Luxury Home: 18 grand, light-filled homes in Great Falls

Great Falls represents the epitome of the Northern Virginia lifestyle for many people, with homes resting on spacious sites, roads winding among towering trees and glimpses of horses grazing in the meadows.

While this bucolic image is accurate, residents of Great Falls also enjoy the perks of living close to multiple shopping areas, restaurants, commuter routes into the District or Tysons Corner and proximity to Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International airports.

Gulick Group, known for its sophisticated and light-filled homes, is building 18 homes at Autumn Wood in Great Falls, each on a 1-acre wooded site. While the privacy afforded by these homes will attract buyers, many also will appreciate the walking trails that wind through the community and the ability to walk to shops and restaurants. The Seneca Square Center, Great Falls Village Center and Reston Town Center are all within a short drive of the community, and the Reston Parkway and Wiehle Avenue stations on the Silver Line of the Metro will be nearby once they open.

Four model styles that have 4,788 to 6,765 square feet are available at Autumn Wood. The homes are base-priced from $1,775,000 to $2,175,000. These all-brick homes will have a sodded or seeded lawn with professionally landscaped grounds; a brick stoop, steps and front walk; an asphalt driveway; and a three-car side-entry garage.

Inside, the homes have 9- and 10-foot ceilings on all three levels; oak stairs; crown moldings; a fireplace; and hardwood flooring in the foyer, library, living room, dining room, kitchen, morning room, hearth room, conservatory and butler's pantry. The homes have ceramic tile flooring in the baths, laundry room and mudroom.

Each kitchen has upgraded appliances, granite counters and 42-inch wood cabinets. The master bath in each home includes a soaking tub and a separate glass-enclosed shower. In addition, each home has a structured wiring package, dual-zone gas heat and electric air conditioning, and a gas water heater.

Buyers can customize their homes with a first-floor master suite, an elevator, a conservatory, a sunroom, a deck, a finished lower level, a wet bar and an additional detached two-car garage.

The Winthrop model, with 5,337 square feet, is base-priced from $1,875,000. This home has a front porch with columns and double doors that lead into a hall with columns, a curving staircase to the upper level and a two-story central foyer.

The main level includes a formal living room with windows on two sides and a formal dining room. Columns frame the entrances to these rooms.

In one corner is a library with optional French doors. A powder room is adjacent to the library.

An octagonal family room with a fireplace, columns and three walls of windows provides a casual living area for gatherings. Adjacent to the family room are an open center-island kitchen and a morning room with floor-to-ceiling windows and glass doors to the optional deck.

Just beyond the kitchen are a mudroom, a walk-in pantry, a laundry room, a walk-in closet and a butler's pantry. A second staircase to the upper and lower levels also is nearby.

Upstairs, a loft overlooks the two-story central foyer. The master suite, entered through a set of double doors, includes a sitting room with columns, a bedroom with a coffered ceiling, two walk-in closets and a luxurious bath with an oversized shower and a corner soaking tub set underneath a window. Buyers can add a gas fireplace to the master suite.

Each of four additional bedrooms on this level has a private full bath and a walk-in closet. One of the bedrooms has an octagonal shape that echoes the family room below and has three walls of floor-to-ceiling windows.

Buyers can finish the lower level of this model with a recreation room, a game room, a media room, an exercise room, a full bath, a fireplace and a wet bar.

For more information about the homes at Autumn Wood, call Jamie Gulick, vice president of sales and marketing at 571/393-1683 or visit www.gulickgroup.com.