Home & Garden

A Modern Home Designed for Serenity

Lisa Mowry — Fri, 31 May 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Neighbors asked James Sarvis if he was building a Frank Lloyd Wright house. Well, no. But if the renowned architect were alive, Wright would undoubtedly appreciate this modern Buckhead home, an individualist abode tucked into a wooded street otherwise lined with fifties-era ranches. The concept of organic architecture—harmony between home and the natural world—may be attributed to Wright, but the Sarvis house gives it a current perspective.

“We asked our architect to put us in a tree house,” says James, a Delta executive. His wife Candy’s directive? “Make it serene.” The Sarvises’ master bedroom is cantilevered off the front, with floor-to-ceiling glass in one wall so that the couple indeed wake up surrounded by trees. (Hidden shades provide privacy.) Other bedroom walls are covered in wallpaper handmade of crushed seashells for a reflective sheen. The kitchen and living area is likewise designed to embrace the outdoors, oriented around a pool and Zen-like gardens, with large, commercial-style windows all around.

“I can see outside from nearly every corner of the house,” says Candy. “The windows are my favorite feature.”

Staffan Svenson, the project’s architect and a principal with modernist firm Dencity, placed the house on the property’s highest spot, preserving as many trees as possible. Though the lot is only three-quarters of an acre and the house fewer than 4,000 square feet, the property delivers a big impact. Visitors enter the house by way of a cantilevered stairway hovered above a reflecting pool, bringing them to an even higher vantage point.

The main materials of the T-shaped house include locally sourced stone, cypress, and stucco, but an interior feature—the dramatic floors—gets the most attention. “The white floors float through the house,” says Svenson. “The serenity of the house is held by the floors.” Glossy white two-by-two-foot tiles link every room, reflecting artwork, furniture, and the beloved trees.

Furniture is minimal in the house, partly because the Sarvises want to buy only furnishings they love, but also because the empty space is peaceful and clean. “James told the architects that he wanted thirteen shades of white in the interior,” recalls Candy.

As part of Modern Atlanta’s Design Is Human events in June, visitors can tour the Sarvis home, as well as others in metro Atlanta (and even beyond). Candy views the tour as a public service for the design community. “We’re not looking to convert people to modern, but it would be nice to see a few more modern homes in Georgia,” she says. “Modern architecture doesn’t appeal to everyone, and I’ve heard people describe modern as cold or a lot of straight lines. And although we have a lot of straight lines, our design has pulled together texture and organic finishes to make the home feel warm, we’d like to think.”

Modern Atlanta 2013
The Modern Atlanta home tour takes place Saturday and Sunday, June 8–9; tickets are $35. For information on the tour and other MA events, visit modern-atlanta.org.

Photograph by Patrick Heagney. This article originally appeared in our June 2013 issue.

Rhoda Vickers Gives Her Marietta Home a Makeover

Lisa Mowry — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Rhoda Vickers knows firsthand how much everyone appreciates a hard-luck story with a happy ending. The longtime Atlantan, a graduate of Sprayberry High School, worked here for thirty years as an executive assistant. In 2005 she remarried and moved to Birmingham, where she retired from the corporate world and started blogging about home decorating. Her posts took an unexpected dramatic turn when her day-trading husband squandered all of her and other clients’ money, fled the country, and was eventually convicted of fraud. “It was a horrible thing to go through, but then it forced me to make a fresh start,” she says now. In 2011 the fifty-something Rhoda divorced, moved back into her parents’ Marietta home—the same one she’d grown up in—and turned her blog, Southern Hospitality, into a full-time profession.

None of this is a secret, because Rhoda shares all at southernhospitalityblog.com, which is mostly a haven for remodeling tales, DIY projects, and her own decorating adventures. But Rhoda’s personal story has helped her mobilize a devoted following. Every month, 230,000 visitors explore her site, which has 15,000 subscribers and a dozen or so weekly sponsors—including Lowe’s, for whom Rhoda is a “brand ambassador.”

