During a house-hunting trip in historic Marietta, Kelly and Scott Register fell in love with a home with a sultry and infamous past.

The 1927 craftsman bungalow on Church Street called the Latimer-Hill House captured their eye.

Valentino Mauricio/Staff (ENLARGE)

Kelly Register poses with great danes Madi George (left) and Burt in front of the Registers Marietta bungalow.

Valentino Mauricio /Staff (ENLARGE)

The Registers completed a massive renovation and addition to the 1927 house. The home is furnished with an eclectic combination of family heirlooms, antiques and modern furnishings.

RELATED LINKS • See more photos of the home • Previous Private Quarters • Home & Garden • More Cobb news • ajchomefinder.com Step back in time Search our historic archives for stories on historic homes and more about the Atlanta environs from 1868 through 1929. • 2007 HOME SALES REPORT

"Scott and I absolutely love the charm of the old houses," Kelly Register said. "The Virginia Hill house was our favorite and absolutely perfect for us — a place we could see ourselves settling in for the rest of our lives."

According to the Cobb Landmarks and Historical Society, the Latimer-Hill-Register House was sold in the mid-1930s to mob mistress Virginia Hill. She bought the house for her mother for $11,000. Hill was the mistress of mobster Bugsy Siegel, the founder of Las Vegas.

The house changed hands many times until the current homeowners bought it in 2003. After hiring an architect, the Registers decided to expand the kitchen, build a new master bedroom and bath and add a second level.

They took care to preserve the look of the house. The original gables are intact, with a higher pitch to match the addition of the second story. The two-bedroom, two bathroom house now has four bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms.

Kelly Register has filled the home with a combination of family heirlooms, antiques and modern furnishings. The décor is a palette of black and white with brown and red tones.

"I'm a nurse, but I love decorating," Kelly Register said. Scott Register is a tournament director for the National Golf Association.

During the renovation, the floor was changed to slate tile, and an unusable side door was replaced with windows. The home's front door, which did not change, features a peephole that the couple joke is big enough to fit a gun barrel.

The original bathroom was renovated and expanded to include a clawfoot tub, shower and marble tile.

"We wanted the true 1920s tile," Kelly Register said.

Kelly Register's office, once the sitting room, features a fun painting they picked up in Jamaica on their honeymoon. They added pocket doors to the office to separate it from the bedroom.

"Neither one of us wanted to change the master, but the architect asked us if we planned on being here for a while," she said. Adding a master bedroom allows the Registers to use the other rooms for guests or children in the future.

In the new master bedroom, Kelly Register hung an old-style fan she found on eBay that is a working ceiling fan. The couple used wainscoting in the room, and it hides their closet doors, a feature Scott Register loved.

The kitchen — perfect for entertaining — contains a variety of smart details. The hallway wall is made of shallow cream and chocolate-colored cabinets styled to look like paneling. The large island with a range top includes small drawer refrigerators for beverages.

"We really wanted it to be unique," Kelly Register said.

Upstairs, the Registers built a living room area that Scott Register plans to turn into a media room. On the walls, they've displayed copies of old photos of Virginia Hill. A bathroom was also added upstairs, as well as a large bedroom that can be divided into two bedrooms if needed.

As visitors make their way outside, they can take in the koi pond and sit a spell on an old church pew Scott Register found at a South Carolina antique store.

HOUSE HIGHLIGHTS

• To remodel the home, the couple needed city approval. They were required to install sprinklers and fire walls in the renovated parts of the home.

• The 4,465-square-foot home doubled in size after the renovation.

• Hanging in the hallway is a painting of the State Botanical Gardens' Day Chapel. Kelly Register was at the chapel for the memorial service of a baby she cared for in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Athens Regional Medical Center. She now serves on the board of Lukas' Fund, www.lukasfund.org. The organization raises money to educate parents and staff about the needs of NICU infants and provide physical therapy, end-of-life care, and other family needs.