Making a Good House Better: Stephan Sardone Takes an L Streets House to The Studs to Find its Soul

You know what? We don’t feature enough homes in the L Streets neighborhood. I really adore this area, which has such an incredibly diverse selection of architecture and style. You can find anything in the L Streets, from Midcentury Moderns, to 1970s contemporary, to post-war traditionals. It’s an amazing neighborhood.

That’s part of the reason Stephan Sardone took on one of his latest projects — an L Streets one-owner traditional home that was in desperate need of vision. Built in 1955, this house in the Lake Highlands area has just 1,200 square feet to work with.

Sardone has an eye for using materials and textures in unexpected ways, with a style that skews more minimalist and modern. Still, he’s known for his personal touch as founder of Sardone Construction. He understands nuance and how to make a space livable.

“Concerning our design philosophy on this particular project, I wanted to both be true to the neighborhood and existing architecture, while updating the space dramatically,” Sardone said.

As you can see from the photos, he has a lot of work ahead of him.

“I took what was a house crammed full of doors and short ceilings and opened up the living space with a vaulted ceiling and a few beams about 10 feet up. We also eliminated the gable on that side of the house to achieve the desired look,” he said. “We wanted to show a few things with this Arts and Crafts style house: you can do a lot with only 1,200 square feet; you can do even more with a great design/remodel company.”

Isn’t that the truth. Most of the remodel is focused on the living/dining areas, which extend to the outdoor kitchen in the backyard by way of a passthrough on the kitchen counter. The master bath will also get a new look. Lest you think the focus is just on eye candy, Sardone also wants to make this house a modern marvel of earth friendliness.

“With this size house and some of the efficient and creative designs we’ve incorporated (spray foam insulation, new windows, LED lights), we should reduce the energy bill to below $50 a month,” Sardone said.

That’s incredible, and we can’t wait to see how the project turns out. Stay tuned!