A few months after returning to Marietta, Rhoda scraped together enough to buy a 1979 split-level foreclosure in Kennesaw for $70,000. With its old carpet, roach-infested kitchen cabinets, and “hideous” wallpaper, the house gave her plenty of repair challenges to blog about. Nonetheless, Rhoda felt it had potential for a cottagey look, and she loved the screened-in porch.

With the help of her eighty-five-year-old father, Albert Vickers, Rhoda tackled one room at a time—the two of them tearing out old cabinets and assembling new Ikea models, applying backsplash tile, mounting board-and-batten molding in the dining room, and painting bathroom cabinets, to list just a few projects. The Vickers have always been a DIY family, Rhoda notes. And they’re not finished yet, with a screened-porch makeover and several key basement upgrades on the drawing board.

The self-taught renovator’s most popular blog posts are recipes and tutorials, such as instructions for adding frames to mirrors or for applying an antique-black finish to dated furniture—both techniques she’s tested in her own home. Budget ideas like hanging beadboard wallpaper are popular too.

“There’s really an overload of decorating information on the Internet these days,” says Rhoda. “I’m fortunate to have gotten started on the whole blogging thing before it took off. My readers have been cheering me on during this journey.”

Photograph by Jeff Herr. This article originally appeared in our May 2013 issue.

Garden Notebook: Tending Azaleas

Nan Chase — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Azaleas in full bloom are the beauty queens of spring. Their gorgeous curves, adorned in pastel lace, are the belles of Atlanta neighborhoods.

But past their blooming prime, azaleas are like pageant floats after a thunderstorm: washed out, bedraggled, and ready for maintenance before next year’s event. Neglect them, and overgrown shrubs morph into shapeless mounds. Pruned into symmetrical squares and pompoms, they look like boxwood wannabes. “My personal favorite is the upside-down gumball-shaped shearing with a flat top,” muses Jamie Blackburn, curator of Woodland Gardens for the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

Fortunately, keeping azaleas healthy and lush isn’t difficult, which is why experts sometimes call them the “lazy gardener’s dream plant.” Acid soil–loving azaleas have shallow roots that lie almost aboveground. Here are some tips on their care:

Mulch, mulch, mulch. Keep two to three inches of old leaf mold or decayed pine needles at the base. Shredded pine bark or pine nuggets also work well.

Go light on fertilizer. Skip fertilizer the first year, then apply acid-plant fertilizer sparingly every year or so in growing season.

Dappled shade is ideal. Both harsh sun and dense shade can damage buds.

Not near the house. Foundations can leach compounds harmful to azaleas.

Prune after bloom. Prune new growth lightly as soon as blooms fade. Prune too late, and you’ll cut off next year’s buds.

Go with the flow. Thin old wood first, beginning with lower branches, and follow the natural flowing shape. Don’t snip straight across.

Shallow roots make azaleas easy to move.  If yours are ailing, try another location.

Where to see them
Atlanta Botanical Garden, atlantabotanicalgarden.org

The Frank A. Smith Rhododendron Garden at the Atlanta History Center, atlantahistorycenter.com

Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, callawaygardens.com

Photograph courtesy of Atlanta History Center. This article originally appeared in our April 2013 issue.

Janus et Cie

Betsy Riley — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 13:00:00 GMT

The Roman God Janus has two faces, one looking back toward the past, the other facing forward to the future. He is an appropriate namesake for the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center’s newest showroom, outdoor furniture maker Janus et Cie (et cie means “and company” in both Latin and French). The California-based company first earned recognition in the 1980s for often classically inspired pieces such as its Amalfi Collection, which displayed a revolutionary minimalism in the days when “patio furniture” was sold mostly at hardware stores.

More recent collections include architectural metals and curvaceous wovens and, like true modernists, sometimes display subtle humor, such as the Agatha cafe chairs with smiley-face backs. Perhaps the whimsy started with the company’s signature faux topiaries.

