Georgetown · Capitol Hill · Bethesda · McLean
Residential Interior Design
The Service
Your Home Should Be as Individual as You Are
We do not impose aesthetic preferences. We begin by understanding how you move through your home, what you value about the spaces you already love, and what frustrates you about the ones you don’t. Every material choice, spatial decision, and finish selection flows from that foundation — not from a trend cycle or a product catalogue.
Arch and Handle’s residential practice covers full-home transformations, single-room redesigns, and everything in between — always under the same structured process, always with the same depth of attention.
What's Included
Full Scope. Nothing Outsourced.
Every engagement is scoped individually. The following represents our full residential capability — select services are available as standalone offerings for specific project types.
Space Planning & Layout
Scaled floor plans, furniture placement, traffic flow analysis, and spatial sequencing tailored to how your household actually functions.
Material, Finish & Palette
Material boards, paint direction, tile, stone, and surface selections across every room — curated for coherence and longevity.
FF&E Specification & Procurement
Full furniture, fixture, and equipment specification — sourced, ordered, tracked, and installed by our team.
Custom Millwork & Lighting
Bespoke joinery, cabinetry, and integrated lighting design developed in coordination with our architectural team.
Contractor Coordination
Tender management, contractor briefing, construction monitoring, and site observation throughout the build phase.
Styling, Art & Installation
Final room composition including art placement, soft furnishings, books, objects, and the details that distinguish a designed space from a furnished one.
Our Approach
Designed to Last. Built to Live In.
Our residential commissions range from a single room taking eight weeks to a full-home renovation spanning twelve months. Scale changes the timeline; the rigour does not.
How We Work
The Arch & Handle Process
Every project follows the same four phases — whether a single room or a ground-up build. Understand before you design. Design before you document. Document before you build.
01
Discover
In-depth discovery establishes your lifestyle, operational requirements, aesthetic references, and project constraints. We document everything — and listen longer than you expect us to.
1–2 Weeks
02
Concept
Space plans, mood directions, material palettes, and architectural massing presented simultaneously. Structure and aesthetics resolved together — nothing locked until you confirm the direction.
3–5 Weeks
03
Design & Detail
Full technical drawings, 3D visualisations, material specifications, and FF&E schedules produced. Engineering consultants coordinated in-house. Every detail resolved before construction begins.
4–10 Weeks
04
Deliver
Construction oversight, contractor management, procurement, and installation handled by Arch & Handle. Your role is to arrive at a completed space — not to manage the process of creating it.
Variable by Scope
Selected Work
Recent Residential Projects
Client Voices
What Our Clients Say
"
Working with Arch & Handle was unlike any studio we had engaged before. The architects and designers share one studio — structural decisions and aesthetic vision developed simultaneously. The project arrived exactly as we imagined, without a single briefing lost in translation between two firms.
M. Sullivan
Full Home Renovation · Georgetown, DC · 2024
"
R. & A. Chen
Full Home Renovation · Bethesda, MD · 2023
"
J. & K. Mercer
Primary Residence Renovation · McLean, VA · 2024
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
If your question isn’t addressed here, our studio responds to all initial enquiries within one business day.
How involved do I need to be during a residential design project?
Can you work with furniture and artwork I already own?
What is the difference between a decorator and what Arch & Handle does?
A decorator selects finishes, furnishings, and objects within an existing structure. Arch & Handle also designs the structure — opening walls, repositioning doors, redesigning kitchens and bathrooms, specifying millwork, coordinating contractors, and managing the build. For projects that only require decoration, we can scope accordingly. For those requiring construction, we handle the full process.
How do you charge for residential design?
Each engagement begins with a complimentary discovery consultation. Following that, we produce a scoped proposal with a fixed-fee structure tailored to your project. We do not charge percentage-of-construction fees. Our proposals are delivered within five business days of the initial consultation.
Washington DC Residential Design Studio
Begin Your Residential Project
Every exceptional home begins with an honest conversation. Tell us about your project — we respond with a proposal within five business days.