Month: September 2022

Summer in Virginia. It’s hot and humid; you’re sticky and cranky and don’t feel like moving—or even leaving the house. Wouldn’t you love to have a pool, right outside the back door? A swimming pool makes the summer fun instead of unbearable—and in this area, one that’s well-designed can create a space for outdoor living almost all year round. The ideal pool should fit both your site and your lifestyle: Here’s how three families got it just right.

LEVELING UP

A terraced deck to the pool serves many functions

An Ivy-area family whose children were reaching middle-school age asked San Francisco architect Thomas Ryan and local designer Marie Bourgeois to make their “country-Georgian” house larger and more contemporary. Ryan designed a modern-style addition on the back of the structure to add both space and a little modern flair. Then it was time to tackle the pool.

The 20’x40′ infinity pool was perfectly serviceable; the setting was “beautiful but overgrown,” Bourgeois recalls. More than that, the whole backyard looked outdated, and it didn’t fit with the more contemporary addition. There was a wooden stairway down to the pool through a bank of overgrown oakleaf hydrangeas below the back deck—but the house’s expansion had pushed the kitchen wall out into the back deck area. The challenge, Bourgeois said, “was creating more functional space without falling into the pool.”

The solution was a series of long narrow decks, terraced from the house to the pool. Each deck serves a different function: just outside the kitchen is the cooking area, with a counter and outdoor grill. A few steps down is a built-in dining table that seats a dozen; a few more steps down to its left is a large rectangular seating area. A few more steps and you’re at the pool level. 

To set up a strong horizontal feeling for these levels, the contractor (Evergreen Builders) used unusually long, custom-cut planking. “We wanted cedar for the decks,” Bourgeois recalls, “but because of COVID we couldn’t find it, and when we did it was more expensive than mahogany. So we ended up going with mahogany, which will last longer.” Planters of all-season grasses border each deck and provide softer accents amid all that wood.

Good design should be practical as well as pretty, so the seating area has a row of wall-mounted hooks for a multitude of wet towels, and hinged-lid cabinets provide storage for all the pool paraphernalia. There’s a foot shower, which means no grass or mud in the pool—or in the house; a flagstone path leads into the basement bathroom, which means no more tracking water through the kitchen to the powder room.

The pool itself is essentially unchanged, but now it’s the center of a larger, multifunctional space. That was the charge for landscape designer Anna Boeschenstein of Grounded LLC: to enhance the pool area as a living space, and make better use of the natural setting. Her site plan called for clearing the meadow beyond the pool much farther back, to open up the space. She also designed retaining walls that extend out on either side of the pool’s infinity edge, creating two 23’x32.5′ lawns on either side for lounging or pick-up ball games.

To complement the addition’s contemporary style, Boeschenstein chose plantings with a more modern look. The pool lawns are bordered with beds of allium (tall plants whose fist-sized balls of tiny blossoms have a sort of space-alien vibe) and Mexican feather grass to provide texture. She also chose the feather reed grass and little bluestem for the planters along the deck. The family wanted relatively low-maintenance plantings—and, since this is a pool area, many of Boeschenstein’s choices are full-sun fans. 

Most of all, the home’s backyard is now a place where the family and their friends can hang out—sunbathing or swimming, grilling and dining, playing keep-away (or Marco Polo). This space does it all.

EASY LIVING

The view takes center stage at this simply stunning Bundoran pool

Leslie and Lewis “Mac” McKee know hot summers—they moved here from Memphis. Mac is a Wahoo (as are two of their children, who now live in Virginia), so when the McKees decided to retire in 2018, they bought a site at Bundoran Farm. 

“Like a lot of people our age,” says Leslie, “we wanted a home that would have smaller rooms and be easy to maintain—we live basically on the main floor—but could accommodate our whole family.” In this case, “family” means 13 people, including seven grandchildren.

While reviewing architects’ portfolios online, Leslie came across a photo of a tennis pavilion—two square buildings with round windows, connected by a hipped roof—designed by local architect John Voight. “I saw that photo and said, ‘That’s our man!’” Leslie recalls. “She fell in love with the windows,” laughs Voight, who came on as architect for the project, with Element Construction as builder. 

“The steep site was definitely a challenge; we had to terrace everything,” Voight says. He placed the house and garage higher on the slope, close to the road, with the pool lower down the hillside. 

