I hope everyone is having a great weekend and is enjoying lots of goodies! Easter has always been my 2nd favorite holiday (after Thanksgiving) since it includes family and good food with no stress! Enjoy the start of spring!
As it is a very upscale building (the 16 units in the building START at 1.5 MILLION, ladies and gentleman, a bit out of my price range), the lobby is suitably discrete. Classic Mies Barcelona lounges furnish a seating area with tasteful stone & wood clad walls. 
The unit I'll feature here is on the 3rd floor and operates as a furnished example and sales center (the building isn't complete yet). It was furnished and decorated by Urban Essentials, one of my favorite stores here in DC up on U street (where I got my desk!).
The main floors of the building each have 3 large units - the individual entrances have sidelight windows which I love in an apartment building!
Inside, each unit has a foyer (so important as a seperation between public space and your private unit! Much nicer than walking directly into the living room). A really cool feature was the intercom video system - see the little screen beside the telephone -that way you know it's the pizza delivery man and not a burglar!
This unit had a really beautiful round foyer before you walked into the living room. A really cool antique photograph collection of Parisian Beaux arts buildings lined the walls.
Here is the all important floor plan (you know I love these!) You can see the entryway and round foyer on the center left hand side.
The living room is HUGE for a house, let alone an apartment. These were the hugest apartments I've ever seen though so I guess they demand grand rooms.
Beautifully decorated and each unit had at least one fireplace, some had a few! This one had a large stone surround and mantel. 
The corner of the living room has a bay which juts out over over the old entryway to the building with a perfect view straight up Pennsylvania Avenue. I'd want to curl up here with a good book and cup of tea!
Next room over is the kitchen with attached family room and breakfast area. I loved the modern euro-style cabinets.
Dark wood and white marble, need I say more? Heaven!
I loved that the backsplash wasn't tile or pieces but one continuous slab of marble. So clean (and easy to KEEP clean!) Nice range too -6 burners in an apartment?! Nice!
One thing the architect did well was plan storage space. There were tons of closets, enormous laundry rooms (as big as my entire apartment, people) and the closets that were visible in hallways had really nice built-in doors and organization systems. This was the hallway into the master bedroom.
A nice set up, Urban essentials did a great job staging the space. I wanted to take a nap in here!
But, getting to the good part, the most intriguing thing to me when I first saw the building was the little tower, seen below. I wanted to know so badly what it was, and more importantly, I WANTED TO GO THERE.
Turns out, the penthouse units on the top 3 floors each have enormous roof decks. The lucky one has the little tower as a pavilion; perfect for parties or a little getaway (or rent it out to poor architects like me? haha).
So cute -the space inside is totally open with tons of windows and amazing views up the street (directly above the furnished apartment's living room bay). I barely paid attention to the view though and the HUGE roof deck of this unit because of this little 'house'. The best part of the building!
This is bigger than most houses and it's an APARTMENT! How cool is that!
I hope you enjoyed the tour, thanks to Michele for showing me around and playing hostess! If you're interested, you can see floor plans for all the units and more information about the building on their website HERE. I know some of you LOVE the floor plans!
I couldn't agree more, just a dash though; you don't want to overpower your egg salad with paprika! I wonder if Diana would approve of my little butler table?
If you live in DC, chances are you live in a tradition style home. Strict neighborhood associations prevent much alteration in the best neighborhoods so you're required to live in a historical setting (for tourism reasons, maybe? I really enjoy a more eclectic environment myself). Recently however, I came upon a house in Georgetown that really felt like a great concession between traditional and modern design. A few quick little updates and this typical DC rowhouse gets a modern edge.
No major exterior renovation appears to have happened (probably not allowed by local associations!) but the application of bright white paint over the brick and painting the windows black with grey trim keeps things looking more modern, don't you think? Even the very linear bushes seem updated, as do the replaced light fixtures. Most people overlook their window blinds but they're so important to the exterior of the house! Here, clean and uniform blinds lend a very contemporary look (no crooked curtains or askance mini blinds!) You can even see a very modern chandelier shining through the window in the rear bay. I love this mix of the old and new!
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