“That was the commencing of the full hard work — a extensive-phrase multigeneration venture,” states Tony, who runs his possess authorities contracting business.
At very first, all options were being on the table. Renovate the bachelor pad. Obtain a new dwelling. Make the custom made house of their desires. No make any difference what, no stairs.
Their household sat on a lot that would have cramped a new solitary-tale property. So a teardown was crossed off the record. They toured other destinations, but both didn’t adore the model or the multilevel living.
“We ended up seeking to keep away from the stairs — one-floor residing is where it is at,” suggests Melissa, an OB/GYN. “The extra we talked about that, our possibilities were being zero.”
So the pair tapped into the local real estate agent awareness bank and obtained a guide on two adjacent 5-acre loads a several miles away. They bought both of those in 2018 for $2.5 million. A dwelling was currently on the land, but a fire destroyed it yrs previously. The household was in no way fixed and finished up staying demolished.
Additional inquiries posed to the referral community led the spouse and children to architect James McDonald, a principal at James McDonald Affiliate Architects, dependent in Good Falls.
McDonald experienced worked with Tony on a tiny bathroom transform at his earlier residence, but this was a additional ambitious job. The pair showed McDonald photos of homes they preferred, like Florida villas.
“They have been on the lookout for one particular-amount living, a ton of conversation involving the indoors and the outside, and a spot for his business office facilities,” McDonald claims.
All through a two-hour style charrette (a period of style or preparing exercise), McDonald sketched out the basics of what would become a property with a 6,000-square-foot major-floor living location not counting a total basement, two a few-vehicle garages and an indoor swimming pool.
The style procedure took a 12 months. The development lasted 16 months. Many classes were being realized alongside the way.
“I want we experienced engaged an inside designer before in the method,” says Melissa. “Certain items became personalized by two inches or two ft, when we could have made use of standard dimensions, experienced we recognized.”
Martha Vicas, a principal at D.C.-based mostly M.S. Vicas Interiors, was chosen to assist shepherd the project towards completion. Whilst the Colangelos confess to obtaining slightly different preferences, Vicas wasn’t vexed.
“It is unusual to discover a pair that is absolutely aligned on type,” Vicas suggests. “I try out to give every human being a little bit of what they want while doing what is suitable for the area.”
A referral from Vicas led the spouse and children to the upcoming member of the style and design crew, Jordan Clough, a senior affiliate at Joseph Richardson Landscape Architecture, also based mostly in Washington. Component of Clough’s job was graciously framing the expansive home on to the website.
“The property is a one-tale but has some fantastic dimensions to it,” Clough suggests. “We preferred to provide the dwelling back again down to scale in the landscape and soften the changeover from the Good Falls vernacular of horse paddocks.”
Terraced walls and a stepped-up entrance are bordered by tricky native plantings which includes river birch and Southern Magnolia trees, together with catmint and creeping juniper. Foreseeable future ideas consist of a path program for the small children.
The household decided to go with a layout-bid-build scenario to place the home with each other. The arrangement separates the contracts for style and design solutions and the builder, who in this scenario was Artisan Builders, dependent in McLean, Va.
A round motor court docket delivers obtain to the nonetheless-evolving estate with customized touches starting at the 11-foot, pivoting front door. Tony ties the one of a kind gateway back again to a article observed on Pinterest. A barrel ceiling hallway illuminated by hidden cove lights beckons towards the principal dwelling space. Melissa’s place of work is to the still left and attributes a tray ceiling and an accent wall protected in an summary-patterned wallpaper. There is a mixture of crafted-in drawers and open shelving for storage. Farther down the corridor, there’s a powder area, an elevator to the basement and a coat closet.
All the flooring on the most important degree are prefinished, engineered European oak. The hallway opens into the good area, which shares an open plan with the dining area and the kitchen. The good place has 15-foot ceilings with a window wall searching out on to the yard. Recessed sliding doorways open up on to a framed-in loggia outfitted with electronically controlled screens that can be dropped in the course of bug season.
The screens turned out to be specifically difficult, because the relatives home sales opportunities to an arched loggia, claims Steve Yeonas Jr., a spouse at Artisan Builders.
“We had to lookup the state to discover the display that goes up in the center of the arch,” Yeonas suggests. “It’s about 20 feet tall and 20 ft extensive, and there was only one dude in the country that would even do it.”
The good space accent wall incorporates banquette seating on each sides of a stone fire and chimney mix created by Vicas.
“We wished to make something that we had never observed before,” Vicas suggests. “We settled on a wall of oak slate, limestone and diverse forms of custom made leather and suede panels. The consequence is tons of delicate texture that drove the design and style of the entire space.”
The living space has two seating places with the dining home separating the house from the kitchen. When yet again, the family tapped their network and employed the corporation Lobkovich, primarily based in Tysons, Va., to cope with kitchen design duties.
The fridge is Sub-Zero and there are two cooktops the two by Wolf, a combination of an induction device and a 15-inch fuel unit. The double wall ovens are also Wolf, and there is a steam oven by Miele. The dishwashers are Bosch. The kitchen area counter tops are quartzite.
J. Paul Lobkovich, president of the kitchen structure corporation, was tasked with coming up with an oven hood that could match the chimney in the living area.
The hood is deemed the “face of the kitchen area,” due to the fact it is a notable element in quite a few kitchen types, Lobkovich says. The kitchen is instantly reverse from the living area fire, and “we wished to mirror the structure of the fire without having currently being literal,” he claims. So, we interpreted the design and style and created a one of a kind steel hood that references the fire layout to give the space some equilibrium.”
A ‘20-calendar year existence cycle’
The proper wing of the property includes two bedrooms for the young children, a guest suite and the principal suite with an exterior doorway to the loggia. The main toilet functions a rain shower in a curbless enclosure with aspect jets and a stand-by yourself soaking tub. There are two matching painted wood vanities with nickel inlay trim and quartzite tops. Window coverings in the primary bathtub had been nixed in exchange for electrochromic home windows that convert frosted at the drive of a button.
The remaining wing of the property involves the twin garages, every with business area over. The 12 months-spherical indoor pool measures 18 by 65 toes and is tucked powering the garages. A Victorian-style greenhouse imported from England stands on the residence. There is also a time-telling, personalized armillary (a sphere of objects) with markings of the children’s birthdays. The basement involves a wine room, engage in area and household theater. The Colangelos wish to continue to keep the development costs non-public, but flipping the completely custom estate does not appear to be to be in the cards.
“When we had been making decisions about what to do on the house, regardless of whether it was structural or a design aspect, we were being pondering about a 20-year life cycle,” says Tony. “We weren’t constrained by the have to have to flip the house — we’re thinking strategically, not tactically.”
