It all added up to enough reasons for Mitchell and Tim to buy a loft in the District’s Meridian Hill neighborhood.
As you walk into their 1,850-square-foot, two-bedroom place, John Coltrane may be spinning moody jazz on their vintage turntable. The condo flows in a circle through the living room, balcony, dining area, kitchen and two bedrooms, one that serves as a den or guest room. The shag rugs, long black leather Chesterfield sofa, airport lounge chairs and track lighting give the place a retro feel.
Mitchell, who already had three residences, had to be convinced he needed a fourth home. But after they got married, he and Tim spent so much time staying in Washington hotels that they started looking at real estate.
“There was something about this place I loved,” Mitchell says. “Being able to see the park outside the front windows was huge. I love having views wherever I am. I’m a dreamer. ”
Of course the guy who co-owns a $100 million furniture business shops his own stores. In his D.C. home, you can spot the company’s Finley velvet dining banquette, the Yates winged platform bed with nailhead trim and the Winston brown-and-white cowhide bench ottoman.
But the loft is not a furniture showroom. It has a lot of one-of-a-kind furnishings, intriguing collections and mid-century modern touches. Mitchell and Tim ordered a set of vintage Christian Dior china from Replacements. They shopped favorite furniture dealers and markets in North Carolina, finding a 1960s Danish chrome chair in Greensboro and two 1930s English fold-out bars in Charlotte. They started collecting stopwatches and vintage lighters to display there. Large framed photographs taken by friend and client Tipper Gore were hung throughout the loft.
“This chunk of teak wood here in the corner is our natural touch,” says Tim, pointing out a sculptural piece of Thai wood he and Mitchell picked out at the last furniture market. “Mitchell and I are known for killing plants, even cactus.”
The Golds are always on the move. In North Carolina, their primary residence is a lakeside retreat near the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams factory in Taylorsville; they also have a 1950s ranch house in High Point. Then there’s the white, minimalist 58th-floor condo in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen.
The loft is yet another look. “This is more dramatic, sexier and moodier than our other places,” Mitchell says. “I really feel calm when I walk in here.”
Tim, 34, and Mitchell, 60, were introduced through mutual friends in New York four years ago. “I like to say he keeps me young,” says Tim. “He’s always online on his iPad, but I like to read books.” They married in June 2010 in Iowa, one of five states at that time that permitted same-sex marriages. “We liked the fact that it was in the heartland,” says Mitchell.
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