Fresh Take

Interior designer Sara Alias’ collected mix of treasures includes blue-and-white porcelain, family heirlooms, a midcentury modern-inspired Mr. Brown London coffee table and a vintage gilded sheaf of wheat side table from Parc Monceau.

In the living room, the Holland MacRae sofas and loveseat, custom Lucy Smith coffee table and antique barley-twist stools create a convivial gathering spot. For contrast, Alias introduced an abstract by Connecticut artist Meighan Morrison.

The Jane Shelton fabric on the Bunny Williams armchairs was the designer’s catalyst for the living room design. The bamboo mirror with a tortoise shell finish is vintage.

The kitchen’s breakfast table looks upon the backyard through the new steel windows designed by architect Jack Davis. A tablecloth from Julia Amory and woven chairs set a casual tone. 

With cabinetry by Morgan Creek, kitchen designer Barbara Shelton designed a pretty, task-oriented kitchen with plenty of polish but no overtly grand statements. “Andrew cooks every night, and we use our kitchen a lot,” says Sara. “This is not the room where we entertain, so we just wanted something simple and functional.

Davis designed the cubbies in the kitchen seating area to mimic the shape of the updated windows. An America Martin painting, the first piece the Aliases purchased as a couple, hangs in a recess designed for a TV.

A keeping room showcases the original brick floors, fireplace and beams of the home.

Davis replaced a portion of the existing oversize fireplace with a new recessed bar. Andrew’s grandfather’s rug plays to the brick’s ruddy hues.

To accommodate everyone on the guest list, the couple chose a Georgian D-End extension dining table from William Word Fine Antiques that seats 12 people. The Pella dining chairs and horse painting are from Holland MacRae. 

A grasscloth wallcovering by Phillip Jeffries fosters an enveloping feeling in the luxurious home office.

Separated by the home’s central entry hall, the formal salon and office illustrate the pleasing rhythm of light and dark spaces. The painting over the mantel is antique.

The Kathryn Ireland fabric (Safi Suzani in Sky Blue) on the bolster cued Sara’s blue and botanical design scheme throughout the primary bedroom. The architect vaulted the ceilings as part of the renovation, and to fill the expanse above the bed, Sara worked with Botanicals by Sandy to customize print sizes. 

A pair of Travis & Company armchairs and a wicker table from Mainly Baskets nestle against windows in the primary bedroom.

Davis added a mirrored wall to visually open the space inside the primary bath. To unite the bedroom and bath, Sara repeated upholstery fabric in each space.

A soaking tub creates a dreamy spot beneath a window. The Aliases purchased the rowboat painting in Portofino, Italy, while on their honeymoon.

The guest bedroom showcases Sara’s love for fabrics. The bed is upholstered in Schumacher’s Khilana Floral in Peacock, and Sister Parish textiles in Kismet take pride of place on the bolster pillow and chaise.

When interior designer Sara Alias and her husband, Andrew, first stepped inside what was to become their family’s future home, they felt like they were walking into a museum. “It could have been in a guidebook,” says Sara of the Colonial Williamsburg-style home. “Everything about it looked authentic.”

Built in 1984, the house was a tribute to the classic architecture and design beloved by its original owners—and it’s what drew the Aliases to the property. “I come from a family of interior designers with my mother and grandmother, and Andrew grew up in a historical Colonial Revival Neel Reid house on West Paces Ferry with a family who collected antiques,” says Sara. “We both respected the home’s integrity, and we love a traditional floor plan.”

In keeping with the period architecture, the home’s layout features individual rooms in lieu of modern, open spaces—a design that the couple embraced. “We dusted off a gem,” says architect Jack Davis, who worked with the couple on the home’s gentle renovations. “It had a beautiful architectural vocabulary that just needed to be updated for this family and their tastes.” Davis opened up the staircase, added three banks of steel-cased windows and designed a bar for the den. In order to bring the house to the new millennium, kitchen designer Barbara Shelton drafted a new plan for the kitchen and baths. Structurally, not much else changed. “One of the best things about the house was the accuracy and proportions of the moldings,” says Davis. “There was no need to correct anything or go shopping for beams or mantels. It was all right there.”

Sara’s imprint on the house comes through in her color and fabric choices. She majored in fabric design at the University of Georgia and later worked in New York at the British textile company Claremont before moving to Atlanta where she joined Holland MacRae and then Margaret Kirkland Interiors. Often using fabrics as her starting point, she set the tone for each room selecting mostly chintzes in florals and dainty prints for draperies and upholstery, along with a few bold graphic patterns here and there for effect.

Some rooms feature a blue and green palette, while others lean into warm hues that complement the home’s original brick floors and hearth. Antiques, family heirlooms and vintage art bring a sense of age, while new furnishings and contemporary works introduce a fresh touch in her deftly curated mix. “Every room speaks for itself and offers a different mood,” says Davis. “It’s fun to see people stop and pause to take in each space as they wander through the home during a party.”

INTERIOR DESIGN Sara Alias, Sara Alias Interiors ARCHITECT Jack Davis, Jack Davis Architect, (404) 237-2333; jackdavisarchitect.com BUILDER Jim Hixon, Hixon Homes, Inc., (404) 557-4739; hixonhomes.com