703-865-5065 | Contact Us |

Contact Us

703-865-5065 | Contact Us |

Design a Life You Don't Need a Vacation From

Most people design their homes around rooms and square footage. Francisca Alonso and Antonio Alonso help people design around something more important: How they want to feel.

Through their Vacation Style Living® philosophy, they show audiences how intentional design can reduce stress, strengthen relationships, support well-being, and help create a home that feels like a retreat every day.

Available For:

  • Conferences
  • Keynotes
  • Corporate Events
  • Industry Associations
  • Leadership Retreats
  • Podcasts
  • Media Interviews
  • Panel Discussions
Modern Style High End Luxury Custom Home by Design Build Firm AV Architects and Builders in Great Falls Virginia Northern Virginia Custom Home Builders The Architect House Owners Francisca Alonso and Tony Alonso

Meet Francisca + Tony

Authors • Speakers • Creators of Vacation Style Living®

For more than two decades, Francisca Alonso and Antonio Alonso have guided affluent empty nesters and legacy-minded homeowners through one of the most meaningful decisions of their lives.

Not simply building a custom home, but designing the retreat where the next chapter and the next generation will gather for years to come.

As the founders of AV Architects + Builders and creators of the Vacation Style Living® philosophy, they combine architecture, wellness, intentional living, and lifestyle design to help people create homes that support the way they truly want to live.

Their insights bridge architecture, family dynamics, wellness, entrepreneurship, and personal transformation, making them sought-after guests for podcasts, conferences, leadership events, and media interviews.

Modern Style High End Luxury Custom Home by Design Build Firm AV Architects and Builders in Great Falls Virginia Northern Virginia Custom Home Builders The Architect House Owners Francisca Alonso and Tony Alonso
LIFESTYLE PHOTOSHOOT-21

The Vacation Style Living® Movement

Most people spend years building a life they eventually need a vacation from. Francisca and Tony believe there is a better way.

Vacation Style Living® is built on a simple question:

"What if the feeling you only get on vacation was how your home felt every day?”

This philosophy helps homeowners create environments that support:

  • WELL-BEING – Reducing stress and creating spaces that restore energy and support healthier living.

  • CONNECTION – Designing homes that naturally bring family and friends together.

  • INTENTION – Making purposeful design decisions that support daily habits, routines, and experiences.

  • LEGACY – Creating homes that become gathering places for generations.

  • LIFESTYLE – Aligning the home with how people truly want to live rather than simply how much space they want to own. 

What if your home supported the life you want instead of simply housing it?

Book Us to Speak

Signature Speaking Topics:

Designing with Intention

Creating Homes That Support the Lives We Want to Live

Most people can walk through their homes and point to decisions nobody intentionally made. Discover how thoughtful design influences our routines, relationships, energy, and overall quality of life. Learn why intention is not an aesthetic preference but a practical framework for creating spaces that support how we truly want to live.

The Wellness Wing

Where Architecture Meets Self-Care

What if wellness wasn't something you traveled for but something built into your daily routine? Explore how intentional design can make self-care easier, more accessible, and more sustainable through spaces designed around restoration, movement, relaxation, and well-being.

Designing for the Next Chapter

Creating a Home for the Life Ahead

When children leave home, a new question emerges: "What do we want this next chapter to feel like?" This presentation helps audiences rethink downsizing, rediscover purpose, and design homes centered on connection, experiences, legacy, and personal fulfillment.

Family Legacy Homes

Building Spaces That Bring Generations Together

Learn why some homes become gathering places for decades while others become temporary stops along the way. Discover the design principles that encourage connection, celebration, hospitality, and lasting family memories.

Retreat-Style Living

Bringing the Best Parts of Vacation Home

Why do we feel different on vacation? And what can we learn from that experience? Explore how architecture and intentional living can recreate many of those same feelings of ease, restoration, and connection within everyday life.

Building Success Together

Lessons From Building a Family, Business, and Life Partnership

Francisca and Tony share insights from building AV Architects + Builders while raising four children and growing together as business partners and spouses.

Suggested Interview Questions:

Vacation Style Living®

  • What inspired you to write Vacation Style Living®?
  • What does Vacation Style Living actually mean?
  • Why do so many people feel disconnected from their homes?

Health and Well-Being

  • Can architecture really influence health?
  • How does design affect stress levels?
  • What design elements have the biggest impact on well-being?

Family and Legacy

  • Why is multigenerational living becoming increasingly popular?
  • What makes a house feel like home?
  • What does a legacy home mean to you?

