The owners' son takes advantage of the new covered slide to get downstairs. © VINCE LUPO/DIRECT ONE
FRESH START
A couple with young boys saw potential in the 1980s-era Arnold, Maryland, the home they’d recently purchased, though they knew it needed substantial work. They hired Owings Brothers Contracting of Eldersburg, Maryland, to complete a major overhaul, from modernizing the outdated kitchen and baths to opening up the interiors to views of the Severn River. They also traded a dark, clunky wooden staircase for lighter hickory wood stairs framed in glass—and incorporated an indoor slide that the boys now enjoy when heading down to their playroom on the newly finished lower level.
TRANQUIL RETREAT
Tasked with renovating a drab master bath in Great Falls, Virginia, AV Architects + Builders started by reconfiguring its dysfunctional layout. Shifting what had been a large walk-in closet to a disused side of the adjacent bedroom, they gained valuable space for an oversized tub; an open shower with rain, hand-held and regular shower heads; and a WC screened by frosted glass. Oversized porcelain tile from Marble Systems covers the walls and the floors, which are equipped with radiant heating; a new window bathes the room in light. Meanwhile, double vanities and a built-in bench beckon on the other side of this modern, spa-like space.