5 Reasons Why Washington D.C.'s Interior Design Leader Counts on Sisal Rugs

Visit Washington D.C. or New York City and you are likely to see the work of Akseizer Design Group (ADG). They are responsible for designing some of the most upscale multi-family, hospitality, condominium, commercial and high-end residential properties across the East Coast and throughout North America.

ADG counts on Sisal Rugs Direct to set the foundation for many of their projects, especially in the hospitality sector. Their most recent assignment using a Sisal Rugs Direct product was the Hotel Hive,  Washington, D.C.’s first micro hotel concept. The rooms within this innovative hotel are designed to be elegantly efficient - like honeycombs (hence the name) with comfortable and compact, yet beautiful, spaces.

“The materials we used to design the rooms had to be very, very special; they could not be something that was just average,” explains Jeff Akseizer, owner of ADG.

They’ve also used Sisal Rugs Direct’s indoor/outdoor rugs at the historic White Moose Inn in rural Virginia. ADG was charged with giving the inn a clean, tailored, timeless look, so they installed the rugs wall-to-wall in the guest rooms. Today, says Jeff, the number-one question guests ask the front desk is, “Where did you get your carpet?”

Sisal Rugs Direct’s indoor/outdoor sisal rugs are one of ADG’s go-to floor covering choices, says Jeff, because:

1. They’re durable. “One of the challenges we face is how to make a room look as good on day 10,000 as on day 1,” says Jeff. “With typical mushy hotel carpets, a maid can pass over them with a vacuum a few times, or a wet towel is left on the floor, and they’ll  quickly show wear. By contrast, Sisal Rugs Direct indoor/outdoor rugs will look brilliant from the moment you install them to several years later.”

It’s why Jeff uses indoor/outdoor rugs in his own home when he entertains.

“If someone spills red wine, it’s no big deal,” he explains, “I can just grab some paper towels, soak it up and move on with the evening. I’m not scrubbing some rare Alpaca-based wool rug worth $20,000. It takes the pressure off both the guests and myself.”

2. They feel fresh. “One of the things I always hear about sisal is that people aren’t going to like how it feels on their feet,” says Jeff. “We’ve proven that wrong time and time again. People prefer something clean and fresh. When you walk around on shaggy carpets in boutique hotels, it isn’t clean and fresh. Who wants to be reminded that someone else was in the room 24 hours ago?”

3. They’re stress-free. “One of the biggest complaints hotels receive,” he explains, “is how difficult it is for people to move their luggage. The thicker the carpet, the greater the resistance.”

The flat weave of sisal rugs eliminates this issue by allowing wheeled luggage to roll smoothly across the floor.

4. The colors are ideal for interior design.  Jeff explains that the first step in an interior design plan is to make sure the largest object in the room acts as a base to complement the rest of the design scheme. Typically that’s the floor, so designers often start there and work upward.

“It’s not an easy task and designers can spend hours ruminating on it,” notes Jeff. “What’s nice about Sisal Rugs Direct is that many of their rug colors work with a large range of complementary colors in both warm and cool tones.”

5. They look like a million bucks (but they definitely aren’t). “Sisal Rugs Direct product looks as expensive, authentic, luxurious and amazing as any rug you can find in the high-brand, retail-design centers,” points out Jeff. “I’ve put these rugs in show homes worth millions and millions of dollars. Without a doubt, everyone asks where we got them.”

When Jeff reveals his source and their cost “their eyeballs pop out,” he laughs. “The cost of a Sisal Rugs Direct rug is close to the tax you would pay for any item from a design center.”

But the primary reason Jeff turns to Sisal Rugs Direct is their service.

“They’re very responsive. Colin Jones (the marketing director for Sisal Rugs Direct) knows how to do good business. Our pace is very, very fast and we often can’t wait 3 to 5 days for a quote,” says Jeff. “Colin, however, can often get a rug to us in that timeframe instead of making us wait two, three, four, eight or even 16 weeks. And when we can provide something as wonderful as this product in our clients’ spaces as quickly as we can, it really helps. Colin understands this process and is always willing to accommodate. That’s why I’m loyal to Sisal Rugs Direct 100%.”

