Leesburg, VA March 2023

When the world is changing, we can help you stay focused on your goals.

Jeffrey W. Eveland, CFP ®, CRPC®, CPFA®

Director

Management Advisor 703.779.2130

j_eveland@ml.com

VA 20175

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Photo by Christy Kosnic

Architect: Cawood Architecture, PLLC

Quality work, top-of-the-line service

Coming Home

Each year in March we put together an issue all about the Home. Lately, it seems most of our discussions surround spiking interest rates and the real estate market dropping off, reducing the home to a financial narrative. Obviously, our homes are a major investment, but they are so much more. Our inspiring cover story about the Serenity House is apropos in that light... isn't peace and serenity what we all seek in our homes?

Now that so many of us are working more from home we are presented with an interesting dilemma. Where we once could leave work at the office, now the stresses move from a basement office to our living rooms and are often attached directly to our ears. The 20-minute decompression commute is no longer available to us. How do we find peace?

So finding ways to make our homes (or parts of them) more serene and our happy, calm place is maybe more important than ever.

We are blessed to have some of the best home experts in Northern Virginia as contributors. From outdoor living spaces, trending color and style for kitchens, building with less expensive but sturdier materials, and new financing options to getting rid of the annoyances of technology in the home, we cover it all.

We hope you enjoy the issue and learn something to bring more happiness into your lives for 2023 and beyond.

March 2023

PUBLISHER

Hann Livingston | hann.livingston@citylifestyle.com

EDITORIAL COORDINATOR

Melinda Gipson | melinda.gipson@citylifestyle.com

Corporate Team

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Steven Schowengerdt

CHIEF SALES OFFICER Matthew Perry

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER DeLand Shore

DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL MEDIA Mindy Hargesheimer

ART DIRECTOR Sara Minor

HANN LIVINGSTON, PUBLISHER @LEESBURGLIFESTYLE

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Janeane Thompson

WEB APPLICATIONS Michael O’Connell

AD DESIGNER Matthew Endersbe

LAYOUT DESIGNER Kirstan Lanier

ADVANCED BODY CONTOURING

BREAST SURGERY · BOTOX & FILLER

FACIAL & EYELID REJUVENATION

PROCEDURES FOR MEN · LASER RESURFACING

COOLSCULPTING ELITE · IV THERAPY

EMSCULPT NEO · EMTONE · EMSELLA

CHEMICAL PEELS · PRP & MICRONEEDLING

CUSTOMIZABLE AQUAGOLD · PLASMA PEN

ULTHERAPY · CUSTOM HYDRAFACIALS

VICHY SHOWER HYDROTHERAPY

INFRARED SAUNA · MEDICAL GRADE SKINCARE

city scene

Loudoun Chamber of Commerce Leadership Awards. 1: Dr Edward Puccio, emergency medicine, Inova Loudoun Hospital, Executive Leader Winner. 2: Young Professionals Leader Monti Mercer with Jeff Bentley (NWFCU CEO), Carol Barbe and Shawn Mitchell 3: From the Loudoun Community Leadership Awards, Danielle Nadler, Loudoun Education Foundation, Non-Profit Executive 2023 4: On the right, David Butcher, RoadRunner Wrecker Service, Small Business Leader 5: Michael Perham HHMI Janelia Research Campus director of innovations and external relations, Large Business Winner. 6: Ali Ehrlich, U.S. Chamber, on hand to congratulate Tony Howard on his Five Star rating. 7: Shawn Mitchell, One-Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, out-going Loudoun Chamber Board Chair.

MELINDA GIPSON

ALEX MANGIONE PHOTOGRAPHY

ALEX MANGIONE PHOTOGRAPHY

ALEX MANGIONE PHOTOGRAPHY

ALEX MANGIONE PHOTOGRAPHY ALEX MANGIONE PHOTOGRAPHY

ALEX MANGIONE PHOTOGRAPHY

Where neighbors can see and be seen.

Garden Trends from Baltimore MANTS Conference. 1: Purple is in... 2: ...as are smaller “Seussical” gems that can add fireworks to flower beds. 3: Succulents played starring roles in the more than 300,000 sq ft of floor space. 4: The crew from Watermark Woods Native Plants in Hamilton guided us through the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show. 5: And what gardener can’t appreciate good looking plants that the deer won’t eat! 6: Convenience and sustainability showing in “Smart Pot” fabric raised bed planters. 7: ...As did shape shifters: evergreens that tend towards natural or in-bred sculpting. Photography by Melinda Gipson

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WHAT LIES BENEATH

ARTICLE BY MELINDA GIPSON

PHOTOGRAPHY BY WISE AUTOMATION

WISE AUTOMATION WORKS TO MAKE SURE YOUR HOME NETWORK WORKS AS IT SHOULD

In Loudoun and Fairfax Counties, many residences are larger than some office parks, which means that their need for professional-grade technology and entertainment equipment is equally pronounced. Once homeowners found themselves working from home during the pandemic, along with all the kids at home demanding to be entertained or to stream their lessons from school, they realized that their home networks needed to work well everywhere, all the time. That’s when they called Luke Thompson, owner of Wise Automation, a residential technology integrator based in Northern VA.