The McKees wanted a pool that was not too large and easy to take care of. “We had a lap pool in Memphis,” Leslie says, “so we’re over that.” Voight agreed. “I wanted to keep the pool area simple, and let the landscape and the views play a key role.” 

The result is a 14’x24′ saltwater pool, with one end deep enough for diving, and a retractable cover. The gunite lining’s gray plaster finish helps the unheated pool stay warm and useable into the fall months. Voight likes a gray finish because “it softens the pool’s look, and reflects the color of the sky.”

On the north side of the pool are two square wood-clad pool houses, with the round windows Leslie likes so much. One houses a kitchenette and powder room, the other the pool’s mechanics. The buildings are connected by a pergola constructed of white oak, creating a shaded sitting area. This spot, the nearby dining area, and the poolside deck have a comfortable mix of old wood, wicker, and open-work metal furniture, perfect for cushions, loungers, and cold drinks. There’s even a wooden porch swing hanging from the pergola.

The bluestone paving of the pool area is also used for the path to the kitchen’s back door. Oddly enough, Mac says that bluestone was one of the only construction elements affected by the pandemic. “The factory in Pennsylvania shut down,” he recalls, “so we had to wait on it.” The couple is mulling over adding a walkway up the slope to the house’s screened porch as well.

By October 2020, the McKees had settled in and started having family gatherings; while the pool is finished, its landscaping (by Beebe Landscape Design) is still evolving. Mac, with environmental concerns, wants to make sure the trees and plants they use are native and noninvasive. For the moment, the pergola can be covered on hot days with a mesh sunscreen, while the couple decides whether to plant climbing vines for shade.

In the meantime, the McKees spend these long summer evenings in their new outdoor living space, sipping wine and enjoying the view of pastures, woods, and mountains. “It was so flat in Memphis,” Leslie says, taking in the vista from poolside.

BEFORE AND AFTER

Retirees take a 1980s home and pool space into the present day

An ex-pat couple who had decided to retire here—they had both personal history and family in the area—bought a lovely estate in Greenwood over a decade ago. Its house, pool, and pool/guest house, however, were 1980s-vintage and undistinguished. “We wanted something more like a Virginia country house, to fit in with the setting,” says the owner. The couple hired Bob Paxton of DGP Architects to revamp the property and take advantage of its spectacular views.

The first stage was building a whole new residence, a Georgian-style brick home in which almost every room and a full-length loggia look out over beautiful mountain vistas. The next stage was remaking the pool area, which cried out for some TLC.

The pool/guest house’s gray wood siding and paneless windows were less than inviting. The pool just sat in front of the house, with no plantings or seating—and no views. “My first impulse was to tear the pool house down,” says the owner, but Paxton saw that its bones could be used to create a more attractive building and a whole new space. 

The site presented a challenge. The guest house (on the northern edge) was linked to the main residence (at the southern edge) by a brick-and-iron paling wall on the western side bordering the drive. The eastern edge was determined by a steep drop toward the pastures below. The owners still wanted a pool—but also wanted a parterre garden. “It was quite the puzzle,” says Paxton. 

He pulled all these elements together into a space of walled serenity reminiscent of The Secret Garden—it feels like it’s been there for a century at least. The pool was moved right to the site’s eastern edge, which made the garden the central feature, both a secluded front yard for the guest house, and an outdoor space accessible from the main residence’s master suite and loggia. 

Paxton, working with contractor Shelter Associates, remade the clunky guest house into a garden cottage, faced in a golden local fieldstone, with traditional windows and wooden shutters. The addition of a front porch and one-story wings on each side gave the building scale and better integrated it with the setting. The wings also provided practical spaces: the pool’s mechanical room and bathroom, and the owner’s gardening shed.

The parterre’s formal geometry, designed by landscape architect Rachel Lilly, creates a web that ties all the elements of the site together. The paths’ central crossing features a Japanese cutleaf maple, whose bronze foliage contrasts with the greenery of surrounding trees, shrubs, and the ivy-covered pillars of the guest house porch. The garden beds are laid out with boxwood, yellow roses, and cages for climbing purple clematis. Lilly even managed to incorporate some of the site’s oldest trees, particular favorites of the owner—who, as a gardener himself, calls Lilly “a genius, in my humble opinion.” 

