Category: Abode

Jeanne Ward has traveled the world. As a child, she grew up “all over the United States,” and as an international consultant, she lived for 15 years in Kenya and went wherever the job took her: East Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia. But a friend’s suggestion, serendipity, and the pandemic brought her to a quiet hillside outside Batesville—and a new home.

Ward had dreamed for years of building her own home, and had started looking at pieces of land in Kenya. In the meantime, one of her best friends from her college years, who had settled in the Batesville area, told Ward about a 10-acre lot for sale just down the hill. Ward thought Albemarle County land might make a good investment, and in summer 2015 bought the lot sight unseen. “At first, I wasn’t going to build there,” she recalls. “But when I came [to sign the sale documents], I thought, ‘Wow, this is pretty’—and after living in Kenya, my standards are pretty high.”

In the meantime, Ward had been talking about her design ideas to an architect acquaintance who said, “I have the perfect person for you”—a Chicago-based architect named Trish VanderBeke. Ward and VanderBeke talked on Zoom and connected; VanderBeke (whose bucket list had always included Kenya) came to Africa and spent a week looking around with Ward and learning about her tastes. 

When Ward decided to go ahead and build in Batesville, VanderBeke developed a design and put it out to bid—and her new client faced the reality of U.S. construction costs. Ward reluctantly gave up the full basement with guest suite; VanderBeke made the house more compact (a little more than 2,000 square feet) and designed for natural climate control when Tesla solar roof tiles were still too pricey. Charlottesville contractor Sun Structures became a real partner in creating the house, says Ward—who throughout the construction process was still in Kenya. She saw her new home for the first time in 2019, when she arrived from Africa to move in.

Great timing—because once the pandemic hit in March 2020, there was no more traveling to work sites internationally. “I was so lucky—this house became my bolt-hole,” says Ward. 

VanderBeke had homed in on two qualities important to Ward: a connection to the land, and a sense of both openness and privacy. (“We used the rural prototypes,” the architect says. “We didn’t want the house to stand out as an oddity.”) Its massing, the monitor roofline, the hayloft window, and the white vertical siding all fit right into the Virginia farm vernacular. Because soil conditions meant the house would be sited close to the road, VanderBeke minimized openings on that side and faced the living spaces out toward the meadows and hillsides. A felicitous result: The house is more closed to the north and west, keeping out winter winds and minimizing late-afternoon summer sun; Ward says the house barely needs to be heated—although the radiant flooring helps there—and requires minimal air conditioning.

The home’s airy white-walled interior harkens back to Ward’s lifestyle in the mild Kenyan climate; the kitchen, dining, and living areas flow together, and each space has its own access to outdoor seating and the meadow beyond. The living area’s two-and-a half-story window wall takes full advantage of the Blue Ridge landscape. As a result, the house feels more spacious than its square footage, and serenely private—the only intrusion on the view are the birds and an occasional contrail in the distance. 

Past the main living space is a small den/guest room and the master suite, set off by a pocket door. The master bedroom has its own patio, and even an outdoor shower (“not hooked up yet, that’s on my list,” says Ward). On each corner of the deep-overhang roof are silver rain chains—a charming and visually attractive way to channel water off the steep roof (VanderBeke says, “I searched all over for that particular design.”). A second-story space overlooking the living area functions for now as Ward’s office, but may become a small guest suite.

Throughout the home are furniture and furnishings from Ward’s years in Kenya and her travels. Woods and fabrics dominate, along with fresh flowers. There are a few decorator touches: The main wall in the master bedroom is papered in an almost-lilac neutral Philip Jeffries pattern called Dandelion Seeds, and two powder room walls are Kelly Wearstler’s black-and-gold Graffito. Ward likes the idea of dark walls in small spaces “to make them appear larger.” In the den, for example, painting the walls a soft black makes the space feel like a little hideaway after the wide-open white living space.

Now that she’s in her dream home, Ward has found—as most homeowners do—that the work is never done. Her first-year project was opening her meadow view and revealing the orchard beyond by clearing out an acre of scrub trees and undergrowth (including the remains of a former Christmas tree farm—her new neighbors appreciated the free Christmas trees). Last year’s project was renovating the property’s original farmhouse to serve as an Airbnb; Ward filled it with some of her own furniture, supplemented by Charlottesville’s Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and she’s already hosting. 