As Luke describes his superpower, “After working in commercial IT for 13 years I can tell you, It all starts with the network. We don’t come out to your house just to make sure your Alexa works and your light bulbs are synchronized. Our approach is much more in-depth, starting with the very core of the network. My typical customer is saying, ‘I can’t make Zoom calls from my home office’, ‘Why is the wifi weak upstairs?’, ‘how do we get wifi/audio/tv outside to another area?’ Somewhere along the line, the network is not functioning correctly or designed optimally.”

As for what “the network” looks like, Luke admits, “It probably works best when you don’t see it!” Nevertheless, he did a great job of showing us an example of what a residential network he worked on looked like both before and after he brought it to peak performance. In this particular case, the homeowner’s property consisted of the main home, a guest house, the pool and the pool house,

Before Wise Automation

each with audio speakers, video, wifi, and personal cell phones needing access to the wired and wireless networks. All that functionality should run seamlessly but most of it was installed piecemeal to serve just one segment of the entertainment or office system at once. With everything running simultaneously, the network was easily overwhelmed.

“For the most part, no residential networks are meant to handle that kind of data load consistently throughout the house,” Luke said. “Consumers are discovering that the infrastructure just isn’t there, or it wasn’t set up optimally to handle those scenarios. We go in and either add to or redesign their system to function the way it’s supposed to, which is all the time from everywhere.”

In Luke’s projects for ambassadors, government officials and corporate executives – all of whom conduct critical business from home – network security also comes with the job. “We use commercial-level firewalls and active cybersecurity filtering to analyze the traffic as it goes in and out of the house to ensure that viruses aren’t getting in, and that the network isn’t sending data out somewhere else.” These systems and where they are utilized have grown so much in recent years, that they’ve even spawned a new term: “Resimercial.”

This concept covers a network that may be housed in a residence, but that operates with commercial scale and reliability. “We just did a 25,000-squarefoot home. The scale of everything was so large it felt more like a hotel. We installed 24 wifi access points and 20 TVs. At that scale, you can see that if there are faulty loops in the network or damaged cables or interference to the wifi, it doesn’t take much to make the network completely unusable.... We build things from scratch so they’re reliable from the get-go.”

The process usually involves simplification. Luke typically centralizes network operations from the basement where each system interconnects into a central junction running over specialty hardware that can route all data over the network. “Instead of a million buttons, you just have a few to control.” He understands that most of his clients don’t want to feel like they’re on Star Trek and have to master a dozen devices. “They just want to push a button and have the TV turn on.”

For Luke, the job usually starts with an email, so drop him a line at  lthompson@wiseautomation.com and tell him what’s not working. He’ll know what lies beneath, and how to fix it.

After Wise Automation

“We go in and either add to or redesign their system to function the way it’s supposed to, which is all the time from everywhere.”

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ARTICLE BY MELINDA GIPSON WITH MATT BOWE PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALAIR HOMES HUNT COUNTRY

THE FUTURE OF HOME CONSTRUCTION IS OFFSITE

ALAIR HOMES HUNT COUNTRY PAVES THE WAY

As a quality-focused custom home builder and remodeler, Matt Bowe’s Alair Homes Hunt Country has always sought to innovate. But, as a trend-setter, he observes that, “the construction industry undeniably lags behind all other major production industries when it comes to manufacturing productivity. We as an industry have been very slow to embrace or pursue technological advances that offer more efficient ways to build homes.”

That is, until now. Alair Homes Hunt Country continues to work with its clients to design and build high-quality, high-end, fully custom homes.  The difference is that they are identifying significant portions of those homes that can be manufactured offsite and then brought to the site for accelerated assembly. That includes component manufacturing, panelized precast foundation systems, panelized framing packages and volumetric construction, also known as modular.

“With current labor shortages and material supply disruptions, we have been looking to other construction methods to address the shortcomings of site-built construction methods. This led us to look at what parts of the construction process we could outsource to a manufacturing facility to mitigate delays, labor shortages and cost fluctuations. Offsite construction methods are where we are directing our attention. With the right manufacturers, who we thoroughly vet and qualify, we can meet and exceed the results we achieve with on-site stick-built construction while better managing cost, schedule, quality, and structural soundness.”

Think of it this way – the typical way to build a home involves bringing thousands of smaller parts and pieces to a site and assembling them by hand with many different kinds of people. “It’s akin to buying all the parts for your car and building it in your driveway, right? It’s not that a

FIRST PAGE, LEFT: Precast Foundation Fabricated Offsite; 6-8 Panels Set

FIRST PAGE , RIGHT: Ready for Floor Deck

ABOVE: Furnace Mountain Modular Construction

MATT BOILS A HALF DOZEN ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH INTO THE FOLLOWING:

1. Cost-Effectiveness: Offsite construction offers an attractive benefit of ensuring a shorter construction schedule and a reduction in costs.