In addition to furniture, Janus et Cie offers more than 200 fabrics, almost all appropriate for outdoor use—including velvet and chenille. Its accessories are available for sale off the floor and range from outdoor pieces like a rolling shower stand to tabletop items like the museum-worthy Sakura Teapot, a white porcelain teapot covered in delicate bisque flowers ($2,500).

The firm’s high-style furnishings, which add drama to public spaces from Rockefeller Center to Grand Park in Los Angeles, are not cheap. A sculptural Lolah rattan lounge costs $2,187, though Cremona side chairs are a more reasonable $343. “We’re known for the high end. But [founder and CEO] Janice Feldman likes to compare us to BMW,” says Teresa Alvis, Atlanta sales manager. “We have the 7 series, the 5 series, and we have the Mini Cooper. Anybody can own a piece of Janus et Cie.” The showroom is located in ADAC West and is open to the public. 349 Peachtree Hills Avenue, Suite A-1, 404-855-3444, janusetcie.com

Photograph by Joshua Vensel. This article originally appeared in our March 2013 issue.

Pied-à-terre

Lisa Mowry — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Angela Blehm gets to lead a double life. Most of the time, she’s a physician’s wife who homeschools her children, ages five, seven, and nine, out of a ranch house in Gainesville. But once a week or so, Angela morphs into a bohemian artist and heads to her Old Fourth Ward studio/loft, surrounded by exposed brick and funky furnishings.

“I tried painting at home with a sitter watching the kids, but I could still hear them and was always stopping to help them with something,” says Angela. “It breaks up the flow.”

She and her husband, Clayton, bought the loft partly as an investment (a cheap foreclosure deal) and also for intown date nights and family trips. As part of the homeschooling experience, Angela often takes her kids to museums and other enriching city sites. Mostly, though, the loft is a creative outlet for Angela, a place for the University of Houston fine arts graduate to rediscover her inner artist.

The 1,000-square-foot space was originally one open room, with industrial features like exposed brick and concrete floors. “I thought we were going to go dark and moody as the look at first,” says Angela, but some existing white appliances inspired her to think lighter and more feminine. The brick wall was painted white, and the Blehms upgraded the minimalist kitchen by adding plank walls, enclosing the refrigerator, and installing sculptural sconces.

To make the space more livable, they added three walls, creating four distinct rooms: a small kids area furnished with built-in yellow bunk beds and children’s art, a living room/kitchen, a master bedroom with the one bathroom, and a light-filled art studio. Angela cut rug tiles on the diagonal to make geometric runners linking the spaces, and she created the custom oversized pendants that are suspended from the eighteen-foot-high ceilings. Angela’s brother constructed the fixtures’ cylindrical frames with metal from their late father’s sheet metal factory. The canvas shades can be removed and washed.

Furnishings are a mix of flea market finds, family pieces, and Angela’s own paintings, as well as artwork by her children. One favorite vignette is a vintage three-drawer chest topped with a plaster female torso Angela found at Scott Antique Market. She surrounded the sculpture gallery-style with an assortment of her college art projects and sentimental items, such as a photo of her father.

In the living room, the focal point is one of Angela’s paintings, which she named Judy because the image, inspired by a 1950s magazine ad, reminded Angela of how her husband’s aunt Judy would’ve looked at the time. Also in this area are two French-style chairs that were originally dark wood and chenille, but Angela painted the frames light blue, upholstered the seats in blue twill, and splatter-painted them with bleach for a polka-dot effect. (Polka dots are a common motif in her work.) A vinyl office chair became a canvas for the kids after she painted it white and allowed them to write on it with Sharpies.
Earthy tiles in the bathroom are spalike, although plumbing fixtures are an unexpected hot pink. “You don’t see pink faucets in a bathroom very often,” she admits, “but I like a touch of whimsy.”

