start with all the elements you desire to make your house a modern home.
Step Two: Patience Is a Virtue
Another truism resonates in full-home renovations in the Washington metro area: There’s good, fast, and cheap, but you can only pick two: Good and Cheap won’t be Fast, Fast and Good won’t be Cheap, and Cheap and Fast won’t be good! This Iron Triangle often holds true, and we see the best results with clients who embrace the project and understand the complex symphony of design and execution that will deliver a beautiful and functional space for years to come. Thus, plan a budget that allows you the space and time to complete the project appropriately; we have seen many people try to live through a renovation out of a desire of convenience or cost-saving, though this often increases the budget due to extended timelines, and the mitigation steps the general contractor and building teams must take to make a construction site somewhat inhabitable. Best to plan to live somewhere else while tackling a full-home renovation for your own sanity and peace of mind, which will also facilitate project timelines.
Step Three: Discover & Create
We recently broke ground on a whole-home renovation in suburban Washington DC of a Queen Anne Victorian that is over 120 years old. The owners, who grew up in the area, never saw themselves in a Victorian home, which has a number of key hallmarks that can be a bit much for a modern aesthetic. The Queen Anne style is typified by features like an asymmetrical facade and ornate details, not the symmetry and neutral palette that comes to mind when one envisions a warm, approachable and modern home. What the owners didn’t realize, however, is the interior impact to the Queen Anne architecture: almost all day, light permeated the house due the odd angles of windows from multiple bay windows, a hexagonal tower along the front facade, and the 10-foot ceilings on the first and second floors that drew light deep into the interior of the home. The owners were absolutely charmed by the location due to its walkability, and bought the property, despite 30 years of deferred maintenance, 40-year old wallpaper on nearly every surface, and a lack of central air conditioning that made August in Washington DC a hazy abhorrence! And let’s not even mention the kitchen, which was small, cramped, and built strictly for cooking (miserably!).
As we tackled the clients’ needs, they laid out their priorities, including multiple spaces that allowed for family gatherings, and were flexible enough to accommodate multiple uses– be it homework or a formal dinner for 12. Their program included modern amenities, including repair to the original hardwoods, HVAC, a mudroom to be an organizing and containing workhorse, updating all the dated bathrooms, as well as an updated kitchen that is not only a place to prepare meals, but to gather.
Considering the home’s existing proportions, we worked with Anne Decker Architects to ensure clear sightlines for human and air circulation, such that your eyes had uninterrupted views across the home at key locations. This had implications for the design and program of disparate spaces, and we worked to allow parts of the home to be concealed, such that the small rear addition was a hidden delight.
Follow along as this project is just getting started!
Another client in Bethesda had a finished basement that was an afterthought, with musty smells, old carpeting, and a number of auxiliary rooms with cold, poured-concrete floors that were poised to be brought to life. The client anticipated hiring an au pair for their growing family, and wanted an additional space for family to come together. We reimagined this space entirely, from ripping out old carpet, tiny windows, lead paint and wood paneling, to creating a bright, family room that utilizes every inch, and substantially increased the homes usable square footage (their realtor and friend stopped by and was in awe at the value they added to the home - more than they put in!). This project just wrapped and we are excited to share photos soon, showing the incredible design transformation, and one heck of before and after!
Step Four: The Finishes
The finishes and materials are what often bring a project together and create the overall feel for your space. No detail is too small, and we always consider how a client expects to use a space, the need or desire for particularly durable materials for high-traffic surfaces, and other general preferences and considerations to finish a space. As one example of the many elements to consider, the color palette of any given room and how it fits into the overall sense of your home is something we give ample attention to ensure that we execute a space that suits our client. There are many different approaches to colors, and we draw inspiration from our clients’ lives and experiences to identify how to best incorporate a look and feel that creates a timeless interior.
Some may worry about how an upgraded space or addition to a home can be well integrated into the original space. Various operations can be considered for a seamless and complete home, including thematic use of materials, or pulling elements from the original home’s spaces to create a unified design. For instance, in a recent Forest Hills full-home renovation, we used custom maple kitchen cabinets with sculptural integrated wood handles, and carried this maple finish to a front entry closet, and several accent pieces in an adjacent room to create a cohesive feel.
Step Five: Make Memories!
Embrace your old home, and keep the features you appreciate, and add the ones you’re lacking! A full-home renovation in DC allows you the best of all worlds by preserving some of the historic details, while also allowing you to live in the neighborhood of your choice, despite the lackluster housing supply. Our design process for a full-home renovation marries the old and new, the lived-in and the modern, and results in an approachable, beautiful home that is suited for modern living.
How You Can Work With Us
At Lorla Studio, a modern interior design firm in Washington, D.C, our talented team of designers craft modern, livable and functional spaces throughout the district and beyond. Hire us for a seamless renovation process, and a modern, approachable design you are sure to love!
Check out the five questions to ask yourself before hiring an interior designer in Washington D.C. If you think we’d make a good team, contact us today!
Ready to transform your space with us?
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