Home, Sweet Retreat

Home, Sweet Retreat, Mar 2016

Home, Sweet Retreat, Mar 2016

The French doors’ curved shutters were painted a rich Charleston green for crisp contrast, and Dixon’s intuitive architectural sight line provides a perfectly framed view to the living room beyond.

The double-height living room features a zinc-topped built-in bar with antiqued-mirror panels that pop open for extra storage and a nearby kitchenette for easy meal prep. Floors were painted a soft gloss gray, a polished look that’s also perfect for wet feet. A limewashed ladder leads to an upper-level loft.

Dixon designed a compact bunk room that boasts a quad of sleeping spots complete with Otomi toss pillows.

When a pair of Buckhead dwellers approached D. Stanley Dixon to create their dream pool house, they knew the acclaimed architect would be an excellent fit; after all, he’d already won a Shutze award for his design of their main residence, commissioned by previous owners years before.

Naturally, he referenced the same New England Dutch Colonial hallmarks, including the gambrel roof, a mix of tumbled Tennessee fieldstone and reclaimed granite, painted wood siding and machine-split cedar shake shingles for a warm yet refined effect.

Other delightful details—such as the mock pigeonnier crowning the garden shed—further define what Dixon describes as a “destination pool,” set deep into the property, fairly removed from the house. For this reason, lauded landscape architect John Howard was instrumental in siting the structure beneath a curving oak tree.

Summer months are the family’s favorite for enjoying their sun-dappled retreat, dining alfresco on the loggia between its two main volumes and lounging on its boxwood-dotted patio.

“They spend entire Saturdays here, barbecue grilling, hanging out, watching TV, taking a nap (in the charming bunk room or loft, perhaps) and swimming,” says Dixon, who provided deft direction for the homeowners’ interior design, as well. “It’s youthful, sophisticated and a bit bohemian. The husband is an avid hunter and had a very large European mount that we used as a focal point. It says a lot about them and their personal tastes.”

A vintage teak coffee table, rush carpets, Mexican textiles and a sparkling Jean de Merry chandelier add eclectic elegance to the double-height living room, which also boasts limewashed wood beams, painted wood floors, boarded and skim-coated plaster walls, and whimsical windows that keep things light and bright.

“It’s old-fashioned, comfortable … a little bit unpredictable,” Dixon says. And what could be better in one’s own backyard?

ARCHITECT Stan Dixon, D. Stanley Dixon Architect. (404) 574-1430; dsdixonarchitect.com.