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Given Atlanta’s penchant for gated communities and three-car garages, architect Stephen Robinson’s call for moderation seems like heresy—or maybe it’s actually the perfect contrarian solution to the city’s need for affordable intown housing. Robinson is a proponent of quality over quantity, of improving an existing residence rather than tearing it down and building bigger. He hopes homeowners will focus as much on “life appeal” as “curb appeal.” After all, a house’s primary function is serving its owners, not impressing neighbors or future buyers.

“We tend to perceive a lot of value in the numbers,” he says. “Six thousand square feet for $800,000 seems ‘better’ than three thousand square feet for $500,000. But for me, it’s not a question of size. It’s a matter of quality and thoughtful design. Don’t make it big just for big’s sake.”

Robinson’s residential work, such as the home at the right, has been featured in Sarah Susanka’s popular book series, which launched a movement more than ten years ago with the publication of The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live. Her approach seems especially timely given today’s moribund economy. On average, new houses were 7 percent smaller (approximately the size of one room) in early 2009 than the year before. U.S. Census Bureau data shows they shrank every quarter in 2008, marking the first yearlong downward trend since 1994. Susanka draws parallels to the period when grand Victorian mansions gave way to cozy bungalows.

“In Atlanta, there is an enormous housing stock of generic ranch houses located inside the Perimeter and within established neighborhoods that offer many benefits,” says Robinson. “They just need intelligent updating and perhaps modest expansions.”

The best candidates for remodeling have some workable spaces, notes Robinson. “The hard houses are the ones that need two more feet everywhere,” he says. If the bedrooms are livable, owners can focus on the public spaces—or vice versa. Such houses also make it easier to upgrade in phases, as budget allows.

One of the best ways to make an older home more functional is to open up the interior. Robinson often combines different rooms into one space with defined zones. The shared area provides an opportunity for long, diagonal vistas, which promote a sense of spaciousness. A window or interesting piece of art can draw the eye across a wide expanse, he says.

However, warns Robinson, a house can be too open. “Then you lose the enchantment of things disappearing around corners and discovering cozy spaces. ”

Creating “layers” of views makes smaller homes seem more elegant, he notes. Lighting a niche with a piece of pottery or an expanse of richly grained, stained millwork adds texture. Varying ceiling heights make some areas feel intimate and others more grand. Architectural features such as columns and bookshelves can define zones for eating, reading, or entertaining.

The renovation shown here added less than fifty square feet. It is “the classic case of better space, not more space,” says Robinson. “Space was already available. We just had to unleash it.”

Photograph by Thomas Watkins Photography

When Michelle Bradley was an interior designer and couldn’t find—or afford—the right piece of furniture for a project, she’d often design something herself. In 2003 she took the leap to become a full-time furniture designer by opening Bradley Hughes on Miami Circle, starting mostly with custom upholstery. One day a craftsman who worked with concrete walked in, and an edgier look was born. Bradley started designing iron tables with concrete tops, as well as sink basins and fireplace surrounds.

“We’ve definitely helped make concrete stylish,” says Bradley. “When we started, there weren’t many designs with clean lines that used unusual materials.”

The company soon evolved to include all sorts of metal tables—at first with a dark finish only, then in gold, silver, and a variety of colors—plus acid-washed mirrors, hand-printed wallpaper, and pillows. Everything is made by regional artisans, which appeals to local companies—such as Spanx and Chick-fil-A—that want to support fellow Georgians when decorating their corporate headquarters.

The designs are just modern enough to thrive next to antiques in Buckhead living rooms or to mix with contemporary furnishings in Downtown lofts. “People say our designs are fresh,” says Bradley. “Things that nobody else has.”

That might explain why, even in a down economic market, the company has been nearly doubling its sales each month. Bradley just opened an additional showroom at the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center (which, like her original Miami Circle location, is wholesale only), while also offering some favorite pieces at retail establishments such as the Mercantile and Pieces. Retail prices might run $220 for linen pillows by fabric designer Phillip Barlow or $1,800 and up for a side table with an iron base and four-inch-thick concrete top.