2. Diversity: Offsite construction methods offer total flexibility with regard to architectural design, size, materials and finishes.

3. Speed: Offsite construction is a faster construction process due to the efficiencies of a large-scale manufacturing process and reduced labor time, as well as the superior structural advantages it has over traditional on-site construction methods.

4. Quality: Because construction occurs under-roof in a climate-controlled production facility, using more mechanization and more ergonomic workstations for the tradesmen, offsite construction assures consistently higher quality. Additionally, air-sealing and insulation details are more robust compared with typical on-site construction methods.

5. Sustainable Construction: Improved material allocation, waste reduction, and cost-effectiveness, all give offsite construction greater environmental advantages compared with traditional on-site construction methods.

6. Durability and Quality: Offsite construction produces highly durable and reliable components. The improved quality control in a factory setting allows for a higher standard of quality that can easily exceed site-built construction, particularly with the current dearth of qualified tradespeople.

really good mechanic couldn’t do that, but it’s hard to find really good mechanics or to get all those parts,” Matt explains. The construction industry is facing two major challenges. One is an unreliable supply chain and the second is a massive shortage of skilled labor. Those trends are not expected to change in the foreseeable future. With most other industries that build something so complex, he adds, “it happens in a controlled environment on a precision factory line that ensures consistency and quality and ergonomic working conditions for the employees. To try to manage all that on-site in the field is much more problematic.”

But don’t think because the processes are performed in a factory that they are anything less than premium construction. It is Alair Homes Hunt Country that establishes and approves the design, the performance requirements, and the specifications for any part of the project that will be manufactured offsite –no different than when they contract to build on-site. Matt says, “offsite construction is factory-built to our approved specifications, transported in the form of individual components, assemblies, panels or modules, and then installed quickly onsite to form a complete home. They are fully customizable just like traditional on-site construction methods and easily match or exceed the luxury amenities, finishes and quality available with on-site construction.”

When speaking specifically about volumetric (modular) homes, as illustrated by our photos, Matt says, “Modular homes readily accommodate highend finishes, Smart Home Technology, energy-saving appliances, and high-end cabinetry, millwork and trim. These homes allow for any architectural style or layout, giving the homeowner complete control.”

But there are even more benefits. “In addition to the luxury amenities, state-of-the-art construction

“State-of-the-art construction techniques and quality control measures mean that luxury modular homes can be built faster than traditional construction methods while ensuring top-quality standards.”

— Matt Bowe

techniques and quality control measures mean that luxury modular homes can be built faster than traditional construction methods while ensuring top-quality standards.” According to Matt, modular construction, “probably knocks two to three months off our typical schedule. You could receive a home up to 80% finished the day it’s delivered. More often, it’s about half finished but you are at least assured of a less volatile schedule because their production schedules are very tight and reliable, vs. the extended material and labor delays currently experienced with onsite construction. Offsite manufactured components also benefit from strict quality control and eliminate the need for extra materials and personnel on-site, he adds.

After Hurricane Sandy, residential construction in the coastal regions of the Northeast made a massive shift to volumetric construction – partly because it was a faster path to replacing structures destroyed in the storm but also because the components were better engineered. “There’s no denying it. It is a much stronger, rigid, more robust building. It holds up way, way, way better to hurricanes and other wind events,” Matt says.

“My big thing is that we are able to deliver a home that is fundamentally and demonstrably a more structurally sound, more robust house. Now, if we customize it a lot in the field, costs are going to be relatively comparable to stick building except that it’ll be built faster, be stronger, and it’s less likely for the project costs to increase during construction because so much of that is locked in when we sign a contract with the manufacturer.... There’s typically a 10% deposit to get your spot on the manufacturer’s line and for them to order all the materials and build the house, but you don’t pay another dime until it’s delivered,” Matt adds. “It’s a great way to give my clients a superior home, in a shorter time frame.”

Precast Foundation Fabricated Offsite Ready for Slab

St. Patrick's Day Festival

Saturday, March 18 — 12:00PM – 4:00PM

Admission $10 – Children 12 and under free

Eat Drink and be Irish

Join us with Misneach Irish Dance Academy for a family friendly St. Patrick’s Day! Featuring Irish Dancers, Entertainers, Vendors, and Themed Beverages and Food available!

Register at OATLANDS.ORG

Wedding Showcase & Vow Renewal

Saturday, March 25 10:00AM – 2:00PM Vow Renewal at 1:00PM

Tour the gorgeous gardens and historic structures of Oatlands Historic House & Gardens during our Wedding Showcase, and for those who wish to reaffirm their love we are also conducting a special vow renewal ceremony. Register at OATLANDS.ORG

Pamela Sold Stacey Metcalfe's Home

Creative Financing For Your Exraordinary Transition

ARTICLE BY MELINDA GIPSON | PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAMELA JONES

For Pamela and Dave Jones, owners of Extraordinary Transitions, a Realtor with Long & Foster, most transitions involve both buying AND selling a home. In these situations, the most common concern has to do with financing the customer’s next home before the other home sells. In today’s housing market, homes turn over so quickly that those who plan ahead want to ensure they’ve secured their new dream house before letting go of their current abode.

