Lee Murphy’s job as a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker in DC gives her the opportunity to see many homes all over the District. It’s also sharpened her idea of what she’d like for her own home. When she and her husband, Peter Tatchell, were looking to relocate her family last year, Murphy wanted to find a house in a great neighborhood with lots of space and period charm. After an initial bad impression, they found just that in their home on Decatur Street in northwest Washington.

When they pulled up to view the house for the first time, Murphy says she almost didn’t get out of the car because the house was painted red and cream. “We both hate red,” says Murphy. “Yet, as a realtor I should have known better—that’s purely a cosmetic detail.”

Feeling harried and disappointed, with their infant son Barratt fussing in the car, the couple considered just driving away. But Tatchell convinced Murphy to get out and look at the home.

“We walked in, and were blown away,” says Murphy. “The house was amazing.”   

The energy in the home was strongly positive, which was something the couple was attuned to after living for a while in Murphy’s home—a 1900 Victorian in Eckington--which she purchased before she and Tatchell were married. “That house was a grumpy old man,” says Murphy, as she describes what she considered to be the personality of the home. “It didn’t hold a candle to this house,” says Murphy. “You walk in this house and it’s very calming, even despite my child’s rampaging!” she laughs, as fifteen-month old Barratt careens around the living room.

Murphy and Tatchell took possession of the 1909 house last September, after an agonizing, several week’s wait for the seller to choose the next home’s owners. Murphy describes its style as a mix of Arts and Crafts and Tudor. The interior features lots of dark woodwork and many built-in cabinets and shelves. The patterns in the intricate leaded glass windows reflect the home’s Tudor heritage, and their motif is repeated in the glass doors on the cabinets.

When Murphy and Tatchell first started house hunting, they were looking on Capitol Hill. But for the price they were willing to pay, the home on Decatur offered so much more space than any house they saw on the Hill. “I’ve always loved the 16th Street Heights neighborhood,” says Murphy. “Up here are big, detached houses with interesting detail work.”

Since moving in, the family has enjoyed the space that the 5,300 square foot home affords them. With three stories plus a basement (which currently houses tenants), there is plenty of room for the family to spread out. One of the things Murphy likes best about the home is that she can keep all her son’s toys in the third floor family room. This keeps the first level of the home free of clutter and highlights the beautiful English antiques that fill the spaces. Tatchell, a native of London, shipped many of his family’s pieces over from England. The rest of the furnishings were Murphy’s, some inherited and some, like the beautiful Empire-style sofa in the living room, were purchased at stores like Rough and Ready.  Murphy sometimes borrows her own furniture and artwork to fill out the real estate listings she sells.

Murphy and Tatchell have lots of plans for renovating their home. Luckily, Tatchell owns a construction company, Barratt Construction Services, LLC. Of course, completely changing the exterior color scheme is high on the couple’s priority list. Whenever his contracting work slows, Tatchell plans to completely remodel the home’s kitchen, including bumping out a back wall to make more room. Murphy conjectures that the kitchen was originally intended for use by the home’s servants. It is small by modern standards, and it’s possible to completely seal the kitchen, pantry, and china closets off from the rest of the home by closing several doors, thus disguising the domestic work from the home’s family and guests.

“It’s a very doory house,” says Murphy. In fact, there are five doors in the master bedroom alone, which include entrances to the nursery, a bathroom, and a sitting room. Murphy figures that the home was designed so that certain areas could be sealed off, thus conserving heat. After paying the large home’s high heating bills last winter, this is a feature that Murphy appreciates. “The more we live here, the better we realize how well the house is laid out.”

“It’s a house to grow into,” says Murphy. “We don’t have plans to leave. This house is very charming, and we can use all of it.” Indeed, the home’s six bedrooms and copious square footage will come in handy, as Murphy and Tatchell’s second son, Dalton, is due to be born this June.

Erika Packard is a freelance writer and photographer in Arlington, VA. She accepts freelance writing and photography assignments on any subject, and can be reached at erikapackard@hotmail.com.