Classic Revival

In the dining room, designer Cathy Rhodes replaced the existing formal wall paneling with a custom d’Arte silk wallpaper, which serves as a verdant backdrop for emerald velvet chairs and a custom Keith Fritz dining table.

Rhodes balanced the living room’s soaring ceilings and formal architectural elements with a sisal rug from Designer Carpets. A sofa from Charles Stewart, chaise by Kravet and armchairs from Hickory Chair and Palecek provide a welcoming seating area in front of the fireplace.

Sizable windows dressed in silk drapery fabric allow natural light to flood into the living room.

A custom bar cabinet by Old Biscayne Designs is equal parts form and function. “You can have cocktails in the living room and easily flow into the dining room,” says Rhodes.

Alongside contractor Stuart Grubb of SGP Construction, Rhodes gave the kitchen a fresh face-lift. A custom hood with antique brass straps and warm brass hardware from Masterpiece Lighting adds a modern verve, as do custom-painted lanterns from The Urban Electric Co.

In the breakfast area, custom Galbraith & Paul window treatments echo the blue of the kitchen cabinetry. The dining table is through Hickory Chair and the patterned dining chairs are upholstered in a Katie Leede fabric.

A rug from the clients’ existing collection served as the starting point for the design of the study, which displays special mementos of the husband’s. The sofa is Charles Stewart, upholstered in a Cowtan & Tout mohair.

Rhodes anchored the foyer with an elegant settee from Foxglove Antiques & Galleries “so that you would actually walk into that space and sit down and read,” she says. The artwork is by Lorraine Christie.

Rhodes installed a textured grasscloth wallcovering from Gregorius Pineo to make the sprawling primary bedroom feel more idyllic.

A seating area in the primary bedroom provides the perfect place for the couple to retreat in the evenings. To avoid obscuring the view of the backyard, they installed a rotating television in the ceiling that can be viewed from various angles in the space.

When looking for a forever home for their family of six, an Atlanta couple knew they’d hit the mark with a spacious English Regency-style manse situated in Atlanta’s Tuxedo Park neighborhood. Brimming with charm, the home—originally designed by Harrison Design in 2000—features spacious rooms and soaring ceilings, as well as custom molding and formal fireplaces throughout.

To infuse the home with their family’s laid-back personality, the homeowners enlisted the expertise of Atlanta designer Cathy Rhodes, who strategically outfitted the home with happy hues, easygoing textures and custom upholstery—all while creating intentional gathering spaces so that every square inch of the home was livable.

“With four children and everybody seeking their own little reading nook or homework space, we took advantage of the large rooms and created a variety of cozy seating areas,” says Rhodes. “We were on the same page of taking the formal rooms and making each one of them a livable, welcoming space for their family to enjoy on an everyday basis.”

In the living room, for instance, Rhodes broke up the sprawling space into two distinct seating areas, purposefully placing an open-back chaise lounge in the center so that “you can sit facing either way and be part of either seating area or conversation group.” In both the living and dining rooms, the designer balanced formal architectural elements with more casual sisal rugs and upholstery “to make them cozy, inviting and less formal than you might expect when you walk in the house.”

Likewise, in lieu of artwork, the design team replaced the dining room’s existing wall paneling with a custom, tone-on-tone d’Arte silk wallpaper, which serves as a subtle backdrop for a custom Keith Fritz dining table and green velvet dining chairs. “You’re enveloped in a beautiful scene, but nothing jumps out as too loud or too busy,” says Rhodes. “We wanted it to be all about the dining table and the people sitting around it.”

Though the dining room’s palette is subdued, the clients love color, which Rhodes honored by anchoring the home with shades of green and blue—with the occasional pop of orange or coral.

This is particularly evident in the kitchen, which Rhodes renovated with the help of contractor Stuart Grubb of SGP Construction. To make the room’s large footprint and 12-foot-tall ceilings feel elegant yet approachable, Rhodes chose a rich peacock blue (Sherwin-Williams’ Still Water) for the cabinetry. In the adjoining breakfast nook, a custom Galbraith & Paul drapery fabric echoes this color scheme.

“That consistent use of color helps tie the house together and makes it a bit less formal,” says Rhodes. “You feel like you could pull up a chair from any room into another room and they would all work together.”

INTERIOR DESIGN Cathy Rhodes, Cathy Rhodes Interiors, (404) 307-0616; cathyrhodesinteriors.com ARCHITECT Harrison Design, (404) 365-7760; harrisondesign.com