A Clever Renovation Helped This Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, House Measure Up

Rather than parting with their much-loved home, a young family renovated the spot to suit their evolving needs

Lookout Mountain was historically a summer destination. “People would live in downtown Chattanooga and then head to the mountains in the warmer months for better temperatures,” says designer Hannon Doody. Nearly nine years ago, she and her husband, Cam, made the same move full-time, trading their apartment in the city for a 1931 house in a friendly neighborhood that felt right for their growing family, which included their then-infant daughter, Margot. Four years and another daughter, Liles, later, the couple found themselves with a choice to make: Find something bigger, or renovate the place they had lovingly dubbed Hopscotch Cottage. After a fruitless search, they opted to stay put—a decision that not so secretly delighted Hannon. “I’d always say, ‘Save the cottage!’ It had such great bones...it just wasn’t living up to its full potential,” she notes.

Related: See How A Tennessee Cottage Gets Its Once-A-Century Makeover

Helping their little home measure up was a larger undertaking than they had originally planned, she recalls. “We moved out for 10 months, and what was intended to be just an addition became a full gut too.” They took the structure nearly down to the studs, updating both the plumbing and electrical, tweaking the scale of existing cased openings to make them feel more proportional, and selecting cohesive finishes for the mismatched trim and doors. The extensive renovation made good on the cottage’s promise, too, adding 1,500 square feet of living space to its original 2,200 and also creating a relaxed flow between indoors and out.

The main level’s floor plan remained largely unchanged, with the focus poured into the addition of a large family room, a butler’s pantry and bar (above left) and a powder bath (above right). Upstairs, they demoed what was originally a bath and reworked a hallway in favor of a new bedroom and bath. Outside, they vaulted the screened porch’s existing ceiling, updated the deck, and partnered with Birmingham-based landscaping firm Falkner Gardens to bring life to the once-boring backyard.

The size and scale of the home proved a helpful framework for Hannon to make decisions about the interiors. “I joke that I could live in five different houses,” says the designer, whose tastes range from contemporary to Southern traditional. For her, the cottage’s inherent coziness was an easy thread to follow. “I wanted it to be a comfortable spot for my kids to grow up,” she says. “I aspired to have a house where other people could come and feel like it was nice but not be worried about their child eating a sucker on the sofa.”

Her laid-back approach to decorating announces itself immediately at the front door, which opens into the dining room, a somewhat unusual layout that Hannon embraced. “Entertaining is something that I love to do. Why not introduce people to that right off the bat?” she says. While she often keeps the table set with her favorite linens and dishes, you’re just as likely to find the detritus of life with two young girls—a tennis bag leaned against a chair or a backpack tossed on one of the faux-silk cushions. This is a house that’s as committed to livability as it is to good design.

For instance, in the windowless kitchen at the core of the home, Hannon engineered a feeling of brightness and warmth by covering nearly every surface, from the walls to the hood, in a neutral tile that softly bounces around light and topping the island with white oak finished like butcher block (the statement piece was crafted by the Birmingham organization Manufacture Good). She purposely skipped barstools here, nudging everyone to find their seats in the dining room or the breakfast nook instead. “I love the idea of it being a working kitchen where you can hang out and have a glass of wine but you’re not tempted to sit there for an hour,” she says.

The nearby family room, however, is designed for exactly that, with simple-to-clean sofas by Lee Industries and a pair of vintage rattan-and-wicker chairs by McGuire. “We live in a place where we very much experience the seasons,” says Hannon, who selected tongue-and-groove paneling (painted in Sherwin-Williams’ Liveable Green, SW 6176) to infuse the addition with a dose of old-house character. “I wanted a spot where we could have a great big fire in the fall and winter and it would feel cozy, but then I used lighter fabrics like cottons and linens so in the spring and summer, the doors could be open and nothing would feel too hot or stale,” she says.

Nods to the couple’s love of travel are everywhere, from the Slim Aarons photo (snapped in their favorite Bahamas vacation spot, Harbour Island) displayed in the family room to the breakfast nook that was inspired by Casa Tua restaurant in Miami. “Sometimes, layers tend to make a small area feel suffocating, but in this case, they really wrap you up,” says Hannon, who covered the walls in Les Indiennes’ Rayure print in Olive and opted for a custom sofa by Lee Industries, upholstered in an indoor-outdoor linen, rather than choosing a banquette. “I think it really sets a mood. This is where we sit when we eat breakfast in the morning, and it’s where we close out the day as a family.”

This kind of easy togetherness is the other thread woven through the whole of Hopscotch Cottage, where a king-size bed in one of the girls’ rooms encourages nightly sister sleepovers and the screened porch seating was selected with melting ice pops and dirt-covered little feet in mind. “This house is for them,” explains Hannon. “That’s what Cam and I decided when we were choosing between renovating or moving to something a little more spacious. We wanted to let this home tell a story about our children growing up, surrounded by comfort and a collection of our happy memories. We didn’t want to jump into anything too serious or stuffy.”

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