Take a look at several David Mitchell-designed rooms, and you might be hard-pressed to find similarities. The spaces are all clean, comfortable, and well edited, but beyond that the styles are incredibly varied. And that's exactly what Mitchell wants to achieve.
"The days of a designer with a signature look are over," he says.
Mitchell prides himself on not inserting his own tastes into a client's home and prefers drawing on their personalities to create tailor-made spaces. He's come a long way since his days of rearranging his parents' living room furniture to his liking, which he says led eventually to his career in design.
With a degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and more than 20 years in Washington under his belt, he has become intimately familiar with the design preferences of our fair city. And he's even built an arsenal of tools he relies on in each project to achieve his signature "non-signature" style.
Via Pinterest user Deer Ann.
Tired of that blah backsplash? Builder-grade linoleum got you down? Whether you're on a Home Depot budget or can swing a high-end Ann Sacks mosaic, tile is a quick and (relatively) easy way to make a big impact in spaces large and small. That said, we've been finding inspiration aplenty while browsing on Pinterest--the bolder, the better.
Ever since we saw the breathtaking master sitting room at the DC Design House, we've been a little obsessed with the work of designer Tricia Huntley of Huntley & Co. We can't get enough of her unexpected mix of modern and classic elements, and her rooms teeming with layers of color and texture.
Though Huntley has been a Washingtonian for 15 years, she credits her time spent in Minneapolis and her Scandinavian heritage for her design style, which she describes as "laid-back glamour with unexpected details."
"With all my projects I try to create a look that's both striking and warm," she says. "My goal is always to create rooms that wow you at first and then invite you to stay."
While Huntley says she doesn't have a signature look in the conventional sense, she relies on five main tools time and time again to ensure that all her spaces exude the warmth she has become known for creating.
By Kathleen Bridges
Photograph courtesy of CMC Photography.
Saturday, rain or shine, 12 of the midcentury-modern gems dotting the Alexandria enclave known as Hollin Hills will open their doors to the public as part of the neighborhood's annual House & Garden Tour.
As if you needed another excuse to don your best Betty Draper shift and shake up a fresh batch of Manhattans.
By Laura Wainman
The old chandeliers, hanging in what some designers coined the “Lighting Graveyard.” Photographs by Robert Radifera.
We've said it before and we'll say it again: We were stunned by the transformation of the DC Design House, from an elegant but dated manse to a chic, modern oasis of luxury.
One of the more prominent changes came in the form of the standout light fixtures we spotted throughout the house. The home's ample natural light was one of its best qualities, but the artificial light sources needed an update. The designers agreed that the gilded crystal chandeliers that abounded in the "before" space, while refined, were too heavy for their tastes and needed to be freshened up.
We recently caught up with five of the designers behind our favorite eye-catching lighting fixtures to find out what vibe they wanted to achieve and how you can incorporate the look into your home.
Spring is a great time to overhaul your wardrobe--but your home should get a little love, too. If you're looking to revamp and redesign, the second annual Home & Design Weekend, organized by Washington Fine Properties, is a great place to start.
This Saturday and Sunday between 11 AM and 6 PM, 26 merchants along 14th Street will showcase their new designs and home furnishings. "It's an opportunity to celebrate not only design, but also the 14 Street neighborhood and its vibrancy, which has become a really exciting part of Washington," says Marc Schappell, managing partner of Washington Fine Properties.
Over the past decade, this neighborhood has transformed from relative disrepair to a hotbed of activity, with hip restaurants, stores, and entertainment lining its streets.
Most of the participating merchants are also conducting free in-store lectures and demonstrations by interior-design professionals on how to integrate spring fashion trends into your home. These include talks about fine designing with plantscaping, architectural furniture, and effective use of color. For the more avant-garde, George Hemphill will be discussing how to effectively use art to direct the look of a home at his gallery. A full schedule of the symposium is available on the website.
Photograph by Michele Ginnerty.
Sure, a can of paint or dramatic wallpaper can certainly transform a space--but some rooms, like Anne Hardock's powder room, need more intensive surgery. We chatted with the designer on what it took to get the room in show-worthy shape.
Via Pinterest user Suann Song
From technicolor skinnies to Tangerine Tangoed everything, it's pretty obvious that brighter is better this season. But just as we started to tire of the neon-on-neutral trend, we noticed a fresh new palette--more sophisticated than shocking--that seems plucked from a Mediterranean resort. We love how vivid cobalt hues pop against pale blushes and bold magentas.
By Michele Ginnerty
With the advent of spring, our attention naturally turns to all things outdoors. While landscaping can make a huge difference in a home's curb appeal, the home itself still takes center stage. Ann Pailthorp, a color consultant for Farrow & Ball (which has a curated palette of 132 shades and a reputation for great depth of color), recently spoke at Color Wheel in McLean on the transformative power of paint, with a focus on exteriors. Here are some of the takeaways from our conversation with the expert:
The Annette Hannon-designed parlor in this year's DC Design House. All photographs by Robert Radifera.
Walking into the DC Design House for a "bare bones" tour in February, it was hard to imagine that the 10,000-square-foot Colonial would eventually become the stunning space we caught a glimpse of at yesterday's press preview. Not that it didn't have potential--gracious, light-filled spaces crowned with luxe moldings and grounded in hardwood floors abounded--but it's safe to say the home was in need of a little facelift to bring it out of the 1980s (check out the virtual "before" tour here).
What a difference nine weeks can make: Twenty-three of Washington's premier designers chipped away dated ceramic tile, carted out enough gilded crystal chandeliers to light up a provincial chateau, and transformed one incredibly royal-blue kitchen--all in the name of the Children's National Medical Center.
