Tag: homes

This whole house Marietta renovation banished wallpaper from the kitchen and bathroom.

An elegant but unassuming Greek Revival home on West Wesley Road is perhaps the oldest house in Buckhead. Actually, it was built in Resaca, located near Calhoun in Northwest Georgia. In the 1950s, Atlanta contractor Joseph Walker and his wife drove by and fell instantly in love with the abandoned, antebellum home.

Tiny homes have helped cities across the nation address shortages of affordable housing and homelessness. Yet the trend hasn’t caught on in Atlanta.

Architect Norman Askins often makes up a story when he builds a house. To inform the design for this 1997 Italian-style villa, he created a fable that revolved around a European countess whose American husband built her a retreat inspired by the famed Colombe d’Or hotel in Provence.

Susan Hable never expected to move to Georgia. She and her husband, Peter, bought the early-20th-century Victorian-style cottage in Athens on a lark—as a second home, a respite from the frantic pace of Brooklyn.

Believe me, I completely understand why today’s homebuyers are so crazy about open floor plans. In fact, twenty years ago, we bought our own house largely because the den, breakfast area, sunroom, and kitchen are essentially one big space.

In 2008, architect Frank Neely’s clients called him with bad news. They’d decided not to go ahead with the renovation he’d drafted of the 1940s-era Buckhead home where they’d lived for more than 15 years. But three years later, the couple came calling again: They wanted him to create a completely new house—a grand English Tudor.

If individual spec homes hint at economic recovery, then new builder design centers—a sign of large, growing communities—offer sure hope for the future. Last year Edward Andrews Homes and the Providence Group opened facilities in Alpharetta and Johns Creek, respectively.

Founded in 1924 and named for the birthplace of William Shakespeare, this quiet neighborhood eight miles east of Atlanta has long been known for its Tudor-style architecture. Its neighbor, Decatur, may be larger, but the city is stepping into its own, with big ambitions for food, entertainment, and public schools.

If the cornerstone Hermès store is a sign that old Buckhead is back, the soon-to-open Restoration Hardware Gallery is a sign that new Buckhead is rising. The showroom, located in the former ESPN SportsZone space across from the Buckhead Atlanta development, is a towering, nearly 70,000-square-foot, six-story estate with a 40-foot-tall entry rotunda.