A Mediterranean-Style House in Atlanta’s Ansley Park is Filled with Antiques, Family Heirlooms, and Colorful Personality

The entry, painted Sherwin-Williams Extra White, offers a middle ground for the eye to rest between the saturated rooms. A Dennis Campay painting balances the surrounding hues.

Designer Brian Patrick Flynn in the piano room.

The piano room, wallpapered in Kalahari in Cinnamon by Thibaut and accented with Sherwin-Williams Baked Clay on the trim and ceiling, offers a convivial space for gatherings while listening to homeowner Ben Hill, a classically trained pianist.

The Hills worked with a custom metal worker to design the new front door and steel windows throughout. In this front-facing window, a French bench is covered in a Travers stripe (Andalucia Velvet).

“The toned-down living space is more tranquil than others,” says Patrick Flynn. “Connected to the office, it’s used for reading and working from home as well as conversation with guests.”

A petite French chair covered in a paprika-colored velvet scored at Scott Antique Markets underscores the room’s elegance.

An enclosed porch with painted brick walls makes an ideal office for Ben. A painting of Preservation Hall in New Orleans hangs on a back wall.

The mahogany bar is one of Ben’s prized finds purchased from the Stalls on Bennett Street. “This was the first thing Ben set up when we moved in,” says homeowner Allison Hill.

To refresh the kitchen cabinetry, Patrick Flynn doused them in high-gloss lacquer (Sherwin-Williams Isle of Pines), added new unlacquered brass hardware, and replaced top cabinet fronts with brass grates

The flora and fauna on the powder room’s hand-painted French wallpaper nod to the home’s coastal architecture.

New Schumacher draperies complement a punchy pink in the dining room. “It’s fun to take a bigger risk with color in spaces that you may spend less time in,” says designer Brian Patrick Flynn.

New Schumacher draperies complement a punchy pink in the dining room. “It’s fun to take a bigger risk with color in spaces that you may spend less time in,” says designer Brian Patrick Flynn.

In the guest room, Patrick Flynn had walls painted Leapfrog by Sherwin-Williams and added chinoiserie draperies filled with navy, green, and coral.

Making a moment out of an arched recess in the guest bedroom, Patrick Flynn played to the home’s Mediterranean style and filled it with a coral-and-white striped wallpaper. The English chest and French chairs are from Ben’s mother.

“The overall intention of the guest bedroom was to juxtapose feminine and masculine lines equally, and we did that with the patterns, scale, and colors,” says Brian Patrick Flynn. “The bold grassy green with the bright hot pink strikes a really great balance.”

The downstairs den opens to the pool. A departure from the robust color in other rooms, the space is still inviting thanks to the caramel tones and black accents, including the zebra-striped ottoman.

The bar, with its intricately detailed chinoiserie chest and tiger-print wallpaper, adds a bit of formality to the downstairs living den.

The Hills worked with landscape architect Tracy Lurey to replace the original pool and add a hassle-free synthetic turf lawn.

There’s a certain freedom that comes with a traditional floor plan. Unlike open-air interiors, each room can stand alone, forming their own personalities yet still sharing common interests. In this Mediterranean-style Ansley Park property, owners Allison and Ben Hill embraced the formality, working with interior designer Brian Patrick Flynn to give an individual voice to spaces throughout.

As avid collectors, the Hills had already acquired much of their furniture over the years, so their main request was to find a way to pull both new and old pieces together for seamless flow. Patrick Flynn’s solution: color—and lots of it. “When they bought the house, the walls throughout the main floor were a dusty shade of beige, which argued with all of the bold undertones of the clients’ furniture, rugs, and artwork,” says the designer. “We had to banish the beige.”

Brian embraced the Hill’s collections, uniting spaces with playful, yet sophisticated uses of color and pattern—allowing some spaces to speak loudly and others to serve as a quiet retreat.

In the kitchen, the cabinetry’s rich teal color brings a new attitude to passive white kitchen cabinets and puts a stronger focus on the exposed wood ceiling. “This is a lively, active family, so it needed to be more energetic,” says Patrick Flynn.

The dining room’s paprika hue has double the wow factor thanks to the home’s high ceilings and great moldings, which allowed the designer to make an impact quickly. Built-ins display heirloom Imari china and leather-bound books, a collection started by Ben on outings with Allison to Scott Antique Markets.

Some of those finds take pride of place in the den and piano room. In the den, grasscloth walls and a steel window envelop a traditionally furnished interior interspersed with notes of gold and glamour. A petite gilded French armchair, Gustavian-style bench from the Stalls at Bennett Street covered in a Travers stripe, and a gold-and-crystal chandelier introduce warmer tones and connect the space to the coral-infused piano room, a veritable music box and a favorite spot of Ben’s, who is a classically trained pianist.

Nearby, the office serves work-at-home needs and doubles as a mini art gallery. A painting of Preservation Hall in New Orleans, one of the couple’s favorite destinations, hangs on a back wall while smaller works hang on window frames. “Things seem to show up better in small spaces,” says Allison.

Another small space that makes a big impression includes the powder bath, with its acid green vanity and botanical French wallpaper. A guest bedroom painted in the same green brims with chinoiserie drapery and a Palm Beach-inspired striped accent wall. “The overall intention of the guest bedroom was to juxtapose feminine and masculine lines equally, and we did that with the patterns, scale, and colors,” says Patrick Flynn. “The bold grassy green with the bright hot pink strikes a really great balance.”

The bar, featuring a chinoiserie chest, plays well with the exotic tiger-print wallpaper while reinforcing the black and gold notes in the den. “The rooms are like our own little jewel boxes,” says Allison. “Brian listened to what we wanted and took us one step further.”  

INTERIOR DESIGN Brian Patrick Flynn, flynnsideout.com landscape DESIGNER Tracy Lurey, Lurey Landscape Design, (404) 919-8195; lureylandscape.com