As we all wait to see what Hurricane Earl will do to our beaches today, I want to send you off on the holiday weekend with this stunning — and stormy — shot of the Washington Monument that a former Washington Spaces photo intern, Matthew Dandy, shot from atop the W Hotel downtown. Happy Labor Day.

Photograph by Matthew Dandy

Before I start in on this post, a little background: A got an intriguing proposal from the Dutch Boy paint company earlier this summer — coincidentally, at the same time we began to contemplate redecorating our sons’ bedroom. They contacted me, asking if I were interested in reviewing their paint on my blog in exchange for them providing the paint at no charge. They emphasized that they only wanted an honest review, and not an advertorial. So, since I was in the market for paint anyway, I agreed. Now I will proceed with the review.

Before Dutch Boy came into our life, here are the before pictures of our sons’ room, which my 8-year-old declared was too “baby,” and inviting his friends to the house would be out of the question until he had a more appropriate look. The 5-year-old didn’t seem to care one way or the other.

The room in all its toddler glory: washed pale green and blue paint, and construction-themed comforters from Target (I still love those matching truck pillows...)

Green carpet remnant, more construction themes in the Target valances, and a hanging toy holder from Ikea. The ceiling light stays -- a solid boy's room light for any age.

I framed my husband's Little League photographs, which made the cut for the new room -- along with the boys' current Little League paraphernalia. The white chest/bookcase from Pottery Barn originally stored crib sheets and burp cloths in the old nursery, as well as baby books. It needed a change.

Now, here we go with the transformation. About a year ago, Henry (the 8-year-old) and I ended up at this cool little quilt shop in Sperryville, Va., called Beech Spring Gifts and Quilts. He spotted some really great twin-sized quilts in dark Navy blue and khaki. They became the inspiration for the new room. I also found the perfect new rug from Dash & Albert at The Red Barn Mercantile in Alexandria, in the “Tobacco Ticking” style — the colors are  great match to the quilts.

Those staples in hand, I went about choosing paint colors, with astute advice from my friend, designer Dana Tydings. Dutch Boy allowed me to choose four colors, which I did for the ceiling, trim, walls, and book cases. You can see the colors in my “after” pictures, but oddly, there are no swatch images on the Dutch Boy Web site.

We chose Boothill Brown (B9-2) in eggshell for the walls.

We used White Lullaby (DW30) in semi-gloss for the trim -- just creamy enough to complement the off-white stripes in the quilts, but not so much that there was any yellow cast to it.

Here is the door, with the trim already painted in the White Lullaby, but we haven't yet painted the door. If you look closely, you can see how the new paint made our old paint look very slightly pink -- weird.

Ta-da! Here is the result, with the bookcases painted in this wonderful deep Navy semi-gloss, which is called Coal Blue (E16-1). The boys and I are very pleased.

I would say overall that the painting process went very smoothly. We especially liked the gallon-sized plastic jugs with a built-in pour spout and a twist-off lid. My husband wondered why every paint company does not do this.

This shot includes the ceiling, which we painted in a flat Ultra White (DW31). It's a nice pure white with no discernible color undertones, perfect for a ceiling.

The paint dries extremely fast, we found — which can be both good and bad. Good, because you can paint a second coat fairly soon after the first one, but bad, because it tended to glop up at times, forcing you to go back over details with a brush to smooth it out or pick off tiny glop balls. I would say this was the case when we were painting the louvered doors more than when we were rolling paint onto the walls.

I had never used Dutch Boy before, which is a division of Sherwin Williams, and I was pretty satisfied with the result — especially because I think the paint chips accurately represented the true color once it was on the walls.

The Coal-blue chest/bookcase is a dead-on match to the stripes in the rug.

The only problem we had was with the bookcases. Both had been painted before, so I will say that we didn’t use any primer. And maybe it was because we were painting in the hottest, most humid time of year. BUT: After painting the cases, we left them to dry for more than two weeks before we put anything in or on them. Nevertheless, items were still sticking to the surface — so much so that even now when I take a book out, it sticks. There are several scuffs in the paint as a result, which I have no intention of fixing, because they are under books and objects on the top surface.