Still to come is finishing the landscaping around the new house, including a possible retaining wall and larger gravel drive/parking area. And then perhaps the guest quarters Ward had to give up in the original design will be reincarnated in a silo-type structure at the top of the driveway. One of Ward’s Kenyan rentals was a small one-bedroom place with two little guest houses; she liked that approach—“I got to have my guests and my own private space,” she says with a smile.

In the meantime, Ward is living in a space she had always dreamed of. “I adore this house,” she says, and from the look on her face it’s clear she has come home.

Jordan Heres has visited more than 50 countries, many in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. There, he learned to love rugs.

While offering humanitarian aid and disaster relief around the world, Heres gained perspective on floor covering artisanship and quality. He decided to share his rug love by starting Weft & Wool, an online brokerage he runs with help from his wife, Ingrid, out of his Charlottesville home.

Heres recently talked to Abode about floorborne art.

Abode: Was there a specific place that made you love rugs?

Jordan Heres: Living in Croatia, we would travel to Bosnia, and they have a rich weaving tradition. I fell in love with this artform. I grew up in Hawaii and had an appreciation for Hawaiian art, but I think because of the education system, I didn’t think of myself as an artist or understand how to connect with art.

What changed that?

There’s something about rugs. They are accessible and tactile, and you can literally use them. Something about that connected with me. Every rug is a grid—they have this mathematical nature—but they are also imperfect. It’s a good comparative for life. I fell in love with the artform eight or nine years ago and have since become obsessed with the variety of techniques you find in every world region. Every weaver has their own signature.

What about the history of rugs interests you?

Textiles are as old as humanity, and the specific art of hand-knotted rug-making grew out of a hub in Turkey and Greece. The region grew a deep tradition and wealth of knowledge, and widespread production moved to Iran [née Persia] and into India for a bit—although that died out—to the Kurdish people in the Caucasus, into Azerbaijan, and beyond. Most of the rugs I collect originate from Persia or Turkey.

What’s the Weft & Wool business model?

All of my rugs are in stock. I’m an art dealer in a way, an antiques collector and dealer. It’s about identifying great rugs—those diamonds in the rough—and having the knowledge to know what makes them special. I occasionally work with interior designers to find specific rugs for clients’ spaces, but I have more than 200 rugs in stock.

What makes a rug special?

The value of every rug, not just monetary but artistic value, is a function of a few different things. I deal only in handmade rugs, but the technique used to weave the rug, whether it has a cotton or wool foundation, the pile—which is usually wool but sometimes silk—what dyes are used. I try to source natural dye, so that’s typically rugs made in the 1930s and before. Then, what sort of appeal does the rug have in its design? How much artistic expression is there, and how unique is it? Finally, condition. I try to offer a range of conditions, some wear makes them a bit more affordable. I want rugs to be accessible to everyone.

Do rugs hold their value like art?

They do. I would say the caveat is that in the 1970s, there was a real heyday and valuations went way up. They’ve come down a bit from their peak. But as industrialization has spread, there’s been a gap in generational knowledge and less skilled artisanship, so there’s a limited supply of handmade rugs. If you take care of your rug and know what it’s worth, it can be a good investment. At the same time, you’re gaining from the investment because rugs are useful.

Why do so many antique rugs look similar?

The main distinction is geometric versus curvilinear design. Curvilinear rugs often feature medallion or floral patterns. They are often city-woven. Nomadic weavers were limited in their loom size and time. They wove with a lower knot count, which limited their capacity to create curved lines.

Any tips for folks looking to take better care of their rugs?

I do quite a bit of rug-washing, and you wouldn’t believe what I’ve washed out of rugs. The most effective thing you can do is act quickly. If a dog pees on a rug, immediately take the rug outside or run water through it. A rug pad is the second most important thing. Thirdly, flip the rug over and vacuum the back. You want to release the grit that falls between the rug knots. Ingrid and I have a dog, a cat, and kids all around, and we have no issues.

Once a forlorn little building—roughly 400-square-feet little—on Valley Street, Scottsville’s switching station recently got a second life thanks to the vision of interior designer Carmel Greer. A D.C. transplant, Greer and her husband took an interest in transforming a few of Scottsville’s abandoned buildings into short-term rentals (they’re renovating another nearby to include three additional units, which they’re crossing their fingers will be open by the end of April). The Switching Station—so named for its history as the town’s telephone exchange office—was a dream come true for Greer, an interior designer by trade.

