Couple makes home ‘comfortable for everybody’

Pam Henry probably broke a few design rules in her Buckhead home.

The editors of prim or avant-garde décor books might sniff at the extent of family photos or the stuffed animals in the guest room, and all the living room tchotchkes, including one of those snow globes.

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Sean Drakes/Special

Pam Henry, with her dog Marley, has tried to create a welcoming vibe in her home where guests feel that ‘we really want you here,’ she says.

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Sean Drakes/Special

‘First Born,’ a bronze carving of a mother and child by Laran Ghislieri, is representative of Henry’s love for her family.

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But most visitors would happily plant themselves here, in a house that cheers home. Without a trace of pretension, this happily lived-in place conjures scenes of celebrations around hearty, gourmet meals with plenty of tequila.

That’s partly because Henry loves to talk food and family (she and her husband, Jim, have two sons: Michael, 28, and Andrew, 18) and trails her sentences with a dose of warm laughter. But it’s also because of the kitchen, where she and Jim, a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, put the most attention to design. In short, it puts the fun in functional.

Surrounding a red-knobbed Wolf range are open shelves that show swirls of colored, mismatched ceramic plates (Pam likes to plate the food she serves) and deep drawers for easy access to the bottles of liquor she uses in her cooking. A dual-level island bar lets her swivel from stove to preparation and defines the space for her to work and guests to lounge.

Overhead, a brick of Swarovski crystals illuminates the kitchen. It’s smaller sister adorns a nearby wet bar, which, with so many varieties of the Mexican spirits, might as well be called the tequila closet. And a farm table was chosen for extra cozy down-home style. “I didn’t want the kitchen to seem too chi-chi,” she says.

Behind the home, a terrace is a stage for entertaining. Centered by a fireplace and a broad stone floor livened up with seating nooks, the backyard forks to reveal a hot tub secluded by a fence and shrubbery to one side; to the other, a quaint path known as a “Charleston garden.”

Inspiring the home’s color scheme is a painting of poppies in neutrals and reds that Pam Henry commissioned from an artist she met at a local festival. But more telling is the rest of the artwork, much of which was either produced by family members or captures their memories, and the sculpture that anchors the home. Titled “First Born,” this bronze carving of a mother and child situated just past the foyer is the focal point upon entry.

“Everybody loves their kids,” she says.

Anyway, it’s clear she does.

Decorating style: Henry calls it a “mish-mosh” influenced by the places they’ve lived, which explains the element of “California casual.”

More broadly speaking, it’s whatever creates or preserves happy memories. Mementos suffuse the home, from Pam Henry’s girlhood Raggedy Ann doll in the guest room (she had a bit of a makeover when the original outfit finally gave out) to that snow globe — a scene of Manhattan and a gift from Michael and his fiancee, Lan, who live there.

The mounted menus autographed by chefs at treasured restaurants also reflect the Henrys’ personality. “I always ask to meet the chefs,” Pam Henry says of the dining experiences memorialized on this wall alongside the kitchen stairwell.

The “prized possession” is Santa Fe’s Coyote Cafe menu autographed by Mark Miller, whom she calls her “hero.” “If the house is on fire, I’d grab that one before I’d grab the other ones.”

Coolest feature: “The Cave,” the nickname for the bonus room enjoyed by Andrew. A finished storage room off his bedroom, it’s the ultimate teenage guy’s club room, with a flat-screen TV, video games and a glass-topped leather table for poker games.

Also, the trinkets that Jim Henry has brought home from his business ventures, including a silk tapestry from Dubai that hangs in a hallway on the main floor.

Tips for good living: “I think your friends and your family make your home, and so we try to make it really comfortable for everybody,” Pam says. That meant, for example, soundproofing ther garage when both kids were in bands years ago. But in general, it’s about creating a welcoming vibe where guests feel that “we really want you here,” she says. “Don’t call. Just come.”

To keep a busy and social atmosphere in preparation for an empty nest, the couple moved here only last year for a neighborhood and a home about half the size of their former one on nearly 3 acres in Peachtree Battle.

“It’s kind of nice to look out your window,” Pam says, “and see kids playing on your street.”