I really don’t know if this was because of the paint quality or the time of year, but I just need to put it out there. More than a month later, I can now put my hand on the top of the case and not feel any tackiness on the surface. I should have heeded my husband’s advice to wait a full month before I put the books back, but I’m sure anyone reading this will agree with me in that I just wanted to get the room done!

So, I think for painting walls, Dutch Boy performed well, and I would certainly buy it in the future, considering its price points are much lower than other well-known competitors. Perhaps I won’t paint furniture with it though.

Here are some other notes on the room. I wrote an earlier post this summer soliciting advice on window treatments, and after considering all the comments, which were overwhelmingly in favor of white over brown, I finally found this fabulous “Primitive Stripe” fabric at Calico Corners, and it was on sale! I think the rough texture, along with the blue stripe, will go great with the room. I await the store’s semi-annual sale in September to have new Roman shades fabricated:

In addition, I was delighted to get some designer hand-me-downs for the room: I was recently at the home of another dear designer friend, Debbie Wiener of Designing Solutions, who had decorated the media room/ sports lounge for the Washington Design Center’s Design House in 2009.

She got some huge cardboard cutouts of DC sports figures from Fathead for the room, but when she had taken down the room at the end of the Design House, she took them home, and had simply leaned them against the wall in her office. I saw them there, and asked how much she wanted for them. She said she’d be pleased if I would just take them off her hands!

Here's the Wizards' Gilbert Arenas dunking the basketball over Chal's bed.

Alexander Ovechkin and Clinton Portis duke it out over the bookcase.

Here’s how they looked in Debbie’s Design House room (much better, I know!):

You can spot Clinton and a tiny piece of Gilbert in the left corner. Photographs from The Washington Design Center.

Here's Ovechkin, and a piece of Adam's hand...

Thanks, Debbie, for letting the boys have the sports figures. And thanks, Dutch Boy, for kindly letting us play guinea pig with your paint. We had a great time with this room, and the new Roman shades, as a result of all your great comments, will cap it all off.

Who wouldn’t love to work in a place that is surrounded by beauty? This week, I became lucky enough to do just that. I started work as the marketing director at The Washington Design Center — a place I have always loved to go to see the quality and craftsmanship in more than 50 showrooms on seven floors.

We're at 300 D St. SW, at the Federal Center SW Metro. Photograph by Gordon Beall via Architectural Digest

In my first four days, I’ve only just started going to each showroom individually, but I’ve already learned some incredible stories, which we’ll share in more detail on THE NEW BLOG we’re setting up for the WDC Web site, in an effort to give designers, architects, builders — even consumers — a better glimpse into what’s going on.

But I’ll share a few nuggets here to whet your appetite:

First, Lee Jofa has a new partnership with fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, who has created fabric designs that I wanted to wrap myself up in the other day! (My blog buddie Susie Isaac of Maddie G Designs wrote a whole post about the parnership earlier this year, right here.)

From Elle Decor via Maddie G Designs

Oscar created dresses and skirts out of the fabric, and there’s a video showing the fashion show in the Kravat/Lee Jofa showroom. Some of the actual skirts will be arriving here soon, which will ultimately be auctioned off.

And upstairs in the Century showroom, where Oscar also designs furniture, showroom manager Debbie Pegher showed me a stunning photograph of a bed frame upholstered with one of his new Lee Jofa designs.

From Elle Decor via Maddie G Designs

I also spent time this week in the J. Lambeth showroom, where Ann and Jim Lambeth have been friends since I was at Washington Spaces. I adore all their lines, which include Barry Dixon’s fabric for Vervain,

and his furniture for Tomlinson/Erwin-Lambeth;

luscious pieces from the French furniture maker Grange,

and funky fabrics by Lucy Rose.

The latest news at J. Lambeth is that one of its brands, Fabricut, just acquired the venerable fabric house of Stroheim & Romann, which had its own showroom in the WDC. Now, there is major construction going on to combine the showrooms, so it will all be on the first floor, prominently located off the right side of the lobby. J. Lambeth, which has always been on two floors, will now be on one.