“I’ve always wanted to do a tiny, tiny, tiny little project,” she says. “When you’re working with a much larger project, there’s a tendency to be safer in terms of your design choices. Because this place is so little, I thought, I might as well just be bold.”

She took inspiration from the property’s 1930 Art Deco vibes, and hung a giant (“The crate for it was the size of a small European car,” she says) Murano glass chandelier as the focal point. A rich terracotta color coats the ceiling (“Again, not something we get to do every day”), while a granite countertop mimics the look of soapstone in the kitchen (but won’t worry guests over proper maintenance).

“It’s a humble building, but I wanted it to feel a little bit glamorous,” Greer says. “There are so many rich details.”

See something you like during your overnight stay? Greer says that’s okay! A lot of the art and furnishings are for sale. It’s a way of satisfying her itch to have a retail store without the pressure of having to stock a high volume of goods, though she admits that, in the event that a guest does want to snatch up her vintage silver tray collection, she has plenty of décor items in storage from past jobs to slot in a replacement. 

“[The rentals are] just a cool way of making use of interesting objects that would otherwise not see the light of day,” she says.

In the early months of the pandemic, Matt and Julie Thomas began working on perhaps the most important job of their careers for their most important clients yet—a playhouse for their three kids. 

School was out for the summer and indoor playdates were still a no-no, so the Thomas kids spent most of their time playing outside with neighbors. A playhouse was the perfect way to take the kids’ outdoor time to new levels of fun.

The husband-and-wife duo are used to tackling much larger projects—kitchen flips, garage conversions, additions—through Hinge Remodeling and Construction, their residential remodeling company in Charlottesville. Matt and Julie frequently work for clients with growing families or young children, so thoughtfully designed spaces that can adapt and grow alongside a changing family has become somewhat of a specialty for them. 

“I was really resistant to building them a playhouse that was gonna just collect dust and rot somewhere in the yard,” says Matt. “The big aha moment was brainstorming with Julie and saying, ‘Oh, we can build them a shed.’ It’s full height, and once they grow up we can repurpose it.”

The kids also helped with the design, advising their parents on what fun elements they needed to incorporate. High on the wish list was a working elevator, a loft, trap doors, and tunnels. 

Despite Mom and Dad’s best efforts, not all of the kids’ ideas made it in, but the finished playhouse is modern, practical, and promises endless amounts of fun.

“Our house was a 1950s Cape Cod. It was more traditional, so we thought it’d be fun to go a bit more modern with the playhouse, but still keep it feeling integrated,” says Julie.

A black, penetrating stain on the exterior pine board cladding gives the playhouse a contemporary look, and makes it cohesive with the house and other backyard structures. The 8’x8′ dimension ensures the inside isn’t cramped, and a high ceiling fits a ladder and loft. The pine board and galvanized metal roof were purchased new, but most of the other materials were bought secondhand or repurposed from other projects. The skylight came from Habitat for Humanity, and the countertops are repurposed IKEA bookshelves. 

And when the kids eventually outgrow the playhouse, the loft can easily be torn down and the structure can be converted into a sauna, garden or potting shed, man cave, or she shed.

Not every house needs a formal dining area. But what to put in its place? While refreshing a North Downtown home last year, Betsy Kraft made a bold suggestion.

“It is very important to me that a home feels authentic to the family. In this case, the homeowners are laid-back, unfussy people. They told me they love to have friends over for a casual cocktail and listen to music,” says the owner of Betsy Kraft Design. “So when I suggested having an intentional gathering space for that instead of a formal dining room, they jumped at the idea.” 

To visually separate it from the adjacent living space, she went moody: A bold blue hue coats the trim around a fun bird-print wallpaper. Four Arhaus chairs turn toward each other for intimate conversation, while a cheeky crane statue from Chairish spies from the corner. Overhead, an Anthropologie light fixture brings in a midcentury detail.

“The other really cool thing about this space is how we integrated contemporary elements into the traditional bones of the home,” Kraft says. “The homeowners love a midcentury aesthetic but the house, built in the 1940s, has very traditional craftsman bones. It was fun to blend the two styles to make it feel true to the homeowners’ taste while respecting the home’s architecture.”

