Our home has been the preferred landing pad for friends and family for over 20 years, and we love welcoming new folks! The house has lots of great rainy day activities (PS4, records, puzzles, comically large TV and more), abundant outdoor hangout space, and astonishingly fast fiber internet. Our neighborhood, Belmont, is the best! It's eclectic and diverse in every way, close to the Downtown Mall and UVA, and super walkable.
The space
My wife and I are old pros at hosting and have tailored our home to be inviting to new and old friends alike.
Our common spaces are meant for socializing. We know the party happens in the kitchen, so we have a great island for cheeseboarding, and a lovely table for coffee talk or a group dinner. Our living room has the world's best leather sofa (nicknamed Violet Beauregard!) for relaxing while listening to records or catching Saturday Night Live after a night out. Outside, watch the neighborhood from the front porch swing, or cozy up to the fire pit on the back patio.
The kitchen is well stocked with the essentials (coffee, tea, milk, bread, eggs, condiments, beer, etc) and we encourage you to make yourself totally at home. Cooks can rest assured that the pans and knives are good quality. Use the Vitamix to make cocktails or smoothies!
The bedrooms all have memory foam mattresses and great bedding - nice sheets, down comforters, fresh pillows - the works! The king and queen bedrooms are designed to be tranquil getaways, with spare furniture and art. The teen room will make you feel young again! The living room has a a trunk of bedding for potential sofa sleeping, and there's a twin sized air mattress that can be thrown in any of the rooms.
The bathroom features a heated bidet(!), nice towels, and good toiletries. Plus, we don't mind sharing the miscellaneous stuff that can be forgotten while traveling, like heartburn medicine or dry shampoo.
Homebodies rejoice in the wide selection of entertainment options. The Apple TV has Netflix, HBOGo, Amazon Prime, YouTube TV, and other apps loaded and ready to go. We have a PS4, with a few games loaded up. Play board games, build with Lego, or put together a puzzle. We have hundreds of records spanning many decades and genres, or you can play your iTunes from the Apple TV.
Cleanliness is very important to us - to protect guests and our own family. We clean laundry using an ionizer (like hospitals and hotels!) - we wash blankets and comforter covers between each guest, and wash pillows and down comforters monthly. We disinfect door knobs, light switches, remotes, and all other frequently touched items before each guest. We run an ionizer between guests to purify the air, and throw open the windows, since fresh air and sunlight is the best disinfectant! We beat rugs in the sun and employ a robot army of Roombas to make sure there are no dust bunnies under the beds or sofa. We're big fans of the sterilize setting on the dishwasher.
A few possible detractors for guests: our indoor stairs do not have a handrail, we have few overhead lights (but tons of lamps!), and the house isn't baby "proof" but we have some strategies to help parents create more "yes" and fewer "nos"!
Furniture by
@freestylecraftworks
@OysterHAntiques
@dust_richmond
@galaxiemodern
@natuzzi
Art by
@jarniarni
@thomassdean3
@mittengallery
@allysonmellbergtaylor
@steve.keene
@lcsajemian
@brooklynsupper
@monolithknives
@michellenevarrart
@erincrowestudio
@raebot4000
@margaretkeane
@davemooreimages
@thebridgepai
@by_ramona_martinez
Guest access
The house, yard, patios are all for your use.
We do have a rather creepy looking carriage house that is nothing to look at and out-of-bounds. It has lawn mowers and old paint inside, no gold or diamonds. We have a classic Belmont basement (read: dirt floor) that has a fantastic washer and dryer for your use!
Other things to note
Though we love a party, we also love the respect of our neighbors. Please keep outside noise to a minimum after ten. We hang out with our neighbors' kids, and they are not fun when they have been woken up in the middle of the night!
