A Vivid New Search for a Small Home in Arlington

After years of dwelling in lofts — first in New York after which in Arlington, Va. — Nicole Lanteri and Aaron Trent had been prepared for a home and all of the facilities that include it: separate rooms with partitions and doorways, outside areas, home windows with views in several instructions.

“However I didn’t desire a massive home, as a result of it’s simply the 2 of us,” stated Ms. Lanteri, 44, the founding father of the Washington inside design studio Nicole Lanteri Design. “In order that was the problem, really: discovering a smaller home that was near the town however that wasn’t a rowhouse, as a result of I wished home windows on all sides.”

It was a tall order, however after they noticed a 1,600-square-foot brick home in-built 1938, sitting between a church and a leafy cemetery within the Ashton Heights Historic District of Arlington, they knew it had potential. After touring it, they determined there was no turning again.

“We noticed it at 5:00 on a Saturday, and there was lovely gentle and a backyard,” Ms. Lanteri stated. “It had been very effectively cared for, and there was a shine to it from the get-go. We simply fell in love.”

The couple’s actual property agent questioned whether or not they can be comfy dwelling subsequent to a cemetery, however they noticed the inexperienced house as an asset. “It’s a stunning, hundred-year-old cemetery that’s an arboretum and has a rose backyard,” stated Mr. Trent, 46, the chief monetary officer of Ms. Lanteri’s agency. “It turned out to be unbelievable.”

The couple closed on the home in July 2018, paying $920,000, with plans to place their stamp on it by way of selective renovations and décor. “Coming from a loft the place we solely had two doorways, I used to be actually enthusiastic about having extra doorways, partitions and a closed kitchen,” Ms. Lanteri stated. “We prepare dinner lots, so it was really very nice to not have an open ground plan.”

She wasn’t thrilled with the prevailing kitchen, in order that turned her first venture. “Our contractor got here in and demo-ed it on the day we closed,” she stated.

For a brand new look, she put in a black-and-white terrazzo ground with extra-large marble mixture from Ann Sacks, lacquered lime-green cupboards and a white marble counter and backsplash minimize to suit across the home windows.

That venture took about six weeks to finish. Then the couple moved in and progressively made extra adjustments. In the lounge, they stored the prevailing structure however used paint to dramatic impact, coating the partitions in darkish grey and the fireside mantel in the identical lime inexperienced used within the kitchen. Then they stacked books to the ceiling. Above a console that serves as a house bar, they mounted a grid of framed blueprints for the home that Ms. Lanteri had found in an previous drawer. To modernize the eating room, they added Manuel Canovas wallpaper depicting Paris rooftops and a Patera pendant lamp from Louis Poulsen.

On the decrease degree, they created a media room subsequent to a rest room the place they spelled out the phrase “Ooh La La” in black-and-white hexagonal mosaic tile, simply exterior a bathe completed in pink penny tile.

“We simply wished to have enjoyable,” Ms. Lanteri stated.

In addition they added graphic black-and-white tile to the partitions of a stairwell main as much as the outside pea-gravel patio.

Upstairs, they tore out wall-to-wall carpet to disclose hardwood flooring, which they refinished earlier than changing one of many rooms into a house workplace with Cole & Son Woods wallpaper and gallery partitions that includes inspirational artworks and mementos. “They’re all of our favourite items,” Ms. Lanteri stated, “in addition to recollections of finding out overseas, the place we acquired engaged and artwork I made as a baby.”

Renovating the first rest room was the final massive job. There, they embraced much more shade and sample, together with gold-and-cream ceramic tile resembling damask wallpaper, which they discovered at Neighborhood Forklift, a constructing supplies reuse heart; floral Home of Hackney wallpaper; and periwinkle paint on the door and shelving.

By the point they had been completed, Ms. Lanteri and Mr. Trent had spent about $200,000. Now, dwelling in a home relatively than a loft appears “even higher than we may have imagined,” she stated.

Though they couldn’t have predicted the pandemic, the timing of their transfer was fortuitous.

“With the best way the world has modified with Covid, and extra distant work, having the ability to work on the porch or simply transfer by way of the home at completely different instances of day is unbelievable,” Mr. Trent stated. “We’ve acquired the porch, we’ve the deck, we’ve the entrance yard and the yard. It’s actually cool.”

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