Homes

As the founder of Coastal Living magazine and the mastermind behind the first 20 HGTV Dream Homes, Jack Thomasson has helped form the tastes and wants of homeowners for decades. For his own house in Roswell, he made it personal. “Of every dream house I’ve done, I’m most proud of this,” Jack says.

In his new book, designer Vern Yip doles out tips and inspiration from his ski house in Park City.

Historic architecture and transitional interiors can be an exciting pair, bringing new energy to old bones. Case in point: this 1920s Druid Hills house, where the design-build team at HammerSmith created a comfortable, livable family home—with some modern surprises thrown in for fun.

This Normandy-style estate combines grand architecture with resort-level amenities.

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.

“It’s really about intentional living, intentional community, less space, more life,” says Will Johnston, 36, founder and executive director of Tiny House Atlanta, an education and advocacy group, and a consultant to the developer Tiny South. “Less footprint, less stuff.”

Simone du Boise and Denise Donahue developed a model called the EcoCraft Hybrid Home, which aims for “Net Zero Energy”—a building that consumes no more energy than it produces. In a Cadmus prototype, solar panels heat 80 percent of the household’s hot water and fuel at least 50 percent of required electricity (new technology may soon capture even more energy).

You'll rarely see “greige” as the dominant scheme in a Parker Kennedy Living project, but the firm had even more of an excuse to amp up the bright colors when its principals decorated a house on Sea Island.

Design plans can be stalled by indecision, but that wasn’t an issue for Jessica and Trip Taylor. Because their Cumming house was new construction and almost everything in it was custom, this project involved more selections than most. But Interior designer Stephanie Williamson had no issue finalizing ideas with the Taylors.

Atlanta interior designer Bill Stewart's Palm Springs home has the midcentury-modern glamour that draws visitors to the town, and, in fact, Bill is used to a constant parade of people taking pictures in his front yard.