A second-generation interior designer, Michelle Willis Adams grew up “assisting” her mother, who had a design business in New York and Rappahannock, Virginia. She can remember sitting at her mother’s clients’ kitchen tables, “listening to them discuss fabrics and furniture arrangements,” she says. “I also remember browsing many antiques shops and going to auctions with […]
A second-generation interior designer, Michelle Willis Adams grew up “assisting” her mother, who had a design business in New York and Rappahannock, Virginia. She can remember sitting at her mother’s clients’ kitchen tables, “listening to them discuss fabrics and furniture arrangements,” she says. “I also remember browsing many antiques shops and going to auctions with […]
You want a porch. But you’re afraid of commitment. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life with a whole deck hanging off the front of your house? Getting cold feet is understandable. Perhaps a portico is more your speed. “Generally I think of a portico as purely shelter for a doorway, […]
The first very important question for would-be buyers of 622 Watson Ave. is this: How much imagination do you have? The question is key because the house, a 1930 foursquare, is ripe for a reno. It’s one of the older houses on the street, and in general it’s not the handsomest feller at the hoedown. […]
Designer Ann Nicholson admits she borrows inspiration from unlikely places—Edgemont, a historic Albemarle residence possibly designed by Thomas Jefferson; a pool house in the Hamptons belonging to designer Tory Burch. But the pool at Lowfields Farm in Fluvanna, where she resides with her husband? That was all her. Installed by Charlottesville Aquatics, the double lap […]
A tour of Lynn Easton’s home (inside and outside), a chat with Bob Paxton, a look at solar paneling—the July issue of Abode is on stands now. Here’s what’s inside: Bob Paxton‘s early influences. A place in the sun—you can afford it! A modern log cabin with room for improvement. Nancy Wardle takes inspiration from […]
The old saw about real estate—“location, location, location”—also sums up what Dean Andrews and Lynn Easton Andrews appreciate about their house. They love the neighborhood, Lewis Mountain; they love the landscape that surrounds their home; and they love the spot it occupies in Charlottesville history. “We are crazy for it,” says Lynn. That’s not to […]
We’re conditioned to think certain thoughts when we see a log house: wilderness, rugged individualism and bootstraps by which someone is ascending. Yet it’s been a long time since hardy frontier settlers constructed theirs from fresh-felled trees. We never see cabins in cities, but that’s just a convention at this point—modern log homes can be […]
From her childhood, spent in places like Peru and Venezuela, to adulthood, interior designer Nancy Wardle has spent a lifetime soaking in the riches of travel and allowing those disparate adventures to spark her creativity. “The abundance of art in Peru including silver and goldsmiths, alpaca weavers and woodcarvers, the quality of the fabrics produced […]
If you’ve ever been sitting in your yard and thought to yourself, “Boy, do I wish I had more shade,” take heart. You’re likely a great candidate for powering your home with solar energy. Rooftop solar panels are more affordable now than ever, and for homes with adequately slanted, shade-free, south-facing roofs, they’ll pay for […]
With a body of work comprising Colonial Williamsburg, Monticello, the Virginia Governor’s Mansion, the Lincoln Memorial and various estates, the intent of renowned architect and preservationist Milton Grigg when he began his Charlottesville firm in 1933 was clear: Create structures that are both beautiful and long-lasting. Architect Bob Paxton is one of three principals currently […]