Houzz Tour: Later in Life, a Bold New Design Adventure

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple in their 70s
Location: Washington, D.C.
Size: Main and second floors: 2,350 square feet (218 square meters); 2,980 square feet (277 square meters) with third-floor guest suite; 3 bedrooms, 3½ bathrooms
Architect: Janet Bloomberg, principal of Kube architecture

The homeowners “didn’t have a physical vision, just things they like that they shared with us,” Bloomberg says. Among their preferences: the “feel of a New York loft, very modern and minimal; black and white and gray palette with pops of color; efficient; ultraclean; not decorative,” she says. Without children to raise or a future sale to consider, the couple were willing to give up square footage and an extra bedroom to remove the back half of the second floor, opening the rear of the house in dramatic fashion.

A space that was once cluttered with interior walls, 8-foot ceilings and a warren of small rooms now offers a clear view from the entry straight to the garden’s back wall. Bloomberg grouped the kitchen, the powder room and an elevator into a central core, as she refers to it. This “not only improved the flow from front to back, but also made room for wheelchair-accessible walkways around the entire floor on both levels,” she says.

The wife had the idea of exposing the brick under the plaster — “always kind of risky and expensive,” Bloomberg notes. “And it could be a mess.” While the walls weren’t perfect, they did add texture and character to the modernized space. Bloomberg painted them white, making them a good backdrop for the couple’s artwork. “It makes it look clean,” she says, “and allows the light to go through the whole house.”

Couch and swivel chairs: Ligne Roset; Tavolo Con Ruote coffee table: Gae Aulen; Baxter rug: Crate & Barrel

At night the interior is flooded with light reflected by the whitewashed brick. The centrally located kitchen is lit like the stage it becomes when one of the homeowners cooks. The blackened-steel seat-back on the dining area wall conceals a perimeter of glowing LED lighting.

Wall paint: Chantilly Lace OC-65, Benjamin Moore

One example of rough juxtaposed against refined, the dining area has a 12½-foot-long (3.8-meter-long) glass-top table set on a slender steel frame, next to a bench with a built-in blackened-steel seat-back and a cement composite Viroc seat. Bloomberg planned for cushions on top of the bench seat, but “it’s very comfortable as is,” she says. “She likes it without the cushions.”

Tate dining chairs: Cappelini; light fixture: Flos; blackened-steel seat-back panel: Metal Specialties

“The garden is a really important component for them,” Bloomberg says. “They entertain a lot, and they wanted to make it a beautiful place to be.” To further blur the division between indoors and out, Bloomberg continued the interior tile pavers outside, switching to a textured finish and weaving them in with matching poured concrete pavers and jutting Cor-Ten steel planters. Cor-Ten also makes a major appearance in paneled lighting at the back and side garden walls. A slender fountain sends water down a pebbled course that hides the drainage system. “I like the idea of using different kinds of steel and different textures of the same kinds of materials,” Bloomberg says.

At night, the patio is softly illuminated with planter-level lighting and lights hidden in the Cor-Ten steel wall panels, similar to the perimeter glow of the blackened-steel panels in the dining area.

This view from above illustrates the amount of blackened steel, including two side I-beams, used to frame the glass back wall and to reinforce the brick walls, which now are minus a good deal of the second floor. “The minute you take off that floor, it wants to rack and you have to brace it,” Bloomberg says. Cooling a volume this size, especially in notorious D.C. summer heat, can be tricky. Bloomberg installed a 96-inch industrial fan in the ceiling to pull in air and circulate it to both levels. The second-floor glass-paneled blackened-steel railing echoes the look of the window wall, lending a visual cohesiveness. The wide-plank clear maple flooring here is new.

Industrial fan: Hunter; steel railing: Metal Specialties; glass railing panels: Shower Door King

The second-floor loft space, with its view of the public areas below and the outdoor patio beyond the windows, houses a library and seating area as well as the master bedroom and bathroom. A scattering of single bare bulbs suspended from colored cords adds a fresh and whimsical touch.

Egg chair: Arne Jacobsen; steel shelving unit: custom-designed by Kube architecture, fabricated by Metal Specialties; Baxter rug: Crate & Barrel; Socco pendant lighting: Tech Lighting; sliding panel doors: custom, Mersoa Woodworking, with Lime Green 2026-10 paint by Benjamin Moore

Behind the sliding green panel doors is a sleeping nook “for the more intimate friends or relatives,” Bloomberg says, “because it is close to the master bedroom and bathroom.” A more formal guest suite is located on the third floor, along with an office for the husband.

Tolomeo bed light: Artemide; adjustable bed: Tempur-Pedic

The master bedroom, which faces the street, can be accessed from either hallway. The unusual headboard is fashioned from Viroc, an inexpensive concrete composite that Bloomberg also used for the dining bench and for some of the flooring. “Everyone loves it,” Bloomberg says. “They don’t realize they stepped on it on the stair landing. It looks fabulous vertically.”

Orange Slice chair: Pierre Paulin; rug: Neutral Texturas, CB2; Tolomeo bed light: Artemide; wall paint: Amorous AF-600, Benjamin Moore

The master bath is “one of my favorite bathrooms I ever designed,” Bloomberg says. “It’s not a large space, but we made it look very luxurious” with a combination of high-grade materials and a brilliant blue accent in the form of the cabinetry. The vertical medicine cabinets framing the mirror are custom, as is the 9-foot (2.7-meter) white Corian vanity counter with built-in trough sink. Thinking ahead, Bloomberg designed the shower, which sits flush with the floor and has no door, to be large enough to accommodate a wheelchair if need be. She also custom-designed ADA safety grab bars in the separate toilet compartment, whirlpool tub and shower. As on the first floor, a walkway encircles the second floor’s central core, and part of it passes through the bathroom. “We marked it with a textured runway gray tile to make sure it’s clear,” Bloomberg says.

Cabinetry: custom-designed by Kube architecture, fabricated by Mersoa Woodworking; vanity cabinetry paint: Pool Party 2059-50, Benjamin Moore; Studio Gray Matte and White textured bathroom tile: Stone Source; Zen Whirlpool bathtub: Neptune; Axor Uno faucets, Radiance shower head and Unica hand shower set: Hansgrohe; shower glass: Shower Door King; countertop: custom Corian in Decorator White; mirror: Pipe; mirror lighting: Steng Licht; grab bars: custom, Metal Specialties

What was once the front room is now a media room, since most of the public space is at the back of the house. Bloomberg retained the older pine floor in this area, but replaced the rest of the wood with tile flooring. The media room closes by way of aluminum-framed, frosted-glass sliding doors. The back walkway (with wood floor) leads first to the elevator — another important component for aging in place in a multistory home — and then to the kitchen and living room area beyond. “The elevator was very challenging,” Bloomberg says. “It was very small, but it would fit a wheelchair.” Across from the staircase, a pair of doors at right conceals a vestibule leading to a coat closet and the powder room, and stairs to the basement.

Elevator: Bedco Mobility

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