For Ralph and Shamita Etienne-Cummings, the suburbs have lengthy held a sure attract — particularly since 2010, when their son, Blaze, was born and Mr. Etienne-Cummings’s mom moved into their 1876 rowhouse in Washington, D.C.

“Area grew to become extra of a premium,” Ms. Etienne-Cummings mentioned. Her husband, she defined, is “from Seychelles; I’m from India. Culturally, we at all times have household that lives with us.”

However the advantages of dwelling exterior the town — having a giant yard and an even bigger home — couldn’t compete with comfort of their life in Washington’s Logan Circle neighborhood, on a blocklong road coveted for its historic houses and central location.

“Our son grew up strolling all over the place together with his grandmother,” mentioned Ms. Etienne-Cummings, 52, a lawyer. “We actually needed to remain in our neighborhood, however positively wanted extra space, and that was troublesome to do in an space that’s already stuffed up.”

In a stroke of luck, the rowhouse subsequent door got here in the marketplace in 2016, and so they had been capable of purchase it for $1.4 million, creating an unusual alternative to develop laterally and improve their complete dwelling area to round 7,000 sq. ft.

Their concept was to merge the 2 homes right into a cohesive entire, with gentle, open areas for entertaining. However they knew it wouldn’t be straightforward.

The home subsequent door was barely older, and neither of the street-facing facades could possibly be altered, because of strict preservation guidelines. Additionally, the extra area that got here with it — barely greater than 2,100 sq. ft — was on flooring that didn’t align with these within the couple’s present home.

“The houses are greater than a century previous,” mentioned V.W. Fowlkes, a principal at Fowlkes Studio, the structure agency the couple employed. “And the joists buried throughout the ground plates are traditionally protected. We needed to do some negotiating with the town about the way to be part of the houses, and be considered about how the buildings had been going to be altered.”

Nonetheless, he mentioned, “We had been extraordinarily excited by the design problem.”

One impediment that instantly introduced itself was a brick wall dividing the 2 homes, which couldn’t be eliminated. So the architects preserved it underneath drywall and used it to anchor a contemporary glass-and-steel staircase with white-oak treads, illuminated by 4 skylights overhead.

“We needed to have a monumental, light-drenched stair that would join the three ranges,” Mr. Fowlkes mentioned.

An advanced engineering feat, it is likely one of the most placing options of the design — and some of the costly. The staircase required “a whole lot of man hours and redesign,” mentioned Mr. Etienne-Cummings, 54, a professor on the Johns Hopkins Whiting College of Engineering, who described the six-figure value as “the largest single price-shock of the construct.”

Surrounding the staircase are open, merely furnished areas adorned in soothing neutrals — a serene, cocoon-like surroundings that Ms. Etienne-Cummings described as “nearly minimalist with out being too extreme.”

With only a few key items, together with a contemporary couch upholstered in wool and a conceal rug, the lounge is comparatively spare. A hearth adorned with handmade zellige tile and completed in Venetian plaster serves as a focus.

“It’s fashionable, however useful,” Ms. Etienne-Cummings mentioned of the area.

The eating room is pared down as nicely, with a custom-made desk that has a live-edge walnut prime and bronze legs in a pewter end. A fragile gentle fixture of black steel arcs with brass heads dangles above.

To create a correct entry, which the couple’s unique residence lacked due to its slim footprint, the architects erected a wall separating the doorway from the lounge. Painted a deep grey and illuminated by a halo-like chandelier, it’s the one darkish area in the home.

“We needed to have just a little extra ceremony related to the entry,” Mr. Fowlkes mentioned. “The entry expertise is moody, till you flip the nook and the home type of explodes.”

The again of the home — the place the kitchen and an elevated mudroom are — allowed for extra flexibility in design, together with an addition on one aspect, to create a way of symmetry, and the set up of extra home windows.

The kitchen, which now has bleached-walnut cupboards with bronze {hardware} and a 12-foot-long waterfall island clad in Caesarstone, “has actually change into the focus round which our household engages,” Ms. Etienne-Cummings mentioned. “Ralph is the chef, and on most Sundays he’ll prepare dinner, and we sit round and discuss.”

In a minor feat of engineering, the architects suspended a 500-pound vary hood sheathed in quartz from the ceiling, full with a {custom} metal armature to assist the stone panels. “That vary hood will stay there perpetually,” Mr. Fowlkes mentioned.

All in, the renovation value about $2.2 million, however so far as Mr. Etienne-Cummings is worried, it was price it. “There’s a whole lot of hustle and bustle in our lives,” he mentioned. “It’s good to come back into an area and really feel like every little thing is simple and suits like a glove.”

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