What I love about my home in Leesburg, Va.
Fifteen years ago, Libby Westphal and her husband Chris built a private retreat for themselves on 10 acres in the Raspberry Falls community in Leesburg, Va. Via email, Libby shared with us why her home continues to live up to the dreams they had more than a decade ago:
Growing up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., I am a self-professed Rappahannock County farm girl. I have traveled the world -- 46 states and nearly 30 countries through my military service and my husband’s internationally focused business. I was drawn back to the hallmarks of my upbringing of a slower, small town life when my husband and I chose to call Leesburg, Va., home -- a great place to raise a family.
In 2005, we built a quintessential Georgian style estate sitting on 10 acres boasting views of a mountain range out back and a golf course out front. We felt this home would be a great family home. Our kitchen is the heart of our home. The kitchen table seats 12 and that’s a great start for family gatherings. We have hosted Thanksgiving dinners for two decades, birthday celebrations, Christmases and gaggles of our son’s friends. Not sure how my husband would describe it, but this is my dream home in a perfect setting. It is peaceful, quiet and beautiful -- open vistas, gravel roads and sounds of the neighboring farm make me feel right at home.
My home is my sanctuary, my safe place -- a place where I have evolved and reinvented myself over and over from an overweight, four-time cancer survivor to a competitive bodybuilder to Transcontinental Mrs. USA 2019. Falling in love with my Leesburg community made our home even better. Leesburg is a progressive, charming small town with a supportive community spirit where I made history. An avid community volunteer and advocate for seniors and veterans, I was titled the very first Mrs. Leesburg and competed in Mrs. Virginia America in 2019.
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Our home includes an executive office, plenty of outdoor space, a spa, theater, bar, a commercial grade gym and plenty of space to relax, entertain guests and host family gatherings. While it is hard to pick a favorite room, our formal living room is the most sentimental. It has a clash of generational items from both of our families -- chandelier and furniture from my husband’s family home, alabaster statues from my first duty assignment in Athens, Greece, decorative items my mother selected or made and a single family photo of my great-grandmother Very Ella Williams. None of these women are with us today, but whenever I’m in this room, I feel them, I am thankful for their legacy and can admire their great taste.
Share this articleShareOur home has also been the incubator of change for two entrepreneurial spirits and facilitator of hopes and dreams we did not know we had when we arrived. We have evolved here. Over the years, we have opened our home to hundreds. I have prepared for competitions in my gym, we have started and sold businesses.
Today with covid-19 our home is the epicenter of our lives and the evolution continues. It became headquarters for 110 FIT, my fitness business, when the state mandates shut down my business; a primary classroom for our teen son when schools were closed; and Zoom/Skype meeting headquarters for my husband’s job.
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It is still my dream home. The tranquility remains and we will continue to evolve catching new dreams here. This is our happy place.
In this ongoing feature, we ask homeowners what they love most about their home. If you’d like to share your story, please send a photo of the room/feature you love (preferably with you in the photo, too) and 350 to 400 words describing the space and why you love it to mlerner@gmail.com
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