From ‘frat home’ to household house: A significant transform in Bethesda
Frye’s buddy Matt Covell, additionally 43, based Structure, a customized house builder and renovation agency based mostly in North Bethesda, Md., in 2016. He reworked Frye’s home in 2019-2020 and introduced the gladiator to Matt Corrado, an artist and mutual highschool buddy, to “paint it rainbow colours as a housewarming reward,” Covell says.
“We positioned it in a distinct segment close to the main-level powder room for a photograph shoot only for enjoyable, and it appears like they’ll preserve it there,” Covell mentioned.
Household and mates are central to John and Bridget Frye’s North Bethesda house, which was renovated and expanded in 2020. The house, a Nineteen Fifties-era pink brick rambler with a basement, was owned by John’s sister, who lived in it with mates for a number of years. As soon as she moved out, John rented it for a number of years and ultimately purchased it from his sister in 2004.
Matt Covell, John and Bridget had been a part of the gang that frolicked on the home after school, which served because the gathering place within the early 2000s for a wide-ranging group of mates from Our Woman of Good Counsel Excessive College, then situated in Wheaton, Md.
“Most of our mates had been dwelling with their dad and mom after school, so this was like a frat home the place Matt and I lived with different roommates,” says John. “Matt and I’ve been mates since sixth grade, and we met Bridget in highschool.”
Bridget, 43, is a former trainer who graduated from the College of Maryland, whereas Matt and John graduated from John Carroll College close to Cleveland. John and Bridget married in 2007 and have three youngsters, ages 9, 11 and 12.
“The 5 of us had been sharing a rest room on the principle stage, and it was getting fairly crowded as the youngsters obtained older,” says Bridget. “The whole lot was falling aside to the purpose that we had pinhole leaks all over the place, and the home equipment had been all breaking. At one level there was water simply flooding like a waterfall via certainly one of our kitchen cupboards onto the counter.”
The Fryes had been speaking over design plans with Matt for a few years after which determined to maneuver out to stay with John’s dad and mom in August 2019 so the home may very well be rebuilt. They employed Carib Daniel Martin, an architect based mostly in Kensington, Md., who has labored with Matt.
“This was such a enjoyable undertaking as a result of everyone knows one another so effectively and I understand how they stay and entertain at house,” says Matt. “This was a way more private expertise than ordinary.”
The Fryes had been ready to make use of the fairness constructed from long-term possession and a development mortgage to rework the home.
“We checked out another houses within the space, however it made extra sense for us to rework into what we actually need,” says Bridget.
Avoiding the ‘McMansion’ look
Because the three mates share fond recollections of the home and the group, it was necessary to them to mix with the neighborhood even whereas they tripled the dwelling house to about 6,000 sq. toes.
“We wished to maintain the dimensions of the neighborhood and keep away from that McMansion look, so whereas we added to the facet and the again of the home and constructed a second stage, we had been in a position to tuck the entrance of the home beneath the roof line,” says Matt.
The inspiration was found to be crumbling, so the transform required a ground-up renovation, though the unique brick facade was maintained and painted white.
“The inspiration difficulty turned out to have a silver lining as a result of it needed to be dug out and we obtained further ceiling top,” says Bridget.
The inspiration was made waterproof, in order that they had been in a position to set up wooden floors even within the basement.
The white exterior of the home is punctuated with a wooden entrance door that matches wooden storage doorways. The pure grade of the hill behind the home allowed for a comparatively easy growth.
“The eye to element that Matt has is superb,” says Bridget. “His sister is a decorator, too, so we had been in a position to get her recommendation.”
The ‘dream social gathering room’
The home has white oak flooring all through, with a patterned white oak ceiling stained a darker shade within the lobby. To the left of the lobby is a big house workplace with pocket doorways. Throughout the lobby is the eating room, which the household makes use of day by day for meals.
“Matt’s sister helped me pick the coral-colored textured wallpaper for the eating room and I discovered the beaded chandelier,” says Bridget. “I wished this room to be vibrant and likewise extra informal than a proper eating room so we’d use it on a regular basis.”
A butler’s pantry and full pantry are adjoining to the eating room and have darkish blue partitions and an identical ceiling. Fashionable-looking glass doorknobs are put in all through the house for a transitional look that enhances the flowery crown moldings in lots of rooms.
