Cabinets are really just boxes on the wall you put your stuff in, says Dave Connolly of Heartwood Design. But that doesn’t keep some of his clients from spending time and money making sure they look—and function—just right. Connolly, a project manager based in Afton, says his customers are looking for cabinets that look like […]
By the time you read this, downtown Charlottesville should have its movie theater back. But it’s not just a matter of reopening the old Regal theater. The new Violet Crown Cinema, which now stands in its place, will be an entirely different animal. “I always think of these places as boutique cinemas: very bespoke, very […]
When Katherine Donovan returned home to Charleston, South Carolina, in her early 20s after a stint living on a ranch in Wyoming, she was searching for her next move. A friend suggested she contact Charleston-based designer Amelia Handegan to see about an assistant position, which led to working on the original River Course Clubhouse at […]
Rolling drive? Check. Board fencing? Check. You’ve got your mature oaks and boxwoods, your brick façade, your white columns. And, naturally, there is a historical connection to a towering figure of early American history (Patrick “Give Me Liberty” Henry). It doesn’t get much more classic than Oak Grove, a 131-acre estate outside Scottsville. Visiting it […]
When you’re young, one of the hardest —and most important—decisions you face is what to pursue as your life’s work. For Anne Gibson Mark, that choice didn’t come easy. She had always been interested in architecture—her father was a founding principal of local firm Johnson, Craven & Gibson, so she’d grown up with an appreciation […]
The October issue of Abode is on stands now… Here’s what you’ll find inside this month. Architect Bob Moje’s design philosophy. A case for tiny houses in Charlottesville. Need an appliance upgrade? Consider this. A new beer garden drinks in the view. This month’s featured house: The low-key farmhouse Wanting to preserve the look of a […]
It’s a long way from old-town Fredericksburg to the rolling hills of Free Union. But after 20 years in a historic house in that Northern Virginia town, one couple was ready for the country life. Their four children mostly grown, they relocated to an old farmhouse in Free Union—where she had grown up—and began looking […]
For anyone confronting a property that’s short on landscaping—and feeling that it’ll be a lifetime before anything substantial can grow—Katherine Kane has reassuring words. “If you get obsessive, you can have a mature garden in 25 years.” She should know. In 1990, when she and her husband, Olin West, bought their Free Union farm, it […]
It’s a truism that designers and their clients need to have a good collaborative relationship for a project to go smoothly. But it’s not always the case that they’re actually longtime friends. When Joel and Betty Loving asked designer Karen Turner to rethink a kitchen in their Fluvanna County farmhouse, the request hardly came out of […]
We’re all affected by design. A mediocre building, says VMDO founding principal Bob Moje, degrades the world we all share. “Every act of building is embedded with enormous potential to make a difference—resources are leveraged or wasted, the human condition is enhanced or too often harmed in countless ways, which is tragic when you see […]