Set your alarm early this Saturday for the Old Town Boutique District’s 8th annual Warehouse Sale, where over 20 Old Town boutiques will offer select wares at 70 to 80 percent off retail prices. Goods include clothes, shoes, jewelry, housewares, gifts, and baby items.

The sale has become quite popular since it started in 2005, with three times as many vendors now participating and approximately 1,000 shoppers in recent years.  The most determined of bargain searchers line up early with cups of coffee in hand hoping to be one of the first approximately 150 shoppers let into the sale. If you arrive when there’s a line, have no fear, there is lots of indoor waiting room.

Want to get a headstart? The Boutique District is giving away 4 early entry tickets. To enter, “like” the district on Facebook, then fill out the entry form.

Old Town Boutique District Sale

9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

George Washington Masonic Memorial

101 Callahan Drive, Alexandria

Tucked into the cozy brick-lined streets of Old Town Alexandria, the Old Town Boutique District features 28 unique shops showcasing one-of-a-kind items and hard-to-find brands.  It is located within walking distance of EYA’s luxury townhomes and condos now selling at Old Town Commons and the waterfront residences EYA will be begin selling and constructing at The Oronoco later this year.

Neighborhood Restaurant Group — the team behind local hotspots Birch&Barley, Churchkey and Buzz, to name a few — recently announced more details around the brewery, tasting room and 200-seat restaurant going in at the Boilermaker Shops down the street from EYA’s Capitol Quarter townhouses. Read all the exciting details in this Washington Post piece. You may have to wait another year until the first brews are served, but we’re sure it will be worth the wait.

The Boilermaker Shops slated to open in Fall 2012. (Rendering via CapitolRiverFront.org)

In the meantime, the Boilermakers Shops is expecting the following to open this Fall: Austin Grill Express, brb – be right burger, Buzz, Huey’s 24/7 Diner and Willie’s Brew & Que (by Xavier Cervera, who’s behind several Capitol Hill haunts including Lola and Molly Malone’s)

It’s not too late to be an early adopter in this up-and-coming Capitol Hill neighborhood. Visit our Sales Center at 1020 4th Street SE to learn more about the few townhomes we have remaining.

Life within walking distance means having a place to exercise near your townhouse or condominium. While not exhaustive (pun intended!), here is a list of places to workout in your neighborhood.

Chancellor’s Row

(Edgewood & Brookland)

Met Branch Trail: Follow it south towards the Capitol Building for an off-road trail, or north towards Silver Spring for an on-road experience. From Chancellor’s Row, hop on the trail at 8th Street NE. (.2 miles walking)

Dance Place: Adult dance classes. Begin anytime, no semester/series scheduling. 3225 8th Street NE (.3 miles walking)

Excel Movement Studios: Pilates mat and apparatus classes + workshops (w/ complimentary mat class Feb 16). 3407 8th Street NE (.3 miles walking)

Northeast TaeKwonDo: Adult and Children TaeKwonDo Classes (w/ complimentary introductory class). 3520 12th Street NE (.7 miles walking)

The Trinity Center : Fitness center with cardio equipment, weight machines, free weights, classes, pool, spa, basketball court, tennis courts, walking track and locker rooms. 125 Michigan Avenue NE (.8 miles walking)

Turkey Thicket Recreation & Aquatic Center: This FREE premier recreation site in Ward 5 offers a gym, playground, tennis and basketball courts, baseball field, and swimming pools. 1100 Michigan Avenue NE. (.8 miles walking)

(We know some residents hope to see a yoga studio go in at the Monroe Street Market or 901 Monroe developments, but in the meantime the nearest yoga studio we’re aware of is 1.5 miles away at Yoga District Bloomingdale)

Capitol Quarter

(Capitol Hill / Southeast DC)

Results Gym: Full-service gym with $199 enrollment fee waived through 1/31/12. 315 G Street SE (.2 miles walking)

Garfield Park Tennis Courts: Two neighborhood tennis courts are located across the street from Results Gym (.2 miles walking)

