NARI CotY “Finalist” Award Winner 2012

This project entailed integrating two adjacent condominium units into one. The two condominiums are in a 1907 Beaux Arts style building in Washington’s Adams Morgan neighborhood. The owners who are contemporary art collectors wanted to keep their existing 2- bedroom condo and combine it with their adjacent 1-bedroom unit.

Brief Explanation of the Scope of Work

This project entailed integrating two adjacent condominium units into one. The two condominiums are in a 1907 Beaux Arts style building in Washington’s Adams Morgan neighborhood. The owners who are contemporary art collectors wanted to keep their existing 2- bedroom condo and combine it with their adjacent 1-bedroom unit. It was important to them to have ample wall space for exhibiting their art and adequate lighting to showcase the art. The original 2-bedroom unit became the couple’s the more public rooms where their art collection is primarily exhibited. The 1-bedroom unit became their master bedroom suite with bathroom, large walk-in closet, and a laundry room and storage area opening into the kitchen.

Before – Dining Hall

After – Dining Hall

The kitchen remained in its original space, but was completely renovated. The owners of these two 1907 apartments wanted to preserve, restore, or add matching plaster crown molding, wood trim profiles, light fixtures, doors, crystal knob mortised door hardware, and the existing heart pine floors. Any new fixtures, flooring, doors or hardware had to match or complement the existing architectural finishes.

Before – Kitchen

After – Kitchen

Unusual Constraints/Challenges & Creative Solutions

The new floor plan integrates the two units seamlessly providing excellent flow. The owners wanted two points of access to the master bedroom suite—one is through the dining room and the other through the kitchen, connecting the kitchen to the new laundry room and storage area. In the process of connecting the new master bedroom suite with the dining room, at the request of the owners we also enlarged the dining room and created a niche designed to display a piece of video art.

Because of the age of the building there were a number of challenges. Preserving the heart pine floors was a priority and finding recycled heart pine and matching the finishes was a challenge. The floor levels were not even and had to be leveled. The existing plaster walls had to be either taken down or furred out so that new electrical and plumbing lines could be installed. Some walls were replaced and some were thickened with new plaster. In the master bedroom the ceiling had to be lowered to install recessed lighting.

Before – Master Bedroom

After – Master Bedroom

The kitchen presented another challenge. We had to bump out the wall by four inches where the kitchen sink was located so that we could run the plumbing and electrical lines inside the wall instead of directly them through the exterior wall. We ran the plumbing and electrical through this 4-inch bump out and ledge rather than running it through the cabinets as had previously been done.

Very high quality materials were used in the kitchen. Custom cabinets were built from Lyptus wood stained chestnut and Bianco Antico granite was used on the countertops. In the bathroom we used Arabescato Carrara marble. Extensive custom cabinets were built for the walk-in closet area. The owner requested that the closets be detailed and constructed so that they would look original to the building. They wanted the interior of the closets to be built from solid wood.

Before – Master Bathroom

After – Master Bathroom

Final Results

We gracefully joined the two apartments creating a logical flow to the space. We maintained the historial details of the apartment while integrating it with a modern, high-end new kitchen and bathroom. We enlarged the owners’ dining room and created ample large wall expanses for exhibiting their artwork.

Before – Floor Plan

After – Floor Plan