New Avenues

Pieces owner Lee Kleinhelter, at 34 weeks pregnant, stands in her recently-feathered nest. After moving in, she became smitten with Sovereign“s amenities, especially the concierge service. “It“s something people in New York and other cities are used to, but in Atlanta it“s a luxury,” she says.

The screens in the dining area were used as headboards in the Kleinhelters“ previous home.

“The root chair is really special,” says Lee. “Since everything in the room was really stark and white and modern, we needed to have that sculptural piece for added interest and balance.”

The terrace provides eye-catching views of the city skyline, its vintage trellis garden chairs adding pop and pattern.

Rider, the couple“s white golden retriever, was adopted from a farm but seems to love life in the city“and the attentions of the Sovereign staff and neighbors“even more. Beside his bed, a mirrored console provides storage and reflects the surrounding views. Lee“s decorative touches include vintage and modern as well as rustic and sleek, all translating beautifully from her former cottage to the contemporary high-rise above Peachtree. The boxed upholstered headboard is custom. All other items through Pieces Inc.

Apart from the jaw-dropping 180-degree views“providing an unmatched panorama of the Buckhead skyline, as well as sweeping vistas north to Kennesaw and east to Stone Mountain“the Kleinhelters revel in an array of comforts, from the incredible pool deck to the recently opened Bistro Niko on the ground floor. “Even after living here since July, I still stand here and think, “Wow, this is where we live.“ We can see everything“even the Live at 5 Fox News helicopter going by,” she says. “And because of the privacy we get from being up so high, we aren“t worrying about window treatments to the degree you would in a house. We“re not blacking out the bedroom at night to hide what“s beyond; the views are just too amazing.”

The Eames lounge chair was a special piece the couple had set aside for their next home.

Lamps and other decorative items from the store that are found throughout the space show how much Lee treasures the vintage pieces she brings into her inventory.

Touches of sunny yellow give just the right amount of spunk to the bedroom of Lee“s stepdaughter, Madison. “The tufted headboard was one I reupholstered and reused from our previous house. I love remaking things, because moving shouldn“t mean that you are discarding all the time,” she says. “Add a fresh coat of paint, reupholster and try to think of a different way that it can be used.”

The reupholstered Hollywood Regency porter chairs are precious but sturdy enough to stand up to the pre-teen“s use.

The green zebra rug in the nursery is a popular item from Lee“s store available by custom order in an array of colors. The crib is from B. Braithwaite, the rocker is a vintage find and the pear painting is one Lee has had for years.

The display shelves are IKEA, and negate the need for a baby“s closet. All other resources, Pieces Inc.

For even the most pulled together among us, making a snap decision can be a perfect storm for disaster. But for Lee Kleinhelter, it was the ultimate opportunity to deliver well-polished style to the Buckhead condominium she shares with her husband, Kevin, and their newborn son.

The couple had taken their Garden Hills cottage off the market after several unsuccessful months of trying to sell—just as Lee was entering her third trimester and readying the nursery for their new arrival. But as luck would have it, a buyer soon approached with an offer they couldn’t refuse.

“That’s how you sell a house,” the designer laughs. “You finish the things you were holding off on because you were planning to move out.

“I’m a very organized person, so at first I said, ‘No way! It’s too late; we’re not doing this.’ But it was the perfect opportunity, so it forced me to be a little more flexible.”

The couple had to find a new home quickly but nonetheless surveyed many options before selecting Sovereign as the best fit. Typically drawn to fixer-uppers, Lee admits that she’d never imagined living in a high-rise. After all, her husband is a builder with K2 Construction, a firm that specializes in renovating historic homes and designing new ones in keeping with the historic charms of their neighborhoods. But Sovereign, for all of its modern glamour, gave them plenty of reasons to fall in love. “It has a different tone than the other condos we’d looked at,” she explains. “It isn’t too formal, but it still has all the amenities we could want. It’s relaxed but, at the same time, very high-end.”

The couple had just two weeks to design their new space and move in. Fortunately, Lee had some of the city’s best decorating resources at her ready—the inventory of her home décor bo­­utique, Pieces Inc. Many of her favorites from the store, as well as treasured pieces from the couple’s former home, found their way into the new scheme at Sovereign, where a neutral palette of white and gray serves as a backdrop for white-leather upholstery, streamlined accents, mirrored furniture and a few rustic touches for added warmth.

Because the living and dining spaces flow together freely, clever positioning of furniture was necessary to define them. But the couple loves the openness of the new setup, allowing the family to converse and convene with ease.

Kevin’s pre-teen daughter, Madison, was given a cheery white-and-yellow bedroom, complete with a pair of Hollywood Regency-style porter chairs and an elegant tufted headboard while—toward the master suite, down a metallic wallpaper-lined corridor—the new nursery came together beautifully. “At first, I panicked when I realized that the room that would have been our study was going to be the nursery; it didn’t have a closet,” Lee recounts. “But then I thought, ‘he’s a newborn. Why does he need a closet for his onesies?’ ” she laughs.

The room’s small size worked in the owners’ favor, creating a cozy effect. Lee covered the walls in grasscloth, adding an unexpected texture to the space—and making for an easy transition to a den or study after the baby has grown. She then added a whimsical vintage rocking chair cushioned in nubby Knoll wool, plus thick display shelves for stowing books and hanging clothes in full view. Meanwhile, a simplistic painting establishes the color story and lends a sweet touch. And in lieu of a changing table, she raised a vintage credenza to the right height, rendering it a uniquely special piece.

In the absence of a traditional office, the master bedroom serves the purpose. A chic modern desk takes its place in a windowed corner while a pine wardrobe houses a printer and other office essentials on the opposite side of the room. “If Kevin’s on the laptop working, we can still chit-chat and enjoy that time together,” says Lee.

“In our former house, we were calling each other on our cell phones just to see what the other wanted to do for dinner. It was kind of silly, because the house wasn’t that big,” recalls Lee. “Now that we live in the same spaces all the time, it’s fantastic. It’s so much more efficient this way, and it keeps our family closer together, too.”

With the city views around them and new baby Holden in tow, the Kleinhelters have discovered that downsizing doesn’t mean giving up a dream at all—it means living one.