Home & Garden

As head coach of a college football team, Kirby Smart has a wide spectrum of duties; apparently, so does his house. The Smarts’ newly remodeled Athens home not only accommodates day-to-day family life, but it also serves as a place to entertain potential players and other VIPs integral to the University of Georgia football machine.

Three giant (as in building-sized) murals were installed in the King Historic District yesterday in the latest Living Walls effort to turn structures into canvasses. One such “canvas” is the former Henry’s Grill at 345 Auburn Avenue, where a small crowd turned out to watch an acclaimed muralist at work.

In a good way, Nikie Barfield views the world in black and white. The Atlanta interior designer likes to contrast these two basic colors, subtly accenting them with companion hues. Her philosophy: Let architectural details, texture, and the interplay of materials steal the show, not bright colors or patterns.

In the master bathroom, a modern farmhouse aesthetic took an industrial bent with brick walls, a concrete shower floor, and metal windows—the latter providing a view of horses.

Star designer Elizabeth Ingram, known for creating stylish restaurant interiors, helped chef and Food Network personality Alton Brown design his Marietta loft. Then she married him and moved in.

If any couple needs a place to nest, it’s Alexandra Breckenridge and her husband, Casey Hooper. In the current family scenario, the foursome is happily ensconced in a quiet community just outside Atlanta in a two-story house they’ve made their own.

In 2008, architect Frank Neely’s clients called him with bad news. They’d decided not to go ahead with the renovation he’d drafted of the 1940s-era Buckhead home where they’d lived for more than 15 years. But three years later, the couple came calling again: They wanted him to create a completely new house—a grand English Tudor.

It’s no secret that midcentury-modern furniture is back in vogue. But now, the era’s ranch-style and split-level homes are selling better than ever, according to Vanessa Reilly of Atlanta boutique real estate firm DOMO Realty. Although midcentury modern homes can be found throughout Atlanta, she notes that the majority are close to I-285, with the highest concentrations in the neighborhoods of Amberwood, Collier Heights, Northcrest, and Northwoods.

Homeowners gave this Atlanta architect and designer, Ili Hidalgo-Nilsson, a challenge: Design a spacious house for a family of five that still “reads” as a cottage and fits all the requirements of a historic Decatur neighborhood. This popular modern farmhouse style fit the bill.