What appears to be a starry sky greets guests as they enter Asma Uddin and Shabbir Ahmed’s custom-built modern farmhouse in the Fawcett Farms neighborhood of Potomac. That’s because Uddin, a religious liberty lawyer and author, and Ahmed, a medical technology executive, installed a trio of Moravian star pendant lights in the two-story foyer. “They really define the space, and I made up a story about them for my three kids,” Uddin says. “I told them each star represents one of them. Of course, they argue about who gets to be the largest light!”
This blend of family-friendly touches and high-style glamour defines the 5,200-square-foot, six-bedroom, 6½-bathroom house that the couple had built and decorated from 2022 to 2023. In 2020, Uddin and Ahmed (who then lived in Rockville), tapped North Bethesda’s Classic Homes of Maryland for the project. “They were obviously seeking a farmhouse style,” says Howard Saslow, Classic Homes’ vice president of operations. “But they introduced modern touches—black window frames, a linear fireplace in the great room. They were extremely specific about the look.”
Interior designer Lisa Stanley of Savage, Maryland, worked with Classic Homes to help Uddin synthesize her ideas. “Asma had maybe 1,000 photos collected on Pinterest, and her style was a bit more shabby chic,” Stanley says. “Together we drilled down to a classic cosmopolitan feel, a kind of new traditional. We wanted something they could live with for a long time.”
On the exterior, crisp white paneled walls combine with matte black pitched and gabled roofs and two small covered porches, a riff on Classic Homes’ “Avenel” model. But the couple, both in their 40s, made the design their own, bumping out the great room and adding windows to the open kitchen. “I was keen on lots of windows,” Uddin says. “And we’re putting trees and a fountain in the yard just outside the kitchen, so it’ll be an oasis.”
The celestial foyer branches off into a cozy formal living room to the left and a midsize dining room to the right. Stanley unified the three spaces by affixing wooden paneling to the walls, varying its placement and style slightly from room to room. “I wanted a constant flow since it’s an open floor plan,” Stanley says. Throughout the main level, 5-inch-wide white oak flooring also adds continuity. “I advocated for light-colored floors,” Ahmed says. “I felt they would contribute to the overall luminous feel of the house.”
Stanley outfitted the foyer with widely spaced paneling arranged in square patterns and Sherwin-Williams’ misty gray “Gossamer Veil” paint to reflect the natural light streaming in from a clerestory window and the glass-paneled front doors. Narrower paneling and moody gray paint, Sherwin-Williams’ “Iron Ore,” covers the living room and dining room walls.
In the dining room, Stanley repurposed an Arhaus table and four oval-back side chairs from the couple’s previous home, pairing them with two new Parsons chairs upholstered in white canvas, a sleek buffet, and a curvy, mirrored chandelier by Maryland design house Niermann Weeks. Other touches that add to the swanky vibe: a tray ceiling covered in a swirly metallic Fabricut wallpaper and a jumbo-size abstract giclée canvas in muted pastels from Wendover Art Group, one of multiple similar artworks installed on the first floor.
“Asma was open to things with a ‘wow’ factor, and she likes a little glitz,” Stanley says. So outsize art and blingy light fixtures continue throughout the first floor. Since all the rooms except the foyer have 10-foot ceilings, the substantial canvases seem impactful, not overwhelming. “I never would’ve chosen such large paintings, but now that they’re up, they really work,” Uddin says.
The house was going up during the COVID-19 pandemic, which “meant I really had multifunctionality on my mind,” Uddin says. For instance, Stanley outfitted the living room with a desk and a snow-hued sofa—a favorite perch of Hairy Pawter, the family’s ragdoll cat.
The expansive great room and open kitchen at the rear of the main level provide a family gathering spot and a stylish backdrop for entertaining. A Craftmaster sectional sofa in smoky gray—large enough to seat the family and several friends—faces a long vertical fireplace and focal wall covered in a metallic-silver cork wallpaper.
At the center of the wall, a bank of textured and wavelike “Oxo Line” 3D tiles from Porcelanosa surround a sleek gas fireplace. “That tile has great movement, and it feels like bone china,” Stanley says. A wooden floating bench wraps around the firebox. “The fireplace is such an opportunity to make a statement,” says Classic Homes’ Saslow. “And because this one is linear, there was a chance to introduce multiple materials.”
Behind the great room sofa, a custom console table-meets-desk outfitted with stools serves as a perch for the couple’s two sons (7 and 12) and 17-year-old daughter. “That’s a homework station or a spot for them to eat,” Uddin says. “I like that I can see them when I’m in the kitchen. This is a space where we can do a lot of things together.”