Pam calls the financial instrument that makes all this possible the “trade-in” mortgage, which is provided by Calque. She explains, “in the past, we’d just call it a bridge loan. It involves taking some of the equity you have in your current home and allocating it towards your next purchase. You then get approved for financing by the lender for your next property. Then you can search at your leisure to find your next home knowing exactly what you can afford and what it will cost without being under huge pressure. You don’t have to worry, ‘Now that my house is sold, where do I go?’”

The home shopper now has the freedom to make a great selection, get a home inspection, and decide to move forward without worrying that they’ll qualify for the offer they need to place. Ideally, of course, there’s plenty of equity in the previous house to be able to market it, pay the relevant commissions, transfer taxes, settlement fees and any related closing costs as well as their new home down payment. What makes this determination easier is that the same lender does both loans – taking on the trade-in loan financing as well as the mortgage to come.

An added benefit of the arrangement is that the seller now has time to close on the new house, move in, and turn around and polish up the old property for maximum resale value. When that house sells, they pay off the Calque “trade-in” mortgage and have just one loan at the end of the day.

Because she and David have used this approach before, they know exactly how to calculate how much the homeowner will need to pay off their current loan, plus the trade-in mortgage and finally what to budget for their new house. “In most cases, people will only have to borrow a small amount of equity to be able to accomplish the purchase on their next property,” Pam says.

It is typically national mortgage lenders who are approved to offer such loans, and rarely the lender who currently owns the mortgage on the house, Pam explains. “The current lender has no incentive to jump through a lot of hoops for you,” she says. On the other hand, the lender she has worked with since 2004 as their exclusive local agent is delighted to participate in hot real estate markets like that of Loudoun County and wherever those homeowners want to relocate.

Less desirable alternatives like “e-buyer” companies typically pay on the order of only 85% of what your home may be worth, she advises, whereas, “We’re marketing [that home] to the general public, generating as many prospects and buyers for the home as possible. We’re very clear with the owner about the value of their property. My expertise is being able to tell them the truth about what the market will bear for their home. So far in the new year, we have managed anywhere from 2 to 25 offers for a given property to generate the best-selling scenario for the homeowner.”

She hastens to note that this arrangement isn’t only for homeowners who are downsizing; it can work if you’re expanding as well – you just need to leverage a certain amount of equity in your home to facilitate the transfer.

If all this makes you more likely to consider either upor down-sizing to your dream location, don’t hesitate to call Pamela with questions at 703-587-7440 or check out PamSellsFineHomes.com , and let her tell you what the market indicates your home is worth today!

From the Ancient to the Mundane

FOUND ART FROM FRANCE ADDS MAGIC TO YOUR GARDEN

ARTICLE BY MELINDA GIPSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY GREENER GARDENS

Born in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region of France – a southeast central region covered by the Massif Central mountain range – Pierre Moitrier grew up scrabbling around a nearby ruined castle hewn from the mountain’s volcanic rock. “My name is Pierre, which of course means stone in French,” he quips. In college, he met and fell in love with a young American named Nancy Lowry, who was studying English gardens, in England, naturally. Together, they’ve forged a decades-long marriage and corresponding love affair with plants, gardens and rustic antiquities that has led to some highly unique and utterly transporting garden creations.

We discovered their company Designs for Greener Gardens ( greenergardensantiques.net) in a back hall at MANTS, the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show in Baltimore, in mid-January when an unusual-looking stone watering trough caught our eye. Call it the proverbial needle in a haystack – the hand-hewn texture and centuries-old

Garden 'Folly'

patina of this piece just beckoned from literally 300,000 square feet of exhibit space with more than 900 vendors.

As a parenthesis, our exposure to MANTS was the result of a kind invitation by Julie Borneman, owner of Watermark Woods, a native plant nursery in Hamilton that we wrote about in our last issue. Ironically, Nancy Lowry’s own father Jack was instrumental in kick-starting the nursery trade show a half-century ago. As Pierre puts it, “She comes from a long line of plant addicts.” Together it all makes for one of those creative meet-ups that tech entrepreneur Tony Hsieh used to call a “collision.”

But, to get to the point of our story, what makes all this interesting is that, after 35 years of designing, developing and installing beautiful gardens, a couple of years ago, the Moitriers began importing garden antiques from France. Not all were initially intended as garden enhancements, of course. Most were at one time, a few hundred years ago before cast iron took hold, hand-carved water troughs for livestock.

Yet, the combination of hand-tooling, the variety of stone from basalt to granite, and the collection of lichen and moss from centuries of use lends them an air of old-world antiquity. Add to these intricate wrought iron railings, hand-carved fireplace mantels, fired clay architectural elements, and Pierre’s own hand-made benches and bowers made of twisted eastern red cedar limbs and you’ve laid a real feast for the eyes.

