True to Form

After renovating seven houses in 13 years, Kay Douglass was probably an easy mark. One walk through the 1932 Tudor, and the Atlanta interior designer was sold. “It had a slate roof and beautiful crusty old bricks with vines growing over them,” Kay recalls. Inside there were thick plaster walls, beamed ceilings, and timber archways. “I said, I love it—and I want it.”

Never mind that she and her husband, Jim, already owned a house in Atlanta. “We love to renovate houses,”she notes, and this home had architectural features she couldn’t resist. “It was old and original, and there wasn’t a lot we needed to undo.”

However, that lack of updating meant the house was in serious need of respectful modernizing and renovating. “I don’t think anything had been done since the ’70s,” Kay says. She replaced the formal green marble fireplace surround in the living room with concrete and a salvaged wood mantel.

Design:
Architect: Keith Summerour, Summerour and Associates, 409 Bishop St., Atlanta. GA 30318; 404/603-8585.
Interior designer: Kay Douglass, Kay Douglass Interiors, 345 Peachtree Hills Ave., Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30305; 404/995-0802.
Kay’s antique and home furnishings shop: South of Market, 345 Peachtree Hills Ave., Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30305; 404/995-9399, and 173 King St., Charleston, SC 29401; 843/723-1114, southofmarket.biz.
General contractor: Joe Noah, Joe Noah and Assoc. Inc., 404/355-2614. 

Sources:
Sofa; sofa fabric (mohair): Lee Industries, 800/892-7150.
Bolster pillows on sofa; drapery fabric: Donghia Furniture/Textiles Ltd., 800/366-4442, donghia.com, trade only.
Planter coffee table: Randall Tysinger Antiques, 877/524-0080, trade only.
Wing chairs by fireplace; wing-chair fabric; pillows in wing chairs; white wing chair with custom slipcover (“Carter Chair’’); red throw (Morgan Collection); chandelier: South of Market, 404/995-9399.
Slipcover on white chair: Rogers & Goffigon, 212/888-3242, trade only.
Carpet (sea grass): Myers Carpet, 404/352-8141.
Large painting (by Todd Murphy): The Lowe Gallery, 404/352-8114, lowegallery.com.
Mirror over mantel: Interiors Market, 404/352-0055. Windows: original to house.

Photographs by William Waldron
Text by Amy Elbert
Produced by Eleanor Roper