Row House Remodel in Dupont Circle, Washington, DC
Project Overview
This row home, just a couple blocks away from DC’s bustling Dupont Circle, came into our orbit back in 2014. The homeowner wanted to completely redo the interior: A tall order, since, as with many of these types of homes in DC, the floorplan was narrow but included a basement and reached up three floors above. However, we were able to rise to the occasion, performing a full gut of all four floors, digging out the basement slab to gain more headroom, and portioning the rear half of the basement into an English-style unit, with separate electric, HVAC, and plumbing lines.
Design + Layout
The full gut gave us a blank slate with which to work. We took advantage of the opportunity to shuffle many interior features around, including the staircases, which previously ran laterally, taking up a lot of space and breaking up the flow of the house. We reconfigured them to run along one of the party walls which allowed for a more seamless flow from front to back. The basement was portioned off, with the front half becoming part of the main house as a home gym, and the back half a separate rental unit with a small bath and kitchenette. We arranged the first floor traditionally, with a living room in the front, a powder and dining room in the middle, and the kitchen at the rear with large accordion doors opening on to the outdoor kitchen we built in the backyard. The second floor had additional bathrooms and bedrooms, with the third floor housing the large primary suite with a custom walk-in closet, and a bathroom with a freestanding tub and spacious standing shower.
Style + Finishes
We tended towards a minimal and refined style throughout the house. The first floor, with dark wide-plank hardwood floors, slim black shelves, and a subdued white and gray palette in the kitchen, leaves room for the light and greenery of the backyard to flow in through the back doors. We followed the same blueprint for the second floor bed and bathrooms, with a lighter floor stain. On the third floor, the primary bedroom features the same lighter floorboards, with a fabric headboard wall. The bathroom is clad with large format slate tiles, providing contrast for the natural wood vanity and lighter stone tile backsplash.