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Great Falls Connection ❖ HomeLifeStyle Spring 2014 ❖ 1www.ConnectionNewspapers.com online at www.connectionnewspapers.comLocal Media Connection LLC

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HomeLifeStyleHomeLifeStyleHomeLifeStyleSpring 2014Spring 2014

2 ❖ Great Falls Connection ❖ HomeLifeStyle Spring 2014 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com

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Great Falls Connection ❖ HomeLifeStyle Spring 2014 ❖ 3www.ConnectionNewspapers.comSee Kitchen, Page 10

By Marilyn CampbellThe Connection

When Allie Mann of Arlington, adesigner and senior interior spe-cialist at Case Design/Remodel-ing, Inc. was tasked with giving the firstfloor of a McLean home a face lift, she had

to think free-flowing and airy.“[The] client wanted to focus on making

the kitchen feel open and connected to restof home,” said Mann. “[They] needed tohave plenty of space to cook and entertainplus lots of storage.”

Mann said the homeowner was making across-country move and settling in Virginia,so adhering to a strict timeline and budgetwere critical.

However, near the end of the project, thehomeowner wanted to make a change.

“At nearly 85 percent job completion, cli-ent decided they wanted to completely re-move the wall between the kitchen and fam-ily room. In the original design, we partiallyremoved the wall,” said Mann. “This meanta shift and redirection of scope, additionalengineering [because] the remaining por-

tion of the wall housed a three-story fire-place, relocation of cabinets had alreadybeen installed and modifications to countertops. And still deliver a project close to ontime.”

The finished kitchen is a light-filled spacewith cabinets by Crystal Cabinetry, honedVermont Marble countertops and appliancesby Sub-Zero, Wolf, KitchenAid and Miele.

From light-filled todramatic, localdesigners createdream kitchens.

Kitchen Confidential

Photo courtesy Nicely Done KitchensA vertical, glass subway tile backsplash adds a dramatic flair to thiskitchen by Nicely Done Kitchens.

Home LifeStyle

See Empty-Nesters, Page 8

By John Byrd

Sometimes life’s second act requiresa bold set change. How else areothers to know that the featuredplayers have moved on, embracingnew beginnings?

Reinvention is after all the quintessentialtriumph of creativity, and can be a very per-sonal process when the thing reinvented isyour home itself.

“Of course, large-scale life changes don’tnecessarily demand a whole housemakeover,” recently retired teacher CindyBorer said. But in the past year, her onlyson moved out to start a new career andher husband is now traveling less, so thetiming was right for discoveries.

BUT TO START AT THE TOP: last springthe Borers had celebrated 20 years resi-dency in their two-story, four-bedroom Co-lonial-style house in Burke, and were tak-ing stock of what they wanted from theyears ahead.

At just over 800 square feet, the home’sprimary living area had been serviceableenough; even so, the formal dining roomand adjacent den on opposite sides of thefront facing foyer were hardly ever used andthe rear family room was dark and cramped.

Evaluating options, Borer considered en-larging a few rear rooms. She also won-dered if some of the home’s interior wallscould be modified in way that would allowfor more natural light. What to do?

It was at this juncture that Craig Durosko,founder of Sun Design Remodeling, wascalled-in to discuss possible space improve-ment scenarios.

Durosko pointed out that the couple

didn’t so much lack square footage as a sen-sible space plan tailored to how they actu-ally use their home. The existing “center-

Built-ins, cleverlyarticulated interiorincrease usable spacewithout need to add-on.

Empty-Nesters Re-invent the Family Home

By borrowing a mere nine square feet from the dining room, the designers found space for a small mudroomwith bench immediately to the right of a side kitchen door.

Sun Design Remodeling frequently sponsors tours of recently remod-eled homes as well as workshops on home improvement topics.Headquartered in Burke, the firm recently opened a second office inMcLean. Visit www.SunDesignInc.com or call 703-425-5588.

