Homes

After first pondering a move to the country, interior designer Jayme Armour ended up buying a house a few miles from downtown Atlanta, but it turns out the two ideas weren’t that far apart. The 1950s cottage she discovered in East Lake came with a large, lush lot—including a banana palm tree in the back—and a leafy neighborhood.

An intentionally minimalist lake house allows this high-profile couple to hang out in one big room—with a gorgeous view all around.

Whether you call it downsizing, rightsizing, aging-in-place, or  just retiring, more Baby Boomers are creating homes that will make life easier in future years. “What we’re seeing is people making a conscious decision before it’s too late to get their stuff in order,” says designer Beverly Baribault. “It’s the difference between having to do it and choosing to do it.”

Layered paints, wallcoverings, fabrics, and art give this five-year-old Buckhead home a colorful, decorative persona.

With its location in a historic Midtown neighborhood and an original granite wall around the property, this white brick home fools some people into asking if it’s a renovation, and that pleases architect Jeffrey Bruce Baker. “That question is music to my ears since the house is 100 percent new construction,” he says.

Marietta may be hundreds of miles from any beach, but a coastal vibe washes over every room at Jamie Krywicki Wilson’s house, about a mile from the historic square.

The classic architecture and curb appeal of this 1930s Mediterranean house in Buckhead caught the eye of a young couple who later updated the interior.

The house, on a leafy two-acre hill in Buckhead, was an early project by architect Jerry Cooper, cofounder of the noted Atlanta firm Cooper Carry. But it was due for some updates, which the Davises embarked on thoughtfully, keeping the original footprint and repurposing materials.

Architect Joel Kelly and principal designer Whitney Ray of Wyeth Ray Interiors brought the project to life, deftly balancing scale and aesthetics.

Johanna and Jonas Reisinger describe their style as “a blend of European simplicity with Southern comfort.” After all, Johanna is a native Atlantan, and Jonas grew up in Stuttgart, Germany. A modern home in Morningside, originally designed by architect Brad Heppner, provided a polished setting for distilling the best of both their worlds.