The War On Windows

By Beth Herman

Designing a 5,900 s.f. home for his own family in Bethesda, Md., interior designer I. Michael Winegrad, of I. Michael Interior Design, decided to travel a controversial road when building for himself – strictly without an architect. The three bedroom, three full and two half bath home, still under construction, and which includes the designer’s office and library with a separate entrance in its finished basement, is an exercise in creativity and independence for Winegrad, who admittedly tires of battling architects and mending their mistakes.

“It’s a touchy subject”, Winegrad said, “but most of the time architects and interior designers don’t agree about how to design a house and really don’t like each other for different reasons. I’m continually fixing problems,” the designer said. “Quite simply, as an interior designer, our job is to manipulate, control and create the interior environment in which one works or lives. We work from the inside out,” said Winegrad, whose portfolio includes residential, hospitality, commercial and religious projects in greater D.C. and throughout the world. “An architect works from the outside in.”

The Charge of the Light Tirade

Citing a litany of issues including a ubiquitous window placement flaw perpetrated by architects, Winegrad said it is standard for an architect to fenestrate with eastern or western exposures, contingent on light and view. “If you have them facing sun or view,” he said, “and then the homeowner moves in on that first day, when the sun comes up or sets, depending on the room, they can’t sit there – they can’t use the room because the sun’s in their eyes.” In addition to that, sunlight can promote intense heat gain in the summer, taxing HVAC systems and the environment. It will also fade fabrics and bleach artwork and rugs, he indicated, adding that he generally espouses a northern and/or southern exposure.

Speaking to other fractious design issues, Winegrad said he can’t begin to count how many phone calls he gets from people who say they “… don’t know how to dress this window, don’t know where to seat the furniture, or can’t put their TV in the bedroom,” all because architects are not sensitive to where windows ought to be, where doors ought to be, how furniture lays out properly. “How many times have you seen a fireplace on a 45-degree angle in a house?” he asked. “They do it for various reasons because buildings have clipped corners and curves,” he explained, “but nobody can use those spaces.”

Blinging the Barracks

Residing in Darnestown for about 10 years before breaking ground in Bethesda, Winegrad revealed that his former house, “a Colonial on a cookie-cutter block,” was part of a development, but at an increased cost he’d been able to prevail upon the builder to allow him to customize to some extent, in part by moving windows around to open up wall space. Recalling that neighbors commented consistently on the differences between the Winegrad house and their own, where in some cases they’d been forced to situate furniture so as not to block windows, where light fixtures were consequently off-target and displaced furniture narrowed a room considerably, Winegrad said analyzing how design and construction need to work for the homeowner right out of the starting gate is vital to creating a livable space.

For the designer and his family, an issue with two adults sharing a bathroom (an admittedly universal problem with humidity from a shower precluding effective use of a hair dryer, mirror, etc.) precipitated the creation of a master bath in their new Bethesda home that boasts a common spa-like shower, but with his and hers dressing rooms, each with its own sink, hair dryer, mirror and space for clothing. In the family room, floor outlets eliminate running electrical and extension cords around furniture and under rugs, and slot windows frame a flat screen TV area. “It’s enough for daylight, but not enough to interfere with where the built-in unit goes or create glare on the screen,” Winegrad explained. A linear gas fireplace is anchored on both sides to give it balance, and traffic flow is considered with the seating group easily accessed, unlike a lot of rooms the designer said he sees where one must enter around the backs of a couch and chairs. Due to architecture-related issues, things can’t practically or aesthetically be configured another way. The designer’s own new home reflects and promotes an active family’s lifestyle by facilitating traffic flow, diffusing Mid-Atlantic sunlight and its thermal effects, eliminating conventional though unused rooms (there is no living room because Winegrad said their Darnestown living room was very rarely used) and increasing kitchen space to accommodate family activities and entertaining.

Make Lofts, Not War

“Right now, I’m doing an expensive waterfront condo where it’s a battle to get the rooms to work because there are silly little niches that are the result of a column in the wrong place,” Winegrad said. “You can’t put up draperies because they ran the ductwork in the wrong place,” he continued, adding the dining room isn’t wide enough for a dining room table. “You could step back and look at a photo of that building from the outside and you could admire it, and you might like the materials, but then you go inside and see the inherent design problems,” he said, noting condos are often poorly designed.

“I think the idea is to have an interior designer lay out the room– where windows and doors are; where the TV needs to go; where sunlight comes in; do you have to scoot around something to get to a closet–all so you don’t have to fight with anything,” he explained. “This is what’s really going to dictate the success of your space."

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Country Club Redux

By Beth Herman

When members of Lakewood Country Club in Rockville, Md., mulled over a makeover in 2007, the architectural equivalents of Botox, Juvederm or Restylayne simply weren’t going to cut it. In short, and because the two-story, then 34-year-old facility found itself addressing the needs and requirements of a young, progressive membership, cosmetics were only part of the picture.

