1970 Dogwood Street, Author at 1970 Dogwood Street

Swooning over Tile!

January 23, 2019 by 1970 Dogwood Street

Today we are featuring newly-installed tile from this beautiful home — and we think the combination of interesting designs really personalizes the homeowner’s space and lets her put her stamp on it. So let’s start get to the gorgeous stuff!

This is the master bath tile, and it was love at first sight in the tile store. It lends such a unique and organic quality to this walk-in shower.

Here we go with another bath — a slightly more neutral theme but still has a whimsical pattern on the floor that brings all the neutral shades together.

This is the third bathroom, and we like the use of a darker grout on the floor, which makes the design appear to float against the background.

The shower/tub wall tile has an interesting vintage vibe.

The mudroom and adjoining hall and powder room feature a vintage star design that’s not afraid to stand up to the elements.

Finally, a closeup picture of the kitchen backplash, It’s longer than the classic 3×6 subway design and also has slightly irregular edges, which makes it stand out from the pack.

Before/After :: Custom Shelving for CDs

January 16, 2019 by 1970 Dogwood Street

This family still uses their treasured CDs often, and wanted an updated way to store and display them in their new home. They also have young children so they didn’t want them too accessible to little hands! We proposed the idea of custom floating shelves, designed by a talented local craftsman. The ideal space turned out to be a wide hallway with a set of notched columns, and they fit perfectly here! Now, all that’s left is to get them all loaded up!

Here’s a few pictures of our “mocked up” shelves, rendered in blue painter’s tape. It was a good way to test placement and size.

Before/After :: A Glam Home Office

January 9, 2019 by 1970 Dogwood Street

We are thrilled with the new look of our client’s home office. We started with a plain room, along with paint that the builder chose. Our client wished to infuse it with her brand of glam style. We chose a beautiful wallpaper from York for one wall, and selected the new paint color to pull with grey/green accents from the paper’s design. She has a beautiful vintage desk so we floated that in the room, in front of the window, and added a custom pinboard with a clear console to give a bit of extra storage at the desk area.

Speaking of storage, this rooms packs a punch! We especially love the new metallic champagne gold bookcase etagere, with books grouped by color. She uses a pair of CB2 file cabinets in crisp white, topped with the same acrylic design as the console table.

We spray painted her existing black metal daybed to match the champagne gold finish and she added some favorite linens as a soft space to land.

This is truly a special room for a special client!

Below, we share some “before” pics of the room.

Before/After :: A Basement Reinvented

January 2, 2019 by 1970 Dogwood Street

This head-to-toe transformation of our client’s basement hangout space really packs a punch! We added a closet along the interior wall to enclose one of those pesky support poles, common in older homes. All the old carpet and laminate flooring was replaced with luxury vinyl plank tiles, even the stairs!

The client’s existing sectional moved back in, jazzed up with a grey and orange color scheme. There’s space for watching movies with a group, and enjoying snacks at the new round high top table. We added some other storage features and installed a wall of family pictures. And yes, we used Flor carpet tiles, in a mix of different tangerines, clementines, and greys!

Below is a picture of the gallery wall as we got started. (Tip :: always start with the center of the wall, and go out from there. That way, you can always easily add pictures, but it will look finished no matter when you stop!)

Here’s a few “before” pictures of the space before we got started. You can see that support pole in the second picture, and that’s where we added a closet.

Local Treasure :: Lemon Lane

December 26, 2018 by 1970 Dogwood Street

We are highlighting one of our favorite local stops here in Falls Church today. Lemon Lane Children’s Consignment Boutique offers quality, gently-used kids clothing from a number of high-end brands like Tea, Hanna Andersson, Baby Gap, Matilda Jane, and others. Erin Messner, the shop owner, keeps a close eye on quality and condition, and only accepts items for consignment that meet her standards.

It’s always worth a stop to see what’s just arrived, because there’s always something new! (Insider tip — shoppers “in the know” follow Lemon Lane on Instagram to see items that have just landed and Erin will ship most anywhere.)

Lemon Lane is located at 246 West Broad Street, in Falls Church. Visit the website for hours and consignment policies.

An Elegant and Delicious Cranberry Sauce

December 19, 2018 by 1970 Dogwood Street

I love this recipe and make it for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year!

1 pound fresh cranberries

2 large apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced. About 3 cups

1 3/4 to 2 cups sugar

Grated peel of 1 lemon

Grated peel of 1 orange

Juice of 1 orange plus enough water to yield 1 cup

1 stick cinnamon

Wash and pick over cranberries. Combine all ingredients in saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil rapidly until cranberry skin pop and apples are transparent, about 5 to 8 minutes. Chill thoroughly. Remove cinnamon stick before serving.

Creating a Command Center for a Busy Family

December 12, 2018 by 1970 Dogwood Street

Readers of this blog will recognize our tendency to create custom pin boards in busy areas for our clients. And here’s another project we completed recently — it covers the bland side panel of the refrigerator cabinet surround with a whimsical fabric-covered custom-cut piece of Homasote from Home Depot. It’s our go-to building material that you can easily pin into, and an inexpensive way to add color and function to your space.

Stir-Fry with A Secret Ingredient : Pork Tenderloin

December 5, 2018 by 1970 Dogwood Street

This is delish – and the best part is that ALL of my kids like it!

This is by far my favorite way to cook pork tenderloin. I love that you don’t have to use a meat thermometer to cook it. Cut off as much fat as you can from the tenderloin and then start at one end and slice it thinly and place in a bowl with soy sauce and Shao Hing cooking wine. You can find this at Asian markets and I use it every time I stir fry and marinate meat. A couple of tablespoons each. While this marinates cut up whatever veggies you have – if you use broccoli its best if you steam it first. It’s an extra step but worthwhile. Steam just to take the raw edge off. It will cook more in the stir fry. I used onions, garlic and ginger as well.

Start with the meat and cook through in batches in a wok or large pan. Use a few tsp of canola oil. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add more oil and cook onions. Add the veggies in batches with additional oil for each new veggie. Make sure the veggies are all the same size. Then turn off heat and add oil and minced garlic and ginger to the center of the wok and stir 30 seconds then return to heat. Return meat and juices to pan and add two tablespoons each of soy sauce and wine. Heat until cooked through. Serve over rice.

Introducing our New Studio Space

November 28, 2018 by 1970 Dogwood Street

We are thrilled to announce that we’ve moved into studio/workshop space in the Jefferson Street Artists building, shared with Art and Frame of Falls Church. It’s an exciting time for us and we are embracing the creative energy here! We’ve blogged about the framing business a few times, and we continue to collaborate with the experts here on behalf of our clients, so it’s a nice fit to be surrounded by a welcoming community that supports artists and creative people! Come by and visit anytime — we are at 205 West Jefferson Street, in the city of Falls Church.