May 2008 ❖ Potomac Almanac

HomeLife

StyleA Connection Newspapers Publication

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Targeted to Suburban Washington’s Leading Communities

IntroducingHomeLifeStyleA new monthly publicationthat features the lifestyle,homes, neighborhoods and

people of the most prestigious and affluent communities in the Washington, D.C.area, and focuses on home products and services, family activities, and theessence of the secret places and shared activities that makes each of them special.

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ON THE COVER:A senior citizen now, thisJordanian Arab stallion namedDubai arrived at Dell’s home inPotomac as a colt and recentlyturned 30-years old. He is thegentle king of the barnyard andspends his days running free inhis pasture, though alwayskeeping an eye on the mares.

The darkened interior of a barn’s loft is cool and inviting, but the neigh of hungryhorses prevents a nap in the hay. It is a spiritually uplifting place to be, says Dell.

A rescue dog, Dell found Carmel, now 7-years-old, as a puppy in his namesakecity in California. He is a constantcompanion and usually waits by thefence, jealous of the activity in the barn.

Potomac writer shares her homeand barn with horses, dogs andwild visitors; in her own words.The Barn

By Carole Dell

For sixteen years I havebeen photographingthe community, peer-ing through the lens at

lives lived, asking questions forstories and getting to knowpeople I may never meet other-wise. So, this month I turned thecamera on myself as well as mywild and tame barnyard friendsand we became the subjects.

In reality, a barn could beconsidered a community center.

Like its human counter-part, the barn is ashelter and a gatheringspot for the diverse. Itmay not include theusual fun and games,but it beckons to ani-mals the way a commu-

nity center beckons to its resi-dents to come and seek shelterand nourishment and hopefully,a bit of companionship in theprocess.

I have just such a place. It is avast structure with vaultedbeams so high the air goes fuzzyat the top. This old cattle barn

See The Barn, Page 10

May 2008 ❖ Potomac Almanac

HomeLife

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a community center.”

Living

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Going Solar

Consumers are starting to consider long-term savings and environmental benefits of solar technology.

By Aaron Stern

Monique Hanis and herhusband DougWarnecke wanted todo something to

reduce their family’s impact on theenvironment, so in 2006 they installedsolar panels on the roof of their homein Arlington, Va. Monique Hanisenjoyed learning about solar energyso much that she changed her careerfrom a banking lobbyist and went towork for the U.S. Solar Energy Indus-tries Association. They were sopleased with their solar panels thatthey decided to add a solar waterheater to supply the hot water to their

home.“Number one, we did it

for the environment be-cause we felt like there wasnothing we could do,” saidWarnecke.

After reading a newspaperstory about solar energy in2005, Richard Watts and his

wife Sally started looking into solarenergy for their own home and inMay of 2006 they installed 24 Photo-

voltaic solar panels to their roof.While solar is still far from being a

standard practice its popularity is onthe rise, according to Neville Williams,the founder and chairman of StandardSolar, Inc., the company that installedthe systems for the Watts and Hanis-Warnecke families.

“It’s not a mainstream product yetbut its growing fast, and it will be(mainstream) probably in five toseven years,” said Williams.

Williams worked in the U.S. Depart-ment of Energy under President

Jimmy Carter’s administra-tion and went on to fi-nance and facilitate theuse of solar energy indeveloping nationsaround the worldthrough a non-profitthat he founded in the1990s. In 2004 Sensing a growingwillingness among American consumers toturn to alternative energy sources – fueled byfrustration with spiraling energy costs –Williams founded Standard Solar .

“I knew a lot of people who wanted to dothis and they didn’t know who to call,” saidWilliams.

INSTALLING SOLAR energy in their homewas less about the long-term financial ben-efits than the peace of mind that comes withknowing that every day they are doing some-thing to help the environment for Richardand Sally Watts of Potomac.

“We wanted to see if we could do some-thing for the world and for our children,”Richard Watts said. “This really isn’t a pay-back product. We ultimately decided we had

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Richard and Sally Watts had to satisfythe neighborhood’s covenants beforehaving solar panels installed on theroof of their home in the River Fallsneighborhood in Potomac, Md.

to look at it as we would a charitable dona-tion.”

Monique and Doug Hanis wish that peoplewould consider spending a little bit of theirown money to help the fight to save theearth’s environment.

