Best of Arlington 2021: Home

Reader Pick
Builder

TriVistaUSA

This isn’t the first time Michael and Deborah Sauri’s 15-year-old design-build company has won this award—or even the second. Over the years, they’ve seen trends come and go (Michael is personally grateful that clients are now moving away from “white, white, white kitchens” and brushed nickel galore), but the firm’s design approach remains constant. Every client conversation starts with questions about functionality and how families actually live in their everyday spaces. Covid hasn’t necessarily changed what people want, he says, but it has sped up project timelines and helped some folks reevaluate not just their homes, but everything: “The pandemic has given us an opportunity to think about the things that really matter, and that’s going to be in style for a very, very long time.” –Rina Rapuano

Other top vote-getters:

Alair Homes Arlington; AV Architects + Builders; BOWA; Bowers Design Build;
Case Architects & Remodelers; M-R Custom Homes; Sagatov Design Build; Zimmermann Homes

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Mira Jean Designs

In 2015, Kate Hougen left a director-level job at the Nature Conservancy and started a textile line, applying her hand-painted designs to organic, American-made fabrics for pillows, window treatments and upholstery. Two years later she expanded her business to include wallpaper made with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified materials. “It was a natural evolution,” says the Arlington entrepreneur. “So much of what is happening in interior design now is not just fabrics, but wallcoverings.” Today, Mira Jean Designs (named for the artist’s mom and daughter) has more than 50 patterns in its collection, from botanical and floral motifs to cheeky prints featuring swimsuits, tiaras and popular dog breeds. What’s next? A newly released Olive Branch collection features simple, hand-drawn branches and leaves—a quiet response to these sobering times, to be sure. –Jenny Sullivan

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Jeffspugnardi 0070 Michaelventura — Master woodworker Jeff Spugnardi. Photo by Michael Ventura

Spugnardi Woodworking

If a tree falls in Arlington, it may well end up as fine furniture. Storm-felled cherry, maple, cedar and walnut trees have been known to land in Jeff Spugnardi’s Leeway-Overlee shop (after a trip to the kiln), where they are magically transformed into hardwood dining tables, chests, bed frames and—the master woodworker’s specialty—ergonomic, custom-designed rocking chairs with matching footstools. A former Marine, Spugnardi cites furniture designers Le Corbusier, Sam Maloof and George Nakashima among his influences. Letting no scraps go to waste, he also makes smaller items, including valet boxes, carbon-fiber-topped humidors and cutting boards. –Jenny Sullivan