Colorful Turn

Inside the living room, a pair of Bungalow Classic armchairs and a custom sofa covered in a cream bouclé fabric are situated on top of an Oushak rug that inspired the home’s color palette.

“Our clients wanted the living room to be welcoming and cozy with plenty of seating areas,” says designer Katie Moorhouse of The Design Atelier. “A big room can be intimidating, so we divided it into two seating areas.”

Antique starburst mirrors collected from Interiors Market, Joseph Konrad and The Compleat Flea repeat the gold finishes throughout the house.

Another living room seating area awaits convivial conversation.

A custom stained and painted checkerboard floor by artist Mary Meade Evans adds sophistication and spirit in the entryway. A painting by Fran Scher through Gregg Irby Gallery foreshadows the blues that become evident in the rest of the house.

Millner and Moorhouse chose gold and brass accents for fixtures and lighting. The island, painted Benjamin Moore’s Boothbay Gray, replicates the blue in the quartzite stone slab.

The homeowner’s collection of blue-and-white tableware gleams in the custom lighted cabinetry by Kingdom Woodworks.

The chinoiserie Scalamandré grasscloth sets a classic, feminine tone in the dining room, with a chandelier by Vaughan through Ainsworth-Noah repeating the floral motif. The Melissa Console from Bradley features a pearlized cream finish, and curved lines provide a foil to the squared edges and cerused wood on the dining table from Bungalow Classic.

The butler’s pantry and hall are painted Farrow & Ball Calke Green to complement the green accents in the dining room. The abstract painting is by Catherine Whitis.

To visually open the narrow bar, Millner and Moorhouse covered one wall in antiqued mirror with mounted brass brackets and glass shelves for glassware. The countertop was repurposed from the original kitchen and fabricated for the new space.

The new office makes work a pleasure thanks to the cheery purple wallpaper (York Wallcoverings in Cloud Nine Kumo Purple), custom cabinets by Kingdom Woodworks and Nancy B. Westfall high-heeled shoe painting.

Painted Farrow & Ball’s Hague Blue, the mudroom was a welcome—and functional—addition in the renovation.

Designated task areas such as gift wrap rooms and home offices in a floor plan are a luxury—if they are utilized and enjoyed. But, if they aren’t needed, they become nothing more than awkward storage closets. Such was the case when a family with two young boys moved into their Northwest Atlanta home built in 2010. Working with Matt Brownlow of Brownlow & Sons, designers Melanie Millner and Katie Moorhouse of The Design Atelier renovated the kitchen, ancillary rooms and upgraded finishes throughout to make the home live large for its new owners. “There was plenty of room for everything they wanted, but they asked us to update and customize the kitchen and rework the adjacent spaces to suit their specific needs,” says Moorhouse.

In the kitchen, the duo relocated appliances and moved door openings to improve function and flow. New custom cabinets offer a clean, classic look while providing storage and specialized compartments—including a full coffee station with water supply and lighted display cabinet. “The homeowner is very well-organized, so the kitchen had to be extremely efficient,” says Marcel Olariu, cabinet designer and principal of Kingdom Woodworks. “Everything down to the silverware, coffee cups and small appliances was accounted for in the design.” The gift wrap room and a small office combined to create a larger home office and mudroom—something better suited to a family with little boys.

After restructuring the workrooms, Millner and Moorhouse turned to furnishing the home’s empty spaces. “This house was bigger than their former home. They didn’t have furniture for the living and dining room, and everything was painted white. It was pretty much a blank slate,” says Moorhouse. “This is a fun, vibrant family, and the design needed to reflect their personality.”

Channeling the family’s youthful energy, the designers looked to the cheery hues in their client’s Oushak rug as a starting point. In the living room, neutral upholstery is enlivened with blue trim, while blue draperies, table lamps and an upholstered slipper chair repeat the summery hue. The Michelle Armas painting above the mantel, along with accent pillows and painted bookcase walls, cue the rug’s pinks and corals.

For the dining room, they leaned into a cherry blossom print that the client had long adored—a grasscloth featuring pink spring blooms and ruby-throated hummingbirds on a metallic charcoal background. Green velvet upholstery on side chairs and green trim on draperies underscores the birds’ feathers, while a gilt chandelier with decorative leaves repeats the floral motif.

Throughout the project, balancing light and dark finishes and playing soft contemporary lines off of traditional styles was just as essential as the use of color and pattern in the new design. “For visual interest, it’s important to mix things up,” says Moorhouse. “It’s like a puzzle. We didn’t want it to look like we threw a bunch of brand-new furniture into the house all at once.”

The end result: a tailor-made home perfectly suited for the new family. “We started by making sure the house functioned right and then layered in all of the pretty things,” says Millner. “We were lucky to have a really great team to help bring it to life.”

INTERIOR DESIGN Melanie Millner and Katie Moorhouse, The Design Atelier, (404) 365-8662; thedesignatelier.com BUILDER Matt Brownlow, Brownlow & Sons, (770) 977-8404; brownlowandsons.com CABINETRY DESIGNER Marcel Olariu, Kingdom Woodworks, (770) 932-6390; kingdomwoodworks.com