“It’s still more expensive and that’s thebiggest [drawback] for people,” Doug Hanissaid of solar technology. Making the decisionwas a lifestyle decision, he said. “It’s funny

— in our country people would rathergo out and buy aBMW. We chose to putsolar on our roof.”Choosing what type

of system to get wasthe most complicatedpart, Watts said. Since itwas installed two yearsago it has required zeromaintenance.The solar panels on the

roof of the Watts home aremade of sliced siliconecrystals that collect the sun’srays.Hanis and Warnecke have the

same types of solar panels and their waterheater works much the same way. Inside of16 glass tubes are copper rods with alumi-

num fins. The aluminum fins heat up thecopper tubes, whose tips heat up a lithiumbromide solution which is in turn funneledthrough the roof and down to the waterheater.

“It really isn’t rocket science,” Warneckesaid. “The complexity is in the manufactur-ing part.”

THE INITIAL INVESTMENT in solar paneltechnology for residential homes rangesbetween $25,000 and $50,000 depending on

See Warming to Solar, Page 5

Richard Watts points out the converter

box where his solar electricity is changed

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From Page 4

Warming Up to Solarhow much big the house is andhow much power the consumerintends to generate. That may bean expensive proposition forsome, but when considering theperpetually rising cost of energyit boils down to a long-termfinancial investment, said Will-iams.

Though the ultimate financialpayback will take place down the

road, small dividendscan be seen immedi-ately. Richard Wattssaid he and his wifesaved roughly 30 per-cent off of their totalhome energy costs in2007. In 2007 theHanis and Warneckespent almost $400 lesson their annual gas billthan they spent in 2005and their 2007 electric

bill was 21 percent lower.

INSTALLATION COSTISN’T the only potentialroadblock to going solar. TheWattses had to meet require-ments of the covenants oftheir neighborhood — River

Falls — regarding their home’sappearance. To gain neighbor-hood approval they had theirsolar panels installed exclusivelyon the roof facing their backyardso that they would not be visiblefrom the street.

“Nobody really knows it’s

there,” Richard Wattssaid.

Hanis and Warneckealso had all of their solartechnology installed onthe back of their home.Unlike the solar panels,which lay flat on the roof,their solar water heater ispositioned at an angle tomaximize exposure thatmakes it more visible.Still, neither it nor thesolar panels are veryvisible as they have alarge backyard that ob-scures most views of theirhome from their neigh-bors, and they said thattheir neighbors have beensupportive of their efforts.

The hardest part of getting solar panels was decidingwhat to get and figuring out how to get it, Richard

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Incentives For information on the incentives avail-

able to consumers who want to buy solarenergy — and for information on incentivesfor other renewable energy use — visit theWeb site for the Database of State Incen-tives for Renewables & Efficiency atwww.dsireusa.org.

Wide-Open SpacesF

or this project inPotomac, thehomeowners wantedto expand their back

porch into a family room anddress up the appearance of thesimple backyard. They alsowanted another room below thenew family room and a littlecovered porch. To accomplishthis, Kurt Welch of KurtWelch Construction involveda lot of stone planters, underground lighting and an irrigation system in the

landscaping of the yard. They had to level off the high end of theyard with a bulkhead to make the space more usable for construc-tion and allow the stairs and plantings to flow evenly. The newspace created a much more functional backyard, with a patio atthe top, cozy porch at the bottom and still room for a yard forchildren to play in. The house’s owners made the space below thenew living room into a gym and wanted to keep the family roomopen with large windows that allow plenty of light. The new

family room also flows openly into the kitchen, which is the company’s No.1 request when redesigning a house’s interior space.

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Clockwise, remaking a Potomac home’s exterior, from atraditional yard into a modern landscape and a new familyroom.

“When you have a room with this much glass, energy is a major concern.You have to use top end windows; it’s essential you don’t skimp.”

— Kurt Welch, Kurt Welch Construction

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After losing her bid for re-election last November, former State Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis shifted her focusfrom politics to home renovation. She and husband U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) plan to spend more leisure time intheir Vienna home when the seven-term congressman retires next year. The couple alsohopes to make some parts of the house, like the basement, more comfortable.

“We are just exhausted and I really had to think about whether we really wanted to go throughanother hard campaign because it has just been non-stop,” said Davis about his decision not to run.

Devolites Davis, who works as a principal at consulting firm ICG Government, has focused on reno-vating the twosome’s 8,000-square-foot house that backs up onto Hunter Mill Road. The couple saidthey were somewhat limited when they went house hunting three-and-half years ago, since they hadto find a place located in Davis’ congressional district, Devolites Davis’ state senate district and Madison High School district.

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See Davis, Page 8

“We let ourdaughters pickthe house.”

— JeannemarieDevolites Davis

Representatives

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CongressionalQuarters

From Page 7

“We let our daughters pick the house. There were three in our price range and, of course, theypicked the most expensive one,” said Devolites Davis, of their Vienna home.

Only a few items from the congressman’s previous home — like exercise equipment, a big screentelevision and the chair in which Davis’s brother died — are used in the house.