As Greener Garden’s website proclaims, “The patina of time imbued in each one of our handpicked garden antiques will create a unique ambiance and bring life to any refined garden setting.”

As to how the pair got into troughs, Nancy explained, “We work in creating gardens with a soul. We’ve been doing that together for 23 years. We were always challenged to try to create the illusion of age in our gardens. By adding objects to a garden, you always add a layer of interest,” but infusing true antiquity was hard.

Then Pierre remembered his upbringing in the countryside of Montgilbert and how farmers made good use of their native rock. Every year the couple would return to France and explore the region, and often drove by a local architectural salvage

“We work in creating gardens with a soul.”

— Nancy Lowry-Moitrier

yard filled with objects transported from nearby renovations and demolitions. It took years to connect with the owner, but their efforts were rewarded with a unique and lasting partnership – one Nancy claims to have been forged with “a lot of croissants and coffee drinking.”

“We’d go to the place where the salvage guys are working with your dozen croissants and after some discussion one of the French guys would say, ‘I’ve got some coffee,’ and eventually they’d pluck a table and a chair from a display and you’d share your croissants in the middle of all these items with other strangers looking to acquire them and share stories about this or that demolition project. Never wine, though. It’s a morning sport.”

One such story involved a farmer who had determined to demolish a 14th Century chapel on his farm to build a barn for his tractors. The chapel meant nothing to him so he was going to use the stones to create the footings for the structure to house his farm equipment, and then pour concrete on top. While the story can sound appalling to art and antiquity lovers, Pierre says, “At least there’s someone to salvage the old stones who can get them to somewhere they’re appreciated.” (Note that Greener Gardens doesn’t import religious artifacts. Such antiquities aren’t allowed to be exported.)

As for the “getting there,” what likely made the enterprise take-off was the fact that Pierre’s brother works for DSL, the international shipping company, based in St-Yorre, France and can manage all the packing and crating. As we spoke in late January, the Moitriers were expecting a 15-ton shipment, due to arrive in February.

“The patina of time imbued in each one of our handpicked garden antiques will create a unique ambiance and bring life to any refined garden setting.”

A Garden: Full of Living Things

It all requires very careful packing because even though the troughs are stone, they are hollow and so can break more easily than a stone slab. Shipping alone can run $20,000, after which all the objects need to be transported to the showroom in Annapolis where they’re sold. “It’s paid for with passion,” Pierre says. “If we weren’t doing it at least 50/50 for the joy of sharing these objects we wouldn’t do it.”

Pierre has developed his own ability to turn troughs into water features and other items into garden vignettes that take the couples’ gardens to a whole other level. A true Lowry-Moitrier garden integrates both living and dead materials like stone and woven eastern red cedar to make structures to support or elevate the plant life. The plants themselves are a mixture of unusual, native and common plants.

Says Nancy, “We are not fighting nature. We are going with nature, which allows us to have gardens that are successful, that grow well, and that doesn’t require a lot

of pesticides. They are not landscapes, they are genuine gardens teaming with life and are continually evolving. There are foxes and birds and butterflies and insects and microbes, there’s decomposition and cultivation –it’s a cycle.”

She adds, “It’s really important that create gardens that are not only functional but that also provide peace and tranquility from the busy-ness of life. Our gardens are meant to replenish the soul.”

You can peruse their inventory of unique garden elements online at  greenergardensantiques.net, visit their showroom at 1120 Bay Ridge Road, Annapolis, MD 21403, or drop Pierre a line to find out what’s in their latest shipment at pierre@greenergardens.net. Their garden design services may be reached at greenergardens.net.

Stone Pond

The Lowry-Moitiers: Gardeners, Curators of Found Art

ARTICLE BY REBECCA PALES, KANE LANDSCAPES

SCULPTING BEAUTY FROM THE UPS AND DOWNS OF LOUDOUN LANDSCAPE

The image at left features a home in Leesburg where the front yard was elevated to create a driveway. The client wanted to make a roundabout with a focal point in the center and extra parking to the side; when the additional parking area wasn’t in use, they wanted a space to double as a half-court for their son to play basketball.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KANE LANDSCAPES

Kane Landscapes, a family-owned business located in Loudoun County, has encountered its fair share of exciting requests over the past 30 years of designing and building stunning outdoor living environments in Northern Virginia.   With his team of talented landscape architects, project supervisors and craftspeople Josh Kane takes on these challenges and constructs some truly wonderful landscapes for his clients. Perhaps you’ve encountered a few of these common conundrums?

Probably the number one issue the team at Kane Landscapes faces is the hilly terrain of Loudoun County. While this may create additional work, it also allows for wonderful views and interesting features to be built into the landscape of outdoor living. When adding a pool, using the natural grade changes can create great visual interest and expand your family’s entertainment vantages.

Clients with sloping properties often want “level” areas for the kids to play or so they may create more formal gardens. Proper planning, especially during the home or pool construction phase can be accomplished by moving excavated soil to the locations where it’s needed.

