There are two annual DC events that I love -- the Taste of Georgetown and the Kalorama House and Embassy Tour. The days the events are held on are always gorgeous sunny days (cool in the shade, warm in the sun)!
While I love the actual food at the Georgetown event and many of the homes and embassies on the house tour are fantastic, what I love most is leaving both events feeling inspired. At this year's house tour, I was focused on paint colors and window treatments. I was surprised by some of the more modern touches at the French ambassador's residence {I'm not sure how well they worked...am still debating}. Happy to see neutral colors used in a creative, classy way at the Venezuelan ambassador's residence {a large room with four separate sitting areas with coordinating neutral colored, patterned fabrics used among the four sitting areas}. But most inspired by the two personal residences on the tour. And, the residence of the Netherlands' ambassador.
One of the personal residences is owned by a couple that spent their career at the State Department. It was filled with personal effects from their travels in a wonderful, purposeful way. And, what was lovely was that that was their design aesthetic -- the memories from their travels. Everything else -- paint color, flooring -- seemed to recede.
The second residence is a fun, modern approach to design and living in Dupont Circle/Kalorama. Here is a link to the owner's business and you can get a peek inside his home here as well {and I have included a few of the pictures that are from his website and an article about him right here}.
One of the volunteers noted that he likes to change up his space often, which I appreciate {in fact, the rooms on his website are different than how they are designed now! But some of the materials were used in other rooms, which is fun to see and something that I have strived for in our own space}. What he said in an interview I found online was that he would like to have to have lots of homes, which isn't practical. So he uses this one space to fuel and satisfy his need to continually create visually stunning spaces. A design experiment that is continually evolving...I love it. I'm now thinking about what to do next in our space...in the meantime, here are some pictures from the tour.
{the venezuelan ambassador's residence}
{our new friend at the venezuelan ambassador's residence}
{the modern staircase at the venezuelan ambassador's residence; also the entry to the pool. If I were an ambassador, I would definitely require a pool. The one at the French ambassador's residence would do just fine.}
{the french ambassador's residence...apparently he is single!}
{a clock from Versailles; also the last picture I got before I was scolded -- figures I was scolded at the french residence and not at the venezuelan -- ...oops...}
{the restored call boxes}
{dilapidated embassy, but wonderful greek key motif}
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