I also went to visit the J. Asher Carpet Couture showroom this week, where I learned that its carpets cover the grand auditorium of the Department of Interior (where I used to go to see the winning artists of the annual Duck Stamp contest!), the main house and 13 guest cabins of Camp David, and the Opera House and Concert Hall of the Kennedy Center, to name a few notable destinations. And the red and blue carpet going up the Capitol steps at each inauguration? Yup — J. Asher.

The showroom carries lines by Tufenkian, Alexa Hampton, Barbara Barry, and other lines known for their exquisitely woven designs. Here are some examples from its Web site:

I have obviously given short shrift to the many showrooms I didn’t mention in this post, which is why I’m so excited that our team is putting together a new blog for the WDC so we can celebrate them all on a regular basis.

I hope that any of you interested in stopping by to see what they have to offer will come visit me!

I really wish I had known about Shadi and Bahram Sadighian while I was writing my “Where Did You Get That?” article in this month’s Washingtonian. Their Modern Rust line of furniture, which the couple builds from scrap wood is, as the name suggests, modern and rustic at the same time.

The line came about naturally, from the Sadighians’ main company, Living Storage Quarters, which offers modern backyard sheds — another line I wish I had known about sooner.

So let’s take a small detour from the main story to gaze that these very cool little structures:

Construction of these sheds left behind a certain amount of scrap and unusable wood, but Bahram didn’t want it to go to waste.

“He would just bag them and bring them home — we had bags and bags of this stuff,” Shadi says. “We just starting making things around the house that we couldn’t find in stores.” Little by little, of course, people started finding out and asking for pieces of their own.

“Because of the [reasonable] price point, it sort of hit a chord,” Shadi says. And let’s not forget the handmade element — that custom quality that people prize so much these days, especially in a tight economy, where they want to spend their money on things that are meaningful.

Here are some more images taken from the homes of Modern Rust customers:

The work is just as meaningful to the Sadighians, who live and work in Alexandria. “It’s a lot more gratifying than anything I’ve ever done before,” Shadi says.

I’ll close with the endearing portraits of Shadi and Bahram. I’m so excited to add one more name to my growing list of local furniture makers.

Shadi

Bahram

I have a story in today’s Washington Examiner about how designer Dolly Howarth made Lisa and Martin Standiford’s new house in Alexandria into their dream home. She served both their needs, from Martin’s love of pool to Lisa’s home office, where she designs jewelry under the name Lisa Latham.

“We wanted it to be so many things, but we just couldn’t make that first step in realizing our vision,” Lisa says in the article, right here. She adds: Dolly “is an amazing listener, and she just got it.”

The examiner only had room to use a single picture each of the billiard room and office, so here you can see all the other pictures of these spaces, which Dolly had photographed by Angie Seckinger and Morgan Howarth. I also have photos from the rest of the house, which illustrate the way Dolly extended Lisa’s love of jewelry into the living and dining rooms, and how she translated the couple’s mutual love of Italian villas in their contemporary kitchen.

Dolly took the existing Oriental rug as the color inspiration for the room, and chose a non-traditional felt color for the pool table to match. She also designed the fireplace surround and built-in shelving. Photo copyright Morgan Howarth, www.morganhowarth.com

Dolly had a faux finisher paint the medallion on the ceiling. The art is a reflection of Martin's Art Deco taste. The floating demi-lune table and bar tables are all custom, topped with zebra wood. Photo copyright Morgan Howarth, www.morganhowarth.com

The billiard room was the first room to be completed, and is a favorite of the couple’s guests, Lisa says. Martin liked it so much that it gave Lisa the license to decorate the rest of the house, starting with the office.

The chrome-and-glass sawhorse table by Williams-Sonoma Home allow Lisa to see all her semi-precious stones on top and her tools below. Dolly cose lighting so she could see everything clearly. Photo by Angie Seckinger, http://angieseckinger.com

Lisa's desk sits across the room. Blu Dot desk in ivory lacquer, chair by Room & Board. Photo by Angie Seckinger, http://angieseckinger.com

"The lamp is where this all started," Dolly says of thd cobalt murano-glass lamp by Donghia. That, and fabrics by Bethesda textile designer Camilla David, dictated the jewel-tone colors on the accent walls. Note the tiny glass bead trim on the window treatments, which match the lamp. Photo by Angie Seckinger, http://angieseckinger.com

Color fills the corner of the office meant for sitting and reading. Lisa wanted white on the walls where she works to provide a neutral backdrop for the jewelry. Rug by West Elm. Photo by Angie Seckinger, http://angieseckinger.com

The rest of the house is filled with color, too. Every room contains a note of luminescence that echos Lisa’s jewelry.