The Yards Park/Anacostia Riverwalk: World-class green space with a walking/jogging/biking path along the Anacostia River. (.3 miles walking)

Elite Fitness Bootcamp: Morning and evening bootcamp classes at The Yards Park. Corner of 4th & Water Streets SE (.3 miles walking)

Trapeze School New York: Indoor and outdoor trapeze classes. 4th St SE and Tingey St (.3 miles walking)

Capitol Hill Arts Workshop: Pilates, yoga and classes, with next session starting in early February 2012. 545 7th Street SE (.5 miles walking distance)

Capitol Hill Yoga: Yoga and pilates classes + workshops, with 2nd class free for new students. 641 Pennsylvania Avenue SE (.7 miles walking)

Townhomes and Condominiums at Old Town Commons

(Old Town Alexandria)

Outlaw Crossfit: Strength and conditioning program, with 25% off discount for military, fire and law enforcement. 727 North Henry Street (.1 miles walking)

FitOne Personal Training: Boutique personal training studio + power circuit and bootcamp classes. 814 North St. Asaph Street (.2 miles walking)

Sport & Health Gym: Full service gym with locker rooms. 209 Madison Street (.4 miles walking)

Pure Prana Yoga: Yoga, T’ai Chi, Pilates and Meditation classes + workshops. 100 South Patrick Street (.6 miles walking)

Mount Vernon Trail: Walk, Run or Bike along the Potomac River. (.7 miles walking)

Snap Fitness: 24/7, no-membership-required fitness club with cardio and fitness equipment. 1315 King Street (.8 miles walking)

Townhomes at Mosaic District

(Merrifield & Falls Church)

Coming soon: On-Site Fitness Center and Pool

XSport Fitness: 24/7 full-service fitness club with spa.  8190 Strawberry Lane, Falls Church (.1 mile walking — the sidewalks and roads aren’t yet completed!)

Four Seasons Tennis Club: Tennis facility offering court time, lessons, clinics and camps. 3010 Williams Drive, Fairfax (.1 mile walking)

Gold’s Gym: Full-service fitness club. 2982 Gallows Road, Falls Church (<.5 miles walking)

Crossfit Fairfax:  Strength and conditioning program, with family membership discounts and 25% off discount for full-time students, senior citizens, military, fire and law enforcement. 2799-G Merrilee Drive, Merrifield (.8 miles walking)

Jefferson District Park & Golf Course: 9-hole public golf course, tennis and basketball courts. 7900 Lee Highway, Falls Church (1.5 miles)

If you’re looking for a bang-for-your buck decorating tip, you might be staring right through it! We’re talking about your windows, and more specifically, the treatments around them.

Draperies and shades are highly functional decor items that often get relegated to the “if we have money left over” side of the decorating equation. And this is where we tell you to reconsider your math.  Window coverings can decorate an entire wall just like a piece of art; but they also provide privacy, light filtration and energy savings. This is much more than can be said for a framed picture or painting.

Photo by phototropic via istockphoto.com

Last week we stopped by Dan Kugler’s Design Center, the leader in window treatments in the Washington area and our exclusive provider. Dan showed us how window treatments soften up a room by adding texture and depth to the space.  “What we really do is make a house a very inviting home,” he told us. “When you walk into a room, you say ‘Wow.’ Our work is more art than accessories.”  We tend to agree. The right window treatments make a room look polished and complete, even if there is nothing else on the walls.

Photo by thirty_three via istockphoto.com

Before you get images of Vivian Leigh and her green velvet curtains stuck in your head, know that there are many contemporary and transitional options on the market today. In fact, Dan and his designers told us that the popular trend right now is clean, classic, and timeless. Many customers are ordering simple side panels with gorgeous rods.

