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Creating the home they always wanted
It all started with the desire to install an elevator in their North Point, Reston, home, but it certainly didn’t end there. Once they started what turned into a massive renovation that eventually involved every room in their house, Daniel Theberge and Mary Maniscalco-Theberge resolved to do it absolutely right.
After talking and talking some more about the cost, Mary recalls her husband saying: “Mary, we work very hard; we should have our home the way we want it. We should have all the things we’ve talked about the last 25 years.”
Both are surgeons and retired colonels in the U.S. Army. Mary, 52, is the former chief of surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and is now a senior surgical investigator in the Office of the Medical Inspector of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Daniel, 54, is the former chief of oral maxillo-facial surgery at Walter Reed and is now in private practice.
They knew that as retirees, they would be staying in Reston, where they have lived since 1989 after returning to the states from Germany. So, the Theberges decided to go all the way with the renovation of their Williamsburg-style Van Metre home at 11408 Towering Oak Way.
It also would allow their family to stay in the home where they have raised their children -- Matt, 19, a second-year student at the University of Virginia, and Danielle, 16, a student at Herndon High School -- since 1994.
The Theberges’ plans didn’t stop there. They also considered changes for their future lives, for a time when their children are grown and gone -- like that elevator.
The elevator, says Mary Theberge, has a dual purpose -- for use by her parents, who are both in their 80s and visit frequently, and for her own use because of ankle and hip injuries.
Placement of the elevator led to doing a three-story wing in the back of the house that added a new exercise room, a new family room and, because of where the elevator entered the third floor, a new master bath -- fully equipped with a steam room/shower with multiple shower and massage heads, a champagne tub, and a heated floor and towel rack. The addition also created an additional upstairs laundry area (for when it is just the two of them) and a separate water closet.
“It just kept growing,” she said.
The new master bath, for example, then led to the enlargement of the master bedroom suite, which now, among other things, boasts a large “celebrity” closet in the dressing room, complete with an island that contains a refrigerator and television. (There are seven televisions in the house, including four big-screen TVs.) The closet is so glamorous, in fact, that their daughter brings friends over to tour it.
The renovation of the family room also prompted them to go ahead and create the “ultimate” kitchen with “every convenience” and features Brazilian-like tigerwood hardwood floors (which led to extending wood floors throughout the house), two big ovens for cooking for lots of people, a linen closet to hang tablecloths, a warming draw to heat plates, “garages” to keep appliances out of sight, coffee bar area, and two dishwashers so it is easier to clean up after parties.
Entertaining is an important part of the Theberges' lifestyle. “We have had many family gatherings, up to 30 people for Thanksgiving dinners, many work parties, up to 178 people for Christmas parties. We love to have friends and family over to celebrate life events,” Mary says.
Because of their penchant for big parties, they also flipped the larger living room with the dining room, requiring a switch in elements like wainscoting and chandeliers. (They have 23 family members coming for Thanksgiving this year.)
Another long-desired addition to the house is a five-foot deep “endless pool” where Mary does lots of water aerobics to ease the pain of her injuries.
Other new parts of the house that she finds “really cool” are its multilevel deck with a roof so the party can go on even if it rains and an adjoining multilevel patio with “incredible” stonework and an outdoor fireplace with pizza oven. Also, a tranquil “water wall” on the lower patio is in the process of being created.
“Must sees” for Home Tour visitors, she says, are the kitchen, exercise room, master bedroom suite, deck and patio.
To keep this enormous renovation from becoming overwhelming, it was done in stages with the help of a remarkable team, including stonework artist Damon Morris, architect Kim Beasley and general contractor Bob Weatherwax, of Ardent Homes, who was often their “voice of reason,” she said with a laugh.
During the experience of creating exactly the home they have always wanted, they learned an important life lesson, too.
“This project showed we are very, very in sync, and when we’re without the kids, we’ll be just fine,” Mary said. “And that’s pretty cool.”
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