Choosing Art
Local designers offer tips on how to banish blank walls.
When Anne McCloud and her fiance, Mark Graham, moved into their Herndon home two years ago, with the exception of a large, deep red Chesterfield sofa, a present from Anne’s parents, the furniture they had was left over from graduate school: a tattered antique chair in need of reupholstering and two side tables.
Home for the Holidays
Amateur chef Dave Mulligan gets the kitchen of his dreams ... just in time for Thanksgiving.
As Dave Mulligan tells it, he owes the long-coveted "blue eyes" granite countertops now in his kitchen to events that started with a leaking shower one floor above.
Mount Vernon Home Sales: September, 2013
In September 2013, 90 homes sold between $3,000,000-$77,000 in the Mount Vernon area.
Mount Vernon Home Sales: September, 2013
Decorating for Fall
Local designers offer suggestions for bringing the harvest into your home.
The colors of autumn are all around as pumpkins and squash fill produce stands and leaves change from green to orange, red and yellow before falling from their branches. Local designers and tastemakers are unveiling home accents that bring the warm hues of the season into the home. Whether using pillows, throws or flowers, adding the colors and textures of fall requires less effort than one might expect. “Emerald green, orange and turquoise are three of the biggest color trends we’re seeing,” said Marcus Browning of European Country Living in Old Town Alexandria. “Throws and pillows are a given, but you can also tie in traditional and modern accessories with rugs, stained glass lamps with modern or intricate designs.” Small trays provide a canvas for highlighting color and adding functionality to a room, says Marika Meyer of Marika Meyer Interiors in Bethesda, Md. “Color and pattern are in right now,” she said. “I just purchased the C. Wonder (http://www.cwonder.com) navy and white chevron tray for my home. It adds a punch of color and freshness to a room. Preppy is back in a big way, too, offering lots of patterns.”
Half of Fairfax Schools Accredited with Warning are in Mount Vernon Area
Students up and down the Route 1 corridor struggle to meet minimum standards in science.
Poor and Latino students clustered along the Route 1 corridor are struggling to keep up with standardized test scores, according to a report issued last week by the Virginia Department of Education.
Mount Vernon Home Sales: August, 2013
In August 2013, 140 homes sold between $1,195,000-$76,125 in the Mount Vernon area.
Mount Vernon Home Sales: August, 2013
Big Ideas for Small Spaces
Local designers offer ideas for decorating small rooms.
Whether one is sprucing up a small powder room or decorating a studio apartment, space limitations often pose a design challenge. However, local designers say that no matter how a small space’s square footage or how awkward the layout, there are plenty of decorative cures for small spaces. Whether one is sprucing up a small powder room or decorating a studio apartment, space limitations often pose a design challenge. However, local designers say that no matter how a small space’s square footage or how awkward the layout, there are plenty of decorative cures for small spaces.
Like Magic
New plan in built-out 1940s colonial gains vital square footage as young family looks ahead.
In the end, a skillful spatial reconfiguration is like a deft magician's trick — you've seen it with your own eyes, but you still can't figure out how they did it. “Really, I don't know how this plan created so much more usable space,” Alexandria resident Alice Goulet said, discussing a recent reconfiguration to several rooms in the family's 1,800-square-foot center-hall Colonial.
Mount Vernon Home Sales: July, 2013
In July 2013, 124 homes sold between $1,195,000-$76,125 in the Mount Vernon area.
Mount Vernon Home Sales: July, 2013
Is Your Home Ready for Back to School?
Local designers offer tips for creating functional and stylish homework spaces.
Summer will soon come to an end, and children everywhere will be heading back to school and coming home with homework. To keep students engaged and excited, some local designers offer suggestions for creating a space so fun and inviting that your children will want to hang out there — even if that means doing homework.
Outdoor Elegance Meets Cutting Edge Technology
A design/build team explores fine architecture in weather-resistant materials.
If anything in the summer of 2013 points to still evolving homeowner expectations, it may be the frequency with which locals are integrating screen porches, patios, fire pits, and outdoor kitchens into original landscaping schemes that artfully marry the house to its setting.
Keeping Pets Safe
Veterinary experts say common household items can harm animals.
Did you know that a bowl of grapes sitting on your counter can be fatal to your dog or that a bouquet of fragrant lilies could be lethal to a cat? Were you aware that a stick of gum might cause a life-threatening canine emergency? Veterinary experts say that while pet hazards are lurking around almost every home, many pet owners are unaware of them. From favorite foods to over-the-counter-pain relievers, a number of common household items are dangerous to family pets.
Mount Vernon Real Estate: May 2013 Top Sales
In May 2013, 157 homes sold between $1,400,000-$65,000 in the Mount Vernon area.
Mount Vernon Real Estate: May 2013 Top Sales
Mount Vernon Home Sales: June, 2013
In June 2013, 165 homes sold between $1,278,000-$78,000 in the Mount Vernon area.
Mount Vernon Home Sales: June, 2013
Housing’s Roaring Rebound?
Pent-up demand creates seller’s market for Northern Virginia real estate.
In February, Patricia Stack, a broker with Weichert Realtors, held an open house for a single-family home for sale in Vienna just listed for $739,000. Within three hours, more than 70 people toured the home. “The home went under contract substantially above list price,” Stack said. “2013 has started with a bang in Northern Virginia real estate. In fact, it appears to be a market more like 2005-2006 than anything we've seen since,” Stack said.