In the kitchen, Stanley paired custom cabinets in two finishes—grayish black and a natural matte oak—with countertops and backsplashes in Calacatta Laza quartz. “We really put a lot of attention into that area,” Uddin says. One wall has upper cabinets, but much of the storage is concealed in a tucked-away, walk-in pantry and within a kitchen island. “It’s amazing how much hidden storage there is in the island—it has really big, deep drawers,” Uddin says.
The island, which is covered in the same quartz as the countertops, functions like a giant buffet during the family’s frequent parties. “We entertain a lot, and often have Pakistani food since that’s our ancestry,” Uddin says. “Sometimes I cook, or we cater in. I like serving biryanis or haleem, a barley and lentil stew.” And in November 2023, the couple hosted 50 people for Thanksgiving. “The open floor plan on the main level comfortably accommodated a large group,” Ahmed says. “Everyone could move freely between the kitchen, dining room and living room. It created a wonderful flow.”
The long wall adjacent to the island holds a simple farmhouse-style sink and two dishwashers under a big window. “A pair of dishwashers really facilitates hosting people,” Uddin says. Two identical glass and brass shelves are mounted on either side of the bank of windows. “I’d sketched these kinds of shelves out, but I wondered if Lisa would think I was nuts,” Uddin says. “It wasn’t like you could buy what I had in mind online.”
Stanley found Gunnar Design, a Baltimore metal shop that designs fittings for haute fashion boutiques such as Balenciaga, to fabricate the shelves. The gleaming fixtures now display serving pieces. “And I don’t let the kids near them,” Uddin jokes.
Lighting in the great room and kitchen ties in with the glittery feel of other fixtures in the home. Two 24-inch-wide Thomas O’Brien “Piatto” pendants with matte black tops and gleaming polished brass undersides hover over the island like fashionable flying saucers. A Crystorama “Bolton” chandelier in aged brass and crystal chunks illuminates the long breakfast table where the family eats most of its meals. “The lights are probably the most important thing in the whole house,” Stanley says. “They cast such beautiful shadows and make the whole place glow.”
A glass-paneled door just off the great room leads to Uddin’s bright office, another zone conceived to meet many needs. White built-in shelves along one wall hold Uddin’s extensive collection of books, arranged by color. (They include the most recent title she wrote, The Politics of Vulnerability.) The bookcases flank a daybed with a trundle where houseguests sometimes sleep. The facing wall holds a built-in desk with two computers. “We kept the design simple in the office since it’s primarily Asma’s workspace,” Stanley says.
Throughout the first floor, bits of orange and blue show up as accents in abstract canvases, throws and pillows. But in the powder room adjacent to the kitchen, a full wall of teal tile dazzles behind a brass-framed mirror. Stanley paired Soho Studio tiles in skinny hexagon shapes with a whitewashed wooden vanity and “Clive” pendant lights from Regina Andrew. “The powder room is a jewel box,” she says.
Shades of blue also show up in a mural covering the door that leads to the basement. The stained glass-like design was created by Frederick, Maryland, artist Deborah Weir. “Asma initially wanted a kind of secret door, but the contractor said it was too difficult,” Stanley says. “Instead, we created something special.”
Uddin worked with Stanley and Innovative Building Services of Sykesville, Maryland, to finish the basement, where there is something for everyone in the family. It has a nook with bunk beds that Uddin’s sons love for sleepovers, and an area devoted to kid crafting that boasts a round table, shelves for supplies and the space-age-y “Big Bang” chandelier by Uttermost. Hairy Pawter even got a niche for his litter box decorated with a nameplate and a frame resembling a house. “I love adding unexpected and whimsy to my designs,” Stanley says. “Who better than a fur baby family member to do this for?”
The largest room in the basement, an open den, features sofas and a large-screen TV for movie night as well as another dash of glamour. Along the wall across from the TV, Stanley installed a long built-in bench lined with a variety of pillows. Three small round dining tables and stools pull up to the bench, a boon during parties or when the children have friends over.
On the wall above the bench, Uddin commissioned Weir to create a grand mural—a dreamy, slightly abstracted mountain scene rendered in blues, grays and other foggy shades. “Lisa suggested a landscape wallpaper for that space, but Deb encouraged me to make the room my own,” Uddin says. “I took a picture of the receding mountain ridges on a drive outside of Malaga, [Spain]. Deb captured that feel and moment, and now we have a memory and a moment captured in time back at home.”
Jennifer Barger is a writer in Upper Northwest D.C. Find her on Instagram @dcjnell and via the Souvenirist, her Substack about the intersection of design and travel.
This story appears in the November/December 2024 issue of Bethesda Magazine.
