A Chevy Chase Village Home Renovation Balances Historic Charm and Contemporary Style

The family-friendly neighborhood and the relatively open floor plan with formal living and dining rooms in the front and an adjacent kitchen and family room in the back combined traditional entertaining spaces with a modern flow that the owners desired. The home feels like it belongs in this historic district, but it features contemporary interiors.

Purchased in 2015, there’s an advantage to living in a home for years before renovating, including determining what works and what doesn’t, what you want to keep and what you don’t. “We already loved the home but wanted to make it more our style and even better for our family,” the owner adds.

Essentially the entire home underwent a top-to-bottom renovation, including the unfinished third floor, where the potential for two additional bedrooms and a full bathroom came to light. “We always knew we wanted to capture that space,” the owner says. The home went from four to six bedrooms and from five bathrooms to five full bathrooms and two powder rooms. “The goal of the whole house renovation was to make it uniquely their own, combining a mix of their lovely antiques with fresh, new furniture and lighting, where they can enjoy a lifetime in a home that reflects their lifestyle,” says Anderson. “It’s comfortable, stylish, and perfectly timeless.”

Among the most dramatic changes was the kitchen overhaul. “The kitchen was the basis of how everything else was designed,” Anderson adds. The original island pendants blocked the view from the window, so by elevating the lighting, adding decorative elements such as fretwork on the cabinetry, and using a natural stone on the counters, the space came together.

The couple’s biggest leap of faith was the choice of color for the cabinets. “Sometimes it looks blue, sometimes it looks green; it’s kind of a chameleon color that changes with the light,” the homeowner says. Painted in Benjamin Moore’s Quiet Moments, the cabinet tone evokes a sense of peace and brings the owners’ love of color into the big picture. While the wife grew up in Oklahoma, where everything was more earth-toned, the husband grew up in a New York City apartment filled with Latin American art and vibrant hues. This home for their family of four now reflects a balance of color and calm.

In the formal living room off the foyer, the designer and owner celebrated their panache for European décor by incorporating a Pierre Frey patterned wallcovering. “We made the space cozy, yet sophisticated,” adds Anderson. For the dining room across the foyer, a bit of gold gilding along the panel moldings adds an air of elegance, while the chandelier anchors the space.

Crown moldings were replicated throughout the home, and flooring was refinished with a warmer stain. Most of the windows in the home were replaced as well, including in the primary bedroom sitting nook. The box bay window alcove now holds a fringed love seat for evening reflections. “We knew we wanted a proper sitting area,” the owner says, for when they turn on the gas fireplace at night and read.

They took some space from the bedroom and expanded the closet, as well as remodeled the primary bathroom. Keeping the footprint, the bathroom now includes a makeup vanity under the window and a freestanding tub. They also added another bathroom for their daughter and turned the Jack and Jill bath into a private bathroom for their son.

The owners now love the interiors as much as they cherish the home’s bones and location and credit Anderson with making the home’s colorful, yet relaxing aesthetic their own.