His and her style blended in Buckhead

Fifteen years ago, Carl Patrick gave his wife a bathroom.

It was a gift to his new bride, a separate bathroom much more impressive than his own. Friends thought him a marvelous husband for doing so. Perhaps, Carl says, but he really did it for his sanity.

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After nearly 13 years of marriage, Carl Patrick allowed his wife, Libby, an interior designer, to define the couple’s style. They ended up with a ‘a modern farmhouse.’

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SEAN DRAKES/Special

The completed home mixes traditional elements, like the Georgian look of the exterior, with modern ones, such as ‘clean lines’ and an open floor plan.

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SEAN DRAKES/Special

The living room is the family’s favorite place in the house because it feels like a ‘lake house in the city,’ Libby Patrick says.

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How else, at 47, would he manage sharing his Buckhead home for the first time in marriage? A CPA and tax attorney who chaired Summit Bank Corp, he was crazy about Libby Sims but wanted to ease the transition. Separate bathrooms seemed like a smart calculus.

But 2-1/2 years ago, after nearly 13 years of marriage (“This is the woman for me,” he says with adoration) it was time for Carl to tear down a few more of his walls, so to speak.

That was fortunate for Libby, an interior designer and owner of Sims Patrick Studio, who was ready to finally make his home theirs.

“This was my chance to say, ‘What’s this place gonna be like, and who are we really as a couple?’” says Libby, who specializes in commercial interiors (as a principal with TVS Design, she managed the interior architecture and design for Phipps Plaza).

In her quest to define the couple’s style and “to improve the flow and the plan of the house” for them and son Alex, 12, they ended up with what she calls “a modern farmhouse.”

The overhaul began as a simple kitchen-breakfast room renovation; Libby had Carl’s blessing to do whatever she wanted, as long as it wasn’t over their budget. But once the work got going, Carl really got into it.

“The process that would divide most couples did not divide us at all,” he says. “The things that I wanted to add, Libby was all in favor of.”

The idea, Libby explains, was to create a spacious view from anywhere on the main floor so that you see through the home, whether looking from a window outside or from one end of the home to the other.

By blasting open the doors separating the kitchen from the formal dining room and breakfast room, the Patricks created one open room. They tore down the wall between the family room and a den-music room to achieve one large living room. They also raised most doorways from 7 feet to 8, and they even moved the powder room 3 feet to create a vestibule between the living room and kitchen.

The completed look mixes traditional elements with modern ones. While the exterior retains its Georgian look, the interior boasts the “clean lines” and open floor plan of a contemporary style, Libby says. That mix also also is found in the interior decor. The dining room, for example, pairs a marble Saarinen table with traditional cane chairs.

“I thought she’d make it chrome and glass,” Carl says, reflecting on his initial fears that the home would not match his style.

But like the whole marriage thing, turning his world upside down ended up being a pretty good thing, an exercise in joy, growth and creativity. It just “took her a while to make me understand,” he says.

Favorite Room: The living room. Libby says it feels like a “lake house in the city.” Here, overhead beams, wide baseboards and three sizes of wooden planks fitted along the walls give a rustic, comfortable feel. The coffee tables are topped with stone and unfinished wood so there’s no worry about using them as a footrest. “None of this furniture is really fine furniture,” Libby says, noting that they have two dogs. “We wanted it to be a place that we just really wouldn’t have to worry.”

While the decor is sturdy, it’s also flexible. Because it has several seating areas or “zones,” as Libby calls them, guys can watch a game in one section while the women can talk in another.

What makes it theirs: “The artwork … is mostly done by friends,” Libby says, or is “of something that we appreciate.” Reproduced vintage photos make that statement in the entrance. Photos of Babe Ruth, Simon and Garfunkel and the Rat Pack reflect Carl’s love of baseball, music and movies, while Libby’s love of golf and tennis is shown with photos of Althea Gibson, a black female tennis pro, and some of the first women pro golfers.

To avoid cluttering their home, the couple hung many pictures together in the downstairs hallway. “It’s like wallpaper,” Libby says of the photo montage. “We try to represent everybody that’s in our family.”

Coolest feature: The garage, a Carl creation. A movie buff, he papered the garage with his collection of movie posters.