According to designer I. Michael Winegrad of I. Michael Interior Design, with members on the younger side and despite cutting edge classes that included “cardio tennis,” the emphasis was still on golf with an eye to the club’s Rees Jones-designed course. At the same time, a demographically different club roster wanted anything but a staid country club crown-molding-and-wainscot environment. “They are much more contemporary,” Winegrad said of his clients who were seeking redesign of the venue’s three restaurants, conference rooms, boardroom, locker rooms, ballroom, foyer, pro shop and more. “They wanted to emphasize food and décor as much as golf. They wanted to create real atmosphere.”

Under the Knife

Renovated several times, including facelifts and more invasive changes in 1988, ’92 and ’95, according to Lakewood General Manager and CEO Eric Dietz, the 33,000 s.f. club house was somewhat outmoded in its design and features and had anemic function space in some areas that undermined both its goals and ledgers. While a commercial or hospitality renovation is often precipitated by circumstances that may include a leaky roof, worn carpeting, peeling wallpaper and frayed or damaged furniture, and Lakewood’s redesign was propelled primarily by the 21^st century lifestyle of its members, the comfort card also factored in. “The foundation for the project was something that a member told me,” Winegrad said. “He called the club a second home,” so the renovation needed to reflect that.

To that end, Lakewood’s Rees Jones Grille –a heavily-trafficked but tired 1,600 s.f. space accessible from the golf course where, with no dress code and cleats on their feet, golfers could relax over a burger and beer–received a 1,713 s.f. addition. Winegrad said because the popular Grille was really the focus of Lakewood’s renovation, multiple concepts were explored with the end result a defining, masculine, upscale sports bar that includes a marble bar, recessed lighting, dropped ceiling of sapele wood veneer for intimacy over the bar, fabric and sapele wall panels, a sturdy porcelain tile floor that emulates the look of wood and various flat screen TV’s visible from every angle. The addition itself, which for view purposes at most country clubs would have reverted to an all-glass structure (an attempt was made to do this by Lakewood’s architect), was redirected by interior designer Winegrad who had his own philosophy about framing views vs. bringing the outside in, the latter of which is a common request.

“For me, uninterrupted glass is not a good thing and I limit it,” the designer said, adding that it does not allow definition of the space. “You need to have a sense of human scale to the room to feel secure and comfortable. It’s the same reason people are so much more comfortable watching TV in a small room than in a big one,” he explained. To achieve that balance between comfort and view, Winegrad used wood panel separations between the glass, where lighting and art could further define the space and help frame the view.

In another area of the Grille, the floor had been dropped about 10 steps down, Winegrad said, like a dated pit. The resulting space was unusable and enigmatic at best, with a small TV stuck in a corner, so he raised it to a two-step drop and created a functioning card room atmosphere, delineated with bifold glass doors so it wasn’t quite as open or susceptible to noise.

Guest Augmentation

In Lakewood’s foyer, dramatic in scale but muted slate grey upholstered wall panels (textile panels also punctuate the hallway) and wall sconces characterize a sophisticated space. According to Winegrad, the club decided to make this area more of a concierge point, as the original reception desk was not located here, and it was important to create a signature first impression.

In the ballroom, which can accommodate 265, among other moderate changes doors were relocated for flow, and crystal-droplet-and-fishing-line lighting fixtures add sparkle to formal functions. Possibly paramount to the ballroom changes, Winegrad combined a space across the hall used to store tables and chairs with another room, converting them into a single 300 s.f. bride’s changing suite. “This is a big selling point for the club,” Winegrad said, in that Lakewood’s ability to host weddings was mitigated by its inability to support their casts. In the new design, the bridal or wedding suite has an elegant, ample changing area, full bath, multiple bays for hair and make-up furnished with Swaim white leather chairs, wall sconces, silk tasseled draperies and other graceful notes. “This is income for Lakewood,” Winegrad stressed.

Prescription for Prosperity

With hundreds of residential, commercial and hospitality designs on his dance card, Winegrad admitted Lakewood, whose redesign met with considerable acclaim by its members, was one of the few country clubs he’d ever undertaken as an interior designer (Seawane Country Club in Hewlett Harbor, NY, was his first). Establishing that each club is different, with some choosing to emphasize tennis over golf, or children’s amenities, swimming and the like, he said he applied the same principles used in the balance of his work to the Lakewood project, completed in 2009, with function being the only changed element.

“My approach and aesthetic value and judgment are always the same,” he reflected. “Designers have a position they come from – their design criteria. What’s important, even more than individual materials, is what the space looks like, its feeling – the end result. I guess that’s what you would say is the signature of any designer.”

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