Side panels with a geometric pattern complement a modern dining room at Dan Kugler's Design Center

If you want to hang your draperies like a pro, Dan recommends hanging the rod just below the crown molding to add drama to your room and make the ceilings look higher. No crown molding? No problem! The do-it-yourself crowd’s natural instinct is to hang the rod just above the window frame, but Dan typically looks to hang the rod somewhere between the window frame and the ceiling in order to give height to the room.

Dan's Tip: Hang curtain rods just below crown molding or just below the ceiling to add height to a room (Photo by jgareri via istockphoto.com)

New EYA townhouse and condo buyers can roll the cost of their window treatments into their mortgage when purchasing with Dan Kugler’s Design Center. This financing option is available regardless of window treatment selection, from faux-wood blinds to Hunter Douglas shades to draperies using to-the-trade-only fabrics available at Dan’s design center.

The fabric room at Dan Kugler's Design Center has thousands of swatches to appeal to all design aesthetics

For more information on Dan Kugler’s Design Center, visit their website. Kugler’s on-site designers offer full design services, as well as custom window coverings, furniture, bedding and floor coverings. For folks ordering a full suite of window treatments, Dan may bring one of Kugler’s designers to your home to help with a few non-window decor ideas as well. If you’re interested in Dan’s custom furniture offering, check out Adriana Hoyos, the few pieces Dan showed us were amazing!

As further indication of the strength behind the trend towards smaller homes in closer-in, walkable neighborhoods, the National Association of Home Builders’ “New American Home” for 2012 is one of the smallest homes it has showcased in the past 29 years, The Wall Street Journal reports today. Get the full WSJ blog post here. (Back in November, we blogged about similar articles noting this same shift in homebuying patterns.)

NAHB's 2012 New American Home designed and built by Phil Kean Designs. (Photo from www.PhilKeanDesigns.com)

We were excited to see that the showpiece home is not only reflective of today’s and tomorrow’s buyers’ demands for smaller footprints (albeit at 4,181 square feet it is still significantly larger than the 2,377-square-foot average American home), but it is also located on an infill site within walking distance of shops and restaurants — Something that’s right up our alley!

We find that walkability (and Metro-access) is the first driver for many of our homebuyers.  With centralized, higher density locations, it is only natural that the homes’ footprints become more efficient. While we certainly aren’t building 4,000-square-foot McMansions, we feel over the past 20 years we have mastered the art of incorporating space where it matters most: living areas, master baths, outdoor spaces and storage space (not to mention two-car garages for those who enjoy a walkable life but still need their 4-wheel mode of transport).

We’ll be at NAHB’s International Builders’ Show in a few weeks and will report back any other interesting finds!

Nancy Pollard, owner of La Cuisine in Old Town Alexandria, is your go-to-woman when it comes to green cleaning products (as well as high-quality cookware and other kitchen necessities, but we’ll save that for another post). She carries a heavily edited selection from small and large, American and international companies. All products are tested by Nancy and her customers before she’ll start stocking them on her shelves. Here are some of her favorites.

Seige, Chef, Bar Keepers Helper, Cucina, Vaska and LoveLast: Great "green" brands you may not have heard of until now!

All-purpose Cleaning Spray: Siege All-Natural Home Cleaner

Siege All Natural Home Cleaner is great for hard surfaces in the kitchen and bathroom. It cuts through grease and grime, but is allergy free and kid- and pet-friendly. Nancy also carries Siege’s granite , stainless steel and barbeque cleaners.

Stain Remover: Chef Revival’s Stain Killer

“If I could carry this in gallons, I would,” says Nancy.  She tells us that she’s never seen anything like Chef Revival’s Stain Killer and cautions that an old stain may need to be treated a few times. It’s $20 for 16 fluid ounces and should work on most grease, oil, red wine, oil and fruit stains.

Stainless Steel and Porcelain Cleaner: Bar Keepers Friend

Use this bleach-free cleaner in the same way that you would use Ajax or Comet. Like many products that Nancy carries, Bar Keepers Friend is made by a small American company that can’t compete for or afford shelf space in larger grocery and big box stores. She began stocking it in response to customers’ requests.