For backyards, there are a few more options. For some homeowners, creating different terraces and helping use the terrain in their favor is perfect. Going up and down steps isn’t ideal for other homeowners, so a flat or level yard is the best option.

Our region is known for the natural beauty of the land, but also for the heat, humidity and insects. So what do you do when you want to be outdoors, but with a little more comfort?  Often the answer is a covered pavilion, screened porch, or a 3-seasons room. With screens, fans and even air-conditioning, these areas can be a simple respite from the summer sun or a true extension of your home to be used most of the year

Getting kids, and parents for that matter, off their devices and talking to family is often the aim of outdoor activities. It often seems like when people are outdoors they slow down, relax and are more open to conversation. Keeping everyone outdoors takes planning. Facilities like an outdoor kitchen allow families to stay outside longer and try different things, like making a pizza or smoking ribs together.

Extending the party into the evening when the temperatures start to cool is another

Leveling a Circle Drive Can Also Make Room for Basketball

Changes in Elevation Can Create Interest

highly requested feature of Kane Landscapes designers. There are many ways to pull your family and guests outside. Proper LED lighting, Café lights strung over your patio or a firepit/fireplace all help you make the outdoors the best room in the house to spend your evenings. Even a fountain can make a space feel cooler, and the sound of moving water creates a peaceful atmosphere.

See kanelandscapes.com for more photos and examples.

Some Homeowners Prefer a Leveled Back Yard for Formal Gardens

Outdoor Cooking Brings Families Together

The Right Lighting Can Make Your Patio The Best Room in the House

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A Sister’s Campaign for Serenity

Throughout Rachel’s fight for sobriety, her sister Melissa was a key source of support. A long-term recovering alcoholic and member of a self-help community that she joined 35 years ago in college when she stopped drinking), Melissa had already seen the need in the community for sober living facilities and decided to do something about it. “Instead

of asking why not, we just got some people together and decided to get things going,” she said. The group she founded and for which she serves as executive director is called Loudoun Serenity House (LoudounSerenity. org). Melissa was a finalist this year for a Loudoun Chamber of Commerce Leadership Award in the Nonprofit Executive category. Loudoun Serenity House has rapidly grown with a dozen dedicated volunteers who work

ARTICLE BY MELINDA GIPSON | PHOTOGRAPHY BY MELINDA GIPSON AND SERENITY HOUSE

Melissa Hinton lost her sister Rachel to alcohol abuse in 2019. She was 46.

MELISSA HINTON TURNS TRAGEDY INTO A SOBER LIVING RESOURCE

Melissa Hinton Opens the Door to Sober Living in Leesburg

with its residents and a diverse Board of Directors that includes executives from the tech industry, medicine, research and retired military.

“One of the quickest things to get going to fight addiction in a community is sober living,” she asserted.  As she uses the term “sober” living, it is inclusive of alcohol and all substances that are mood-altering. “Detoxing and rehabilitation centers take a bit longer because of certification issues and the need for trained personnel. But sober living is an essential part of recovery because it really helps people get through that first year sober by having reinforcement and accountability and a team of people at their back helping them build a recovery network,” she explained.

So, how did she do it? The most crucial part of the process, she says, is just being mindful of the process of establishing a sober living facility.

“You have to be open to what the community is tolerant of, and have the community involved in some level of buy-in.” In the case of buying and establishing the downtown Leesburg men’s and women’s homes, the community was welcoming in, part because both properties purchased immediately received both indoor and outdoor renovation. It is also certified by the Virginia Association of Recovery Residents, which provides annual validation to ensure safety and quality of service. Each resident is assigned a recovery coach to help them work on targeted goals to build a substance-free life.

“We had a whole group of volunteers and community business leaders to landscape and paint and upgrade the women’s house in just 30 days,” Melissa said. She singled out Loudoun Valley Floors as one of the first to step up to install all the upstairs carpet for free, and Hollie Roche, owner and lead decorator of Behind the Front Door Interiors, who donated many hours and lots of furniture.

With their help and others, the women’s house opened on September 1, 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, and one year to the day after Rachel died from an overdose of alcohol following

10 months of sobriety. Melissa is grateful that, before she died, Rachel had a chance to see the property when Serenity was considering the purchase. Much of the furniture in the living room belonged to her.

It is likely that the emotional authority and commitment behind the project lent considerable credence to its authenticity and likelihood of succeeding, another key to community support. Both home purchases were made by an angel investor friend who lost his own son to a drug overdose.

“I got connected with him years ago and he knew what I was trying to do to remember my sister who had died of alcoholism. And he said, let’s do this! I really think my sister would have benefitted from having a house like this,” Melissa said.

Since there are many reminders of Rachel in Serenity’s women’s home, from her photo in the front room to the memorial garden behind the house, we had to ask whether Melissahadcometoany conclusions about why she stayed sober while Rachel succumbed to the disease. Both grew up in the same home with an alcoholic parent, for example. “One thing that made a difference between the two of us is that I had somebody intervene when I was young,” Melissa said.