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Great Falls


By Marilyn CampbellThe Connection

It doesn’t feel like spring. Lastweek’s snow made it seemlike warm weather mightnever arrive, so planting agarden might be the last thing onyour mind. However, local garden-ing experts say this is the idealtime to start preparing your land-scape to yield colorful spring foli-age.

Bill Mann, of Behnke Nurseriesin Potomac, Md., said spring gar-den preparation plans differ fromyear to year. “It depends on thelandscape beds you have andwhether or not you’re planning toput in a vegetable garden,” he said.

“This is the time to inspectshrubs for damage that might havebeen broken during the snowload,” said David Watkins ofMerrifield Garden Center, whichhas locations in Fair Oaks,Merrifield and Gainesville, Va.,Don’t go overboard, however:“You don’t want to prune plantsbefore they bloom. A good rule of

thumb is to prune a floweringplant right after it blooms.”

Instead, spend some time tidy-ing up.

“Right now is the time to fertil-ize your shrubs, remove oldmulch, put down new mulch andjust clean up,” said Watkins. “Ev-erybody is sick of winter, especiallythis winter. This is the time toclean up old leaves. Because thewinter has been so cold, there are

going to be some plants that won’thave made it.”

“In March, a lot has to do withinspecting the yard for winterdamage,” saud Mann. “This is agreat time of the year to look forinsect damage and deer damage.”

Mann expects extensive deerdamage this year. “Deer didn’thave much to eat except for plantslike azaleas and rhododendrons.”

Insect damage is less obvious

and more difficult to identify. “Thisis the time to do damage-controlby using safe or organic-basedproducts like neem oil,” saidMann. “When sprayed on plants,it smothers insect eggs or someinsects in the larva stage. It alsokills stinkbugs. If you can seethem, you can control them. Youcan use a higher concentration thistime of year and it is a lot saferand easier on the environment. Itreduces bad bug populations and

Getting Your Garden Ready for SpringLocal experts tell you what you should do now, in spite of the cold weather.

Home LifeStyle

is safe over all.”

WHILE EAGER GARDENERSmay be excited to start plantingspring flowers in their newlycleaned plots, Watkins offers a ca-veat: “It is a little early for mostannual flowers in pots on patios,but you can plant annuals like pan-sies, which are cold season annu-als,” he said. “They don’t like heat,so in June they start to whither.Then you can put other flowers inlike petunias and geraniums.”

Watkins recommends plantinghearty, ornamental shrubs in pa-tio flowerpots and surroundingthem with flowering plants to en-sure year-found foliage. “A nicething to do in pots is plant a woodyornamental,” he said. “It is nice tohave plants in the pots that stayyear round. I put a Japanese maplein a pot on my deck. In anotherpot I put ilex verticillata [winter-berry] and I had red berries allwinter long. In the spring, I’ll putpetunias in the soil around it, andaround the edge I’ll plant a flow-ering plant that will trail downover the pot from April to Octo-ber. Then the rest of the year I’llget red berries.”

Sowing grass seeds is also anideal project to begin now. “Theseeds won’t germinate until it getsto be 52 degrees,” Watkins contin-ued. “So even if we get anothersnow storm, it helps work theseeds into the soil.”

Randee Wilson of Nature ByDesign in Alexandria encouragesthe use of indigenous plants. “Lookfor sources for native plants —they help sustain our local wild-life. If we didn’t have local plants,butterflies would be gone.”

If a new patio is in your plansthis spring, Watkins says to getstarted now. “We’ve been puttingdown putting patios all year long,”he said. “A good garden center isgoing to get backed up when theweather is warmer.”

David Watkins of Merrifield Garden Center says coldseason annuals like these yellow pansies can add brightcolor to a garden now.

English daisies add bright bursts of color to spring gar-dens.

