Dupont Circle House Tour
Today was the Dupont Circle House Tour; I love this event. You get to spend the afternoon wandering around a quadrant of Dupont Circle going into people's houses and looking at what they have done for renovation, decorating, art, etc. It is a voyeuristic pleasure as well as a terrific resource for home improvement ideas. I think it is so much fun to be able to put the insides of these houses together with familiar outsides.
This year the section of Dupont Circle showcased was my own and half a dozen places were within one block of my condo. In fact, there was a strange Rear Window moment when I was inside one of the condos in the tall building a block south that I look at all the time. I was looking out the window there back into my own condo... an odd sensation. There were many more smaller places and condos this year than last year when there were more grand homes. It made it easier to relate and I got some good ideas for decorating in tight spaces. For instance, using refrigerator and freezer drawers instead of a full appliance. Intriguing, I'll need to think about that more.
One of the places was a house whose back I look down on from my living room windows and which I coincidentally toured when I was condo hunting 2 years ago. It was on the market, I wandered by and stopped in to see what it looked like, without realizing that it was going for a few dollars shy of $1 million. So 2 years ago I saw it completely empty, this time it had been thoroughly decorated. Honestly, I think I liked it better the first time around. These narrow city houses can just get so cluttered when people fill them with their furniture.
There were a few period recreations, a grand mansion now owned by the Society of the Cincinnati, one industrial condo that was very cool, and a few eclectic places. I think the best ones were those that tried to do something unique, whether or not it worked very well. Those that looked like a page out of a Crate and Barrel catalog were nice, but not very interesting. The Mansion on O Street was also open and it was hideous in an impossibly crowded, kitschy, 70's flea market sort of way. A warren of clashing rooms, secret doorways, mirrors, and clutter, I was happy to finally make it out of there.
It was beautiful weather today after many days of rain so it was nice just to be outside in the sun. I'm already looking forward to next year.
This year the section of Dupont Circle showcased was my own and half a dozen places were within one block of my condo. In fact, there was a strange Rear Window moment when I was inside one of the condos in the tall building a block south that I look at all the time. I was looking out the window there back into my own condo... an odd sensation. There were many more smaller places and condos this year than last year when there were more grand homes. It made it easier to relate and I got some good ideas for decorating in tight spaces. For instance, using refrigerator and freezer drawers instead of a full appliance. Intriguing, I'll need to think about that more.
One of the places was a house whose back I look down on from my living room windows and which I coincidentally toured when I was condo hunting 2 years ago. It was on the market, I wandered by and stopped in to see what it looked like, without realizing that it was going for a few dollars shy of $1 million. So 2 years ago I saw it completely empty, this time it had been thoroughly decorated. Honestly, I think I liked it better the first time around. These narrow city houses can just get so cluttered when people fill them with their furniture.
There were a few period recreations, a grand mansion now owned by the Society of the Cincinnati, one industrial condo that was very cool, and a few eclectic places. I think the best ones were those that tried to do something unique, whether or not it worked very well. Those that looked like a page out of a Crate and Barrel catalog were nice, but not very interesting. The Mansion on O Street was also open and it was hideous in an impossibly crowded, kitschy, 70's flea market sort of way. A warren of clashing rooms, secret doorways, mirrors, and clutter, I was happy to finally make it out of there.
It was beautiful weather today after many days of rain so it was nice just to be outside in the sun. I'm already looking forward to next year.
1 Comments:
At 7:46 PM, JABS said…
Oh, thank you for writing this. It was great fun for me to read. I too am looking forward to next year. I love to see what other people have chosen to do. I am really intrigued with the drawer idea for your kitchen. It presents some new problems, but solves others. I think I would enjoy going through the smaller places rather than many really large and elegant homes. That can saturate you so quickly and then you sort of glaze over and stop really seeing things. Nice that the weather was good. It wouldl be a drag to have to lug your rain gear around.
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