Inspiring Interiors
Opening the door of a new rehab can be an exciting, dopamine-inducing reveal. From bold feature walls to serene soaking tubs to lighting fixtures that are placed just right, there are endless possibilities for what the inside of a home can be and how it can impact the eventual homebuyer. Let’s peek behind the doors of some One House At A Time renovations and see what makes a good interior so essential to a successful project:
Door #1: Trendy & Trendsetting Interiors
Our first door leads to some recognizable interior trends as well as some rare home details sure to become trends. Feature walls with painted wood slats are eye-catching statements in many homes nowadays. They come in any color you can think of, but it looks like black walls are currently dominating the game. James H. Haynes of Haynes Properties included these feature walls in nearly all his renovations along the 3200 block of Piedmont Avenue. At 3206 Piedmont Avenue, the decorative wall even extends to the ceiling. Marcus Walker from A Strong Foundation Inc., also included a striking black feature wall in his renovation at 2307 Belair Road, notably funded by Baltimore City’s Developer Incentive Program. But the property’s real stand out feature may just be the ever-popular electric fireplace that warms up its living room area.
Some other trends that are rising in popularity are wireless phone charging stations and LED lighted mirrors, which add a tech-savvy touch and an extra level of ease for the eventual resident. For trend predictions, one that is sure to take off is the thermos filling station. These are designated areas where you can refill your water bottles without needing to go to the fridge or refill a filtered water pitcher. Something else that may catch on is the wet bathroom, like the one added to 824 Edmondson Avenue where the entire bathroom has an open concept design and an unenclosed shower. “It was designed where the entire bathroom can be wet,” says developer, Tisa J.D. Clark of the J.D. Clark Companies.
Door #2: Labors of Love
While “millennial gray” walls and neutral design schemes work for some spaces, our next door shows that the interiors built with the full range of a rehabber’s creativity are the ones that seem to hold the most heart. Borna Ghaffarian aptly dubbed his creation at 3502 Woodbrook Avenue a “labor of love.” For his first large-scale vacant building renovation, Ghaffarian went all in with the design and utilized his art background to make a unique space inspired by nature and eco-consciousness. You can see this inspiration in the reclaimed wood decked throughout the house with varied styles and uses. He also created never-before-seen pieces like a kitchen island made from bowling alley floorboards. “I think the market has room for different kinds of products and should not be shoe-horned into just grayscale flip houses,” says Ghaffarian on the importance of artistry in home renovation.
The team at O & C Properties similarly call their project at 25 S. Potomac Street their “baby.” “I know it sounds silly,” says Igor Oster, a member of the team, “but sometimes you renovate something, and you put your heart and soul in it…” While the bulk of their labor went toward restoring the historic elements of the exterior to meet requirements for the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP), the property’s interior also holds some creative and historic features. They retained the home’s original staircase and carefully refurbished the front vestibule door while adding some of their own style with a green living room feature wall and original flooring and wall tile designs at the front and rear entrance. They also took on the challenge to underpin the property’s structure, dropping the basement floor to generate more interior space. The team shared the love of their “baby” with neighbors, even using one neighbor’s idea of including more storage space in their layout design. “They want their community to move up,” says Igor. “And we kind of walk through everything with them from beginning to end.”
Door #3: Functionality Forward Layouts
Next, we open to a few brilliant interior layout designs. Before Frank Weaver of Atlantic Homes purchased 6105 Marietta Avenue, the property switched hands between various developers who included extensions to the first floor and added an additional second floor. Though a lot of the layout work was already complete, Weaver had to take extra measures to make sure the building was structurally sound and he also wanted to make sure the design was optimizing the space. He decided to modify the layout. “They had a lot of wasted space, and they only had three bedrooms upstairs,” says Weaver, “which meant that when you walked up the steps, there was just this huge, almost living room area on the second floor.” Weaver added an additional bedroom to the layout to make the space more functional and created an open concept design in the downstairs area that highlights just how huge the home is.
At 2025 E. Preston Street, Dr. Nichole M. Stewart of Cookie LLC maximized functionality in her layout as well by creating a space inspired by split-level homes. The entrance has a loft-style staircase that leads up to the main floor and down to the walkout basement. Stewart implemented this layout to create more flow for natural light to shine throughout the house since the open levels allow light from both floors to converge. She also included creative space-extending solutions like a living room alcove that can be used for storage space or even a small home office. Not only is the project well structured, it was certainly a “labor of love” for Stewart, who grew up a few doors down from this property and is working to renovate the entire block after years of disinvestment. Once she finished 2025 E. Preston, she invited her displaced neighbors back to their former home to see how she restored the property, the block to its former glory and added new life to it with her innovative designs.
Perhaps the most extreme example of a layout designed to improve the space is what Blank Slate Development did on the 1400 block of N. Bethel Street. In his whole-block renovation, developer Alex Aaron decided to combine narrow 12-foot-wide units into double-wide rowhomes to create more interior space for the eventual buyers. The Blank Slate team combined 12 of the 14 units on the block, creating six double-wide properties with ample room for growing families and beautiful interior design schemes.
Door#4: Designs that Anticipate Needs
Though you may have already anticipated from the subheading, behind this door you’ll find examples of rehabbers who consider their future buyer or tenants’ needs while building exceptional interiors. 3504 Woodbrook Avenue holds many thoughtful features that accommodate the needs of its tenants. James Moore III designed the home for group living and targeted busy Johns Hopkins nurses to rent. With that demographic in mind, Moore anticipated the needs of the nurses and their shared space by creating two kitchen areas and two washer and dryer units on separate floors, multiple phone charging stations, a thermos filling station, and instant hot water taps. The home is also fully furnished for their convenience.
Moore even regarded the spirit of the space, using Feng Shui principles in the design. He made sure the grand wood and iron staircase did not face the doorway to avoid letting out good energy.
While Moore designed his project with a target demographic in mind, the developers of 2928 Oakford Avenue designed theirs with a specific person in mind. Marion Ragland purchased the property as it was in progress, excited by the prospect of customization since she has a visual impairment that warranted accommodations. The rehabbers typically stick to the same basic design when renovating, so customization was new for them. “This design was evolutionary, not revolutionary,” says one of the developers. “We were able to take the features and components that were familiar and then add additional things that helped us along the way to make sure we had a satisfied buyer.” They listened to Ragland and her wishes, her needs. They also conducted their own research and came up with features that were sure to provide an extra layer of accessibility for Ragland. The team installed additional grips and handrails for stairs, a voice-activated thermostat, and smart Bluetooth features including a Wi-Fi enabled stove and microwave for Ragland to operate from her phone instead of buttons and dials that are more difficult for her to see. They also added extra lighting sources throughout the home, including aisle lights illuminating the way up and down the stairs. “I don’t know if one would have such an appreciation, without having [impaired] eyesight, of what lighting does for me and the quality of my life,” says Ragland.
A good interior is not only something nice to look at, but it can change lives. It can bring convenience and accessibility, it can bring comfort and warmth and joy. It can make a house, brick and plaster and wood, into a home with character, ready for life to thrive in it. Now that we’ve seen what’s possible, what will you do with your next interior project?