Although Angela treasures her solitary days, when she can lose herself for hours painting while the sun moves along the loft courtyard, family time in the city is just as important. “We love that now all of us have the opportunity to experience urban living,” she says.

Photograph by Christina Wedge. This article originally appeared in our February 2013 issue.

Steve McKenzie's Modern Handiwork

Betsy Riley — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:00:00 GMT

When we published our Southern issue in November, there was an abundance of creative local food and fashion to cover, but where were innovative Southern furnishings? Atlantans may be experimenting with Brussels sprouts and pork bellies, but they are doing it around Pottery Barn tables made in Indonesia. So we were especially pleased to discover Steve and Jill McKenzie’s new Westside store, which opened just as our regional homage went to press. (Click here to see more and order a digital copy.)

“No one really celebrates modern Southern living on the home interiors–and–lifestyle side,” says Steve. “The South is so steeped in tradition: the furniture making, the cotton making, the textile making. We’re beginning to awaken to that history and to celebrate it. What Sid Mashburn and Billy Reid have done in fashion, on an international scale, can be done on the home furnishings side.”

The McKenzies’ lofty industrial space, an old Army railroad depot, features a dozen or so artisans with fresh interpretations of regional idioms. Carefully vetted craftspeople include two North Carolina furniture makers, the Old Wood Co. and 2nd Story Wood Co.; Blenko Glass (West Virginia); and R. Wood Studio (Athens, Georgia, pottery). Merchandise on display is often tweaked to Steve’s specifications. For example, he had the 2nd Story Wood Co. create one of its standard pine tables with a sturdy cobalt blue, powder-coated base. ColsenKeane’s leather goods come trimmed in orange stitching to echo the McKenzie logo.

At the heart of the store’s inventory are Steve’s own designs. A painter whose work is represented by Galerie Protégé in New York, he has created colorful fabrics ($139/yard) inspired by his abstract studies in walnut ink. Two more product launches are planned for later this year. A signature upholstery collection, with pieces christened after the most popular baby names of 1960, was inspired by clean-lined, midcentury shapes and scaling ($1,100 to $4,400). For example, the slim Robert love seat is shallow enough to double as a dining bench. In a deft understatement, the back of the Michael chair has a single square button at its center.

There are also a few larger vendors such as Niche Modern lighting, Libeco linens, and Grange furniture. Steve had many industry connections from his twenty years as chief designer and then CEO of international frame company Larson-Juhl. Jill’s family owned Scandinavian modern furniture stores in Indianapolis. (“I dated someone who lived in the Jetsons house,” jokes Steve.) When a corporate reorganization led to a career change, Jill says, “it took us about a week to figure out we wanted to open a store.” Adds Steve, “I don’t think we can stop. We’ve got more ideas.” 996 Huff Road, 678-641-4411, stevemckenzies.com

Photograph by Christina Wedge. This article originally appeared in our January 2013 issue.

Garden in a Globe

Suzanne Oliver — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Whether you call them dish gardens, fairy gardens, or just plain terrariums, tabletop ecosystems are making a comeback. Today’s versions are more varied than the fishbowls you (or your mom) hung in macrame back in the 1970s. For example, Restoration Hardware’s holiday catalog includes a terrarium kit in a Mason jar with a tiny plastic deer. More serious gardeners are incorporating sculptural plants like succulents or bonsai to turn mini-landscapes into works of art.

Terrariums have become a signature item at Garden, a boutique plant store in Atlanta’s Westside that feels like an enchanted forest of lush tillandsia, philodendron, and orchids. Owner Matthew Klyn, whose creative outdoor landscapes first earned him notice with Best of Show at Atlanta’s Southeastern Flower Show in 2006, started focusing more on indoor gardening and retail plants when he opened his shop two years ago. Klyn fills glass vessels with mosses, ferns, and orchids as an alternative to a full-scale garden. “Not everyone can afford a $5,000 garden,” he says, referring to his residential design work, “but they can afford a terrarium.” Priced from $37.50 to $400, Klyn’s one-of-a-kind creations now account for about a third of his business.

