• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Jennifer Sergent

Freelance design writer + blogger | Marketing copywriter

  • About
    • About Jennifer
    • Blog Information
  • Editorial
    • Design
    • People Profiles
    • Trends
    • Neighborhood Guides
  • Marketing
  • Blog
  • Contact

A Jewel-Box Wine Room in Falls Church

April 13, 2016

The latest issue of Arlington Magazine just came in the mail, where I wrote a “Great Spaces” feature on a glorious new wine room that designer Allie Mann of Case Design made happen for John Gifford, a wine connoisseur and collector in Falls Church.

The magazine profile contains mostly John’s take on the project, but Allie was kind enough to write about it from her own designer’s perspective in this guest post.

Allie-Mann
Allie Mann

Take it away, Allie!

Basement remodeling always poses challenges, as most homeowners want the lower level to not look like a basement, but instead to feel like the rest of the house. Recently, a client was inspired by midcentury modern design—and Dwell magazine—to transform his disjointed basement into a lower-level living space with an open floor plan, media area and wine cellar, while also incorporating sophisticated wood materials.

I think this did the trick:

After-5-media,-wine-areas

The project intrigued me – and I welcomed the challenges it presented.

Here’s what it looked like before:

There’s a staircase behind that closed door.

This kitchen will go away—we only want wine here.

More random walls and doors.

While my typical style is more transitional or “casual elegant,” I enjoyed the hunt for the owner’s preferred midcentury modern taste, including the exotic wood that became a focal point in three of the spaces. After researching endangered as well as sustainable woods, we agreed on using Figured Sapele behind the wine cellar racks,

After-1-wine-room
on the TV wall in the media area,

After-4-custom-TV-wall
and as the backdrop from the floating shelves in the new office area.

After-3-new-shelves
After removing many walls and doors during construction, we encountered a pretty significant structural column that could not be moved. And this column was right in the middle of the space, outside the soon-to-be wine room. To turn a negative into a positive, we created a tasting table around the column, finishing it with the same exotic wood found throughout the lower level.

Mann8

From the beginning, my client had his heart set on a specific vendor for the wine storage system, Vin De Garde in Canada. We installed the special system of metal rods in his glass-enclosed wine room, which is both temperature and humidity controlled and holds about 240 bottles of his favorite wines.

After-6-wine-rack-system

The final result is just the see-through “jewel box” that he had envisioned.

Filed Under: Designers, Home Decor Tagged With: Case Design, Guest Post, wine room

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Casart says

    April 15, 2016 at 10:25 am

    What a fantastic transformation! Really takes talent to envision the end result with everything working so well together. Makes me want to have a wine cellar 😉

  2. Cathy Connon says

    April 14, 2016 at 5:52 pm

    Amazing design, Allie! I especially love the lighting you installed, it highlights that gorgeous wood beautifully! Congratulations!

Before Footer

View

Jan 13

Open
The amazing thing about the #uscapitol is that we enjoy the same beauty as the generations before us. Our fashions might change, but not the glorious encaustic tile, gilded mirrors or the clover-like pendant lights in the Senate Press Gallery. Swipe to see the modern version, shot by @ronbluntphoto. 
Full post in my bio link!
View

Jan 12

Open
With the help of photographers like @adam_brockett who took this glowy halo around the #uscapitol, and my friends who know and cherish that building, here’s a love letter, blog link in bio
View

Jan 7

Open
Memories of the late-night lines to see George H.W. Bush lying in state. Thousands of peaceful mourners waiting to pass through the Rotunda of this majestic Capitol.
View

Jan 6

Open
May your passage through 2021 be delightful! Grateful to clients like @mode4architecture for sharing so much beauty 🌱💚 
📷 @studiohdp
View

Dec 12

Open
CONGRATULATIONS to Michele Lerner for her award from the Nation Association of Real Estate Editors on a @washingtonpost story about bringing the outdoors inside, which features our bathroom renovation by @aidandesign ! The judges wrote: “She finds the perfect couple to illustrate the theme of her story. They lie by a nature trail, so they wanted to add natural stone to the shower.” Great story Michele, and it was a pleasure to speak to you! 
Story linked in bio
📷 @stacyzaringoldberg
View

Dec 10

Open
So thrilled to be working with a new client, Michigan design firm @arminainteriors. I just love how luminous her work is, and her use of dramatic light fixtures. Enjoy!
View

Nov 20

Open
Welcome to DC Mayor @murielbowser's home, where designer Trystin Kier Francis of @thekiercompany painted this chest purple with gold hardware. Regal, just like the mayor, Trystin told me. I agree! Full story at the link in my bio.
View

Oct 6

Open
Is anyone else in need of some calm right now? Take me away, @m.naeve! 
(For more #kipsbaydallas escapism, link in bio 🖤)
📷 @stephen_karlisch_photo
View

Oct 2

Open
@markdsikes does it again at #kipsbaydallas with this dreamy living room, Happy Friday! 
Link to more images and virtual tour in bio
📷 @stephen_karlisch_photo
View

Oct 1

Open
I ADORE this sweet mudroom by @erinsander at #kipsbaydallas. Photos and link to virtual tour on the blog, link in bio 🖤
View

Sep 30

Open
Now on the blog: a tour of #kipsbaydallas with sumptuous images like this one of a Jackie Kennedy-inspired lady’s study by @janshowers. Link in bio! 
📷 @stephen_karlisch_photo
View

Sep 27

Open
Sunset at our @acorndeckhouse, photo by Chal Sergent
Load More...

Footer

DC by Design is my passion project, a chronicle of design talents throughout the DC-Maryland-Virginia region who are doing beautiful and imaginative things in the categories below. Click here for blog information and guidelines.

  • Architecture
  • Art/Photo
  • Designers
  • Furniture
  • Home Decor
  • Kitchen/Bath
  • Outdoors
  • Real Estate
  • Shopping
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Subscribe to my newsletter, which sends out weekly(ish) blog posts and monthly newsletters about what I’m seeing in the design industry.

Please click here if you're a

  •    

© 2021 Jennifer Sergent • All Rights Reserved