After 25 years of living in Atlanta, Georgia, this business professional decided to move back to her hometown. She had lived in a new house in Atlanta but was hoping to find a home in her parents’ charming, well-established neighborhood. After three disappointing possibilities, her father encouraged her to look at the cottage around the corner that had been empty for several years. “I took one step in and fell in love with it,” she exclaims, “and it’s walking distance to my parents’.”
With the help of old friends, builder David Camp and interior designer Lauren Conner, the cottage’s metamorphosis began. David reworked the front of the house to create a little portico and charming entrance. To continue the inviting welcome seen from the exterior, he made some interior changes as well. Upon entering the home, there had been a coat closet front and center. So, one of the first changes David made was to close up the opening. Now, a beautiful painting greets visitors as they enter. Other than that change, the front living room and dining room needed only painting.
The kitchen was completely redesigned with new cabinets and new appliances. Beams were added to the ceiling to match the original beams found in the master bedroom. The homeowner requested a kitchen island, and David happily complied with a beautiful wood top and storage below. And a custom banquette provides ample seating around the kitchen table.
The two bedrooms each received an en suite bathroom. The master bath has an open shower with no door or shower curtain to clean and a light-filled window. The guest bath has an arched opening for the tub, producing a cozy bathing alcove.
Lauren helped select the colors for the home, choosing cool shades of gray. Fortunately, they were able to keep the original floors throughout, and with refinishing, they look like new. Contemporary furnishings were sourced at local retail shops and at Scott Antique Markets in Atlanta.
The original back porch was falling in when the house was purchased, but together, David and Lauren created an outdoor haven with the addition of a stone fireplace and comfortable seating. The crumbling wooden floor was replaced with durable bluestone, and during football season, this is where the entertaining happens.
To complete the home, landscape designer Holly Camp produced the inviting front landscape. A pea-gravel parking pad has room for two cars, and there is still space for a small lawn surrounded by tiny boxwoods.
In the beginning of the remodel, the homeowner did not ask for much, just to make the house more modern and to have a master bath and closet. This simple request resulted in much more: a place that says, “Welcome home.”
