This Family Moved From L.A. to Baltimore for One Really Good House—That They'd Never Seen in Person

This article details the journey of a Great Falls couple who embarked on a 12-year project to build their dream home, rather than opting for a renovation. The 6,500-square-foot, four-bedroom French manor house was designed with family, entertaining, and travel in mind, reflecting the homeowners' personalities and interests. McLean-based interior designer Maria Galiani played a pivotal role in bringing their vision to life. The couple acquired the property in 2005, initially living in a 1970s ranch house located at the rear. By 2010, they decided to demolish the existing structure and build a new home, finding that renovating the old house was impractical due to various regulations. They collaborated with Sekas Homes, who modified their initial plans to construct a brick-and-stone French manor. Sekas Homes also strategically positioned the new house closer to the front of the property, converting the former ranch house site into a swimming pool. Galiani's initial contributions focused on selecting essential finishes, such as bathroom tiles, paint colors, and flooring. The homeowner expressed a desire for a warm, European-country aesthetic with rustic yet chic elements. Hickory floors with varied tones were chosen to achieve an informal feel throughout the home. Six years into the project, Galiani was re-engaged to upgrade the living and dining rooms. The homeowner's favorite color, purple, influenced the selection of Benjamin Moore's Elephant Gray for the walls. A significant enhancement to the dining room was the creation of a custom mantel feature wall. This design was inspired by an antique ornamental zinc window from the Perry flats building in Toledo, Ohio, which Galiani incorporated above the fireplace, replacing its glass with a mirror. To maintain symmetry, long mirrors were mounted on either side of the fireplace, framed by a striking cast stone wall. The dining area was furnished with elegant, unfussy pieces, including slipper dining chairs and a hide rug. Custom cornices were added to both the dining and living rooms to introduce a touch of formality, and consistency was achieved by using the same geometric-patterned linen draperies and matching grid-patterned hide rugs, ensuring continuity between the two cased-opening rooms. The most recent phase of renovations, completed in 2021, focused on the primary bedroom. Previously, the 489-square-foot room had angled ceiling lines and two small closets. Galiani's redesign aimed to square off the angled eaves, which had visually constrained the space, creating a more cohesive look. Although this process reduced the room's square footage by 40 square feet, the lost space was reclaimed as integrated storage. The two smaller closets were combined into a single, expansive walk-in closet, complete with a custom storage island featuring Fantasy Brown marble. On the opposite side of the room, Galiani added a feature wall incorporating integrated storage, a television, and a gas fireplace, complemented by cozy furnishings. The previously plain tray ceiling was embellished with a custom design of mitered box beams stained in a dark brown finish, adding a purposeful architectural element. The homeowners expressed satisfaction with their transformed home, which now offers improved functionality and intentional design. #HomeDesign #GreatFalls #InteriorDesign #MariaGaliani #HomeBuilding #LuxuryHome #CustomHome #ArchitecturalDesign

A Falls Church family embarked on a comprehensive gut remodel between 2022 and 2023, converting their 1950s-era, 1,522-square-foot, three-bedroom rambler into a 3,052-square-foot, five-bedroom, two-story residence. The motivation for this extensive renovation was the need for expanded living space and increased storage to accommodate their growing children, coupled with their strong attachment to their existing neighborhood. Batu Homes + Remodeling, a design-build firm, was responsible for the architectural planning, while Juli Brocato, founder and principal designer of Brocato Design + Co., oversaw the interior design aspects, including material and finish selections, custom feature designs, and ultimately, the furnishing of the home. The homeowner's primary objective was a cohesive and functional living space for the entire family, characterized by a unique style and personality. The remodel included replacing the original single bathroom with multiple en suite bathrooms. The rear of the house was reconfigured to prioritize a large kitchen, pantry, and mudroom, with the dining and family rooms designed to be open to the kitchen, fulfilling the family's desire for an expansive kitchen and pantry area suitable for communal cooking and ample storage. The design incorporated a quiet autumnal color palette, featuring greens and warm wood tones, with a specific midcentury-modern aesthetic in mind. In the kitchen, the design team opted for clean-lined inset cabinetry in green, complemented by a contrasting black-and-white tiled wall. A custom white oak island, providing significant storage, was paired with white oak herringbone flooring. The island's textured granite countertop contrasts with the quartzite used for the peripheral countertops. To soften the rectilinear nature of the kitchen, Brocato incorporated curved plush counter stools and repeated arched motifs in the backsplash tiles. This arch motif is consistently applied throughout the home, appearing in four custom-designed bookcases in the adjacent family room and in other furnishings. Wallpaper is utilized extensively, with a watercolor-style covering on the upper landing and a moody botanical pattern adorning the ceiling of the wife's home office, adding a feminine touch that balances the more masculine lines of the midcentury-modern furniture. Each space was tailored to the family's specific needs, exemplified by the mudroom's individualized cabinets and baskets for each family member, including their dog, alongside a command center for organization. The family room's custom bookcases include lower storage for games, crafts, and puzzles, and a durable concrete dining table was chosen for its suitability for children's projects, reflecting a preference for practical, unfussy elements. Most furniture pieces are low-profile and clean-lined, upholstered in performance fabrics such as boucle and plush velvets. Tan leather, seen in the dining room chairs and a family room ottoman, also features prominently. A custom-designed fireplace wall and hearth, with a gas fireplace and a chunky white oak mantle, anchors the family room. Area rugs and light fixtures are strategically used to define distinct zones within the open floor plan. The color scheme leans into shades of green, with metallic accents like brassy gold and wrought iron, and varying wood tones contributing to the overall aesthetic. The front staircase wall showcases slatted wood, adding texture and warmth while ingeniously concealing a shoe storage drawer, highlighting the blend of function and design. This slatted wood motif extends to the main bedroom's tray ceiling and even appears in the bathroom, where a faux tile mimics a wooden look within the shower and on the vanity wall. A variegated tile wall behind the floating bathtub incorporates the favored green hues, and polished brass fittings enhance the home's restrained luxurious feel. The homeowner expressed satisfaction with the house's stylish yet functional design, crediting the builder for the floor plan optimization and the designer for injecting the midcentury-modern flair into the fixtures, furnishings, and décor. This transformation effectively met the family's evolving needs while maintaining a desired aesthetic. #HomeRemodel #FallsChurchHome #MidcenturyModern #InteriorDesign #FamilyHome #CustomCabinetry #KitchenDesign #FunctionalDesign #ArchitecturalRenovation