Italy was the inspiration for this kitchen, but "I didn't want your typical rustic Italian," Dolly says. Think the sleek modernity of Milan, rather than the old-world influences of Rome or Florence. Photo by Angie Seckinger, http://angieseckinger.com

I love this detail with the green glass pendants, which pick up the colors in the mosaic backsplash from Renaissance Tile. The one rustic element -- the stone column -- is something you might see in the Italian countryside, but in just the right (tiny) dose. Photo by Angie Seckinger, http://angieseckinger.com

The dining room glows with color, anchored by commissioned works from Laura Edwards, whose studio is in the nearby Torpedo Factory, and lush window treatments with fabric by Duralee.

The rug is by one of my favorite designers, Thomas O'Brien, for Safavieh. Photo by Angie Seckinger, http://angieseckinger.com

The Standifords chose the chandelier by Porta Romana specifically because it looks like jewelry. The table and chairs are from another Italian company, the family-run Giorgio, which Dolly found in New York. Photo by Angie Seckinger, http://angieseckinger.com

The living room is a smooth take on mid-century modern. The riot of colors isn’t overwhelming — an effect we amateurs shouldn’t try at home!

Dolly chose an ebony stain over the purple-cast heartwood to give the shelving a deep aubergine color. The cognac-colored leather sofa is from Italy through Cliff Young Ltd. The floor lamp is from West Elm. Photo by Angie Seckinger, http://angieseckinger.com

Dolly chose these Blu Dot chairs and upholstered them in blue velvet. She found the New Moon rug at the J. Asher showroom at the Washington Design Center, which pulls everything in the room together. The painting is another work by Laura Edwards. The big dog is another nice accent! Photo by Angie Seckinger, http://angieseckinger.com

I was at the beach over the weekend, and had a chance to visit the owners of the best little home shop on the Delaware shore: Carolina Street, which I have mentioned briefly in a previous post. Dee Dee and Paul Phillips have lived in Fenwick for-EVER, and they regaled me with stories about old Fenwick history and people. It was a great hour and a half on a Saturday afternoon.

Just walking up to the shop, which of course faces Carolina Street on the corner of Coastal Highway in Fenwick Island, makes you smile:

The couple has owned this building for more than 40 years, when they first opened as antiques dealers.

The store is now housed in two buildings, separated in the middle with a courtyard containing all manner of garden pots and decorative statuary. The Phillips live above the second building, and enjoy a hidden balcony that looks down on their garden courtyard.

Here is more of what they look down at:

What a great collection of pets!

I had the pleasure of meeting the Phillips because their daughter Julia, the incredibly talented decorative artist who runs Monkon Studios with her husband, spotted my reference to their shop on this blog (more on Julia in a future post).

Dee Dee and Paul deserve lots of praise — along with most other retailers who are still in business in this lousy economy — for keeping their store open as wholesalers have cracked down, demanding payments up front or within 30 days  on furniture and accessories. In a seasonal business, especially when they ramp up for the spring/summer rush before customers arrive to spend their money — it’s incredibly difficult to manage that kind of payment schedule.

But they have such great, whimsical taste, and that’s probably what’s kept them around — there really is something for everyone.

Their home is representative of what they sell — a mix of color, antiques, and artwork and old signs that bring a smile to your face.

Most people are afraid to fill up their walls like this, but when everything has a common theme like this menagerie of the sea, it really works.

Another view, looking into the dining room.

All the color in the living room is balanced with old pieces such as this table and chairs -- a sofa table that doubles as extra dining space for guests.

The Phillips have hung signs throughout their home, which are for sale in the shop below.

On the balcony.

More inside.

Above the kitchen entry.

Downstairs, the store offers a great mix of furniture, accessories, art and gifts.

This upholstery just screams "beach!"

The art on the left wall is by Robert Knutsen, which is a huge seller here.

LOVE this rug. WANT this rug. (and the chaise on the right isn't bad, either.)