As for the pool, it’s far more attractive in its new setting. At 18′ x36′, it’s just the right size for cooling off and enjoying the view, and, what’s more, there’s a small hot tub attached. The pool benefits from being one part of an integrated space. “In this area, pools have to be covered [in winter], which is not the most attractive thing,” Paxton notes. “This way, it becomes a water feature and complements the garden.”

And from every corner—the cozy guest cottage, the formal garden lovely in all seasons, the serene pool—the residents and their guests can sit and contemplate the ever-changing vistas of rolling fields and wooded mountains.

Ruth Chiari and Phil Simon wanted a modest single-family home close to amenities when they moved to Charlottesville. But with nothing on the market befitting the couple, they shifted focus to a single-bedroom apartment—with plenty of clever renovations.

“I wanted something that gave me a feeling of space and light,” Chiari says. “We were also looking to downsize and travel, and we wanted to live someplace where we felt there was some culture and restaurants.”

Chiari and Simon moved to Charlottesville from Fairfax, Virginia, where they’d been in a four-bedroom home. After giving up on their hopes of a single-family dwelling, they rented a condo in the Belmont Lofts. They decided the apartment complex might just work for them long-term. The condos checked a critical box: It was one of the only such complexes the couple could find with outdoor green space.

So when a ground-floor Belmont Lofts unit came up for sale, Chiari and Simon went to have a look.

Built around the turn of the millennium, the conveniently-situated Belmont Lofts might not be “lofts” in the conventional sense. The term traditionally refers to converted light industrial spaces—large, open, studio-type rooms with towering ceilings and exposed ductwork. When Chiari and Simon first walked into the condo that would become their home, they found some exposed ductwork, but also odd angles, low bulkheads, and lots of nonfunctional areas.

Still, they had a vision, so the pair moved forward. They interviewed several architects who might help make the place their own. They decided Brian Tuskey best understood what they were after.

Working closely with Chiari and with Simon’s support, Tuskey set out to transform the nonfunctional spaces in the couple’s newly purchased unit, removing bulkheads, shifting ductwork and piping where possible, and replacing dated details with modern amenities. Storage was particularly critical for Chiari and Simon.

“Brian suggested things that we hadn’t thought of that might work for us,” Simon says. “Talking through everything, we all understood that while we’re not interested in acquiring a lot more stuff, we do have things we have carefully curated, and we wanted to make sure we had places that were safe and climate-controlled.”

The result of the extensive reno was a space with higher ceilings, white walls accented by Chiari’s art collection, white cabinets with quartz and walnut, two updated bathrooms with glass showers, a sound-controlled media room, and storage beyond the couple’s imagination. Around nearly the entirety of the 1,100-square-foot space, and flush to the newly vaulted ceilings, are those highly functional quartz-and-walnut white cabinets. “I call it my attic,” Chiari says. “Everyone comes in and can’t believe the space we have.”

According to Tuskey, the neutral color and design scheme throughout was intended to exploit the apartment’s southern exposure. The two redone bathrooms continue the materials palette, and Carrara marble and white tile were also added.

Tuskey says the project did have its limitations. Budget constraints kept him from being able to change the apartment’s layout substantially. And because the condo is on Belmont Lofts’ ground floor, the building code set certain accessibility guidelines. The existing hardwood floors needed work and could’ve been replaced; instead, Tuskey and his team repaired them as needed.

To satisfy Simon’s love of music, as well as the couple’s desire for calming areas and privacy, the renovation included large, custom steel-and-glass pocket doors, which the homeowners can close to divide the space or create a guest suite. The doors are fitted with clear, laminated glass that effectively block sound transmission but not light, while drapes offer privacy and illumination control.

“Ruth pushed me,” Tuskey says. “Their vision was a nice, clean, bright palette. I wanted the general aesthetic to feel light and bright. That’s how they like to live.”

Chiari and Simon say the updated space is the perfect combination of their needs. When they’re not accessing their garden terrace directly from their functional front door, the condo allows them a comfortable space to enjoy their cherished things while feeling the openness of a space well connected to the outdoors.

“We were able to breathe new life into the unit,” Tuskey says. “Some of the units there are caught in that ’90s style, when some things were kind of thrown together. In this case, it felt like it needed some new life.”

Charlottesville residents could easily sell their homes without staging 10 years ago. Now, most buyers expect every detail to be covered, from fastidious interior design
to meticulous landscaping, according to local realtor Lorrie Nicholson.

“Staging allows people to visualize themselves in the home and helps create an emotional connection,” Nicholson says. “From my experience, you always see a significant return on staging.”

