This Family-Friendly Georgia Home Is Drenched In Color

Step inside the Atlanta home that's pretty and practical.

When designing a home for a young family of four living in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood, Whitney Durham, the founder of Whitney Durham Interiors, was charged with making the 5,300 square foot space feel brighter, lighter, colorful, and more youthful.

“When [my clients] moved in, the house had great bones, but it ultimately felt dark and cold to them,” Durham says. She worked to integrate their meaningful family pieces and antiques alongside family-friendly performance fabric furnishings to create a space that’s welcoming and ideal for entertaining. “The mix of playful patterns, colorful artwork, whimsical wallpaper and family heirlooms create the perfect balance for this young family to call home,” Durham says.

Beautiful And Functional

Durham was mindful in designing a space that is equal parts aesthetically pleasing and functional for this young family. “Performance fabrics have come a long way in recent years and are available in so many different forms such as velvets, linen, and cotton blends, faux leather, and tweeds,” she says. In the kitchen, the designer chose to cover bar stools in a green faux leather Schumacher fabric. “Faux leather is easy to wipe clean with a damp cloth and very forgiving to spills of any kind,” she explains.

She carried the use of green over into the breakfast nook, where a stain treated cotton/polyester blend fabric from JF Fabrics takes center stage and adds yet another cheerful touch to the kitchen. Durham styled the dining benches with pillows covered in Sunbrella performance fabrics, as well as some made from Schumacher fabrics with a stain treatment applied to ensure durability. An art piece, sourced locally, features some of the clients’ favorite colors; it happened to be the perfect space for the nook.

Statement-Making Pieces

Durham is a proponent of incorporating Turkish rugs in the kitchen; here, a colorful number makes a statement by the sink. “The patterns and colors in these rugs help hide stains and add so much personality to a space,” she says, noting that she incorporated similar rugs in the foyer, primary bedroom, wet bar, pantry, and powder bath.

Happy Hues

Durham describes her clients’ aesthetic as preppy and traditional; they appreciate playful, happy hues, too. “You can often see a color and style correlation to a client’s personal wardrobe in relation to the colors and patterns they like to mix into their home,” she reflects. “I pulled in a lot of pinks, greens, blues, and fun patterns which are also a lot of the colors my clients seemed to dress themselves in.”

In the dining room, Durham covered the walls with a blue and green floral print—Schumacher’s Persian Lancers in citron. “The dining room and powder room are always great spaces to incorporate wallpaper if you aren’t sure it’s something you want to stare at all the time,” she says. In this instance, she considers the wallpaper to truly complete the space, given that it plays to the many ceramic chinoiserie pieces her clients keep on display throughout their home. “This wallpaper is a nod to those pieces and pulls in all of their favorite colors while remaining on the light and neutral side but still being playful and sophisticated all at the same time,” Durham says.

A Collection On Display

Durham went lighter and airier when designing the bar per her clients’ request and styled their collection of glassware on the glass shelves, which sit on top of Schumacher wallpaper. Perpendicular to the shelves, Durham hung a round mirror. “It added a different shape to the all of the rectangles and straight lines of the space and also helps the space feel larger,” she says.

Carrying Color Throughout

When it came to the clients’ keeping room, Durham wanted to go bold with a blue shade, Benjamin Moore Labrador Blue, that ties in nicely with the kitchen island color.

In the powder bath, Durham hung a coral Thibaut wallpaper and designed a custom vanity, complete with scalloped detailing. She says, “It’s very unique, preppy, playful but still sophisticated all at the same time!” The piece is coated in the same light blue shade used on the ceiling. Underneath the vanity, woven baskets allow for necessary storage.

Blending Old And New

Among some of the clients’ antique treasures are a collection of vintage needlepoint footstools, which Durham artfully placed throughout the home.

Durham always encourages her clients to fuse together the old and new for a well curated look. She adds, “Oftentimes, you can find antique and vintage pieces at good price points, which can allow you to splurge more on the larger custom upholstery pieces and window treatments.”

A Serene Retreat

The primary bedroom is more serene in style and features framed intaglios hung above the bed as well as an assortment of patterned throw pillows. Durham says, “My clients wanted to have color but not an overwhelming amount—a place where they can curl up and read a book at the end of the day.” 

Related: 6 Remodeling Mistakes To Avoid, According To A Designer

For more Southern Living news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Southern Living.