Mike and Debi Pyne have between them some 60 years’ experience in home remodeling, design and construction. But akin to the shoe cobbler’s shoeless children, the couple lived in their 1950s Falls Church rambler for more than a decade before finally creating a sleek, modern kitchen with an artisan’s touch.

“It was an older home, it needed a lot of work and we bought it with the expressed intention of fixing it up,” said Debi Pyne. “These things take time, and you tackle the things that you can do the quickest, first.”