Bradley’s favorite line to design is lighting, such as the signature Lucille fixture with curves that enamored set designers for the Sex and the City movie, or her Ralphie light, a drum pendant that resembles lace made out of metal.

Bradley, who is the sole owner of the company (“Hughes” references painter Donna Hughes, whose work is sold at the showrooms), is hoping to expand to other spaces around the country. Creatively, she’s working on a new line of high-gloss lacquered furniture.

See bradley-hughes.com.

Photograph by Patrick Heagney

Have you noticed those cool rustic light fixtures at Abattoir, the latest sister restaurant to Bacchanalia? Mark Sage spotted them when they were Belgian seedling crates. And that wooden chandelier you’ve been coveting from Restoration Hardware? Sage fashioned it from a French wine barrel. A walk through his westside warehouse reveals the antiques dealer’s latest finds: colorful vintage metal postal bins, iron racks from a defunct tire factory, a stash of sepia-toned photos from 1920s Argentina, 150-odd conquistador helmets from the Paris Opera’s production of Man of La Mancha, and a 1948 Norton motorcycle like the one Steve McQueen rode in The Great Escape. The latter, of course, is Sage’s personal indulgence—the least an industry novice would deserve for turning a $10,000 gamble into seven-figure annual sales.

Ironically, if it hadn’t been for a traumatic corporate takeover in 1999, Sage might still be hawking hair salon franchises in Moscow. But when an abrupt merger left the then-accountant unemployed overseas, he bought some antiques on a whim and brought them to sell in Atlanta, where he had lived earlier. “There were times when I had to sell a table to eat a sandwich,” laughs Sage. To cut turnover time, he and some artist friends (such as painter Todd Murphy) staged wildly popular underground art parties/beer bashes at the Mattress Factory Lofts. “We would have 800 people and one bathroom,” he recalls. “People would say, ‘Whose party is this?’ The answer was always ‘the guy with the plunger,’ which was me. ”

Sage broke even by his fourth shipment. From there, he soon had booths at Scott Antique Market and showrooms at AmericasMart, New York, and High Point. An early hit was Parisian leather club chairs, which he supplied to Ralph Lauren. He also provided vintage fixtures for Anthropologie. And four years ago, Sage launched BoBo Intriguing Objects (the name stands for “bourgeois bohemian”), a line of original furnishings handcrafted in Europe from old wood and industrial fittings—available locally at stores such as Mrs. Howard, B.D. Jeffries, and Bungalow.

Though tempted by retail—it’s his constant “siren song”—Sage currently sells to the public only once a month: on second Fridays at his warehouse, Love Train Antiques, in the parking lot of Scott Antique’s North Building. “Vintage is really where my heart beats,” he says of the treasures stashed there. “I still love digging through attics. When I go to a new barn and someone opens those doors, my heart jumps.”

Photograph by Audra Melton

It seems sporting clays are the
new putting greens. Blalock Lakes, one of metro Atlanta’s few new gated
subdivisions, has been designed not around a golf course but around a
shooting club. Other planned amenities include fishing lakes, hiking
trails, campsites, a bird-hunting course, stables, and, of course, swim
and tennis. “It’s all about the outdoors,” says project manager Jeff
Quinn, a senior vice president with developer Cousins Properties. “We
felt the best way to showcase the environment was to leave it more in
its natural setting.”

The 3,000-acre community, located near Newnan, has only 399 homesites on
lots as large as forty acres. Quinn says early interest indicates a mix
of primary and weekend residents. Lots start in the low $100s and
houses in the mid $500s. Blalock Lakes has offered some recent pricing
incentives, but Quinn believes the anemic economy makes people even more
appreciative of a community centered on family time. “After enjoying
the club’s outdoor activities, the response of first-time visitors is
often a kind of ‘aha’ moment,” Quinn says. “They often say, ‘Boy, we
need to do more things like this.’” See blalocklakes.com.

Photograph
copyright Jay Thomas, 2007