Dramatic Transformation

Written by Trish Donnally Photography by Geoffrey Hodgdon

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As you approach a particular colonial in Potomac, if you’re paying attention, you might notice that the windows are large panes of glass instead of multi-mullioned. Maybe the two exterior chrome lanterns would catch your eye, and you’d wonder why they weren’t traditional brass. And if you were lingering on the front stoop and really astute, you might cue into the fact that there is a flat-paneled door in place of a standard builder’s door with raised paneling. But if you happened to miss these details, you’d be totally surprised once the door was opened.

Because when you step inside what appears to be a classic colonial, you discover instead a streamlined, spacious contemporary.

Andreas Charalambous, an architect and principal of FORMA Design Inc., a Washington-based architectural firm that specializes in modern interiors, transformed it into the striking space it is today.

“The character of the house is not changed. It’s just simplified,” Charalambous says. And that’s just what Anita and Haniel Lynn, who bought their house two years ago, wanted. They bought it because they loved the neighborhood, but the interiors didn’t reflect their more modern tastes. When they renovated, they didn’t want their house to be too out of character with the surrounding houses, but they did want the interiors to feel updated.

Haniel Lynn, 35, executive director of Corporate Executive Board, and his wife, Anita Lynn, 35, director of consulting services at CGI-AMS, originally thought they’d simply change the kitchen and bathrooms. But once they started discussing the potential of the project with Charalambous, 44, they ended up essentially gutting the whole house.

Charalambous and his FORMA team, which included architects Juan Gutierrez and Laurence Koehrsen, dramatically transformed the space for the Lynns and their children, Carter, 5, and Tabitha, 2.

They removed crown moldings, chair rails, raised paneling, brass fixtures, window mullions, and even a few walls. They painted the house a soft greige and ivory palette, focused on a few finishes consistently throughout, and unified the flooring and lighting. The spaces now flow into each other with ease. And the house feels much larger than before the renovation. In the end, FORMA created a space with a sense of openness, transparency, and calm.

An Exciting Entrance

The foyer, for instance, was originally small with an adjacent library. Since the Lynns were planning to move their library upstairs, they had the wall removed to create a more generous arrival area. Charalambous designed a console, bench, cocktail table, and rug for the sleek new foyer, which has a Matisse as its sensational focal point. Replacing the existing white picket rail staircase, which had been carpeted, with a modern steel railing and bare maple stairs was another dramatic change in this area. Replacing the traditional brass chandelier with two elongated Cappellini light fixtures to emphasize the 20-foot-high foyer, and removing the crown molding to streamline the space, made a big difference, too.

Flexibility and Transparency

FORMA kept crown molding in the living and dining rooms to signify that these are more formal areas than the rest of the house. “We replaced the ornate molding around the door and baseboards with a very clean-lined, orthogonal baseboard and molding,” Charalambous says.

FORMA also enlarged the opening between the living and dining rooms “to make the spaces speak to each other more,” Charalambous says. In fact, the two flow seamlessly from one to the other. It would be easy, for example, to move a dining room chair into the living room for large gatherings. “It’s all about flexibility and opening one space to the other,” he says.

Transparency, a leitmotif throughout the house, emerges in the living room where pewter metallic mesh shades let light in while still providing privacy. A large rectangular, FORMA-designed coffee table with a glass insert that allows you to see the wool and silk rug under it reflects this, too.

Charalambous designed the large, oval-shaped dining room table with a glass insert in the center, this one sandblasted, for another take on transparency. The Santa & Cole drum pendant, available through Illuminations in Georgetown, is a showstopper. “It’s an overscale light fixture that takes command of the room,” Charalambous says.

Making the Floor Plan Flow

The kitchen and family rooms felt much more connected after a low wall and thick crown molding beam were removed, and the ceramic kitchen floor was replaced with the same light oak wood that already existed in the family room and ante-foyer. FORMA matched and re-sanded the floor, and then put a clear, water-based stain on it. The kitchen cabinets were extended to the ceiling to maximize storage, and refaced with cherry wood, which was stained espresso brown to echo the FORMA-designed furniture in the living and dining rooms.

Using concrete to replace granite countertops in the kitchen and concrete to replace the brick fireplace surround in the family room provides a visual connection between the two spaces, too.

Consistent Design Features

Dark wood and concrete also link the downstairs to the upstairs. In the owners’ suite, for instance, dark wood is used for the furniture in the bedroom and the cabinetry in the bathroom. Concrete from the countertop seems to almost flow into the base for the bathtub, then extends into the shower and becomes the shower seat. And glass, sandblasted in a giant window next to the tub, creates a play of shadow and light.

The Lynns are thrilled with the overall effect of their remodel. “I think it’s a very contemporary, but warm house,” Haniel says. Adds Anita, “Every time people come in, they are totally surprised, shocked really.”