Experience what Jeff is talking about for yourself. Peruse our enormous selection of rug choices, and then play with our custom-design tool. See how perfectly, and affordably, a Sisal Rugs Direct product can fit into your space.

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Look Inside DC’s First Micro Hotel

Published in the Washingtonian. By Marisa M. Kashino.

An aerial view of the future Hotel Hive. All renderings courtesy of Abdo Development.

The lobby-level restaurant’s outdoor seating area.

What the building currently looks like. The steel structure on the roof is part of a future outdoor lounge area. Photos by Marisa M. Kashino.

A future guest room. Rooms will have bunk beds, or queen- or king-size beds. All will have private bathrooms.

A mood board of finishes for the hotel’s common areas.

A rendering of a guest room. Jeff Akseizer is overseeing the interior design, as he did for Abdo’s White Moose Inn in Washington, VA.

Unlike with his residential projects, developer Jim Abdo has had to focus on branding and logos for Hotel Hive, what he hopes will become a national chain.

A view of the restaurant portion of the lobby. All the exposed brick will remain.

A view from the corner of F Street, NW and Virginia Ave., NW.

The view from the building’s rooftop.

Workers unearthed this original fireplace, previously hidden behind a wall. It will remain exposed in the hotel bar area.

As of last month, Washington’s first for-sale micro-units hit the market. And we’re approaching yet another tiny-living milestone: When it opens in late summer/early fall, Hotel Hive will become Washington’s first micro-hotel, with rooms averaging about 250 square feet.

Mega-developer Jim Abdo has for the past two years been transforming the historic Allen Lee Hotel in Foggy Bottom into Hotel Hive, what he hopes will become the prototype for a hip national chain. That would be a big first for Abdo, too, who typically builds condo and apartment developments and has never ventured outside this region. His first and only other hospitality project is the six-room White Moose Inn in Washington, VA—a much smaller endeavor than the 83-room Hive, which will also have a main floor cocktail lounge operated by Michael Lastoria, co-founder of build-your-own pizza chain, &Pizza. (Abdo and Lastoria say they can’t yet confirm whether a lobby-level restaurant will in fact be an &Pizza, though Abdo’s website describes Hotel Hive guests “designing their own rustic pizza.”)

Abdo says he relished the opportunity to “build a brand” with the old Allen Lee property, which he bought in 2004 after a chance encounter with the daughter of the building’s then-owner. As Abdo tells it, he was laying sod in front of another of his properties in the West End—it had an Abdo Development sign out front—when a woman approached and asked if he knew how she could reach the developer. She wanted to sell her mother’s old 1900s hotel at F Street and Virginia Avenue, a building Abdo says he had long admired for, among other things, its location near George Washington University and the State Department. After introducing himself, he says he told her on the spot that he wanted to buy it.

Abdo is building Hotel Hive with young guests in mind. The smaller rooms allow for lower prices—nightly rates will range from $125 to $150. Though there will be a traditional check-in area in the lobby, guests will be able to bypass it and check themselves into their rooms using their smart phones (they’ll be notified of their room numbers by e-mail prior to arriving). Lastoria says his bar will “feel like you stumbled in to someone’s cool DC apartment,” and freshly squeezed juices and house-made sodas will be the focus of his cocktail program: “We’ve been experimenting with all kinds of flavors and liquor-combinations.” A roof-deck will offer another hang-out area for visitors, and despite the focus on Millennials, some rooms can be connected to create suites for families.

During a tour of the construction site, Abdo pointed out measures he’s taking to party-proof the rooms, such as extensively sound-proofing them and bolting floating desks directly into the structure of the building. Akseizer Design Group, in collaboration with Abdo’s wife, Mai, is designing the interiors, and wherever possible, original brick and wood will remain exposed. Abdo commissioned an all-glass elevator; each level of its shaft will feature different murals painted by local artists, so guests can take in a mini art show on their way up.

Click here to read original article.