While there’s something to be said for in-your-face, beachy décor—you know, seashell artwork, knotted rope, anchors galore—sometimes less is more. In Crozet, a garage loft renovation showcases how subtle, water-oriented design details can make waves.

The homeowners and their two sons are lovers of all things active and outdoorsy. With a growing collection of gear, including about a dozen surfboards, and growing boys, things were getting a little tight in the house. 

A detached three-car garage with an unfinished interior solved the storage problem, and recently, the homeowners, who’d been in their house for 14 years, decided to go ahead and finish part of the garage. The finished loft would serve as overflow lodging for guests, and it would give the boys a pretty epic hangout spot.

“You know, out-of-town guests only come a few times a year,” says the homeowner. “We wanted to make sure that we had a functional space for the other 90 percent of the time when it was just our family, and very specifically the boys and their buddies.”

“Even though we live in the country, we’re very beachy people,” she says. “So that was the kind of vibe that we were going for. We wanted to make it open and airy and natural and light and refreshing.”

Peter Johnson Builders was brought in as general contractor, and Tommy Tigert as project manager. In addition to finishing the upstairs, PJB also enclosed and finished the third bay of the garage, and connected the homeowners with local businesses and makers to source material and work on the reno. 

Walk into the finished loft, and the beachy vibes are immediately present without being overwhelming. Shades of white and pops of color contrast with natural wood, and the angular roof lines are at play with round, porthole-like windows and arched doorways. 

The functional living area includes a kitchenette and a small dining room table. Rich blue cabinets, in the color New York State of Mind, with polished chrome hardware complement a locally sourced marble countertop slab called Manhattan Calcutta. The names are a happy nod to the homeowner’s aunt who lives in New York and collaborated with her almost daily on design details like fixtures, color, cabinets, and tile.

“The blue is a nice beachy vibe, and then the countertops are a really light and flowy marble with a lot of earthy colors in there,” says the homeowner. “It kind of reminded me of an ocean flow.”

A cloud-like, wrap-around white couch with a custom-built console table completes the space, and reclaimed beams from The HeartPine Company draw the eye upward, where large windows let in plenty of natural light. The round windows presented an interesting carpentry challenge for the crew, which had to do some precise radius work to fit the wood panels flush against the window.

The ocean wave theme also breezes into the full bathroom, where blue-veined slabs line the walls of the walk-in shower and a nautical-inspired light fixture illuminates the luxurious space and the cozy bedroom, which has just enough space for a queen-sized bed.

The renovation wasn’t complete until the floating stairs were added, a big upgrade that sets the tone for the entire loft. More wood from HeartPine was used for the treads and support, and local metalworker Lauren Danley of Metal Inc. created and fit the handrail. “It’s pretty awesome,” says the owner.

From the round windows to the beachy backsplash, surf meets family turf at this loft renovation.

Joanne McNergney’s garage wasn’t doing her much good. It was built decades ago and too small for her car. She had turned it into a storage unit, parking her car in an adjacent carport, but as a shed, the space was neither functional nor fashionable.

An avid gardener, McNergney wanted a well-organized, properly situated place to store her tools and supplies. Two Street Design, an architecture firm where McNergney’s son is a partner, had the answer: Turn the existing garage and carport into a Japanese shoji-style shed that could double as a greenhouse, work aesthetically with the traditional colonial style of the McNergney home, and be beautiful on its own terms.

“It wasn’t so much a stylistic choice but tectonic,” says Andrew Herbert, architect and Two Street co-owner. “Based on the project budget, we knew we were going to be using wood framing. We wanted to create a playful foil to the heavier, traditional masonry house in front. Translucent polycarbonate siding creates a quiet, naturally lit space for gardening during the day. At night, the volume transforms into a glowing light box that provides a glimpse of the underlying structure.”

The full project was initiated in the McNergney’s primary residence, Herbert says. The client wanted improved accessibility throughout the home. Herbert and his business partner, Forrest Frazier, worked with the McNergneys to redesign their bathroom around a zero entry shower, and install an elevator between the first and second floor.

The rustic colonial thus updated, McNergney turned to the outdoors. She maintains a vegetable garden in her front yard and wanted to access it easily from her storage unit. A new segmented garden in the backyard, designed by Kennon Williams Landscape Studio, would allow McNergney to practice her hobby there, as well.

