NORTHWEST DC

Location, Location, Location. The old and well used mantra of the real estate world applies to this home in the Georgetown enclave of Washington DC. The home is nestled on a quiet, tree-lined street just minutes from the center of The Capitol. With easy access to schools, shopping and corporate offices the clients purchased a 1950’s Georgian Colonial and turned it over to the Monarch Dream Team with the commission to create a Napa Valley house. Calling the effort to make a 1950’s D.C. Colonial into a 2019 California ranch a ‘stretch’ is a truly a stretch. The team pushed and prodded the existing plan by 50% into the home one sees today. An active family with four young children requires a certain focus of design. Layered on top of that design is an active adult lifestyle that requires an ability to entertain dozens of friends and corporate clients on a continual basis.

First, the bones of the home had to be re-worked. Small windows were replaced with massive Nana Doors that allowed the indoor and outdoor spaces to be seamlessly connected. Colonial railings were replaced with steel and stone and limestone floors replaced dated oak.

The color palate is purposely centered around the movement from warm to cool greys. Moldings and over-wrought architectural elements are nonexistent. The walls are manipulated to be simple canvass of white on which great art is placed. One of the amazing aspects of the home is how light plays off planes of white and grey, moving in and out of intensity as the sun circles the home. The house is truly a piece of visual art in and of itself. The furnishings are a lesson in subtlety, understatement and texture. Natural fibers from jute to Alpaca to silk complete the textural construction. Wood-stains transition from white to dark grey as a woodsy foil to the textures of the fabrics.

Georgetown now has a classic California Napa Valley home to replace the 1950’s classic Georgian Colonial. Mission accomplished.