“We have pretty much given all of his old furniture away to the children,” said Devolites Davis,who added that Davis’ son, who attends law school at the University of Virginia, needed furniturefor his apartment.

The lower level of the Davises’ home includes a small, newly repainted exercise room with tread-mill and elliptical machines where Davis works out every day. The congressman wants to replacehis big screen television – which is currently set up in front of one of the exercise machines – witha modern flat panel model, he said. Devolites Davis also plans to redecorate the largest room inthe basement with Davis’ collections of sports and music memorabilia. She will install a dinerbooth and jukebox on one side of the room, where pieces like a commemorative stamp of RoyOrbison and a letter Orbison’s widow sent to Davis.

The other side of the room will have a sports bar theme. The couple already owns a pool tableand Devolites Davis wants to install dark wood paneling along the walls. The congressman will beable to display several parts of his sports collection – including a baseball autographed by homerun hitter Sammy Sosa, a jersey fromBaltimore Orioles star Cal Ripken andan ice hockey stick signed by Wash-ington Capitals goalie Olaf Kolzig.

After the basement is finished, theDavises look forward to adding a newhome addition that can accommodateDavis’ expanded home office. Oncethe congressman shutters his CapitolHill office next December, he willneed more space to store his collec-tion of photographs and gifts – includ-ing pictures of Davis with formerPalestinian leader Yasser Arafat,boxing champion Muhammad Ali andformer British prime minister TonyBlair.

Davis also said he plans to install anew wood-burning fireplace in theoffice.

— Julia O’Donoghue

“I really had to think about whether we really wanted to go through another hard campaign.”— U.S. R ep. Tom Davis

Photos by

Louise Krafft/

The Connection

Jeanmarie DevolitesDavis stands infront of the Davis’Vienna home, farleft; a view into theDavis’ living space,including its largepicturesquewindows, aboveand left; U.S. Rep.Tom Davis presentsa goalie stick signedby Olaf Kolzig ofthe WashingtonCapitals, right.

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with a space that oncehoused farm machinery isnow filled with a free-standing sculpture sixstalls deep and haylofthigh — a little barn withina barn.

When I enter each day, Iam caretaker, but alsovisitor. I am watched, themomentary center ofattention. The air goesquiet. Horses eye the feedbucket. Wild things eyemy movements as theyback into crevices or slip

From Page 3

The Barnup the old rough beams to asecret niche. They are unafraid,but wary and patient becausethey know their time will comewhen I leave. Their meal is beingprepared: one old mare, her lipsloose, drops her grain to theground in a steady rain of nour-ishment; I may not tidy upenough and leave a few pelletsbehind the grain bin; manureholds seeds of all kinds…. Sothey wait. And, the routine doesnot vary; it is as predictable as afull moon.

Soon spring brings nests ofvariegated colors, pieces of eachhorse’s mane, strands of white,

Carmel watches Dell intentlywherever she goes.

Spring arrives in aglory of dogwoodtrees throughoutPotomac, making allhomes a dazzlingbackground for thefamily dog.

“There is awonderful wild

world existing withinthe confines of our

backyards.”

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through twigs and things for thebarn swallow’s nursery. Some-times a wheelbarrow of strawhas to be placed under the nestto catch little hatchlings that gettoo close to the edge and drop.

A young raccoon sleeps sweetlyin the hay and is too shy to try todart to safety, giving me freedomto photograph. A snake, quietand stealthy behind boards, oncewatched me work on a waterbucket, its fangs two inches frommy hands. It did not bother meor move or bite.

Possibly it was that same snakeand that same swallow that hadthe confrontation. The swallowscreeched so loud she jolted theold mare out of her doze. She saton a fence board hollering andlooking side-eyed at me and Isoon realized that the snakewanted to snack on her nest ofeggs. I picked him up with diffi-culty on a pitchfork and took himfar away.

Once, when the grass came up

and the round bales of hay weredown to the ground, eaten by thehorses, one remained untouched.Later, I found a mother fox andtwo cubs nestled in the middle ofthe bale. The horses let them livein peace, whether through fear orbenign respect, I will never know.

There is a wonderful wildworld existing within the con-fines of our backyards, as wellas in the barnyard and in theyard of a friend next door. Weare lucky, because if all of us,such a diverse group, can livetogether peacefully, there is notmuch more to ask of any crea-ture than that.

A contributing writer and pho-tographer for the Potomac Alma-nac since 1992, Carole Dell haslived in Potomac with her husbandDonald, her daughters Alexandraand Kristina and her horses anddogs since 1974. She will beprofiling other Potomac residentsin their favorite places for futureissues of HomeLifeStyle.

If only the dogwood tree and its blossoms would grace the summer asbeautifully as it heralds spring.