“There is a physiological piece to this. The longer you drink, the deeper your physiological brain chemistry addiction grows. I believe it’s a chronic, progressive disease.” Binge drinkers may not need a drink every morning to start their day, so may have an easier path to intervention if a friend or family member speaks up early, she added.

“The longer it goes on, the harder it is for them to stop and it can be deadly. That was my sister’s case,” Melissa said. “Could she have benefited from this in her 20’s? I remember the drinking patterns she had back then and the blackouts, and say, ‘Sure,’ but it’s the kind of disease that tells you, ‘It’s not that bad yet.’ She was a beautiful, gregarious woman with a successful career as an executive in the sports apparel industry. Everybody loved

“Sober living is an essential part of recovery because it really helps people get through that first year sober by having reinforcement and accountability and a team of people at their back helping them stay sober.”

Melissa Hinton

her. She left a 14-year-old son. So, why some people get help and others don’t is a really complicated question to answer.  We just want to give people every resource to get healthy. Many people will have several attempts before they find lasting or long-term recovery, which was my case. It took me nearly three years of treatment centers and some counseling and sober living for me to surrender to the truth.”

The two houses are within two and a half miles of each other. They’re both full – the women’s house has

8 residents and the men’s house 7 – and there are typically always three or four people on a waiting list, so Melissa is always looking for opportunities to expand. House residents pay rent but ongoing financial support is still needed to pay staff, recovery coaches, and supplies. For that, Loudoun Serenity relies on individual donors. They’ve also applied for grants and were one of 11 organizations that received $4,000 in funding from the Loudoun Chamber Foundation. A 2022 grant from 100 Women Strong for $20,000 helps residents with

A Memorial Garden and Plaque Remembers Rachel

their first month’s rent while establishing employment. “We’re also looking to ask corporate donors to consider an annual donation or an employee match and to make us one of their charities, she said. “Addiction impacts everybody. I don’t think you have to look far to find families or businesses who have people that are incredible humans, but they’re struggling with substance issues.”

“If we look at our own families and ask the question, ‘when that person is ready to surrender (to treatment), where am I going to refer them? When you try to find resources, that’s when you’re shocked at how hard it is to find resources.” Melissa wants to provide a “whole network” of support. “Not only do the houses provide a sober, safe living situation, but we’re also expanding to become a community recovery organization.” A grant this year by the Claude Moore Foundation and individual donations means that “We’re going to open an office where when somebody needs help, we help them navigate where and how to get help.”

That could be an in-patient or out-patient program, therapeutic or psychiatric counseling. “Most people spend days or weeks trying to find all those resources and waiting to hear what insurance will pay. It can be daunting, and by the time you find a solution, that person may say, ‘I’m good, I don’t need help

anymore.’ So, getting answers is very time sensitive, and it’s important to have knowledgeable people to help navigate people to resources.” She’s calling it the Serenity House Recovery Community Organization.

And, she promises, not only will it provide therapeutic responses to addiction, but also fun events and activities to do together in a sober context. “We want like-minded people to hang out with who have fun things to do. They may want to learn a new career skill so they can move out of sober living and find a place they can afford on their own.”

Peer recovery specialists – people who have life experience with recovery or mental health issues and want to give back to the community – will be an important part of this network. Melissa says applicants can get 72 hours of free training from the state of Virginia and volunteer with Serenity House to get the additional 500 volunteer hours required for certification, following an online test. Hospitals, outpatient programs and community recovery organizations like Serenity House have paid positions for those with such training and can offer a free apartment to accompany that salary. Ideally, such a trainee would be sober for at least one year.

Melissa Holds a Copy of Serenity House Rules

Melissa Holds a Photo of Herself with Rachel

“It’s like they say,” quipped Melissa, “You have to put on your own oxygen mask before you assist others. You have to have your own recovery secured before you are able to help others.”

Still, anyone is welcome to volunteer, and there’s an online link for anyone who wants to be part of the group’s mission: LSH Volunteer Survey - Google Forms . Volunteers often make and deliver a Monday night dinner for either the men’s or women’s houses. Right now, the women’s house also is renovating the garage to become a yoga studio. Gardening, shopping, arranging fun, sober activities, and helping with fundraisers like the online bingo event the group held in February or the annual anniversary brunch at Belmont Country Club on the first Saturday in October, are other examples of how to help out. “I tell our volunteers that we want this to be fun. We want this to be community building. We want it to be for people whether they’re in recovery or not. It builds friendships and brings a sense of purpose. This is truly a community resource. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the community.”

Those looking for a sober living situation should go to the website loudounserenity.org, where they can click on either the “Women’s House” or “Men’s House” links under residential services and fill out an application. Melissa says, “We would like to see somebody come into a house who has roughly 30 days of total abstinence and is motivated and ready to make their recovery their number one priority. They can either go through a treatment program or maybe they’re involved in AA. We provide accountability and policies to help residents stay sober so they should come in ready to live in a structured environment.”

