Brighter Days

Decorator Betty Burgess complemented the home’s leafy surroundings with Clarence House’s pink floral linen gracing a pair of slipper chairs and a green velvet covering the sofa.

Architect D. Stanley Dixon transformed the home’s screened porch, an addition made more than a decade ago, into an enclosed family room. The new arched iron window provides an improved visual connection to the backyard. The Pouf coffee table is Caste through R Hughes and the lantern is The Urban Electric Co.

An artful Hélène Aumont table through R Hughes commands the dining room. Its striking lines are softened by a custom Bungalow Classic banquette and the homeowners’ own Regency-style chairs. The gallery wall features black-and-white photography by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Édouard Boubat.

A custom swinging leather door designed by Burgess adds flair to the kitchen. The patent leather counter stools are from R Hughes.

Howard Design Studio turned a little used space of the backyard into a dining area for casual lunches and dinners. The table and chairs are manufactured in France for Fermob.

An office nook showcases the home’s traditional-meets-modern design ethos. J. Robert Scott’s Geo chair enlivens the 19th-century writing desk from Parc Monceau. The ship sculpture is by famed Irish artist John Behan.

The bold, but airy patterned Harlequin wallpaper refrains from overwhelming the powder room.

Layers of soft, tactile textures in the guest bedroom impart a peaceful ambiance. The custom headboard features Scalamandré’s Nebula fabric.

Burgess embraced the master bedroom’s angled ceilings to create a charming and cozy retreat. Schumacher’s Chinois Palais fabric brings cohesion throughout the space, while a custom linen velvet banquette offers the perfect spot to read and enjoy a glass of wine.

Burgess embraced the master bedroom’s angled ceilings to create a charming and cozy retreat. Schumacher’s Chinois Palais fabric brings cohesion throughout the space, while a custom linen velvet banquette offers the perfect spot to read and enjoy a glass of wine.

right To contrast the master suite’s ladylike design, a quirky pair of vintage chairs from Interiors Market flanks a gray antique chest. Burgess balanced the room’s sloping rooflines with a creative arrangement of the client’s art collection.

American boxwoods line the newly manicured front lawn. The fiber cement planters are by Greenform.

A complete landscape overhaul by Howard Design Studio saw the addition of retaining walls to create a multilevel backyard. The walls are stacked Cherokee Stone—a locally quarried material often used in Buckhead gardens during the 1920s—and are lined with fragrant rosemary clipped to resemble hedges. Howard also added features such as a koi pond and stainless steel garden sculpture by British artist David Harber. The teak furniture is from Sutherland.

“We didn’t want the landscape to minimize the impact of the house, so our goal was to keep things streamlined and clean.” —John Howard

A complete landscape overhaul by Howard Design Studio saw the addition of retaining walls to create a multilevel backyard. The walls are stacked Cherokee Stone—a locally quarried material often used in Buckhead gardens during the 1920s—and are lined with fragrant rosemary clipped to resemble hedges. Howard also added features such as a koi pond and stainless steel garden sculpture by British artist David Harber. The teak furniture is from Sutherland.

“Vibrant” is a word interior designer Betty Burgess cites more than once when describing a charming cottage tucked away in Brookwood Hills. Step inside and it’s easy to be swept away by the home’s charming yet forward-thinking style—but that wasn’t always the case. Knowing their home had the potential to live and feel larger than its modest 1940s footprint, the homeowners initially reached out to architect (and neighbor) D. Stanley Dixon. 

He remedied the home’s choppy layout and minimal daylight with a few strategic strokes such as removing gratuitous walls and extending the kitchen. With a better sense of circulation in place, the home was primed for its new look. “From our very first meeting, the wife’s great energy and fun sense of humor really inspired me,” recalls Burgess. “I knew she was on board to push the design in a fresher, more lively direction. And it was clear to me that she definitely liked color.” 

Given the wife’s passion for art (she’s an active docent at the High Museum of Art), Burgess took cues from the couple’s personal collection to zero in on a palette of plum and lavender hues mixed with splashes of acid greens and yellows. “I photographed and printed every piece of art in their home, knowing I had to figure out how to create cohesion yet still let each one shine,” she says. To accent photography by renowned French artist Henri Cartier-Bresson and a piece by Irish sculptor John Behan, Burgess selected an assortment of fabrics ranging from delicate florals to geometric patterns. For the furnishings, a mix of traditional and modern enhances the home’s eclectic sensibility.  

Family also dictated the home’s new design. With 12 grandchildren, plenty of space to spread out is undoubtedly crucial, a need that prompted Dixon to enclose the screened porch and transform it into a spacious family room. An arched iron window reaching 11 feet bathes the room in natural light, while cedar shingles on the once exterior walls remain as a nostalgic reminder of this home that’s been loved and evolved over time with its owners. 

 As renovations along the rear of the cottage developed, effectively changing the home’s relationship to the backyard, landscape architect John Howard was called upon to reconfigure the entire landscape. “To help the backyard feel much larger than it is, we created terraced levels for some visual depth,” explains Howard. The bottom paved terrace is now suited for lounging and dining, while the upper terrace acts as a lush backdrop boasting mature Cryptomeria trees alongside southern staples like endless summer hydrangeas and Becky daisies. Howard even transformed a neglected, out-of-sight area of the property into a charming sunken-in pea gravel space that he likens to a secret garden, a feature delightfully welcomed by the wife. 

“As a team, we really tapped into her energy and it inspired us to stretch our imaginations,” reflects Dixon. “That helped push the project along and in turn gave the cottage its own unique personality.”

INTERIOR DESIGN Betty Burgess, Betty Burgess Design. (404) 841-7707; bettyburgessdesign.com ARCHITECT D. Stanley Dixon, D. Stanley Dixon Architect. (404) 574-1430; dsdixonarchitect.com LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT John Howard, Howard Design Studio, LLC. (404) 876-7051; howarddesignstudio.com