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After completing a full day of lessons at the Flight School with the blue Navy plane at rest in the silver hangar, it’s on to the Old Pilot’s Pub while the MG Midget gets refueled at the Texaco station. Streetlights illuminate the crosswalk of Jones Lane and Turkey Foot Road leading to clapboard, brick, and stucco facades behind doors 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the courtyard. Across the street are more doorways, including an attorney’s office turned tutor center and a urologist’s office, also known as the powder room. The children are still playing on the porch of the playhouse at the end of the cobblestone alley and in the brick schoolhouse directly across from the yellow garage doors with the basketball hoop. But the parents tell the children it’s time for lights out; the adults want to enjoy the pub and Jim’s Gym.
This could be how one day plays out at Jim and Jennifer Signora’s home, because it includes an inventive lower level with all the make-believe and real destinations mentioned above. Designed on a napkin, the lower level was interpreted and installed by Ted Visnic, president of MBVisnic Custom Homebuilder. Visnic built not only the Signoras’ spectacular village down under, but also their Potomac home and the homes of Jennifer’s two brothers, Andrew and David Blair. Jennifer and Andrew live across the street from one another and David lives about a mile away. The three siblings’ homes and lower levels are influenced by memories of their childhood home, also nearby. “I thought it was how the lower level should be,” Jennifer says. “It was easy to envision.”
Canary Yellow
Their father, Tom Blair, is the inspiration for the plane decor found in the siblings’ lower levels. Tom had his first solo flight on Oct. 8, 1960 when he was 16 in a canary yellow Piper J-3 Cub, just like the one hanging above the billiards room in Andrew’s home. When Andrew and his wife Kerry were designing the home with Visnic, they decided to build a sunken billiards room near the bar, similar to ones at Dave and Buster’s, Andrew says, with a Clyde’s-type finish. The idea for the plane came next.
Andrew and his father implemented a strategic plan to hang the plane by building a temporary floor over the billiards room, taking the wings and wheels off the plane, suspending it from the owners’ suite above, and using an automobile engine hoist to lift pieces of the plane into the space. A switch at the bar turns on the aircraft’s lights as well as live air traffic reports from Dulles International Airport that play inside the cockpit.
“It keeps the house young,” Andrew says of the plane. “It keeps it less formal,” which is what Andrew and Kerry want for their home and family. Below the Piper Cub in the billiards room, Andrew and Kerry added eclectic elements, such as a fireman’s jacket, a fire hose in a case, and a Coke machine. A fire pole from the owners’ suite lands in the billiards room near the fire equipment for extra authenticity.
Andrew also incorporated a G scale train set that runs along the perimeter of the room and then travels just below the ceiling of the game room, located steps down. An adjacent basketball court, gym, and workshop are open for business, while a media room with stage is under construction.
It Takes a Vision
With fond memories of her childhood home and its lower level, Jennifer stepped back, recalled the spaces, and started her lower level plan with help from her husband Jim and with the vision of Visnic.
One of Visnic’s concerns was transitioning from a sophisticated main level to the entertaining lower level. A classic turned staircase disguises what’s below where only a hint of the bistro, bar, and hangar are seen at first glance. Round the corner and the red MG Midget, blue plane, and boardwalk with awnings and arches stop visitors in their tracks.
One request was an attorney’s office, Visnic says, followed by a filling station, a chapel, a gym, and an au pair suite. The spaces evolved, Jennifer says, and continue to change as her children grow. She’s thinking of changing the silver hangar with blue Navy plane into a media room, such as the one found in her parents’ home, or the playhouse into a more mature space for her children. The attorney’s office has already morphed into a tutor center used by her children, while the schoolhouse, which came about because her mom, Alice, was a schoolteacher, still includes desks Jennifer found in Paris. The street signs reflect the North Potomac area where Jim grew up, while the lanterns and lampposts illuminate the cobblestone paths to each unique corner of this lower level.
“As we were building, we had to anticipate where the water would be,” Visnic says, in order to clean the stamped concrete, and where the facades would be located. Using clapboard, brick, paint, and stucco, Visnic created exteriors like those found in a village. A few do open to actual rooms, such as an au pair suite, a powder room, and a gym. Stained glass and an arched door replicate a chapel entry, while across the alley, a “stuffed painter” peers inside the massage parlor, reminding everyone that it’s all for fun. Some facades hide equipment, such as the glass doors of the gas station that open to the control panel for the entire home’s lighting system. A black ceiling sets the overall tone for the village by making it appear like there’s a night sky. But its dual purpose is to camouflage ductwork.
In the bar area, Visnic installed cabinetry painted blue to match the decor, which includes a faux fireplace and plush stools. For the countertops, the builder used discarded wood and had the homeowners burn their names into the counter with a woodburning kit. Also in this area of the Signoras’ home are Visnic’s initials – something he always incorporates into his homes. “Only I know where they are,” he adds.
The flooring changes from carpet in the bar area to cobblestone in the bistro to brick in the alley leading to the filling station. Stamped concrete is the main flooring material used with a boardwalk leading to the hangar painted gray to simulate steel. Assembled onsite by a family friend, the plane signifies all three siblings’ close association with flying, family, and fun.
Wine and Dine
David Blair wanted a traditional guy’s lower level for poker and pinball, as well as a space for movie nights with the kids. Deep wine colors on the walls, found in all three traditional homes, highlight the framed vintage posters of what else – trains and automobiles. David started collecting these posters after spotting them on a visit to Maui and also displays them in his office.
A gift of a cigar store relic is a colorful addition to the spaces, which include a pool table, game room with pinball machines, and bar built by Stuart Kitchens with a counter by Plan-It Granite & Marble. A playing card motif, arched bricks around the wine station, and faux painting by Christine Nicole Productions create rich finishes in this lower level. David’s favorite space is the poker room. “Turn on the pinball machines and the room just glows,” he says. Cindi LaPietra, interior design consultant and owner of Bella Interiors, found items that fit David’s taste, such as the authentic wine barrel used as a vanity in the powder room. Now she’s decorating the rest of the home.
All in the Family
Andrew says the street scene in his parents’ home influenced all three siblings’ lower levels, but “we all did something different and unique,” he adds. “All three lower levels are geared toward entertainment,” Jennifer says.
Pub nights at the Signoras’, social engagements centered around Andrew and Kerry Blair’s bar and sunken billiards room, and David Blair’s “send the guys downstairs” evenings signify the many uses of the inventive spaces. Family traditions and inspirations, including Tom’s solo flight, propelled the one-of-a-kind designs of these sensational lower levels.