Melissa asks our readers to remember Serenity House for Give Choose, a 24-hour celebration of giving to local Loudoun charities (communityfoundationlf.org/give-choose/) or just reach out and tell her how you’d like to get involved. Phone: 571-207-9000; email: melissa@loudounserenity.org

Women's Living Room

Men’s House and Garden

Virginia Kitchen and Bath Talks

Kitchen Trends

ARTICLE BY MELINDA GIPSON

PHOTOGRAPHY BY VIRGINIA KITCHEN AND BATH

Kemal Boyraz, owner of Virginia Kitchen and Bath (virginiakitchenandbath.com , now open in Leesburg at 213 Crescent Station Terrace SE as well as Chantilly at 14006 Lee Jackson Memorial Highway), says the two key kitchen trends for 2023 are color and convenience

Pantone’s color of the Year is Viva Magenta, so our first photo is actually ahead of trend. The vivid, red subway tiles really pop against the stainless steel hood and matte gray cabinets. Adding a glass panel to one of the cabinet doors helps bring forward some of your favorite serving pieces, or conveniently just helps you find that mug you’re looking for. And, an under-counter microwave is exactly where the kids need it to be to warm up a snack, clearing counter space for food prep.

Our second kitchen-scape pulls two trends from U.S. News & World Report’s recent Real Estate spread: “Yellow is Mellow,” and Art Deco is in. While the homeowner opted for a brighter white look for their cabinets, the back wall is painted a warm yellow and both the stove dials and the wall sconces scream “Golden Age.”

The light lent by the ceiling fixtures with their interior golden/copper hue adds to the ambiance of golden light. Less noticeable are two new nods to convenience: the “pot filler” faucet above the stove – perfect for filling large, heavy pots without having to hoist them from the sink – and a fully functional kitchen island with a warming oven and plenty of outlets to accommodate another convenient workspace.

Note too, the wider-plank wood flooring, which can be either hardwood or vinyl plank, based on foot-traffic demands.

Examples three and four highlight the first trends in hardware. Gold fixtures are making a comeback, but so is a highly contemporary matte black, with either handles or with the “touchless” faucet feature.

Both these kitchens also showcase “farmhouse” sinks – all the rage for accessibility and plenty of space for larger pots and dishes. Our last example draws from the popular trend towards rustic shelving over cabinetry, both appealing in terms of its warmer natural wood hues, and adaptable to rental situations where you might not know exactly what kitchenware you need to accommodate.

You can see many more trends on display in the well-appointed showrooms, so drop by this weekend and check them out!

Art Deco Dominates

Gold Makes a Comeback Rustic Wood Shelving Accommodates Anything

Building Your Backyard Oasis

Family-Owned Sunburst Construction Takes us Behind the Scenes for a Picturesque Project in Purcellville

Editor’s note: We’re rarely taken behind the scenes to see what a talented contractor sees when dealing with a difficult project, so we thought our readers would enjoy hearing about it first-hand.

Like every homeowner, our client’s dream was to have a main-level deck and a ground-level space where they could entertain with a view. Unfortunately, their backyard space was not ideal for groundlevel entertaining as it had an extremely steep, sloped yard. Sunburst created a unique solution so they could have everything on their wish list, while also using the space appropriately.

Our idea was to build a second-story level deck atop a patio. We had to add a significant amount of foundation support for the patio to handle the slope and brought the patio out to be level with a free-standing deck. This concept allowed us to give them plenty of entertaining space both above and below ground, while also keeping their costs manageable.

Sunburst built the patio out as far as the slope would allow. From there, a free-standing deck was built against the ground-level patio to create a larger useable space and increase their square footage outdoors. The customer loved this design so much that they also added a custom-built fireplace on top of the lower, free-standing open deck. The result: two large spaces with multiple entertainment areas and a beautiful skyline view!

Sunburst Construction Inc is a familyowned and operated contractor business in Northern Virginia and operated by The Small Family: Aliya, Mason and Fred Small of Leesburg, VA. “We have been a part of the Northern Virginia community for 28 years. We strive to provide quality work and great customer service. Let us help you create a beautiful backyard oasis for your home. If you choose to work with Sunburst, you will be treated like a member of our family. See sunburstdeck.com for more information.

ARTICLE BY ALIYA SMALL | PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE HEYL

Fred, Aliya and Mason Small

When it comes to buying and selling homes virtually, “Rely on Pam”!

After retiring further south, we decided to sell our River Creek home after leaving it on the rental market for over ten years. Selling an older home in a high-end neighborhood, with a tenant in place, with $150k of needed updates, long-distance and during COVID-19 pandemic—this could have been the ultimate real-estate horror story. Instead, it was one of the easiest, smoothest house sales I’ve ever experienced. Pam handled everything and quickly sold the house for more than the asking price. Pam is the most professional and capable agent that I’ve ever

sample of recently sold properties in Leesburg.