Artwork is everywhere here, along with feathered friends. But what really caught my eye is the cool quatrefoil table in a driftwood-y finish.

The Phillips are great with product display -- this collection of lanterns is its own still-life.

What a fabulous birdhouse.

And many more birdhouses perch in the front window.

If you find yourself in Ocean City, Bethany or Rehoboth during this next month (or better yet, when fall’s cooler temps set in), please go visit Dee Dee and Paul — as much for the delightful conversation as for what they have to offer. You’ll come away happy.

]]> http://dcbydesignblog.com/2010/08/at-home-on-carolina-street/feed/ 6 http://dcbydesignblog.com/2010/08/a-kitchen-renovation-by-kristin-peake/ http://dcbydesignblog.com/2010/08/a-kitchen-renovation-by-kristin-peake/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 22:57:40 +0000 Jennifer http://dcbydesignblog.com/?p=1514

I just love a good before and after story. To start off the weekend, I’ll send you off with a dramatic kitchen transformation in Potomac, Md., by designer Kristin Peake of Rockville. The gorgeous cabinetry was supplied by Jack Rosen Custom Kitchens, also in Rockville.

Here’s the finished product:

A new bar area and island replaced a "mom desk," which was moved to a study to share with dad. All "after" photos by Olson Photography

Now, look at what it used to be — an ’80s relic that Kristin brought into this century:

Here’s a shot of Kristin, obviously contemplating how she’s going to improve this space:

Now, look at the space where Kristin once stood. The window seat and chairs provide ample seating for her clients, a young couple with four children.

Kristin totally opened this space and brought so much light into it, along with lighter cabinetry, counters and furnishings. It just makes you feel like you can breathe again.

Here’s the old family room — blah:

And the new one — ahh! Kristin added bright beadboard in place of those sad shelves, and created space to hang the flat-screen TV.

And here are some more images of the working kitchen area — what a joy it must be for this family to use every day. The backsplash tile is from Architectural Ceramics.

Any of you who spend any time at all in McLean have no doubt driven up Chain Bridge Road to Rt. 123 — and for the past two years, you’ve seen this house being built:

It belongs to architect Rob Morris of Morris-Day, whose Arts and Crafts-syle houses can be found all over McLean and Arlington. Rob is known for going through houses — he’s built and lived in more than a dozen of them since co-founding Morris-Day in 1987. This house is his latest “test case,” as he says. “Each one gets a little closer to what I need.”

I love this little breezeway between the garage (with an apartment up top) to the main house -- the bright awning stripes are so cheerful.

Rob invited me over recently with photographer Thomas Arledge, who later brought his architectural photography students from CDIA to shoot the interiors.

The above snaps are mine, but below are the glorious photos shot by Thomas’ students: Erin Kelleher, Emily Ferry, Julie Patrick, Kefim Green, Helder Pereira, Dejan Stankovski, Nick Gingold, James Darby, Nicole Bedard, and teaching assistant Meaghan Gay.

The fortress-like stone exterior contrasts with the huge expanses of glass in back, which look out to the pool and the deep woods beyond. Rob notes that the stuffed animal heads are his versions of old family portraits -- they are antiques, he stresses: "I've never held a gun or pulled a trigger."

This is Rob’s soaring living room — the centerpiece of an 8,000-square-foot house with seven bedrooms — where Rob lives alone! “I come from a big family, so the notion of having large rooms and overnight guests is what a home does,” he told me. “How do you play games late at night and expect your guests to drive home?”

Rob has only lived here for a few months, and already, he’s hosted four large birthday parties for friends in addition to an open house reception that was so big that guests (including me and my husband) had to take shuttle buses from Langley High School a few miles away.

The top of the two-story living room is clad in stained glass reclaimed from a church in central Virginia. The jewel-like pendant lights seems to rain down from it. The effect is startling, especially against the traditional, lodge-like decor.

Now, here, I’m going to include my own snap taken from the second-floor balcony that overlooks the living room — it shows how the backyard pool becomes part of the living room through all that glass.

I just love these twinkly lights, which also hang in the kitchen and dining room.

Let’s turn around now toward the front of the house, where the scale comes way down.  The focus now is on the architectural elements rather than on space and light.

