Transitional Row Home in Capitol Hill, Washington, DC
Project Overview
Our clients purchased this older home in Capitol Hill, a neighborhood they loved, however the house needed a lot of love itself in order to be comfortably habitable. The interior was in deep distress, and the sleeping porch off the rear was structurally unsound. They asked us to build a large primary suite, guest suite, 3 bedrooms, an office, and a home gym. So, we decided to gut the whole house, leaving only the original center staircase to make laying out the new floorplan much simpler. We also removed the potentially dangerous porch in the rear and built an addition, to make sure we had room for 3 full bedrooms on the second floor.
Design + Layout
With the original staircase bisecting the main floor, we wanted to create a sense of connectedness between the kitchen in the rear and the living room up front. We made sure to preserve the tall windows in the front, and add plenty of windows and a glass door with a transom window in the kitchen, to allow light to pass all the way through. The exposed brick on the staircase headed upstairs serves as a reminder of the house’s age and history, while vintage exposed beams and closet doors provide the same function in the primary suite upstairs. In order to achieve this look with the exposed structural beams, we brought the ceiling line up to the roof, eliminating what had been a small insulated crawl space, and leaving the original wood on full display.
Style + Finishes
Our clients favored a transitional style, with several nods throughout to the home’s original construction. The reclaimed doors and exposed beams of the primary suite are a highlight, but the vintage styling continued into other spaces, evident in the weathered cabinets and vanity of the primary suite, the original stair rail, and the wide-plank red oak flooring. We also left our fair share of modern touches, however, with the angular light fixtures, the crisp lines and refined grayscale of the kitchen, and the decidedly modern farmhouse exterior.