“The routine inthe barn doesnot vary; it isas predictable

as a full moon.”

It is dinnertime and all eyes are on the feed bucket.

It is a question asto who was morestartled, but this

little creature,part of a resident

family slyenough never tobe seen, stayed

tucked in acorner of the hay

bales longenough to be

Ideas? E-mail HomeLifeStyle@connectionnewspapers.com

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Rustic stonework, classic fountains, aged iron, carved limestone, pea gravel drives work together to create a venerable scenein Great Falls.

Provence in Great FallsT

he Great Falls gar-dens of Domaine St.Charles are thepassion of garden

designer Charles Lang Owen andhis wife Betsy. The Owensopened their gardens for the firsttime recently as part ofHistoric Garden Weekin Virginia.

Numerous trips toProvence, France forbusiness and pleasure,inspired the couple torecreate some of theromance and beautythey fell in love with.

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The client wanted a previ-ous, smaller addition to betorn down and replaced bya new three-level, L-shaped

addition that wrapped around theexisting home on two sides. On theupper level, this eliminated a smalloffice/bedroom at the back of thehouse and created a substantial spacefor a beautifully appointed mastersuite. Upon entering the bedroom, onenotices the angles of the ceiling, thatwere designed to blend seamlessly withthe existing 1920’s home. The bedroomalso features a cozy gas-log fireplacewith a herringbone brick interior. Ahallway to the right leads to the chang-ing area and master bath. To the left ofthe bed is a custom glass door, whichleads to the owner’s spa and morningbar and balcony beyond. The roomfeatures a five-person spa, built-in

coffee system, under-counterbeverage center, tile floor andwalls and a custom-stainedmarine-grade wood ceiling. Oneof the memorable features of themaster suite is an eagle’s nest,which serves as a map room forplanning the owner’s manyboating trips. The elevated nautical-

themed room is accessed via a custom-built ship’s ladder and provides stun-ning views of the Washington Monu-ment.

Where Eagles Dare To Sleep

The Materials❖ Select Grade White Oak Floor❖ Kolbe & Kolbe Windows❖ Town & Country Fire Place with Herringbone

Brick Interior and Log Set❖ Mouser Custom Cherry Cabinetry in Master Bath

and Coffee Bar❖ Stained Beadboard Ceiling with Exposed Rafters

in Spa and Eagle’s Nest❖ Custom-Built Ship’s Ladder to Eagle’s Nest

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Bowa Builders is a full-service con-struction company located at 7900Westpark Drive, Suite A10, in McLean. Arecent project saw Bowa transform anArlington area residence.

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Full PageThe Buzz

SurfacesSeductive

Isamu Noguchi’s playful tableswere manufactured in 1954 invarying sizes. This Cyclone tableretails for $1,680 and is availableat the Noguchi Museum Store:http://akaristore.stores.yahoo.net.

Isamu Noguchi coffeetable, designed in 1944,Retails for $1,245 atwww.exit-art.com.

Frank Gehry Icing Coffee Tablefor Knoll. Retails for $3,219 fromwww.hivemodern.com.

First produced in 1961 by DanishDesigner Poul Volther, the Coronaaccent chairs retail for $649 apiecefrom Macy’s (8000 Tysons CornerCenter 703-893-4900).

The dollars, in millions, thatDranesville Supervisor JohnFoust’s McLean home was as-sessed for in 2008. Foust’s landmade up $1.19 mil-lion of the total, whilehis house accountedfor $2.36 million.Other supervisor as-sessments included SharonBulova’s (Braddock) Fairfaxhome at $680,030 total andMichael Frey’s (Sully) Centrevillehome at $282,810 ...

The ranking of Café Tatti,(6627 Old Dominion Drive,McLean) on the popular travelWeb site Tripadvisor.com. TheCafé is the top-rated restaurantin McLean out of54 different eater-ies, and receivedfour stars fromreaders. The In-dian-influenced Cafe Taj, (1379Beverly Road, Marketplace) andthe Turkish Kazan Restaurant(6813 Redmond Dr., McLeanShopping Center) round out thetop three in the user-generatedrankings. McLean mainstayJ.Gilbert’s Wood-Fired Steaks(6930 Old Dominion Drive ) lin-gers at No. 14 …

3.55

No. 1

3.7

The number paid, in millions,when NFL quarterback MarkBrunell and his wife, Stacy,purchased a home on NicholasRun Drive in GreatFalls. The five-bed-room, eight-bath housewas built in 2007.Brunell, 37, was thethird-string quarterback for theWashington Redskins last season.He restructured his contract be-fore the season; Brunell wasscheduled to earn $5.2 millionin 2007 …

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