Dish Detergent: Fruits & Passion’s Cucina

Cucina’s biodegradable formula is gentle on hands thanks to its earth-friendly coconut oil- and cornstarch-derived cleansing agents, but still cuts through grease. Nancy also carries Cucina’s eco-conscious hand soaps and lotions.

Laundry Detergent: Vaska Herbatergent

This eco-friendly, hypo-allergenic detergent uses botanicals to get your clothes clean. Originally just a high-end bed linens company, California-based Vaska tapped into environmentally friendly cleaning products to care for their exclusive linens and now counts several high-end Northern California hotels as enthusiasts.

Laundry Detergent for Dark or Stretchy Fabrics (See: lululemon’s Groove pants): LoveLast

You can’t even find LoveLast with a Google search, but Nancy sells it in Old Town and says it is “awesome” for stretchy and black fabrics — which instantly made us think of lululemon athletica’s popular workout gear.

La Cuisine's "green" cleaning section

La Cuisine's storefront at 323 Cameron Street in Old Town Alexandria

La Cuisine is located at 323 Cameron Street in Old Town Alexandria, just a 15-minute walk from EYA’s LEED-certified, environmentally friendly townhomes now selling at Old Town Commons.

To all those who followed the hype leading up to this past weekend’s Townhomes at Mosaic District Grand Opening, you may be interested to know that we had a successful first two days with more than 250 people visiting our sales center and eight homes sold.  Reminiscent of earlier times, interested parties started lining up at the door at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, the first day of sales, to get first pick of the townhomes.

Following on the heels of this well-attended opening, we are hosting a realtor luncheon today from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Lunch will be catered by Washington DC’s hottest hoagie shop, Taylor Gourmet, which is slated to open a location at Mosaic District later this year.

In case you missed our earlier blog posts here and here, the Townhomes at Mosaic District is comprised of 112 3- and 4-bedroom townhomes priced from the upper $500s with garage parking, rooftop terraces and green living features. They are situated within walking distance of over a half million square feet of new retail, which will include a Matchbox, Taylor Gourmet, Cava Grill, Blacks Restaurant Group, Angelika Film Center, Target, Neiman Marcus Last Call Studio, MOM’s Organic Market, Red Apron Butchery and much, much more.

Our sales center is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., so drop by any time to learn more!

For many people, diverging from a room with almond-colored walls is the basis for major home decorating anxiety. Selecting a paint color often brings about several trips to the paint store, countless hours pouring over magazines, several patches of colors tested on the walls, and more than one sleepless night. But we have good news: Careful planning can put an end to all the stress.

Naturally, the new year brings new color predictions from the interior and fashion design worlds. We will address some our research-based predictions later, but first we want to discuss color concepts that stand the test of time.

For those of you who love to showcase precious pieces of art and other treasured objects, a background color of neutral grey (like Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter HC-172) or wheat (like Farrow and Ball White Tie 2002) are great picks. Sometimes, people refer to these hues as “safe,” but really they are the colors that make the beloved items pop. Throw in some eggplant with the grey or copper with the wheat color and you have a scheme that you can continue to build upon.

Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter (HC-172); Farrow & Ball White Tie (2002)

If you must have a trendy paint color, start small, like in a powder room. It is a smaller space and can be changed much easier than a hallway or master bedroom.

Nobody says the trendy color has to be on the walls. If your room is mostly neutral, you can bring small doses of trendy colors in with pillows, throws, and accessories. This is an option that won’t break the bank and can be changed out when you spot the next year’s trend that you can’t live without. For example, you may not want an entire room painted in the green or coral of the pillows below, but wouldn’t they look wonderful accenting a bed or a sofa? The commitment is small, but the impact is large.

Accent pillows from Pottery Barn

Or, you may love the color purple, but not want a “Barney”-inspired bedroom. An accent of the color may be all you need, as seen in the vases below.