Photos copyright Caroline Williams

Great Falls Connection ❖ HomeLifeStyle Spring 2014 ❖ 5www.ConnectionNewspapers.com

6 ❖ Great Falls Connection ❖ HomeLifeStyle Spring 2014 Great Falls Connection ❖ HomeLifeStyle Spring 2014 ❖ 7www.ConnectionNewspapers.com www.ConnectionNewspapers.com

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Home LifeStyle

Van Metre Homes won eight Sil-ver Awards at the 2014 Na-tional Sales and MarketingAwards, hosted by the Na-tional Sales and Marketing Council.

Van Metre Homes were honored asRookie of the Year, Sales Person of the Year,Sales Manager of the Year, Best Direct MailProgram, Best Print Campaign, Best Over-all Advertising Campaign, Best ComputerSales Tool, and Best Design Center.

Individuals recognized for outstandingachievement included Omayra Dehring

for Rookie of the Year, Ernie Kyger for SalesPerson of the Year, and Danny Faulkner forSales Manager of the Year. Van Metre Homeswon for Best Direct Mail Program with theirFashion Week. Their Fresh Campaign wontwo awards for Best Print Campaign andfor Best Overall Advertising Campaign. VanMetre Homes’ Hologram won for Best Com-puter Sales Tool and the Van Metre DesignStudio won for Best Design Center.

Van Metre Companies has constructedmore than 16,000 houses and several thou-sand apartments, as well as office buildings

and shopping centers in Northern Virginia.Van Metre communities include their ownmaster-planned developments, as well asneighborhoods in smaller subdivisions andthird-party planned communities.

The Van Metre portfolio of new homesincludes condominiums, townhomes andsingle-family homes designed for first-timeand move-up buyers throughout the North-ern Virginia suburbs.

Van Metre’s exclusive Design Studio, lo-cated in Stone Ridge, Va., allowshomebuyers to choose their interior finishes

Van Metre Wins Sales, Marketing Awardsand options. Van Metre also offers turn-key mortgage financing services throughtheir own lending affiliate, IntercoastalMortgage. Through the Van Metre in-house architecture team, buyers canmodify architecture based on acommunity’s design plan and surround-ing environments. They are also able toquickly adapt to market changes, as wellas offer customization with Van Metre’sDream Home Portfolio — offeringhomebuyers an easy path to personalhome customization.

From Page 3

hall” configuration defined rooms were con-sistent with tradition, yet were functionallyunderutilized most of the time. This ac-counted for daily traffic patterns that didn’twork as well as they might, and a naggingsense that the entire first floor was space-restricted.

On a second subject: the mid-house floor-to-ceiling bearing wall dividing the frontand rear sections of the house could be com-pletely deleted by installing concealed ver-tical supports at strategic intervals, Duroksosaid. Such a move would dramatically in-crease natural light, creating the floor spaceneeded for an alternative layout more ap-propriate for both daily use and entertain-ment.

“On the first visit Craig pretty muchsolved our space plan problem,” Borer said.“From this point on, I was mainly to thinkabout the interior design details.”

So Borer’s meeting with Jon Benson, the

attraction to transitional-style interior de-sign, a contemporary concept that seeks toreconcile traditional architecture with thespatial freedom of an open floor plan.

On this score, Benson’s original floorplansketch anticipated the use of loveseats asspace dividers between the family room andthe den. Meanwhile, Borer’s preference forsoft white and grey duotones inspired aninterior paint scheme that combines sharpwhite and khaki.

In the kitchen, Giallo Sioriato granite sur-faces are set off by a vividly original glasstile and stone backsplash which lends aninvigorating streak of color to the broadervisual panorama.

“Its very comfortable balance of tradi-tional and open really works well for us,”Borer said. “I found the whole process re-ally enlightening.”

Empty-Nesters Re-invent the Family Home

Photos by Bryan Burris PhotographyTo differentiate the front-facing library from the family room visually,Sun Design converted existing overhead beams into an elegant trayceiling supported by Craftsman-style piers.

The new transitional-style interioremploys decorative elements tocreate distinctive use-zones in anopen floor plan.