To make one yourself, fill the bottom of a glass vessel with layers of vermiculite, rocks, and charcoal (which help drainage and air filtration). Poke in some small, richly textured plants, such as mosses, orchids, and episcia, and cover loosely with a lid. Condensation will bead up on the inside of the glass, making the landscape virtually self-sufficient. Succulents, on the other hand, require open-air containers and regular watering.

Watch Garden’s website and Facebook page for upcoming training workshops. And look for photos of Klyn assembling a terrarium on our website, atlantamagazine.com. Garden, 1080 Brady Avenue, 404-941-9154, gardenatl.com

Photograph by Zac Henderson. This article originally appeared in our December 2012 issue.

Being a Good Host

Lori Johnston — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 22:02:00 GMT

In the South, entertaining is a blend of politeness and protocol. Both formal and casual gatherings reflect our upbringing, our sense of pride in our homes, and the value we place on family and friendships. We asked noted Georgia hosts to reflect on Southern hospitality, current practices, and traditions that are starting to disappear.

"You want everyone to feel like they’re special. Company is not a burden; company is a pleasure. Vince is an extremely wonderful host in that he is always outside greeting people. [When they leave] he walks everybody out of the house to the car. I try very hard to spend time with everybody, one on one . . . When we first moved to Athens, I remember at four o’clock one afternoon this lady rang my doorbell, and she was all dressed up in her hat and gloves. She walked in and she had her calling card. She said, ‘Where is your calling card bench?’ I said, ‘What?’ I didn’t even know what a calling card was. That introduced me to [entertaining in Georgia] real quickly.” —Barbara Dooley, author, media personality, real estate agent, and wife of Vince Dooley, former football coach and athletic director at UGA

"Southerners grow up with that mentality of extending a kind handshake, a smile across a picket fence. My children [ages sixteen, thirteen, and ten] are being raised that if someone comes in a room, to stand up and extend a hand. My kids have been known to greet people at the door and ask them if they can get them a drink. I want people to feel comfortable, and I want them to leave feeling like they had a great night.” —Danielle Rollins, author, cofounder and chair of several Atlanta charities

"My mom is from Little Rock, Arkansas. She’s really big on making sure that everyone who comes over is entertained. I just learned growing up how important it was to treat people right. That directly correlates to what I do. It’s important to give people more than a party; you give them an experience. The most important thing that I can give them is a memory . . . You cater to the ladies. I make sure that at every party, I give out [drinks] to different groups of girls. If the ladies are having fun, they’re on Twitter, they’re on Facebook, they’re posting pictures on Instagram.” —Cecil Cross II, owner of C. Cross Events, an event planning and marketing firm that has collaborated with celebrities such as Usher, Erykah Badu, Ludacris, Kevin Hart, and Outkast

"We’re losing a lot of those gracious gestures that we grew up with, like sterling flatware. A lot of younger Atlantans no longer have sterling flatware. Oftentimes that’s a decision not based on the cost, but just because they don’t want to bother with having to polish it. When you’re entertaining, you want to make that extra effort. A hallmark of Southern hospitality is incorporating family heirlooms, because in the South, we revere our ancestors. It’s bringing your history into how you entertain.” —Jennifer Boles, style blogger at thepeakofchic.com and House Beautiful contributing editor

"Sitting down at a table and having a great conversation, that’s what I like the most. It’s ‘What book are you reading? Have you seen any good movies lately?’ You try to stay away from politics and religion . . . People who live in the South are also very gracious about sending handwritten thank-you notes.” —Peg Balzer, patron (with husband Bill) of Theatrical Outfit and other Downtown nonprofit organizations

Photograph by John Kernick. This article originally appeared in the November 2012 issue.

