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It’s only natural that a prewar home located in a historic neighborhood embraces its setting inside and out—and that’s exactly what homeowner Lawren Williams wanted for her craftsman bungalow in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood of Atlanta. Built in 1920 with a log cabin construction technique, the home “was stripped of its charm with original features removed and walls opened up to impose the trends and desires of the time,” says designer Avery Cox, who Williams tapped to infuse the home with historical flair. “Think white walls, open concept, and that classic southern traditional look.”
With her project manager Jillian Gamboa of Avery Cox Design, Cox got to work on the three-bedroom, three-bathroom home that spans 2,530 square feet. “We studied many historic craftsman bungalows for inspiration for the architectural and built-in elements,” Cox says.
They added consecutive archways to give the home rhythm and separation. In the living room, the hearth and fireplace surround were given an earth-toned replacement that features olive green tiles by Waterworks. One bedroom was turned into a study, where built-in bookcases offer a cozy library feel. A vestibule was also added to transform the awkward transition space that leads to the primary bedroom.
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As a photographer and artist, Williams desired “a cozy, warm, layered home with personality and soul,” Cox says. So the design team did a deep dive into Williams’s likes and dislikes to bring the decor elements to life—including placing the client’s own photography right in the entry. All of the furnishings are new to the client, many of which were sourced from various countries, markets, antique malls, fairs, and estate sales.
At last, the charming home lives up to its striking environment.”We always like to let the original spirit of the home guide us in the design,” Cox says. “This home was just begging to be embraced for its smaller scale and traditional layout, so we let that shine again.”
Living Room
“I have always dreamed of designing a living space with four big chairs as the seating arrangement and when we were presented with the challenging layout in Lawren’s front room, I knew the time had come,” Cox says. “With limited space but a desire to create comfortable seating and good flow, the four-chair arrangement worked perfectly. The ‘throne’ as we call it, and the reupholstered red footstool provide auxiliary seating when Lawren is hosting a crowd.”
Cox adds that it was crucial to reimagine the fireplace to fit an earthier style. “The handmade olive green tile from Waterworks was the perfect choice to create more depth and variation in this room.”
Now, it’s the ideal location for the homeowner to host book clubs and dinner parties. “I can’t imagine a cozier spot to have a pre-dinner cocktail,” Cox says.
Rattan chairs: vintage, recovered in Holland & Sherry fabric. Pillow fabric: Pierre Frey. Pillow on side chair: Kufri. Coffee table: West Elm. Floor lamp: Arteriors. Side table: Pottery Barn. Drapery: Alamwar fabric. Hearth tile: Waterworks. Rhino painting: H.B. Mruta. Rug, side chair, and stool: vintage.
Dining Room
To tackle the challenging flow of traffic in the dining room and the kitchen peninsula seating, Cox chose a circular dining table that expands into an oval shape. “The large Noguchi lantern helps anchor the space with its large scale, but it intentionally blocks the view to the kitchen—giving a little separation of space and a moment of visual rest,” Cox says.
Rug: Nordic Knots. Wallpaper: Robert Kime. Wall sconce: Etsy. Lampshade: Alice Palmer Co. Hutch: A. Tyner Antiques. Dining table and chairs: vintage.
Hallway
“The color selection took lots of trial and error, but I’m so happy with where we landed because it perfectly marries the two spaces that it joins,” Cox says. “The simplicity and architectural nature of the console table balances the sweetness of the Venetian pink glass mirror I found at High Point Market last year.”
Table: Van Collier. Painting: Lorenzo Scott. Rug and accessories: vintage.
Study
“We wanted to create a space that felt cozy and comfortable—a place Lawren could take Zoom calls one moment, and then plop on the chaise and thumb through an architecture tome cuddled up with her dog, Fig, and a cup of tea the next,” Cox says. “This is a special room that celebrates Lawren’s journey as an artist and creative and holds many of her sentimental books, collections, and objects.”
Wallpaper: Cole & Son. Table lamp: Jamie Young Co. Chaise: vintage, recovered in Kravet fabric. Rug and desk: vintage.
Primary Bedroom
“Something about a four-poster bed just feels so grand, and I’m so glad we went for the big scale in this space because it feels very grounding—something that was important to Lawren,” Cox says.
The missing piece for this room was the rug. “Jillian Gamboa, the project manager for this project, and I spotted it at Round Top Antiques Fair in Texas and texted Lawren immediately,” Cox says. “It was hard to let it go because we both wanted it for ourselves!”
