Sounding superior: Shop smart for your next sound system
Now that it’s out of fashion to put your boombox on your shoulder and parade up and down the street, how are you supposed to force your superior music taste […]
From tinkerer to designer: Robert Nichols brings his past interests to the present
As a child, architect Robert Nichols was always fixing broken things and salvaging other people’s junk. And once he started creating new objects, he became even more hooked on the […]
First and last: A well-used kitchen gets its due
The earliest image Jim Rounsevell and Carol O’Connor have of their house, from shortly after it was built in 1920, includes food. The aerial shot shows chickens and pigs behind […]
Old world, new views: On a venerable farm, a house for today
It’s appealing to imagine building anew on open land—making one’s mark on untouched acreage. But one couple in Rappahannock County took on a more unusual challenge. Lynn and Pam Pittinger […]
At home with… Kelly Witt
A graduate of UVA’s School of Architecture, interior designer Kelly Witt got her start at Elena’s, in the same building where her design studio—a stylish mecca of fabric samples and […]
The ceiling deal: Why should walls have all the fun?
With all the ways we decorate a four-walled room, one space tends to go neglected: ceilings. “It’s kind of your fifth wall,” said Ami Smith, proprietor of Charlottesville’s Embellish Interiors. […]
Meet me at South Street: A facelift for an old Charlottesville favorite
If anybody around here understands how locals prefer to drink their beer, it’s Mandi and Taylor Smack. The proprietors of Afton’s wildly popular Blue Mountain Brewery, the Smacks bought South […]
A puzzle worth solving: Architect Adams Sutphin is in it for the challenge
How does a project begin for architect Adams Sutphin? First, “A question, and then listening,” he says. “And then a series of questions that become a puzzle, and then the […]
Mix and serve: Scaling up history in a salvaged house
Everybody talks about marrying old and new, but there are different ways to do it. You’ve got your fixer-upper farmhouses, into which you can insert contemporary elements like stainless steel […]
Up and out: A tall, spacious Albemarle kitchen takes in the view
“This was a poor man’s farmhouse,” said Jen Fariello of the classic 1890 abode she shares with her husband, Chris Conklin, and their 5-year-old son. It’s a far cry from […]