Entrepreneurship

  • How have you successfully built a company together as husband and wife?
  • What lessons have you learned over 35 years in business
  • What advice do you have for entrepreneurial couples?
Final Cover Design_04_28_2026

About The Book:

Vacation Style Living®: Design a Home that Builds Well-Being, Connects Families, and Reduces Stress

Experienced architects and builders Francisca and Antonio Alonso have spent over three decades specializing in residential architecture and construction, witnessing how often homes are designed for curb appeal—not for life. Drawing on their international experience and affinity for the Mediterranean lifestyle, they created the Vacation Style Living® philosophy.

Francisca and Antonio realized that most people only feel truly relaxed, joyful, and at peace when they are on vacation. But why reserve that joy and peace for a few weeks a year? A home should be more than a shelter. It should be a sanctuary that elevates your health and wellness.

This book teaches you how to reframe your thinking about the space around you, giving you the vision and tools to build a custom home that captures the joy of vacation and brings it into your life every single day. Instead of living a life you feel you need to escape from, you can create a home that is the escape.

Through inspiring client stories, stunning visuals, and an empowering step-by-step process, you’ll learn the core principles of the Vacation Style Living® philosophy and discover the secrets to building a home that actively works for you.

Modern Style High End Luxury Custom Home by Design Build Firm AV Architects and Builders in Great Falls Virginia Northern Virginia Custom Home Builders The Architect House

In This Book, You'll Learn:

  • The science behind how architecture can impact your health and well-being.

  • How to create a legacy home that tells your story, gives back to your family, and becomes the anchor for a life filled with connection and memories for multiple generations.

  • Where most modern homes go wrong, and how intentional home design can change everything.

  • A new philosophy that transforms the way you look at your home, your daily rhythm, and your approach to life.

  • How to identify and envision what you truly want and need from your “dream home.”

  • The step-by-step process for building a custom home that contributes to a rich, healthy, uplifting lifestyle.

With this empowering, enlightening, and inspirational blueprint, you will discover how to embrace the Vacation Style Living® approach, so you can lower your stress, improve your well-being, and change the way you feel every day in your home.

If you are ready to stop living for your house and start building a home that supports your life, then you’ll love Vacation Style Living®: Design a Home that Builds Well-Being, Connects Families, and Reduces Stress.

You’ve waited long enough for your dream home. Buy the book today and discover the architectural secrets that turn your home into your personal happiest place on Earth!

“A home is a living, breathing space that can either hold you back or help you grow.”
Tony Alonso, Co-Founder and VP of AV Architects + Builders, Co-Author of Vacation Style Living. Custom Home Architects.

Tony Alonso, Co-Founder of AV Architects + Builders, Co-Author of Vacation Style Living

“This next home doesn't have to be a downsize. It can be the best one yet.”
Francisca Alonso, Co-Founder and VP of AV Architects + Builders, Co-Author of Vacation Style Living. Custom Home Architects.

Francisca Alonso, Co-Founder of AV Architects + Builders, Co-Author of Vacation Style Living

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    "Francisca and Antonio have written the rare design book that's really about how to live. Vacation Style Living makes a compelling case that the space around you shapes your health, your relationships, and your presence—and that you don't have to wait for two weeks a year to feel fully alive. A must-read for anyone who's ever come home and wished it felt different."

    Derek Coburn Author of USA Today bestseller Let's Retire Retirement

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    "You cannot use your vacation as a way to meaningfully restore health and well-being. It cannot be done over a few weekends or a few weeks a year. Your everyday life and habitat is the biggest influence on your health. Your kitchen should promote your health. Your bathroom should be your spa. Your living room should lower your stress levels. Your bedroom should comfort you. Heal where you live. The Alonsos give you the tools and inspiration to create your own living ecosystem for longevity—where light, air and materials actively restore you. In this expert-level book, architecture becomes medicine."

    Brent Ridge, MD, Geroscientist Founder of Beekman 1802, former ambassador to the Global Wellness Institute

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    "In Vacation Style Living, Francisca and Antonio Alonso redefine what a home is truly meant to be. They remind us that a home should nurture life rather than simply house it — becoming a sanctuary that supports well-being, strengthens family and friends connections, and brings peace into everyday living. This book is an invitation to rethink what home can do for your life — and a blueprint for creating a place that truly supports the people who live in it."

    Edna Gelsinger Organizational Effectiveness Consultant & Executive Leadership Coach