When Michael and Deborah Sauri were searching for a new home in Arlington, it was more about the location than the design. The couple and their two elementary-school-age children wanted to be near Deborah’s mother, who lives in a condo in Lyon Park. So when they found a Craftsman-style bungalow for sale just blocks away, they weren’t deterred by the fact that it wasn’t quite their style. Instead, they set out on a yearlong journey to reinvent the place to match their design sensibilities. The end result? A still-charming bungalow that opens to a cool, clean and contemporary interior with Asian influences that reflect Deborah’s Japanese heritage.
“We wanted it to fit into the neighborhood on the outside, but be totally different on the inside,” says Michael, who, together with Deborah, owns TriVistaUSA, a residential design-build firm based in Arlington. (The name of their firm is an anagram of their last name and Deborah’s maiden name.)