Natalie Grasso

Natalie is a senior editor for Work Design Magazine by day and a freelance style and design writer by night. She's based in Washington, DC, where she lives in and writes from a little basement apartment in Georgetown.
Colman’s Converted Georgetown Stable
Name: Colman Riddell Location: Georgetown; Washington, DC Size: 1,700 square feet Years lived in: 2 years; Owned Colman’s house first appeared on Apartment Therapy last December. Having made several changes in the past year, she invited us to revisit the converted stable — which dates back to the 1850s — for a full tour. Colman, a nurse-turned-decorator, shares the home with her husband, two children, and their Boston Terrier, Pim.
Dec 19, 2019
Anne-Claire and John’s Internationally Inspired Mix
Name: Anne-Claire, John (not pictured), and daughter, Anna Location: Rockville, Maryland Size: 2,400 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, owned We were first introduced to Anne-Claire in a house call; when I tracked her down after seeing it, she was delighted to share the full tour. Anne-Claire is from France, her husband, John, from South Africa, and they had their now 3-year-old daughter, Anna, in Dallas, where they lived before moving to the Washington suburbs last year.
Aug 29, 2019
Page’s Happy Georgetown Home
Name: Page Evans, daughters Peyton and Katherine, and Angus the Lab Location: Georgetown; Washington, DC Size: 1,800 square feet Years lived in: 8 years; Owned Page and her two daughters moved into this two bedroom in the heart of Georgetown eight years ago — they were downsizing after a divorce. Upon moving, Page, an art consultant and writer, set out to bring the small, 19th-century house up to date.
Feb 20, 2019
California Boho in an East Coast Shell: Framebridge’s Inspiring Office
Name: Framebridge Location: Georgetown — Washington, DC Size: 2,800 square feet Time occupied: 9 months Picture this: a small, old house—rumored to have been Francis Scott Key’s—sits nestled on quiet residential street in historic Georgetown. Inside, a surprise: the lively, Instagrammable hustle of Framebridge, a fast-growing custom framing startup.
Jan 22, 2016
Erin & John Paul’s Stylish Studio
Name: Erin Lyons and John Paul Doguin Location: Georgetown; Washington, DC Size: 525 square feet Years lived in: 3 years; Rented Meet Erin and John Paul. Erin’s a writer and JP works on a design team at a federal agency. I shot their studio one week before they moved into a larger one-bedroom apartment downstairs; I had seen their place for the first time a few days earlier and insisted we do a House Tour before they packed up! I’ll tell you why.
Sep 26, 2015
Jenia & Sergey’s Victorian Row House
Name: Jenia and Sergey Location: Bloomingdale; Washington, D.C. Size: 1,600 square feet Years lived in: 5 years; Owned Jenia and Sergey bought this Victorian row house in D.C.’s Bloomingdale neighborhood five years ago. They’ve spent the intervening years giving it love: tearing up carpet, painting the walls, gutting the kitchen and bathrooms, and documenting it all on their home renovation blog, Victorian in Bloom.
Sep 5, 2015
Coffee with Carl in His Carriage House
Name: Carl Seeno Location: Shaw; Washington, DC Size: 375 square feet Years lived in: 1.5 years; rented Carl lives in the carriage house that’s attached to Jonathan and Colleen’s place, and when I peeked into his clean, stylish and seemingly spacious 375 square feet, there was no question: we’d have to take a tour of the carriage house, too!
Jun 4, 2015
Colleen and Jonathan’s Modern D.C. Townhouse
Name: Colleen and Jonathan Healey, daughter Parker, son Graham, and Tucker the dog Location: Shaw; Washington, D.C. Size: 1,700 square feet Years lived in: 5 years; Owned Jonathan was my thesis advisor in the interior design program at the Corcoran College of Art + Design, and while he guided me and my classmates through the design of our imaginary spaces, he and his wife, Colleen, were busy renovating this very real house in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood.
Jun 3, 2015
Liz’s Exuberant Row House
Location: Bloomingdale, Washington, DC Size: 2,800 square feet Years lived in: 2 years; Owned Before you even ask, yes, people have tipped Gypsy the cow. Liz had to cement her in. “When I move again, I’m planning to dig her up and take her with me,” she said. After all, Gypsy is more than just a goofy lawn ornament. Liz grew up in Arizona, where her father is a cattle rancher. Gypsy is an homage to her childhood.
Jun 10, 2014
Kerra’s Picture-Perfect Perch
Name: Kerra Michele Huerta Location: Dupont Circle, Washington, DC Size: 600 square feet Years lived in: 2 years; Rented Kerra Michele Huerta is the brains behind the event and interior design business and blog Apartment Envy, based in Washington, DC. She prides herself on the ability to bring a certain flair to small spaces, and nowhere is this more apparent than in her own 600 square feet in Dupont Circle.
