The 3,100-square-foot California contemporary house in Falls Church, Va., is ideal for Utpal and Kinjal Shah’s tastes and needs. But that was hardly the case when the couple first saw the then-1,460-square-foot rambler before its major makeover.
“When we first came to this house, I walked in the front door and right out the back because it smelled so terrible,” Kinjal Shah said.
They were open to a fixer-upper that they could convert into a California contemporary-style place. Utpal, 36, works at the U.S. Patent Office and Kinjal, 34, is a federal contractor. Both work in Northern Virginia.
Kinjal grew up in Beltsville, Md., in a neighborhood of traditional homes and yet has been drawn to contemporary-style homes when looking on Web sites such as Houzz. Said Uptal: “I went to the University of Texas and lived in Austin for a while, which is a really progressive city, and that’s where I got a taste for contemporary style. Our biggest priority was an open floor plan with an open kitchen, because we both love to cook. We also needed to be in a place with good schools.”
Utpal said they met with a lender and established a budget of $480,000 for the home purchase and $500,000 for the renovations.
The Shahs, along with their 8-month-old son, Kabir, recently moved into their home in Falls Church, which is close to subway stations, restaurants, entertainment, and two farmers markets, all of which are enticing to the Shahs. In addition,. Utpal said the neighborhood met their priority for a good school district.
3-bedroom, 1-bath home
now 4-bedroom, 3-bath
The purchase of the property in June 2014 was just the start of a year-long journey to transform the three-bedroom, one-bathroom home into a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home.
“We wanted a comfortable house, but not one that was as big as 4,000 or 5,000 square feet,” Utpal said. “All the rooms are good sized, but none of them are huge.”
The Shahs were able to save some money by keeping the foundation and all four exterior walls of the original 1950s brick rambler. They gutted most of the interior to expand the living space, eliminated an old sunroom to extend the back of the house and added a second floor. Opening up the roof to add the second floor helped eliminate the odors in the house, as did ripping up all of the flooring and installing all new windows.
Kinjal chose a bright red front door and a bright red side door to add pops of color and to complement the solid gray Hardie plank panels on the front of the house. The couple opted to keep the back wall of the original home as an exposed brick interior wall with a window into the stairwell. Utpal chose an accordion-style wall of glass that allows the kitchen and family room to open to the back yard.
“Landscaping isn’t in our budget yet, but we love the space and the trees in the backyard and we made sure to put in as many windows as possible across the back of the house,” Utpal said.
Inside, the Shahs opted to create a completely open living and dining area, kitchen and family room. They added a narrow set of vertical slats of wood to define the foyer, which has a stone floor to separate it from the living area, which has red oak hardwood flooring.
The Shahs paid the most attention to their kitchen, which has pale gray tile flooring bordered by the hardwood on the rest of the level.
“We both love to cook with a lot of spices and oils, so we decided we wanted a tile floor that was easier to clean,” Utpal said.
The Shahs chose a Silestone quartz center island with “waterfall” sides that extend the surface to the floor for a clean, modern look. They selected professional-grade stainless steel appliances, including a convection microwave oven that works especially well for cooking vegetables, a plus because they are vegetarians. They also chose contemporary-style white cabinets with mostly open shelving and deep drawers, and an oversize steel sink.
The family room, which originally had a brick wood-burning fireplace, now has a gas fireplace raised a few feet above the floor and surrounded by a sleek wall of tile that complements the kitchen on the opposite side of the room. Overhead are square recessed LED lights.
The main level also includes a walk-in pantry with extensive shelving and a sliding white contemporary barn-style door with steel hardware.
All the bathrooms in the home have contemporary-style vessel sinks and a clean palette of gray and white tiles. The main level also has a coat closet and a large laundry room next to the side entrance and mudroom.
The Shahs opted for an open den with a TV at the top of the stairs. “We didn’t want a TV downstairs since we like entertaining there,” Utpal said.
The master suite, separated from the rest of the upper level by the den, includes French doors that open onto a private balcony with a view of the treetops. The walk-in closet has two sections of built-in shelving and a window.
“We decided to put in a steam shower with a bench because we thought it would be great for when Kabir or we get a cold, plus we love all the different showerheads,” Utpal said.
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