Interestingly, the square footage of this fireplace nook on the other side of the hall from the living room is the same as the glassed area where the piano rests -- but you'd never think that, because the context and perspectives are totally different: one encloses and protects, while the other opens and reveals. The art above the fireplace, moreover, is Rob's own work -- a study of architecture and light.

Keep walking through this hall to the left, and you see the glorious dining room.

Rob learned from one of his previous houses, which had this massive, 14-long rectangular dining table, that it was not great for conversation. So he incorporated a round table here, so every guest can interact with one another, instead of just the person beside you.

Rob, who grew up in an English-tudor style house in Columbus, Ga., has always incorporated William Morris papers into his houses, and it defines the dining space here. “William Morris had a timeless sense of gardens and romance that becomes a house,” Rob says. “It’s hard to pinpoint, but it’s definitely timeless, and it works with modern pieces.”

William Morris makes another appearance in Rob's first-floor master bedroom, which opens into a cozy study with a stately coffered ceiling and more Morris-inspired fabric in the drapes.

In keeping with Rob’s love of pre-industrial-revolution craftsmanship, he hung this 1890s Tiffany lamp over his kitchen table. It hung in the house where he grew up, and Rob has used it in every house he’s ever lived in.

This kitchen is an excellent example of how you can mix old and new. "I love old houses, but they didn't have stainless," Rob says. "I decided to celebrate that disparity." Old houses probably didn't have glass back splashes either, but insofar as they bring nature inside, they hold true to William Morris' philosophy.

Well, that ends the glorious slideshow of the professionally-shot images, but I did take a few more of my own of spaces that are really cool. Oddly enough, they all happen to be bathrooms! I guess that doesn’t surprise me that much, as bathrooms tend to be tiny workshops of design, where you can splurge on decorative elements and not overdo it.

Here is my favorite — the powder room that the guests use.

Why not elevate the scrawled notations in a public bathroom stall into an elegant design statement at a private home?

Rob says that if you don't know how to play the piano, you can't come to his house. I think he also must tell his guests that if they are not artistic and creative -- as they are here -- they can't come over, either.

Here is Rob’s master bath, an exact replica of the bath he had in his previous house in McLean’s Franklin Park — which was published in Washington Spaces.

"Showering in a greenhouse is a really nice way to shower," Rob says. There is a rain shower head in the ceiling, so this entire room -- which looks out to the woods in back -- is the shower.

One of the guest baths, which has a nautical theme complete with its own porthole -- the small round window you can see on the front of the house.

I love the black, white and gray in this other bath -- especially the dramatic all-black tub. You can just see a portion of the William Morris wallpaper in the upper right.

I didn’t get an opportunity to talk much about the landscaping, which is still not fully complete in the back, but Mark White of Garden Wise first alerted me to Rob’s house when he wrote to tell me about the special challenges of landscaping a house whose front is exposed to so much pollution from the steady stream of cars on Chain Bridge Road.

He chose plantings both appropriate for the conditions and near and dear to Rob’s southern heart: Southern Magnolia, Camellia and Azaleas. He also included Yoshino cherry trees, the same as the ones along the Tidal Basin. I’ll close with a quote from Mark, which perfectly describes the house and surrounding property:

“The concept of the property from beginning to end, or rather from front to back, is to take a coarse, dangerous and brutal space, and immediately make it fortress-like from first sight. Then, with each single step from the street, the property transforms itself into a more defenseless and exposed space, slowly becoming more transparent, vulnerable, intimate, and finally Eden-like once you’ve reached the final rear space.  Like peeling an onion, the property reveals itself slowly, using color, texture and some pretty incredible design elements.”

It’s not uncommon for designers to partner with great photographers to shoot their projects. In this case, designer Sue Burgess married hers. Gordon Beall, whose work can be seen in Architectural Digest, The Washington Post, and Darryl Carter’s book The New Traditional, has taken pictures of the town and country homes they share in Chevy Chase and Upperville, Va.

A hallway leads to the living room in the Chevy Chase house.

A vignette from the Upperville bedroom

I profiled both houses in the current issue of Bethesda Magazine in the wake of a new book out this year called Designers Here and There: Inside the City and Country Homes of America’s Top Designers by Michele Keith.

