The first thing inside designer Melanie Turner did to Susie Stern’s home in Atlanta was paint the walls white and stain the bamboo flooring a brown-black color. The new neutral canvas set the stage for layering in color and pattern. “Susie formerly color coded the rooms,” says Turner. “Her artwork supplies were like little trails that led to different projects throughout the home. None of the rooms had a particular, clearly defined purpose.”
Though Turner let Susie’s artistic side and her blended family of eight ascertain a lot of the design choices, she did not lose touch of her main objective: to create a calm area for Susie so the mom-artist could handle the day’s challenges by a calm and centered home.
in a Glance
Who lives here: Susie Stern, husband Clark Davis and their 6 children
Location: Atlanta
Size: 3,000 square feet
That is interesting: Susie and Clark have a blended family; they all came into the union with 3 children each after their own children introduced them to each other on the football field.
Erica George Dines Photography
Erica George Dines Photography
Grass fabric wallpaper and a sisal rug add a bit of contemporary, organic simplicity to this traditional living space, creating what Turner calls a casual glamorous feel.
An assortment of calligraphy brushes traces in Susie’s artistic spirit.
Erica George Dines Photography
The press space is Clark’s “man den.” Chaises provide plenty of living space.
Turner utilized the negative distance from the recessed walls to keep logs, lending the space a cozy, rustic sensibility.
Erica George Dines Photography
“They are a contemporary Brady Bunch, this family. I made the common areas to be elastic, providing different options for furniture structure. The distance is sophisticated and elegant, but you never once forget that a family lives here,” says Turner.
Erica George Dines Photography
The concrete-top kitchen dining table is surrounded by sloped, slipcovered chairs. Upholstered chairs give adaptive seating options and could be moved around.
Erica George Dines Photography
From the entry, a Versailles dome chair with blanched wood trim and kelly green upholstery clearly sets the color tone for the rest of the home.
Erica George Dines Photography
This chest and sunburst mirror add attention to what was a closet space. Turner eliminated the closet doors in front of this area to create this glamorous, high-shine corner.
Erica George Dines Photography
High-backed, slipcovered and slightly oversize dining chairs match the play of this big light shade.
Erica George Dines Photography
Turner altered the sunroom into Susie’s art studio by painting white a classic kitchen table, a flea market light pendant and antique seats. The children use the surrounding West Elm tables in apple as their homework desks, and cozy armchairs upholstered in luxe Schumacher cloth function as their reading chairs.
“A huge chunk of our funding for this job went into the furniture upholstery and wall therapy cloths. A base of white paint, stained flooring and a shuffling of existing furniture into different parts of the home helped us stay within budget,” says Turner.
Erica George Dines Photography
The designer gave the stairs a punch of color by painting onto a runner — a vibrant, budget-friendly alternate to a carpet runner.
Erica George Dines Photography
“For our huge design reveal, my partner and I shipped Susie and Clark away for supper, and if they returned she just started bawling. I am so happy that I could give her a serene, stabilizing home that felt genuinely hers,” says Turner.
Erica George Dines Photography
The guest bathroom upstairs includes a heating palette of white and blue, breaking in the kelly green theme downstairs.
Turner appreciated how that this family approached their home’s redesign. “They are a real family with a true budget, so that they went about things. They could only afford to redo the bottom floor and a little the next floor — and only now are they prepared to operate on the master bedroom, bath and an additional bedroom,” says Turner.
More:
Colorful, Luxe Designs to the Traditional Home