The again of the home is an open household room and kitchen with a wall of home windows dealing with the grassy yard and timber behind the home.
“Matt talked us into this cool concept he had for the fireside, which is a floor-to-ceiling wall of white oak items that look virtually like siding,” says Bridget. “I wished a bench seat with a view of the timber and the greenery behind the home.”
Home windows flank the fireside, and built-in bookshelves and cupboards flank the window seat.
When the renovation was within the framing stage, Matt realized that if he put in a bifold NanaWall glass door between the household room and the adjoining screened porch, it could almost double the entertaining house.
“We’ve had as many as 50 individuals in right here with the warmers on overhead on the porch and the fuel hearth going within the household room,” says John. “We most likely had that many or extra once we had been within the rambler in our post-college days, however it wasn’t almost as good.”
Matt describes the mixed indoor-outdoor house because the “dream social gathering room.”
When the household lived within the unrenovated home, Bridget says they may actually solely entertain within the yard.
The screened porch features a patterned white wooden ceiling and privateness screens so that individuals strolling on the close by path can’t see inside. A facet door results in a deck with a grill and steps to the grassy yard.
‘Wouldn’t or not it’s cool if …’
The open kitchen within the household room holds what Matt calls an “plane service deck” marble island with 5 seats so the entire household can sit there without delay.
“We went with cabinet-faces for the home equipment for a cleaner look because the kitchen is open,” says Bridget. “We additionally prolonged the marble from the island on the counters, backsplash and even beneath the cupboards above the vary.”
Bridget wished to maintain the window on the facet of the unique part of the home to maintain the kitchen vibrant however wished extra cupboard house, so Matt designed a glass-front cupboard with glass cabinets to permit the sunshine to shine via the window.
On the alternative facet of the kitchen close to the staircase to the higher and decrease ranges are the area of interest with the gladiator sculpture, a powder room with a pocket door and a mudroom with a hook and basket for every of the 5 relations. Bridget selected the navy and white parquet tile ground for this house and a reasonable basket-weave gentle fixture.
The staircase to the higher stage has two massive home windows and wainscoting on the partitions, with an oversize spherical gentle fixture with hexagonal tiles. The primary bed room on this stage has a distinct segment for a desk, a walk-in closet, a non-public full rest room, a toy closet and entry to a storage closet.
Two extra bedrooms share a corridor rest room with a double-sink vainness. Close by are a laundry room and a linen closet.
The first suite features a white wooden cathedral ceiling within the bed room, which has home windows on three sides. The mattress sits in a distinct segment with an accent wall painted navy blue and two pendant lights as an alternative of sconces.
“Matt typically began his concepts with ‘wouldn’t or not it’s cool if?’ and that’s how we ended up with the area of interest and the pendant lights, which we love,” says Bridget. “In our rest room, he had the concept of matching the marble counter with the marble bench within the bathe and lengthening the ground tiles up the wall of the bathe on one facet.”
The first rest room additionally has a free-standing tub in entrance of a window.
The decrease stage contains French doorways to a lined patio and has a dramatic mural painted by Matt Corrado alongside one wall and a complementary painted backsplash above the built-in bar and shelving. This stage additionally has a visitor room with a walk-in closet and personal full rest room. One other full rest room is adjoining to the train room, which has home windows dealing with the yard.
A lot of the renovation was accomplished throughout the pandemic, however as a result of the Fryes and Matt Covell began ordering objects in late 2019 they had been in a position to keep away from the delays from provide chain disruptions.
“Loads of {couples} joke that they want marriage counseling throughout a significant transform like this, however for me this was an incredible alternative to be with my finest mates throughout the thick of the covid lockdown once I wasn’t seeing anybody apart from my household,” says Matt. “It was such a nerve-racking time for everybody, and it was professionally and personally rewarding to do that collectively.”
The Fryes and their youngsters did digital faculty and labored from John’s dad and mom’ home till they moved into their reworked house in February 2021.
“The truth that the three of us have been lifelong mates made this complete expertise simpler,” says John.
Matt appreciates the belief his mates positioned in him to rework their house.
“They listened to my concepts after which both they trusted me with them, or we might joke about it in the event that they didn’t,” he says.
The end result: a brand new house the place family and friends can collect that’s rather a lot nicer than what Bridget likes to name the “flop home.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/enterprise/2022/06/30/frat-house-family-home-major-remodel-bethesda/
