Kinetic Crush

Margaret Kirkland gives a Buckhead couple’s light-filled oasis a vibrant refresh.

Written by Kate Abney Produced by Elizabeth Ralls Photographed by Mali Azima

“It was so much fun to work on this project, in large part because the clients were very involved in terms of pushing the envelope,” says designer Margaret Kirkland. A sizable modern painting over the sofa influenced the color palette of the kinetic living room. “They have a house in the California desert and go to a great art show every spring,” she says of the homeowners. “They come back with all kinds of fun finds.” In fact, the coral Rogers & Goffigon glazed linen used on the upholstery was largely inspired by their beloved California-cool vibes.

The dining area is unified with the living space thanks to an oversize area rug. Here, in addition to high-impact pieces, Kirkland added accents such as a pair of Mr. Brown by Julian Chichester speckled lamps procured from Holland & Company and a midcentury brass palm tree sculpture from Parc Monceau.

The unit’s entry walls were painted in a silver strie by Atlanta artist Brian Carter with a coordinating Phillip Jeffries paper on its ceiling for added drama, creating a chutelike effect as visitors pass through to the residence’s combined living-and-dining area. The large painting at right is a creative collage of family portraits. The graffiti-patterned fabric on the chair seat is Pierre Frey.

The study’s walls remain upholstered in the handsome chocolate-brown houndstooth Carithers originally chose, but the built-ins are freshly painted gray, with a terra-cotta backdrop. Kirkland decided to swap their existing store of tomes with the vast collection of pottery previously installed at the homeowners’ mountain house. Here, the silhouettes pop against the rusty hue. This color also graces a group of vintage chairs in a Romo velvet. The wooden panels were sourced from The Signature in Buckhead.

The master bedroom retains much of Dan Carithers’ original touch, particularly in the upholstered walls, which buffer sound between this residence and the neighbors’. “My favorite change to this room was switching out a tall, dark antique linen press—because TVs don’t need to go in armoires anymore—and replacing it with a beautiful, leather-wrapped console from Thomas O’Brien,” Kirkland says.

Kirkland calls the original abstract pattern artist Brian Carter created for the master bathroom a kind of “noodling” effect. The couple loves the motif’s uniqueness—and that they won’t have to worry about heat and moisture damage, as they might with a traditional wallcovering.

The guest bedroom is the perfect place for the homeowners’ grandchildren to enjoy brief respites. Previously chocolate brown with sisal flooring, this room has been refreshed with bright colors, contemporary art and plush wall-to-wall carpet. The bed skirt and window treatments were fashioned from a Peter Fasano fabric called Paperclips.

It was a little more than a decade ago when a fun-loving pair of retired empty nesters downsized from their Brookhaven family home to a light-filled condo at Buckhead’s Park Regency. At the time, they tapped Atlanta design doyen Dan Carithers to decorate, and the scheme was classically his. Margaret Kirkland, then an up-and-coming designer at Carithers’ company, assisted.

Then, a few years after Kirkland founded her own firm, the lady of the house phoned, recalling Kirkland’s good taste and their excellent personal rapport. (Kirkland had first met the former floral designer at a friend’s wedding years before and has long remembered her as “the life of the party.”)

When it came to their interiors, the septuagenarians, who love to entertain, essentially gave Kirkland carte blanche. “The husband was very clear,” she says. “He said, ‘I want you to make all the decisions, but they have to be the right ones.’ He said we had to have a definitive vision, and I said, ‘No problem.’ ”

“I told them they were going to be like the Annenbergs, and Dan [Carithers] would definitely approve,” Kirkland adds of her tribute to the coral shades of Sunnylands, the famous Palm Springs estate near the the couple’s own California residence. “In our decorating changes, we would ask ourselves, ‘What would Dan think?’”

The playful color payoff is apparent upon entering this modern residence, where visitors are greeted by a vibrant glass bowl that the husband commissioned from a favorite California artist.

In the main volume of the apartment, color continues its reign. Kirkland’s go-to decorative painter, Brian Carter, created the swirling motifs in the master bath (in a shade matched to the wife’s nightgown) as well as the boundary-pushing geometric pattern in the living room. This room is anchored by a modern painting the couple picked up at a California art festival and features splashes of aqua, graffiti pillows by Pierre Frey and a plush rug that marries the space to the adjoining dining area. There, a slab of Cambria quartz tops a midcentury table surrounded by streamlined Lillian August armchairs. A quad of mod paintings by yet another Golden State talent accents the custom waterfall-edge console beyond.

In the master, Kirkland kept the upholstered toile walls her former boss installed but updated the room with modern lighting, Jonathan Adler nightstands and a sleek desk that doubles as a dressing table. The guest bedroom, in contrast, received quite the refresh, its towering four-poster replaced by a headboard in poppy-hued Schumacher linen, with jaunty glass balloon sculptures mounted above. The handsome study bears many hallmarks of Kirkland’s touch, but the man of the house specifically requested the metallic pewter leather armchairs. “He wanted me to match his Gucci loafers,” the designer says.

INTERIOR DESIGN Margaret Kirkland, Margaret Kirkland Interiors. (404) 550-7476; margaretkirklandinteriors.com.