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.”

When my wife, Jo, a pastry chef and professional baker, said she wanted to build a wood-fired brick oven in our backyard to start baking bread and pizzas, I couldn’t see the appeal. There’d be ditch-digging involved, expenses of cement and brick, not to mention all the logs needed for fuel. I went along with the plan anyway.

“A formal living room is typically an underused space in a home, but this one gets used by the family daily,” says interior designer Lindsay Tarquinio, who enhanced the room’s architecture with one-of-a-kind furniture.

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

Scenic Land Company purchased Northwest Georgia’s former Canyon Ridge Golf Club in 2018 and rechristened it McLemore. Now, its master plan calls for several hundred homes to be built in some half dozen neighborhoods, with settings ranging from forests and canyons to golf course views.

Interior designer Whitney Durham designed this banquette to tuck into a window’s existing angles.

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.

Inspired by cabanas at beach hotels, Angela Blehm designed this custom shelter for her family’s Gainesville pool.

The New York pied-a-terre Susan Been bought as a getaway from Atlanta is all about magnificent views and a central location for exploring the city. Here's how the interior design came together.

Landscape designer Brandy Hall is an advocate of permaculture, a science that integrates human activities into natural surroundings to establish ecosystems that are self-sustaining. In other words, she believes your yard should take care of itself.