KitchensVienna, VA
Full-height honed stone kitchen backsplash
Full-height backsplash in honed limestone, wrapping the range wall and window return
Completed April 2025
Northern Virginia
Renovating in Fairfax County
Fairfax County has a large stock of houses built between the 1950s and the 1980s, and a great deal of our work here involves bathrooms and kitchens that are on their second renovation rather than their first. That changes the assessment: we are often looking at what a previous contractor did, and why it did not last.
Mid-century construction in this area tends to have solid framing and undersized bathrooms. The most valuable work is frequently not the finish at all — it is reconfiguring a cramped layout, improving ventilation that was never adequate, and rebuilding a shower assembly that was tiled directly onto the wrong substrate.
Fairfax County is within our standard service area for both installation and site visits.
Local knowledge
What we look for in Fairfax County homes
Observations from working here, not generic renovation copy. These are the points our on-site assessment concentrates on locally.
- Second and third renovations
- When a bathroom has already been renovated once, demolition regularly reveals layers: an old membrane over an older one, a shower pan built inside a previous pan, or a floor built up so far that the door no longer clears it. We price a contingency for this in older Fairfax properties because it is common rather than exceptional.
- Mid-century bathrooms and ventilation
- Houses of this period were often built with either no mechanical ventilation or a fan sized for a much smaller room. Persistent mould that keeps returning after cleaning is nearly always a ventilation problem, and it is worth fixing as part of the renovation rather than living with.
- Mortar-bed floors
- Original mortar-bed tile floors in older Fairfax homes are heavy and difficult to remove, but they are frequently flatter than anything that replaced them. Where one is sound, it can sometimes be worked with rather than demolished.
- Kitchen work around existing cabinetry
- Backsplash and floor work in kitchens that are not being fully replaced needs careful sequencing around cabinetry and countertops that have to survive the process. We plan that order at the assessment rather than on the day.
Neighborhoods
Around Fairfax County
- Vienna
- Reston
- Herndon
- McLean
- Great Falls
- Falls Church
- Oakton
- Burke
Relevant work
Projects like the ones we build here
Services in Fairfax County
Tile, bathrooms, kitchens, flooring — and the materials themselves
Every service on this site is available in Fairfax County, and material orders from the shop can be delivered or picked up.
Projects in Fairfax County
Tell us about the room.
Describe the project and mention that you are in Fairfax County — we will confirm scheduling for your area in the first reply.
Have photographs or a drawing? Upload them with your request — it usually saves a visit.