A Chevy Chase Home Gets a Stylish New Second Life

When Kristin Harrison of Georgia & Hunt Design House first stepped inside her clients’ Chevy Chase home, she found a place that functioned well but lacked direction. Originally built under a time crunch to accommodate an elderly family member, the house had wide, open spaces but little personality. The homeowners were eager for it to enter its second life. What began as a plan to redecorate just two rooms quickly expanded into a full-home project. “The clients decided to go ahead and address the entire home when they realized how stark a difference those two rooms would look next to the rest of the house,” Kristin says.

Design: Georgia & Hunt Design House | Photography: Angela Newton Roy | Stylist: Kristi Hunter

From Shell to Story

One of Kristin’s first priorities was to give the home a stronger sense of cohesion while honoring the pieces that mattered most. Many of the rugs, passed down from the homeowner’s late parents, carried deep sentimental value, so she wove them into a palette of soft grays, creams, and light blues. “It was important to them that the rugs played a part in the overall design,” she explains, “without making them stand out too much from the relatively soothing color palette.”

A Kitchen Built for Today

Few updates make a bigger impact than a kitchen refresh. Here, Kristin extended the cabinetry to the ceiling, painted it Chelsea Gray by Benjamin Moore, and swapped dated granite counters for veined calacatta marble that flows seamlessly into the backsplash. Visual Comfort pendants and Palecek stools complete the redesign, bringing the 2013 kitchen firmly into the present.

The adjoining breakfast nook also shed its farmhouse feel, now anchored by woven wallpaper from Serena & Lily, a Palecek pendant, and new fabric seating from Sunpan that doubles as storage for entertaining essentials.

Wallpaper With Presence

Throughout the house, wallpaper became the defining element that turned plain walls into something memorable. In the entry, Schumacher’s Weeping Pine sets off a rustic mango wood table and a Visual Comfort lantern, finally giving the foyer presence.

The sitting room, once “a hard-to-use area,” is now lined in textured Phillip Jeffries wallpaper and reimagined as a bar and lounge where the homeowners entertain weekly. And in the dining room, a beloved family table and rug now live alongside Morris & Co.’s Pimpernel wallpaper and a pair of Marie Flanigan for Visual Comfort pendants.

Spaces That Finally Feel Like Home

Upstairs, the primary bedroom underwent one of the most dramatic transformations. Mismatched condo furniture was replaced with an upholstered bed, a Jaipur rug, and moss velvet chairs from Robin Bruce/Rowe, all set against walls painted in Benjamin Moore Breakwater. A one-of-a-kind bench from Amber Interiors’ Shoppe and a Visual Comfort floor lamp from Amber Lewis added just the right finishing touches.

Even the hallway leading to the bathroom now has presence, wrapped in Phillip Jeffries wallpaper. As Harrison puts it, the redesign brought “more intentionality to the flow of the home that only interior designers can”—a second life that feels layered, personal, and everlasting.

Scroll through the gallery below to see more details of this home.