Transitional interior design styleseeks to reconcile traditionalarchitecture with the spatial free-dom of an open floor plan. CindyBorer says her discovery of thisemerging idiom made the entiremakeover process personallyinspiring.

makeover’s lead designer, proved a revela-tion from the start. A veteran home remod-eling specialist as well as a nationally rec-ognized furniture designer, Benson’s inputshaped a floor plan focused on personalrequirements in which custom built-inseliminate unneeded walls while sharplyimproving both room function and interiordesign integrity.

To create a more functional relationshipbetween the kitchen and the dining room,for instance, the designer replaced an inte-rior pantry with a 27.5-square-foot foodpreparation surface and dining counter thatserves both rooms equally.

By borrowing a mere nine square feetfrom the dining room, Benson also foundspace for a small mudroom with bench im-mediately to the right of the side entranceto the kitchen.

Re-situating the front hall closet to theright of the front door not only widenedthe front foyer but also created dramaticfront-to-back sight lines that make the en-tire house seem much larger.

Measured in square feet, the changes are

small. Yet such revisions liberate the firstlevel circulation plan, re-organizing thehome’s primary living area into rooms thatare both interactive and articulated.

To visually differentiate the front-facinglibrary from the family room, the designerconverted existing overhead beams into anelegant tray ceiling supported by Crafts-man-style piers.

A floor-to-ceiling bookcase—also aBenson original—provides an elegant yetuseful wall for the new reading room. Thenew family room fireplace hearth was cus-tom-designed to accommodate the plasmaTV screen that now hangs above it.

Additional interior design decisionsemerged from Borer’s collaboration withSun Design’s Jessica Page.

“Jessica helped me discover the designstyle I’d been looking for,” Borer said. “Sheopened up a lot of resources. Ideas that Iliked were added to a project scrapbookwhich we both referenced regularly to keepthe decision process on track.”

As space plan modifications proceeded,Borer’s research revealed a strong personal


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Home LifeStyle

W ith warmerweather justaround the cor-ner, it’s time tofocus on your home.

“Routine home maintenanceensures a healthy home and avoidscostly repairs down the road,” saidTom Dodd, a consultant at fred, ahome repair division of Case De-sign/Remodeling, Inc. “Small is-sues now can become huge head-aches later if left untreated.” Toavoid this, experts recommendthat homeowners give their homesa yearly spring maintenancecheck-up.

“Some items you can check onyour own,” said Dan Halpern, an-other fred consultant. “Others re-quire an expert to do a completereview.”

Have your air conditioning sys-tem serviced. “Remember thatdirty filters make your air condi-tioner work harder, increasing en-ergy costs and possibly damagingyour equipment,” said Dodd.“Check the filters monthly and re-place as needed, or at least every

Tips to Get Ready for SpringExperts suggest a yearly spring maintenance check-up.

three months.”Install a programmable thermo-

stat. “According to Energy Star, aprogrammable thermostat … willquickly pay for itself in savings onheating and cooling bills,” saidDodd.

Add caulking around windowsand doors. “If the gap around adoor or window is wider than anickel, caulk should be reapplied,”said Halpern. “Check window-glazing putty, too, which sealsglass into the window frame. Alsoconsider adding weather strippingaround doors.”

Dodd said, “Perform a visual in-spection of your roof from theground. Repairs can be as small asa few shingles to a more extensivedamaged area. This is a great placeto call in an expert if you think re-pairs may be needed.”

Look for loose or leaky gutters.“Improper drainage can lead towater in the basement or crawlspace. Make sure downspoutsdrain away from the foundationand are clear and free of debris,”said Halpern.

Inspect outside hose faucets forfreeze damage. “Turn the water onand place your thumb or fingerover the opening,” said Dodd. “Ifyou can stop the flow of water, itis likely the pipe inside the homeis damaged and will need to bereplaced.”

— Marilyn Campbell

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NICELY DONE KITCHENS in Springfield,created a kitchen with drama for aCentreville, Va., family. “White semi-customcabinetry and a contrasting dark island cre-ates a dramatic look,” said Stephanie Brick,designer. Brick cited the focus on the verti-cal, subway tile back splash.

