We acknowledge our great construction team:
- Architect/general contractor: Tad Grodzki, RA of GranDesign Studio, Inc. (tadgrodzki@gmail.com).
- Construction manager/general contractor for the project from start to close-in: Andrew Deschler of Classic Craftsmen (adeshler@mac.com).
- Interior construction finishes: Azteca (aztecagrpllc@gmail.com).
- Interior design: Tad and Lynn Grodzki.
- Photos below in this post, and also a photo presentation (see by clicking): GranDesign Studio AIA package! Photos are courtesy of John Cole Photography (2017) and David Blecman (2016).
The house is a joy to inhabit and we plan to age in place!
We are moved in, just in time for the full moon which we can see from our high living room windows in early morning. 
The house is amazing: warm, spacious, fascinating, sculptural, full of views of tree tops and the park. We had a lovely celebration with friends for Lynn’s 65th Birthday and it generated some nice photos. (A big thank you to Ricardo for these great shots.) The house does like to party (and so do the owners)!
We are moving, despite the snow. We got our occupancy permit (!!) but we are still completing final work inside, with lots of retouching, extra painting and final punchlist items. See our progress photos below:
Entryway with bench and interior tile.
Atrium artwork
Main staircase
Interior trellis at back of atrium, waiting for plants above, plants coming in place below.
Atrium, walking up main stair, two views above.
Looking through atrium from second level
Tad in living room, waiting for furniture above, furniture in place with new art going in, below
Kitchen
diarrheaFurniture and art is moving in each week and we will be living in the house by mid-March.
January 2016 update: As we celebrate New Years Day, we are racing against the weather to finish a number of projects and hoping to be able to get an occupancy permit in the next few weeks. Here is the the house so far.
You can see our exciting progress.
Landscaping, finishes, permeable paver driveway, a new retaining wall / planter (ingenious idea from Tad) protecting the grade differential between our house and my Dad’s property, is complete! The cedar trellis on the upper sun deck is in place. The landscaping is complete.
Here are earlier pictures from November 2015: Much still is left to do, but each day brings exciting progress. The wonderful modern wood and glass front door (and separate in-law-suite door) were just installed.
Now the stone masons can come back to complete the front door, planter and walkway to give the front of the house its polished look. The porch and side steps are in and look wonderful and make for a great entry way.
The stone is going up on the front door (that’s one our gifted stonemasons) brought to our site by Andrew Deschler of Classic Craftsmen, our contractor.
The driveway is going in, carefully, with layers of gravel and brick. The back yard and all side yard doors are similar in look to the front door. Decking is being put in place. Our current crew, headed by the talented Daniel Bartolo, of Azteca Contractors, stopped for a well-deserved lunch break.
Rear plantings are going in with landscaping plan to continue around the entire house, we are fortunate to use local designer Cathy Carr and our installer is Great American Landscapes. 
We are also completing the roof terrace, see below.
Inside, the wood floors are in place and stained but not yet sealed. The transparency of the rooms as they move around the 3-story atrium, filled with glass block, stairs and bridges, show the interior progress.
The architect considers his work.
The kitchen is also in process and we are able to begin to peel back the blue film that covers all the cabinets to see their true colors (grey and yellow).
As Summer ends, we are finally starting some of the finishes, inside and out. A retaining wall/planter is going up on the northwest side, built of split block. 
Inside, its all about the trim: starting some tile, hanging and staining doors, finishing staircases and trimming out windows. First coat of painting has occurred throughout most of the house, but then the drywall retouching quickly goes over the colors to perfect the walls. 
In the foyer, this is the entry way wall of tile, mimics the stone on the exterior.
One big exciting finish is this piece of wall art, 8′ x 8′, commissioned for us from an artist in Michigan, hanging on the top floor of the atrium. Staircase and wall inserts with glass block are also getting done.
Kitchen is also getting finished, the Ikea cabinets and light fixtures are in. The film is still on the cabinets, colors are light grey brown and gold accent cabinet. Island will be accent wall in red. Yep, we are into strong earth-tone colors. 
304 Ellsworth Drive, the house colors at dusk
From Lynn: It’s been a fascinating month, watching the house come into shape as both the exterior and interior structure gets covered. Drywall is going up very fast inside; exterior stone veneer is in place and dryvit–a form of acrylic plaster– is going up and color is going on. We are now taking over as contractors for the interior and bringing in our subs, so lots of decisions, meetings, phone calls, purchases and coordination. Whew. Its a lot. See the exterior finishes below.
From the front, windows and dryvit finished, but now waiting for the roofcapping to be completed. Stone still in progress, new front door will not be put in place until concrete porch/pad installed.
Back of the house, waiting for the final stone, planters, deck and steps.
Stone veneer on the first floor, applied by master craftsmen.
From Northwest side, view from Stan’s driveway at end of street
Detail of orange panels on northwest side, upper deck missing trellis, railings, decking, planters.
Its been a cold start to the spring in Maryland and work has slowed a bit. Most changes are occurring inside: the rough in of electrical, hvac, plumbing, all geared for close-in. The windows went in this week, see below. Framing is starting to reveal the design, see pictures of the front rooms framed and their CAD renderings right below each picture, showing what it will be like when the drywall goes up. The house is getting a lot of love–the contractor and subs are excited to be working on the project. It is really a unique home in our city. Our Hispanic workers call the house “muy chola” — “very pretty homegirl”.
looking out from living room windows
balcony in living room
balcony in living room rendered by CAD
looking from the breakfast room toward living room
breakfast room to living room in CAD rendering
in living room, looking toward atrium and 3rd floor balcony
same view as above in CAD
from kitchen island looking to living room and across atrium
same view as above, kitchen island looking out, in CAD
From Lynn: We are blessed with a warm winter so far, and Andrew and his crew are framing very quickly. The second floor is more than half-way to completion and the third floor is going up. The work is very high quality, this house is built to last.
On this day, a year ago, Tad had just been admitted to the hospital for a fever and a too rapid heart beat, turned out it was from a raging staph infection that had attacked his heart and his spine. After two weeks in the hospital and three months on a pic line at home, he fully recovered. We are thrilled that he is so healthy and that we were able to move forward on the house this year.
We look forward to completion in the Summer of 2015. Our “Shaque D’amour” theme song for 2015 is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SOryJvTAGs
Happy New Year from Lynn and Tad
Waiting for the weather to warm up by Friday so the mason’s can finish. Below, see masonry of atrium and two bridges being built.
These photos show the progress as of 2/08/15.
From Lynn: The weather is holding with temperatures at 66 degrees and things are moving ahead quickly. The foundation walls are in place and today the foundation floor, the slab, was poured. The floor is extremely well insulated for a basement floor and will offer the house a lot of protection and a barrier to the natural moisture of the ground it sits on. Exterior walls are weatherproofed, next comes the backfill, as the removed mountains of dirt get put back in. Meanwhile, we are starting to think about lots of other details, so never a boring moment.
The foundation walls tucked deep in the earth and the house sits back on the property.
Before the pour, from the back of the site looking toward the street.
Silver Spring Dream House 