Cooler Than Your Average Townhouse

Retro-industrial accents and modern furnishings give this end unit the feeling of an urban loft.

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Agrillo discovered the retro “Big Woman” print—pulled from three separate historic woodblocks—at the Hatch Show Print shop inside Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame. Abingdon sectional sofa by Vanguard. Photo by Robert Radifera | Styling by Charlotte Safavi

Creating a home with character was a priority for Agrillo from day one. A wanderer of cities—he cites Paris and Prague among his favorites—he has an affinity for Old World architecture and vintage contraptions. He likes to buy art locally and when traveling—like the giant, smiling pinup girl print he discovered on a sojourn to Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame.

Miller took the industrial aesthetic a step further, recasting an array of old machine parts, tools and factory molds as art objects, many of them sourced from Carbon Industrial Design, a former fabricator and refurbisher in Old Town Alexandria. She remembers meeting Agrillo there on Halloween—in costume, no less—to dig around for curiosities, shortly before the warehouse closed in late 2016.

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A grass cloth ceiling adds texture to the guest bedroom. The wall art is an assortment of vintage tools that Miller had framed. Headboard and crank side table from Four Hands. Photo by Robert Radifera | Styling by Charlotte Safavi

“Mike is one of my coolest clients,” says Miller, whose interior design firm, Lapis Ray, is based in Vienna. “He’s up on things and is always reading. He is the type of guy who is always excited about something. This was a long evolution of a project.”

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In the master bath, whimsical figures (from Global Views) appear to be rappelling into a Hydro Systems STON Garnet tub. The flooring (Nero Starburst tile), tub and vanity cabinet are from Mosaic Tile in Fairfax. Photo by Robert Radifera | Styling by Charlotte Safavi

Make that seven years. The makeover of the 1,828-square-foot residence was an unhurried process—often ebbing and flowing with the currents of Agrillo’s life. For a time, his work had him commuting between Northern Virginia and an apartment in New York City (which Miller also helped design and furnish). Along the way, his girlfriend, Radell Peischler, moved into the Arlington townhouse, adding her own tastes to the mix. In 2018 they got engaged.

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The remodeled kitchen features Anthropologie cabinet pulls, KitchenAid appliances with bronze handles and Renaissance Arabesque floor tiles in Normandy Cream. The retro gunmetal counter stools are from Crash Industrial Supply (now closed) and Sarreid. Drapes by Schumacher. Photo by Robert Radifera | Styling by Charlotte Safavi

They remodeled the kitchen in July of 2019. Miller had the original cabinets repainted, swapped in new appliances and countertops, and added a sumptuous Spanish-tile floor. But the stars of the space are four mismatched barstools reminiscent of the seating you’d find in a 1920s speakeasy.

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The kitchen-adjacent lounge area features comfortable seating, Calder nesting tables from Four Hands and a Brooklyn Bridge wall mural. Photo by Robert Radifera | Styling by Charlotte Safavi

It was Peischler’s idea to replace the breakfast table opposite the cooking zone with a leather couch. “We had a lot of eating areas already,” she explains. “We wanted to take the vibe down with a more loungy hangout space—a place to read the paper with coffee and relax.”

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