Several factors have come together to make staging the rule rather than the exception, according to Nicholson. Home improvement television and regular access to real estate websites, Pinterest, etc., means buyers see beautifully staged homes all the time. That means that these days folks have less imagination and less inclination to see past others’ personal effects and clutter.

And while there’s no shortage of tips out there to help sellers get the most out of their home’s appearance—deep clean, go neutral, declutter—Nicholson and local stagers Marybeth Snell and Meg Michaels with Albemarle Staging & Design have a few tricks tailored to the local market.

Own like an out-of-towner

Many vacationers come to central Virginia looking for rental properties, and staging a home for sale shouldn’t be all that different from the way renters configure their spaces. Successful renters are intentional about what they put in their income properties, Snell says; they don’t load them up with the old things they don’t want in their main home.

“We designed a rental home for a client in Wintergreen, and he said, ‘My house looks like your staged homes,’” Michaels says. 

Snell and Michaels say a common rule of thumb is that you don’t stage a home the same way you live in a home. But you do stage a home like you live in a vacation home.

Pitch the personal

Many homeowners, particularly older homeowners, grow attached to their heirlooms and personal items. When a stager looks at your things, they have no emotional attachment, and cull your otherwise beautiful antique furniture, oriental rugs, and tchotchkes.

“Charlottesville is such a traditional town,” Michaels says. “Great Grandma’s rug might be worth a fortune, but it distracts the eye.”

Take down your portraits, store your old brown furniture, and roll up your rugs, Snell says. And remember that “red is kryptonite.”

Embrace the outdoors

Charlottesville has a mild, four-season climate, and central Virginia offers great views. Nicholson says those are two things local sellers can seize to gain an edge. Highlight your indoor-outdoor living, and draw attention to windows and other areas where buyers can take in beautiful views of nature, she says. And don’t forget the basics of outdoor staging. A fresh coat of paint and landscaping are critical.

“Landscaping…impacts curb appeal and the buyer’s first impression,” Nicholson says. “Something as small as adding flower pots to a front porch can help create a more inviting entrance.”

Prep to party

Snell and Michaels sum up the tricks of the staging trade simply: Make your home party ready. If you imagine having friends over when staging, you’ll hit all the highlights. A fun and accessible layout—check. Cleanliness and freshness—check. Candles, votives, fresh flowers, fresh fruit, a bar—check.

“Having your home party ready gives it a competitive edge over other homes on the market,” Snell says. “People walk in and immediately relax.”

Michaels says “party ready” means a space that creates an emotional response, a place where buyers can imagine themselves. The combination of a neutral palette and a layout designed to make people use all available spaces “allows buyers’ eyes to flow from room to room.”

Ignore the market

Like many other places, Charlottesville’s real estate market is hot. And while some sellers might be tempted to skip staging when they can earn top dollar anyway, Snell, Michaels, and Nicholson agree that a strong market means you can make even more on your staging investment.

Michaels says she and Snell worked on a house last fall with a floorplan in which many buyers couldn’t imagine living. According to Michaels, when they were done with the place, it sold for way above asking price. “That house was totally party ready,” she says.

When Matthew Jull and Leena Cho, of Charlottesville-based architecture firm KUTONOTUK, first heard of a competition hosted by Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, to design a major upgrade to its oceanside boardwalk, the architects were intrigued. 

“Within a town with such a rich history, and in such a dynamic environment, how do we create new spaces for people to come together to strengthen community while simultaneously meeting the challenges of the future?” Jull, an associate professor of architecture at UVA, said in a press release. “The fact that this key question was being asked through a public process was a major inspiration.”

More than 50 architecture and landscape architecture firms across the world submitted designs for the competition, but KUTONOTUK—which formed in 2011 and has since earned national and international recognition in 17 other competitions—won out for its sea-centric design. 

According to a press release, the firm’s design was in keeping with the results of a survey distributed to more than 1,000 Atlantic Beach residents. Said one respondent, “It keeps the beach the focus. Myrtle Beach and Virgina Beach are not what we want here.” The design will integrate ecology back into the boardwalk, while also adding new amenities such as a new pavilion for music festivals and movie nights. 

Said Cho, “For us, the new boardwalk needed to act both as a central gathering space for the town and an extension to private patios and gardens of many adjacent homes and businesses.” 

Once approved, the redesign will begin its first phase this winter.