The rest of the back splash in the kitchenis horizontal, which is the standard for sub-way tile, said Brick.

The kitchen also includes ample, easilyaccessible storage space.

“The paneled refrigerator helps concealthe appliances and helps them to blend inwith the cabinetry to give the aesthetic morecontinuity,” said Brick. The kitchen includes

From Page 3

Kitchen ConfidentialCourtesy of Case

Design/RemodelingInc

Arlington de-signer AllieMann of CaseDesign/Remod-eling, Inc. cre-ated a free-flowing andelegant feel inthis McLeankitchen.

easily accessible storage space and ogee-edged granite counter tops.

OPENING UP and adding light were pri-orities when Guy Hopkins Semmes, part-ner and founder of Potomac-based design-build firm Hopkins and Porter and LeaAllen, one of the firm’s senior architects,remodeled the kitchen of a Bethesda, Md.,home.

“The kitchen was small, but we were ableto add a lot more space, by making fewminor changes,” said Semmes. “Before therewas an enclosed porch next to the kitchen.We opened the wall between the kitchenand the adjacent enclosed porch.”

Semmes and Allen made another major

elimination: appliances. “We got rid of therefrigerator and moved it downstairs,” saidSemmes. “All of the other appliances arelocated under the counter and open up likedrawers.”

Semmes also found a creative way tomake the space more light-filled. “We took

out a stairway wall to the second floor andreplaced it with a triangular opening so lightfrom stairwell came down into the kitchen.”

The kitchen now has maple cabinetry andwhite Silestone countertops. “It was doneon a budget. It’s amazing what you can dowhen you work with what you’ve got.”

Home LifeStyle

By John Byrd

While common sense suggeststhat home improvementsshould be put off to warmerweather, a sustained periodof colder temperatures often reveals sys-temic problems that will need correctionsooner or later.

As temperatures dropped precipitouslyseveral weeks ago, all Reston homeownerCraig Mattice knew was that his originalmansard roof was plagued with ice damsand his 10-year-old, 600-square-foot addi-tion was so cold the pipes were freezing.Moreover, no amount of thermostat adjust-ment improved the situation much.

“After living in the house for over 25 yearsthe chill was a surprise,” Mattice said. “Itwasn’t just that the winter has been colderthan usual … it was beginning to look likea larger problem, particularly in the newwing, which was five degrees colder thanother rooms.”

To determine the cause of ice-cloggedgutters, Mattice decided to seek a compre-hensive assessment and turned toremodeler David Foster who had completeda number of home improvements for hisson.

“The damming was literally the tip of theiceberg,” said Foster, principal of FosterRemodeling Solutions. “When I inspectedthe attic it was clear that the envelope wasnot adequately sealed, insulated or venti-lated, which is why the upstairs had beentoo hot last summer.”

Add to this the fact that prior to 1980 lo-cal building code required less thermally-resistant insulation (R-19) than the currentR-38 standard and the outlines of a com-mon problem with older production homesbegins to emerge.

“It’s not unusual to find that the existinginsulation just isn’t the best application forsome of our coldest days ” Foster said. “Dif-ferent parts of a house can call for differentinsulation strategies.”

Since the goal for the Mattice attic wasto dramatically increase R-value, Foster re-arranged the old insulation, adding soffitbaffles to improve ventilation. The largertechnical solution, however, was to blow-in R-25 fiberglass, which raised the attic’sthermal resistance to R-44.

“One of the benefits of fiberglass is thatit wraps everything…creating an air-tightinsular envelope,” Foster says. “This makesall aspects of the home’s heating and cool-ing more efficient.”

The more recently completed family wingwas another matter. Turns out the Mattice’sartfully-designed addition was built over anunheated crawl space, and the HVAC ductwasn’t even connected in the kitchen.

“An appropriate insulation strategy startswith a kind of forensics,” Foster said.“Where is a wall, ceiling or roof exposed tooutside conditions? Is it difficult to regu-late temperatures in different parts of thehouse? These are some basic questions westart with.”