Atlanta History Center's Secret Garden

Betsy Riley — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 19:18:00 GMT

The Atlanta History Center’s Cherokee Garden Library began in a converted telephone closet in 1975, with a couple of dozen books stacked horizontally so the collection would look more substantial. Nearly forty years later, there’s no mistaking its significance now. The library, which specializes in regional history but maintains selective current references, has more than 25,000 objects. The oldest is an English volume called The Profitable Arte of Gardening by Thomas Hill, published in 1586. The library, founded and still supported by Cherokee Garden Club of Atlanta, the city’s second oldest, owns rare engravings and first editions envied by much larger, national-scale organizations. Even more remarkably, the facility is free and accessible to the public, as are all divisions of the Kenan Research Center. Visitors range from serious horticulturists and weekend gardeners to botanical artists.

Educational programs are likewise open. On September 13, the library will host a lecture and book signing by Peter J. Hatch, the longtime director of gardens and grounds at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Future plans include an exhibit of botanical illustrations inspired by the work of eighteenth-century botanist John Bartram and his son William.

Although Atlantans may not realize the city’s largest horticultural library is at the History Center, not the Atlanta Botanical Garden, there’s no rivalry between the two, says director Staci Catron. The ABG libraries focus more on contemporary books and journals, especially children’s literature and orchid references. “If we get orchid books, we send them there,” says Catron. “We play in the same sandbox.”

Photograph by Caroline C. Kilgore

>> GALLERY: View more archival photos from the botanical library

Finding Vera Neumann

Betsy Riley — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 12:00:00 GMT

You may not recognize the name Vera Neumann, but chances are if you’re of a certain age—say, old enough to remember The Mary Tyler Moore Show—her artwork is as familiar as your mom’s tuna noodle casserole. In fact, your mom probably collected her scarves and tea towels, often signed with a ladybug for good luck. Certainly Mary and Rhoda would have owned one or two.

Photograph by Neda Abghari

The New York artist built a $100 million brand during the 1970s, but her designs became as outmoded as Danish modern furniture during the 1980s and 1990s. (To guess where this story is headed, think about the turnaround in vintage modern furniture.) Today, Vera designs are hot items at major retail chains, from Nordstrom and Crate & Barrel to Anthropologie, whose Vera settee graced the cover of New York magazine’s Home Design issue in 2010. How another savvy female entrepreneur engineered this comeback from an obscure brick office in Chamblee is almost as fascinating as the artist’s own success.

Susan Seid, a Boston-area merchandising executive, moved to Atlanta to revive the Tog Shop, a staid, fifty-year-old catalog business. On a tour of the factory in Americus, the president took Seid into a remote storeroom above the plant, where she was stunned to find racks, piles, and boxes of Neumann’s work, all copyrighted and nearly forgotten. “There were 20,000 scarves,” says Seid, “each one more amazing than the next. I was so blown away, I was babbling. It was almost like when you fall in love.”

Six years after Neumann’s death in 1993 at age eighty-five, the Tog Shop had purchased her licenses to use on sportswear. Seid bought the rights in 2005, only to be sued by Vera Wang, who wanted to claim “Very Vera” for her Kohl’s line. Seid countersued, and the case settled in 2007—just in time for Seid to launch during a recession. Fortunately, cheerful, inexpensive prints sell well during hard times. It was a formula that had worked for Neumann after World War II, when she started her company by hand-printing scarves on surplus parachute silk.

Seid says Neumann basically invented designer branding: She was “like Martha Stewart and Liz Claiborne in one.” A pioneer of global style, Neumann traveled often and used ethnic motifs in her contemporary patterns. Long before Target, Neumann introduced innovations like melamine dishes and laminated place mats that made art affordable. The Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian all paid tribute to her genius. Bess Truman used Vera fabric at the White House. And celebrity fans included John Lennon, Grace Kelly, and Marilyn Monroe, who wore Vera scarves (and nothing else) in her last photo shoot—images that are perhaps most iconic of all.