Homes

Interior designer Michelle Workman's clients have included John Travolta and Kirstie Alley, but now she left Hollywood so her family could experience small-town life on a 13-acre farm on Lookout Mountain, Georgia.

This 1963 home was a magnet for civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Maynard Jackson, Andrew Young, and others.

There are those who like to entertain and those who live and breathe it. The couple who own this Buckhead retreat don’t bat an eye at throwing a party—be it an intimate dinner for 10 or an engagement bash for 200—thanks to an outdoor pavilion they added three years ago.

This renovation was a true labor of love for a couple who met here when it was four separate apartments. They later turned it into a dream home for their family.

As quick as the click of a Canon’s shutter, fashion photographer Liz Von Hoene decided to buy her 1952 house in Decatur’s Parkwood neighborhood. Liz and her partner, Rebecca Weinberg, are no strangers to style. Liz shoots for high-end clients like Neiman Marcus, and Rebecca is an Emmy-winning wardrobe stylist best known for outfitting Carrie and company on the HBO series Sex and the City.

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.”

According to residential designer Rodolfo Castro, one of the most remarkable things about this historic English-style cottage in Poncey-Highland (right outside the entrance to the Freedom Park Trail) is that it was spared the bulldozer in the 1960s.

It started with a table. One late summer afternoon, Cara Cimmino and Mitch Klasky wandered into Steve McKenzie’s home furnishings store, shopping for their dining room.

Atlanta-based interior designer William Peace of Peace Design knows something about jaw-dropping landscapes. This house in the foothills of the Tetons in Jackson Hole appears as if it’s been there 100 years, mimicking the look of small, historic trapper cabins on the 10-acre property.

Constructed in the 1990s when English Country style reached the peak of its popularity, the house was formerly layered with British antiques and chintz. Bradley Odom—whose grandfather was an upholsterer and who sells his own furniture line—freshened up some of the heirloom pieces, especially occasional chairs, with updated fabrics.