For the shed, Two Street’s vision would eventually emulate Japanese shoji, typically used for interior doors, where a translucent material fits between wooden framing to seal off spaces while hinting at what’s behind. 

The translucent material used on the McNergney shed was a polycarbonate commonly used for greenhouses. McNergney didn’t want to use the shed for a greenhouse per se, but in addition to housing her many gardening implements, she wanted to winter certain plants in the structure. 

“It’s slab on grade, so there’s a thermal mass to regulate the temperature,” Herbert says. “It is super simple construction.” Herbert and his team kept two of the garage’s walls and masonry structure, framed two new walls, and clad the exterior in 5mm Solexx Greenhouse Siding. The cost-effective and durable material, often used for commercial-scale barrel-shaped greenhouses, lets light in and out. Herbert and his team selected a flat roof for the structure, which has proven to require minimal maintenance.

“They gave us carte blanche,” Herbert says. “We don’t really do traditional architecture—and of course there are times when that’s appropriate—but there was nothing historic or unique about the garage, so making something that was a little bit more attractive and creative was the main goal.”

Two Street contracted with Abrahamse & Company Builders for construction, in addition to Kennon Williams for landscaping. The backyard garden design ​​snakes from the modern shoji-shed to the traditional colonial home. Williams selected arborvitae and framed the yard while also blocking the view of the neighbors without using fencing. The landscape architect’s crew also replaced a small, relatively uneven patio McNergney had installed herself.

Over the past several months, McNergney moved a citrus plant into her new shed, where it could winter while still blooming. She said the plant “loved it in there.” She feels the same way. 

“It’s just a pleasant environment where I can go and do my potting, even in the dead of winter,” she says. “My backyard itself is more usable. We back up to […] other properties, and Kennon had ideas for plantings that would help break the line of vision. I had no idea it would make such a difference.”

Regional homebuilder Atlantic Builders announced in January that its two new townhome collections, the Kenridge and the Ashton, are open for pre-sales. Part of a larger project in partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville to build out the Southwood Mobile Home Park community, the townhomes were designed in collaboration with current residents. 

The Kenridge model is a three-bed, two-and-a-half bath home with a large great room, rear kitchen, and owner’s suite on the upper level, while the Ashton is a three-story home with three bedrooms, two and a half baths, a deluxe owner’s suite with walk-in closet and master bath, as well as an office space or possible fourth bedroom on the lower level. The to-be-built homes start at $399,900, and move-in ready homes start at $423,000.

“[Atlantic Builders is] thrilled to be entering into the Charlottesville market with our partnership with Habitat for Humanity at their new community, Southwood,” said Tom Schoedel, president of the regional homebuilder, in a press release. “Atlantic has been building homes in Waynesboro and Augusta County for the past few years and we are so excited to expand our footprint in the region and invest in the Albemarle community.”

For more information, visit liveatsouthwood.com.

The Center of Developing Entrepreneurs (CODE) Building earned a 2023 Architecture Award from the American Institute of Architects in March, for its “potent combination of desirability and practicality,” the organization notes in its writeup. 

A mixed-use development at the west end of the Downtown Mall, the CODE Building opened at the end of 2021 and has made a name for itself as a stylish space for innovators, entrepreneurs, and creatives alike. 

The building is a collaboration between Charlottesville-based firm Wolf Ackerman and New Orleans-based firm EskewDumezRipple, and also counts an AIA Louisiana 2022 Design Honor Award among its list of accolades, 

“The center represents a new vision for work spaces,” says the AIA. “Since opening, it has been a center of activity, with tenants regularly trading ideas over coffee in the open-concept coworking space.”

Sleep over at this 8-year-old’s house, and you get the coolest bed in the place: Not only are guests given the top bunk, but thanks to a clever design from DGP Architects’ Roger Birle, they utilize a slide—an actual slide!—to get down. 

“Initially we were planning on simply a ladder, but once we saw the space in the room we floated the idea of a slide,” the architect says. “The clients loved it—as did their son.”

The upper bunk tucks into a shallow arched niche, while down below, built-in shelves and drawers provide extra storage space. With nautical-inspired brass railings and fittings from Joe Chambers, and a soft gray-blue paint color chosen by interior designer Melanie Elston, the room was complete.