The Inn at Little Washington's Patrick O'Connell Dishes About Design in his Former Home on the Property
Rockville, Maryland (PRWEB) January 06, 2015 -- HOME & DESIGN's January/February 2015 issue hits newsstands in one week! Will a kitchen re-design be your focus in the New Year? If so, this best-selling annual issue will take you inside five dazzling kitchens that serve up efficiency and innovation. This issue also features hot new kitchen appliances, surfaces, fixtures and more that combine practicality and pizazz.
Below is an excerpt from the Private Tour article featuring Patrick O’Connell:
When self-taught chef Patrick O’Connell opened The Inn at Little Washington in a former auto repair shop in 1978, few would have wagered that the venture would not only succeed but would garner top accolades from restaurant critics for decades to come.
Though it has grown to include 24 guest rooms in the original structure (which also houses the restaurant and public spaces) and several outbuildings, the Inn still recalls another time and place. Inspired by notable European properties, O’Connell’s fanciful creation centered on the main streets of rural Washington, Virginia (population: 150), transports guests into a world where walls are painted in monkey motifs, cheese is served atop an anatomically correct cow sculpture and ceilings are bedecked in kaleidoscopic cutouts of designer wall coverings—and that’s just for starters. No two guestrooms are alike.
“What is lacking today [in hospitality] is a sense of place, an identity, an authenticity, a personality,” says O’Connell. “We want guests to feel like they’re in someone’s home and we want it to look as if it has been here a long, long time.”
To O’Connell, nailing the ambiance and timeworn patina is just as critical as serving an impeccable foie gras. “Your eye can never be bored, just as your palate can never be bored,” he says. “It’s all parallel, to keep guests intrigued and amused and to sustain that fascination.”
Further magazine highlights include Balancing Act, where Architect Richard Williams crafts a modern residence in Garrett Park; Tailored Style, where Samantha Friedman overhauls a Dupont Circle row house for a sophisticated bachelor; Glass Tower, where a New York design firm turns a pair of Penn Quarter duplexes into a four-story family home; Better by Design, where a custom home in McLean marries elegance and accessibility; and A Refined Mix, where Lorna Gross-Bryant designs a new home by the Occoquan River for easygoing entertaining.
Datebook keeps you abreast of the latest design and art happenings. As always, this issue's Indulgences section tempts you with the best of the good life in travel, toys, winter fashion and food. It's an issue you won't want to miss - here's to 2015, enjoy!
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Lois Maples, Home and Design, http://www.homeanddesign.com, (240) 328-6275, [email protected]
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