Bed: Room & Board. Side tables: Made Goods. Table lamps: Emissary. Chair fabric and boudoir pillow: William Morris. Bedspread: Nickey Kehoe. Sham fabric: Carolina Irving. Drapery: Clarence House fabric (discontinued). Rug and accessories: vintage.
Primary Bathroom
“We took what was a pretty basic bathroom with beautiful but very neutral finishes and punched it up with new mirrors, sconce lights, drapery, and accessories,” Cox says. “It didn’t take much to transform this space and make it feel more cohesive to the rest of the home.”
Mirrors: Noir. Sconces: Hudson Valley Lighting. Curtains: Ferrick Mason. Dish on stool: Rebecca Wood. Elephant painting: H.B. Mruta. Rug, stool, ottoman, art, and accessories: vintage.
Q & A
House Beautiful: Did you encounter any memorable hiccups, challenges, or surprises during the project? How did you pivot?
Avery Cox: We originally wanted to install a wainscot on the walls in the dining room, but after we started to install it we realized just how crooked the floor was. Being an old house and all, the slope was totally exaggerated by the horizontal wall paneling detail we were trying to install. We ended up keeping the waistcoat on the kitchen peninsula but opted for floor-to-ceiling wallpaper in the dining space.
Another issue was how to light the kitchen peninsula. We didn’t want to use pendant lights because they blocked the view and there wasn’t a natural place to mount them now that we had installed the archway separating the two spaces. We opted for a plug-in wall-mounted lamp that has an adjustable height. This gave a nice visual separation without blocking the view to the kitchen and provided a nice soft light for the surface of the peninsula.
We were also challenged to utilize as much vintage as possible both from a budget and a sustainability standpoint. We wanted to avoid buying mass-produced goods where possible and instead choose to up-cycle vintage furniture, textiles, and lighting as well as source products from small independent makers and designers. Lead times helped us push this idea because anything we thought about purchasing from a larger manufacturer would take 30 weeks and our vintage and custom pieces could be turned around in six to eight.
HB: Where did the majority of the budget go?
AC: Textiles, absolutely. Our client has a passion for texture, pattern, and color, and textiles are one of the easiest ways to express that. We sourced a combination of beautiful handmade and small-batch textiles as well as fine selections from some of our favorite producers.
HB: How did you save money/DIY/get crafty?
AC: So many ways! We found two sets of vintage rattan chairs on Chairish. We decided to paint them a peacock blue and upholster new cushions in complimentary coral fabric. It was such an inexpensive way to get four club chairs into the space and fulfills my dream of designing a four-chair living room! Such a cozy vibe. The same is true with the barstools. These were our client's existing stools that we painted in a high gloss light olive and upholstered in a jade mohair.
We saved lots of shipping costs by taking our client to Scott Market in Atlanta and sourcing several pieces to fill in the final design. The “throne,” as we call it, was one of these along with the barley twist table to the left of the fireplace, the giant urn we use for flowers now in the dining room, and the footstool in the primary bathroom.
The dining table is one of my favorite transformations. We had always planned to have a red table in the dining room but had so much trouble finding or making something that was within our budget. When we found this oak table on 1stdibs, I knew it was just the one. We promptly tested stains and created the perfect raisin color to complete our vision.
HB: Are there any other memorable details?
AC: The chaise lounge in the study was our client's grandmother’s, which we recovered in the brine-y velvet but kept the round pillow in the original fabric. It is so cool to see heirloom pieces like that get a new life.
Choosing the four-poster bed was a great moment for us because that was when we realized that our client would really go for it and that she really got it. Not everyone would sign on for a four-poster canopy bed let alone one that was deep chocolate brown and pink. That decision paired with the paint colors in the bedroom was when we really started to hit our stride with the design of this home.
Lawren has an amazing spirit and is a talented photographer and artist in her own right. Working with someone who was open to our creative ideas and who was so overjoyed by the collaboration made this project so exceptional. We love working with people and clients to find joy in the discovery of themselves throughout a design project and who are happy to be on the journey with us knowing it will come together in the end. Lawren has been so fun to work with, especially because she is so willing to trust us when we find one-of-a-kind things out in the wild. We’ve shopped for Lawren in other countries, other cities, at Round Top, at antique malls, estate sales, and the like. She is so trusting of our instincts and that is what has made for such a rich and layered outcome. A favorite memory was going to Scotts market in Atlanta with Lawren the week of our installation AND the photo shoot. Lawren, Jillian, and I spotted so many treasures that really made the whole house sing. It was fun to finally shop like that in person!
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