As part of their end of their year end wrap up, Mark Wellborn and his team at Urban Turf DC are revisiting some of 2009's most inspiring local real estate. We found their coverage of Drew Mitchell and Bill Fischer's, fathers of graphic design enterprise Fathom Creative, brake shop-turned-live/work oasis to be particularly brilliant.

The duo bought the former brake shop (as in cars) in 2006, and with the help of Lawson Architects, they now have three floors of cool bliss. The ground floor is home to their business, Fathom Creative, a graphic design firm, the second level hosts a kitchen expansive dining room, and art gallery, and the top floor is home base— primarily their private residence.

While they renovated the space to transform it into an environment suited to both creative ingenuity and peaceful home life, they kept many of the existing building's stand-out features like the exposed bricks, and also worked in some hip repurposings: former garage doors rehung barn style on the second floor.

Check out more about Fathom Creative and their cool digs on Urban Turf DC.

Thanks Mark!

(Images: Josh Howell for Urban Turf DC)