A DC rowhouse gets a touch of modern Euro style thanks to interior designer Natascha Folens.
A sitting room off the master bedroom features a sectional by Camerich and a bulldog painting on vintage metal Folens ordered through K.Loan in Belgium.
Some might be intimidated by taking on a three-story, 3,000-square-foot Victorian rowhouse after it has been stripped to the studs. But not so for Belgium-born Natascha Folens. The Great Falls, Va.-based designer, who founded her award-winning NF Interiors (nfinteriors.com) in 2002, is entirely at home with blending natural elements with clean lines.
Studio Piet Boon bar stools pull up to an island in the XVL custom kitchen designed by NF Interiors (it is the brand’s only U.S. importer).
“It was a complete remodel, as well as a significant addition,” says the talent, who assisted with the design-build process and created all the spaces for the home, which is the personal residence of builder Mike Taylor of AMT Realty. “Though the streetside facade stayed the same, we bumped out the back by 12 feet on all three floors and then gutted the interior.”
Quilted suede dining chairs by Studio Piet Boon sit beneath a Le Deun light fixture, all paired with a limited-edition black-and-white piece from Cobra Art Company.
From the kitchen, with its sleek finger-pull cabinetry and custom-fabricated rectilinear steel hood, to the dining room, with its stylish quilted suede chairs and ethereal LED chandelier, the design is crisp, modern and artistic.
“On the main level, the floor plan is wide open, so I wanted to create a comfortable, timeless interior with lots of storage that was perfect for entertaining,” she adds.
An acrylic art panel by Alex Turco defines the master bathroom
Her handpicked furnishings are textural and minimal; she effortlessly mixes materials like woods, leathers and metals. The palette is neutral, but never dull, as the almost sculptural furniture forms keep the eye roving. Forever a European, Folens also likes to integrate age into her creations.
“The living room closet,” she says of the storage cupboard, “is made from a pair of hundred-year-old elm wood tabletops imported from Paris then converted into 9-foot-tall closet doors.”
The finished rowhouse’s interiors speak volumes of old and new stories, and promise to be timeless in the years to come.
Notes Folens: “My focus is never on trends, but rather on providing lasting quality and comfort.”
DESIGN DETAILS
LOCATION
Northwest DC
INTERIOR DESIGN
Natascha Folens, NF Interiors, nfinteriors.com
RESOURCES
Alex Turco
Decorative art panel, alexturco.com
Camerich
Sectional sofa in a linen-blend upholstery, camerichusa.com
Cobra Art Company
Limited-edition black-and-white portrait, cobraart.nl
Le Deun
Bronze circular chandelier, ledeun.com
NF Interiors
Metal bulldog painting, sourced from Belgium, nfinteriors.com
Stone Source
Herringbone floor tiles in Mews by Mutina, stonesource.com
Studio Piet Boon
Quilted suede Kekke dining chairs and bar stools, pietboon.com
XVL
Clean-lined finger-pull hardware in masculine, texturally driven kitchen, xvl.eu
Photography by: Stacy Zarin Goldberg