In the story (which sadly is not online), Sue describes how her Chevy Chase house is decorated to the hilt in fine antiques and tailored looks. She wanted the Upperville house to be more relaxed, and filled it mostly with items taken out of storage in Chevy Chase. She plans a major renovation of the Upperville house in the next year or so, so she didn’t want to use anything that she didn’t mind parting with later on.

Gordon expertly shot both houses — Sue insists that the country house is merely populated with castoffs, but her trash is our treasure, as you will see below.

CHEVY CHASE

This monumental Biedermeier chest in the living room is an example of precious antiques that won't be replicated in the country, Sue says.

My favorite space -- the kitchen.

The dining room. Sue's stark walls and floor coverings allow the fine antiques and artwork to shine.

Sue had limestone specially cut for the fireplace surrounds. She also had all the drapery hardware custom made by Barry Remley at Salvations Architectural Furnishings in Silver Spring.

The quietly elegant and formal bedroom.

I adore Gordon's detail here of the clock on the bedroom dresser, flanked by cool blue-gray succulents.

UPPERVILLE

The living room, with upholstery by Perennials indoor/outdoor fabrics that are impervious to spills -- and Sue and Gordon's dog.

Sue used panels from an old show house as window treatments in the dining room. The painting is by the owner of Oly Studio, my favorite furnishings manufacturer. She pulled the massive candlesticks, given to her by her father, from storage. The benches are also leftovers from Chevy Chase.

The mirror is from one of Sue's trips to Paris. The huge doors were a find from Leesburg -- she used them in a couple doorways to make the builder-grade entries seem more grand.

I sooo love this kitchen detail. Sue had everything in the kitchen, including tacky salmon-colored laminate counters, painted white so she could bear to look at it until a new kitchen is built with the renovation. She added the open shelves and light fixture.

The pleasing guest room, which features prints from the Paris flea markets that Sue had had in storage for years. She overlaid several white hide rugs on the floor.

A striking detail in the guest room.

This is my favorite image -- hand-painted Oriental silk screens in the master bedroom that feature stags in the countryside. Sue says they represent the horse country where Upperville is located without the cliché hunt scenes that have riders in red jackets.

Sue is the only DC-area designer featured in Designers Here and There. Other notables that are included are Barclay Butera, Eric Cohler and Vicente Wolf. You can get it right here.

Got to hand it to Sandy Steele — she’s persistent in the sweetest way! For months she’s been asking me to drive out to Frederick, MD, to see her new shop, The Loft at Antique Imports. Well, I finally went out there, and I CAN’T BELIEVE I didn’t go sooner.

Basically, she takes high-end custom furnishings and accessories from designers, who for whatever reason don’t need them. Maybe a client didn’t want it anymore, or it was used for a show house and is now languishing in storage, or a client is redoing a house and tossing a perfectly great piece to make way for a new look.

I especially love this sleek Shaker-style coffee table,

and armoire.

The prices are ridiculously cheap — sometimes up to 75 percent off retail. All styles are represented based on what comes in from week to week.

These vintage Hans J. Wegner chairs caught my eye.

These two tiny tables came from a designer whose client was getting rid of them to redecorate her $6 million house.

Anyone in the mood for Moroccan? This chair is one of a pair.

I love this farm table — its warm glossy finish evokes comfort itself.

Sandy also does great business with upholstered pieces. These sweet tailored chairs are ready for a tea party:

(note the cool mid-century end table, too)

And in this case, the client ordered the sofa below from her designer, but decided she didn’t want it after all. Sandy told me the fabric was $300 per yard.

The accessories are adorable, too.

This pair of elegant round tables would look great in almost any setting.

And as you wander the building’s two levels (soon to be three), you see great vintage relics from the old building that at one time was a tobacco barn. Sandy says they went through and painted all the walls in Ben Moore’s Navajo White, but left the piping as-is. An old fire hose also adds character to the surroundings.

So, if you’re unsure whether to commit to driving all the way out to Frederick (which is about an hour from my house in Arlington) just do it — frequently, because Sandy’s inventory changes every week, and the prices are seriously insane.

The Loft at AI

125 East Street

Frederick, MD 21701

301.662.6205

info@theloftatai.com