During Georgetown’s French Market, more than 30 shops will take over Book Hill, the front lawn of the Georgetown public library. In addition to stocking up on cool antiques and accessories—at home stores like For Your Home, Cherry Antiques, Sixteen Fifty-Nine, and Darrell Dean—you also can pick out new items for your closet from boutiques including Sassanova, Sugar, and Urban Chic. Merchandise will be up to 70 percent off.
Friday, April 25, and Saturday, April 26, 11 AM to 6 PM. Book Hill, along Wisconsin Avenue, between P Street and Reservoir Road.

The Luxury Home and Design Expo showcases decorating and remodeling ideas from dozens of exhibitors—from kitchen designers to landscape architects to furniture stores. Design seminars and demonstrations from experts on everything from mosaic tiling to stenciling take place throughout the weekend.
Saturday, April 26, and Sunday, April 27, 10 AM to 6 PM. Sheraton Premiere, Tysons Corner, 8661 Leesburg Pike, Vienna.

Considering a kitchen renovation? The Kitchens of Annapolis Tour kicks off with a seminar about design trends and tips, then lets visitors wander through 16 kitchens in downtown Annapolis and Eastport. A shuttle takes participants from house to house.
Saturday, April 26, 2 to 7 PM. Seminar, lunch and tour, $85; seminar and lunch, $65; tour, $25. Call 410-267-8146 for more.

For more posts on home design and real estate, click here.

• About $900,000 worth of grants are being allocated to the preservation of historic homes in Anacostia. [DC Metrocentric]

• The former site of Bob & Edith’s restaurant in Arlington might soon make room for an apartment building with ground-level retail space. [WBJ]

• The District’s property on the corner of Seventh Street and Rhode Island Avenue, NW, is set to house a mixed-use development with retail space and more than 100 apartment units. [DC Metrocentric ]

A historic Georgetown home is showcasing the work of 15 interior designers. Stop by to get decorating inspiration from such local talents as Frank Babb Randolph, Michael Roberson, David Mitchell, Barry Dixon, and Kelley Proxmire. The house—a three-bedroom, four-story red-brick home that was formerly a boys school—was recently renovated and is on the market for $4 million.

Although the designer showcase runs through May 11, the house is one of ten that will be part of the Georgetown House Tour this Saturday. The annual event draws hundreds who want to take a peek inside the neighborhood’s gorgeous homes.

DC Design House, 3014 P Street, NW; Tuesday to Friday, 10 to 3, Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5. Open April 19 to May 11. Tickets are $20 and benefit Children’s National Medical Center.

Where: 7724 Georgetown Pike, McLean
List price: $11,250,000
Time on the market: 12 days
Bedrooms: 9
Bathrooms: 17

So yeah, there was another little setback. After I did the work under my construction loan, I wanted to refinance to bring down my FHA 203(k) interest rate. The final step of my construction loan was to have an inspector approve my work.

My mortgage company set up the appointment, and except for a few details that the inspector was nice enough to trust I’d complete (the bathroom was still missing a light fixture), he rubber-stamped my form and sent it off to my lender. A week later I got the check for the second half of the loan—and blissfully paid off those credit cards—and geared up to start refinancing.

For some reason I had it in my mind that refinancing would be easy. As long as my credit was still good (and it was), my lender had made it sound like refinancing would involve looking up current market rates and then signing a few papers and—voila—a fancy new mortgage with a low interest rate! If you can’t hear that sound, it’s me laughing at how naïve I was.

April Shower of Flowers
Rance Goff, flower designer at Georgetown’s Ultra Violet Flowers, offers tips on floral arranging. In addition to hearing about the newest trends in floral design, you can create an arrangement to take home.
Tuesday, April 15, 7 PM. $35. 1644 31st Street, NW

The Garden Club of Virginia’s Historic Garden Week
The oldest and largest garden tour in the country celebrates its 75th anniversary this month by opening more than 250 gardens, homes, and historic landmarks to the public. The 36 tours include a visit to the stunning gardens of Richmond’s Tuckahoe Plantation, where Thomas Jefferson spent his childhood, and an Old Town Alexandria home where Robert E. Lee is said to have accepted command of the Confederate Army. April 19 through 27; tickets are $10 to $35 per tour.

Leesburg Flower & Garden Festival
More than 110 vendors sell gardening supplies, plants, flowers, and herbs as well as offer advice about how to spruce up the backyard. There’s also live music, face painting, and crafts.
Saturday, April 19, 10 to 6, and Sunday, April 20, 10 to 5. Free. Intersection of South King Street and West Market Street.

• Multi-purpose development Union Row’s foundation has been poured. When completed, the development, just north of the H Street corridor, will have 700 residential units. [DC Metrocentric]

• The Falls Church Housing Corporation is awaiting a review of its plan to replace two office buildings with a mixed-use development. In addition to office space, the development would offer apartments for lower-income households. [DC Mud] 

• The city government is suing 23 landlords over serious housing-code violations. More than 470 apartment units are affected by the lawsuit. [DC Mud]

• Suburban Hospital submitted a proposal to Montgomery County for a $230-million expansion. Opposition is likely from residents of Huntington Terrace, the neighborhood that surrounds the hospital. [The Gazette]