Vases by Home Decorators Collection

If you are going to paint a room, make this small investment that will save you money in the long run: Always buy the smallest can possible (usually a pint) of a paint color that you are seriously considering and paint it on a piece of foamcore or white cardboard. This allows you to look at the color in various parts of the room without commitment. Many paint stores also have color boards that you can purchase for under $10. After all, it is a little scary to paint an entire room based on a typical 1″ by 2” chip!

As promised (don’t go away- the color of the year is going to be unveiled at the end!), here are some color trends we are beginning to see with some visuals from Benjamin Moore.

Benjamin Moore: Amethyst Shadow (1441); Persimmon (2088-40); Revere Pewter (HC-172)

The following two pictures show the same basic room scene with two other color trends for 2012. The first wall is painted Masada AF-220 while the second is painted Montpelier AF-555. This side by side really shows the the impact that color has on a room’s mood and the look of surrounding objects.

No matter what, don’t select a color just because it’s trendy. You have to like it, you have to live with it. Select colors that you like and that make you feel good.

And without further ado, Benjamin Moore predicts that the color of the year for 2012 will be… Wythe Blue!

Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue (HC-143)

This blend of blue and green with a hint of gray is both soothing and energizing at the same time. Here are two inviting bedrooms designed by Danziger Designs using similar blue/green/gray shades of color.

Master bedroom designed by Danziger Design

Bedroom designed by Danziger Design

If an entire room in this color is not for you, perhaps an accent of this color with a neutral background – like that pictured here by Restoration Hardware – is more to your liking.

Bedding and room scene by Restoration Hardware

Whatever you decide, just keep in mind that it is only paint and it can be changed easily. Happy coloring!

This post was written by EYA’s exclusive guest blogger, Danziger Design, a Bethesda-based interior design firm. If you’re looking for professional design services, check out their portfolio of beautiful work and give them a call at 301-365-3300!

EYA today announces its 2012 college scholarship contest for District of Columbia public high school seniors living in Ward 5. This June the company will award a $2,000 annual scholarship to up to two students based on an evaluation of short essays and recommendations.

Interested students are encouraged to submit an application as soon as possible. To qualify, a student must:

• Be a senior at a DC Public High School
• Reside in Ward 5
• Have accepted admission to either a 2-year or 4-year college (by the Jun 3, 2012 application deadline)
• Have a GPA that ranks in the top 30% of their class

While homebuilding is the primary thing we do, building sustainable neighborhoods is what we love.  And that means more than welcoming new homeowners – it means giving back in the communities where we build. This scholarship will make a direct and positive impact on two young people and their families living in Ward 5, the site of EYA’s Chancellor’s Row townhouse neighborhood now selling in Northeast DC.

If your new year’s resolution has anything to do with saving money, getting together with friends or dining out, it’s your lucky month. Our area has two restaurant weeks in January — one of which starts today!

photo by Dinner Series via Flickr Creative Commons

First, there’s DC Restaurant Week (in which some Alexandria restaurants also participate) now running through January 15. Fixed price menus offer lunch for $20.12 and dinners for $35.12 at some of the finest restaurants in our area.  Find participating eateries, as well as their special Restaurant Week menus, here.

Don’t want to cull through the list to find something in your neighborhood? Here’s what within walking distance of Capitol Quarter: Belga Cafe, Lavagna, Montmarte, Sonoma and Zest Bistro. And here are the eateries within walking distance of Old Town Commons: A La Lucia, Bastille, Chart House, Columbia Firehouse, Geranio, Jackson 20, La Bergerie, La Tasca and Vermillion.

Second – and of particular interest to Old Town Commons owners – is Alexandria’s Restaurant Week the from January 13 through January 22. Some restaurants are offering a $35 dinner for two! Others are offering the standard fixed-price menu at $35 per meal.

Helpful tip: Sometimes restaurants add their own spin to the deal, like extending the dates or offering items from their normal menu. We suggest calling your restaurant of choice – or visiting their website – to confirm the deal specifics before finalizing your plans.

Bon appetit!