Given challenges inherent in insulatingrooms built over an unheated crawl space— which also must support air circulation,Foster re-engineered the entire thermalequation: existing fiberglass batt was re-moved; sprayed-in closed cell foam wasthen applied to the underside of the floorsystem. This elevated the thermal value toR-20 while providing a draft-free air-tightseal to the kitchen floor. To accommodatefor summer conditions, Foster added venti-lation to both the crawl space and the attic.

So how do the upgrades perform?“Beautifully,” Craig Mattice says. “The

house is noticeably tighter and the newwing is much more comfortable.”

A PROFESSIONAL REMODELER for 35years, Foster said he’s somewhat surprisedby the calls he gets when temperaturesdrop, usually from homeowners who’vefound that previous attempts at keeping thehouse comfortable and well-functioninghaven’t worked very well.

A few months ago, for example, he ex-ecuted a re-roofing and gutter protectionassignment for Alexandria homeownerSteve Piper, who had previously hired himto design and build an extensive interiormakeover.

“We knew we had a leaking problem be-fore we met David,” Piper said. “But the situ-ation had gotten worse — and I wasn’t surewhat to expect from roofers. Finally, it oc-curred to me to ask David for his assess-ment.”

Foster traced the problem to inappropri-ate and poorly installed flashing which wasallowing water to seep into siding and un-der roof shingles.

His prescription: a re-shingled roof, a newgutter protection system and attic ventila-tion equipped with an electronic thermo-stat.

“It’s important to address the whole prob-lem when the system has failed,” Foster said.“This is a plan that not only eliminates theleaking, but functions much better in allseasons.”

A few miles away, Alexandrian Jeff Hagecame to Foster when he noticed one of theposts to a front porch was sagging.

Foster, who had finished an interior forHage a few months before, quickly recog-nized that the whole roof had settled, mak-ing it impossible to stop worsening dete-rioration by simply replacing the cornercolumn.

“When the problem becomes structuralyou have to remake the basic supports, “ hesays. “In this case that meant raising theporch roof and re-aligning posts andbeams.”

Foster has encountered similarly short-sighted solutions associated with windowreplacement. Homeowners with draftyhomes procure state-of-the-art insulatedwindows only to have them installed withinadequately sealed window jambs.

“Winter is not particularly forgiving ofpartial solutions,” Foster said. “When aproblem is recurring, it’s time to look at thelarger system. After all, this is how a houseworks.”

What mid-winter maintenance can revealabout your home’s needs.

Near Zero TemperaturesCall for Back-to-Basics

Photo courtesy of Foster Remodeling SolutionsA sustained period of cold weather can reveal problems with yourhome’s basic systems that will need to be addressed in any season iffurther deterioration is to be prevented.


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Condo Units Offered For Sale!Loudoun Professional Arts Building

21495 Ridgetop CircleSterling, VA 20166

Suite Offered at G/SF Net/SF1D $299,000 1768 13592E $230,000 1347 10352F $400,000 1999 15062E & 2F $610,000 3346 25413E $220,000 1347 10353A $490,000 3249 2494

20 years experienceShe represents You!

[email protected] cell/text

Cathe Rafferty, RealtorABR, CRS, GREEN, GRI, ePROWeichert, Realtors-Great FallsLicensed in VA

Elevate Your LocationEqual distance to both Loudoun and Reston Hospital

For Rent in McLean $5,900/mo For Sale in Potomac Falls $779,000

Call Deneen Davis -Realtor703-582-1219 [email protected] in VA and MD

CALLING All BuyersVA, FHA,

Commercial and Investors2014 IS A GREAT YEAR FORLISTING YOUR HOME. ONE CANUPGRADE, DOWNGRADE, ANDINVEST. CALL TOP PRODUCINGDENEEN DAVIS TODAY!Let’s list today!

homelifestylehome spring 2014 lifestyleconnectionarchives.com/pdf/2014/031114 hls/great falls...2...

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