When interior designer Jessica Davis, founder of the groovy hardware line Nest Studio, was house-hunting in Atlanta in 2018, she knew she wanted a change from the grand, turreted Victorian where she and her family had been living in the New York City area.
“We had never lived in a midcentury-modern,” says Jessica, who grew up in Hong Kong and has lived all over the world. “And I’d always wanted to.”
Her husband, Scott, who works in management consulting, had landed a job in Atlanta, and it was he who found the circa-1960 L-shaped post-and-beam home online and took the first tour. The couple and their two children packed their bags sooner than expected and headed south.
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. The former kitchen, which Jess describes as “very high-end for the ’80s,” got a full makeover with integrated appliances, Fireclay tile, Dekton countertops, and a pop of color in the cherry-red Smeg range.
The floors in the foyer and halls got an upgrade to swanky terrazzo, which Jessica describes as appropriate for the house’s era. It was a splurge compensated for by painting the subfloor in the master bedroom rather than topping it with another material.
The project is a study in sophisticated DIY: The crafty designer loves refreshing old or found pieces with paint and custom upgrades, like her stylish hardware (available at Matthew Quinn Collection), which stars throughout the house. Playful touches abound, like wallpaper fit for crayons, homemade bed forts for the kids, and even a secret passageway through false cabinetry.
Haute Hardware For her hardware line, Nest Studio, designer Jessica Davis collaborates with sculptors and artists around the world—many of whom she finds on Instagram.