Ask Bonnie Haukness what compelled her to open her North Point home to visitors for the Reston House Tour and she'll think for a moment before deadpanning, "A temporary loss of sanity."
Haukness and four other Reston homeowners have been scrambling to clean, fix-up and arrange everything inside their Reston homes just so, to prepare for this weekend's house tour.
On Saturday, Restonians will have a glimpse inside Haukness' home along the tour, seeing the extent of the renovations and improvements she and her husband have completed since they bought the house near Lake Newport a year and a half ago.
"This tour will show you how much you change a house," said Haukness, a Realtor. "Within those walls, you can make a lot of changes to enhance a property."
THE HAUKNESS house is one of the more modern properties along the tour, which this year will showcase Reston homes through each decade of Reston's history.
Starting with the 1960's modernist row houses overlooking Lake Anne and ending with towering condominiums of Stratford House at Reston Town Center, the tour is intended to convey the progression and changes of Reston architecture, development and values of its homeowners.
"It's going to really show you the diverse styles of homes in Reston," said Carol Nahorniak, who is helping to organize the tour. "We've got a home in every neighborhood. It's about getting to know Reston in a different way."
Nahorniak said she hopes the tour will also reveal the extent to which residents feel attached to Reston, often because they believe in Robert Simon's vision of open housing for all races and income-levels.
"A lot of these people really believe in Bob Simon's dream and they want to be a part of it," she said.
PROCEEDS from the house tour go toward the Reston Historic Trust, which runs the Reston Museum at Lake Anne Village Center and works to preserve knowledge and documents about Reston's past. For the last two years, the house tour has generated approximately $5,000 for the non-profit trust. This year, organizers hope to bring in as much as $15,000.
Apart from supporting a worthwhile cause, the house tour gives residents a rare chance to peek inside the lives of neighbors and to meet people who share a love of Reston, said Kathleen McKee, an organizer of the tour and owner of the South Lakes house, built in the 1980s.
"Sometime people get so busy with their daily lives, they miss out on what's right around them," she said. "Plus, this is a great chance to run into old friends."
And by bringing neighbors together, McKee said, the tour is a opportunity to strengthen communities and foster a greater sense of inclusiveness.
"There's a place for everybody here in Reston," she said.