May 30, 2014
Chelsea & Matthew’s Creative “How-to” Home
Name: Chelsea and Matthew Bieber, and kids Shire, Colin, and Mason Location: Fairfax County, Virginia Size: 1,700 square feet Years lived in: 3.5 years; Owned Chelsea maintains the home decor and furniture refinishing blog Chelsea’s Garage (and an Etsy shop of the same name); she and her husband, Matt, live in a partial split-level home outside of Washington, DC with their 4-year-old twins, Shire and Colin, and 3 1/2-year-old, Mason.
Apr 21, 2014
Eileen’s Elegant & Airy Townhouse
Name: Eileen McGrath Location: Georgetown; Washington, DC Size: 2,700 square feet Years lived in: 13 years; Owned It’s no surprise that Eileen McGrath’s place is so inviting. As a real estate agent for Washington Fine Properties, the top residential firm in DC, she’s a pro at making beautiful houses look like great homes. “I do this for my clients all the time,” she says, straightening a stack of magazines here, moving flowers there, plumping a pillow on the sofa.
Mar 26, 2014
Robin and Jeff’s Light-Filled Home in Georgetown
Name: Robin and Jeff Jones Location: Georgetown; Washington, DC Size: 2,500 square feet Years lived in: 5 years; Owned Robin opened her house up to us on the first spring-like day of this endless winter, and how appropriate: the colors and light of the place whoosh past you like April, comin’ in hot. Better than Christmas in July, what we’ve got here is more like May Day in March. But the house is much more than a few well-chosen, cheery colors.
Mar 12, 2014
Maggie’s Cutest House in Georgetown
Name: Maggie Handel Location: Georgetown, Washington, DC Size: 1,024 square feet Years lived in: 1 year; Owned “Nothing says 19th century like three exterior gas lamps,” said Maggie, who moved in to this mid-19th century home last year and promptly installed the lamps out front and in the side garden.
Feb 27, 2014
Melissa & Andrew’s Paprika Perch
Name: Melissa and Andrew Location: Kalorama; Washington, DC Size: 620 square feet Years lived in: 2 years; Rented Melissa, an account supervisor at an ad agency, and her boyfriend, Andrew, a speechwriter for a member of Congress, moved into this Kalorama apartment two years ago. It appeared last week as a House Call; this week we’ve got the full tour. This is Melissa and Andrew’s first place together, and they moved in with furniture and styles that didn’t blend super well.
Feb 12, 2014
Rachel & Tiernan’s Textured Townhouse
Name: Rachel and Tiernan Mennen Location: Bloomingdale; Washington, DC Size: 2,700 square feet (including English basement) Years lived in: 2 years; Owned Rachel, an interior designer, and Tiernan, an attorney, moved from Brooklyn to DC’s Bloomingdale neighborhood about two years ago. Though it’s in the heart of the District, it maintains a sort of outpost-y spirit, which appealed to the couple, reminding them of Brooklyn.
Jan 20, 2014
Christine’s Festive DC Table
Name: Christine Mitchell Location: Petworth; Washington, DC Size: 1,600 square feet Years lived in: 2 years; Rented On a silvery (and very cold) November afternoon, Christine Mitchell invited me over for what was not an official “Friendsgiving,” but by the time I left, it felt like it had been. She’d gathered a group of DC creatives to be there for the shoot, and to talk a bit about their work that furnishes her house.
Dec 4, 2013
Darlene and Brian’s Clean, Pure Lines
Names: Darlene Molnar, interior designer, and Brian Haney, VP at Deltek Location: Friendship Heights; Washington, DC Size: 680 square feet Years lived in: 2.5 years; Owned Darlene is the director of design at her eponymous DC-based design studio, and her industry know-how is apparent at home: decisions are deliberate, color and texture dance, style defies square footage.
Sep 13, 2013
Lindsay and Garrett’s Pursuit of Style
Name: Lindsay Souza, author of the blog The Pursuit of Style, and boyfriend Garrett Location: Capitol Hill; Washington, DC Size: 900 square feet Years lived in: 2 years; Rented The Capitol Hill apartment that Lindsay shares with her boyfriend looks like a real life manifestation of her popular lifestyle blog, The Pursuit of Style. And indeed, that’s what the apartment has been: a pursuit.
Sep 9, 2013
Annie & Tom’s Bit of Baltimore History
Name: Annie and Tom Molloy Location: Roland Park; Baltimore, Maryland Size: 2,400 square feet Years lived in: 2 years; Owned On a muggy, overcast day in Baltimore, Annie and Tom Molloy’s home feels like an island of respite from the heat: an ice cold glass of water sweats on the kitchen counter and Tour de France cyclists zip across the flat screen in the living room.
Aug 2, 2013