Private Quarters: Airy, art-filled Inman Park home

Home and Garden

Private Quarters: Airy, art-filled Inman Park home

When Mary Allen bought and tore down an Inman Park home that had fire and water damage, she wanted an abundance of windows, an open living area and a clean, simple style in her new home.

Mary Allen built a new home last year on the site of a 1910 home that she bought in 2011 and then razed. Adam Stillman was the architect and Cablik Enterprises was the contractor for the home, which is on this year's Inman Park Tour of Homes on April 25-27. -- Text by Lori Johnston

Working with her architect, Adam Stillman, and contractor, Cablik Enterprises, Mary Allen didn't want to use walls between the living area, dining area and kitchen in her new home, which has about 2,000 square feet. New furniture includes a sofa from Nandina Home & Design and kitchen table and buffet from The Nicholson Gallery. Oriental rugs bring out the warmth of the stained oak hardwood floors throughout the home, she said.

A table from The Nicholson Gallery was just right, long and narrow, for the dining space in Mary Allen's open living area on the first floor of her new Inman Park home. She added chairs that she had previously purchased at 14th Street Antiques Market and an old French linen as a tablecloth, also from The Nicholson Gallery.

Mary Allen owns two pieces by artist Toby Penney, including the large painting that has an industrial look to it that hangs in her dining area. The buffet has a marble top and is from The Nicholson Gallery in Atlanta. The sculpture that sits on the stained oak hardwood floors is from the Savvy Snoot in Atlanta.

Sherwin-Williams' Elder White provides a clean backdrop to display artwork by Mark Karnes, Bo Sweeny and Rhett Thurman in the open living area. Homeowner Mary Allen has been collecting art, at galleries, auctions and flea markets, since her 20s, and friend Michal Taylor helped her place artwork and made other interior decisions.

The kitchen's marble countertops and simple cabinetry add a sleek contemporary look to Mary Allen's Craftsman-style home, which has about 2,000 square feet. Ceiling lights on a cable, from Lighting Loft, join skylights and a row of windows, instead of upper cabinets, since Allen wanted to bring as much light as possible into her new home. Suzanne Seymour assisted her in planning the lighting and other features in the home.

Mary Allen created a reading nook under the stairs in her Inman Park home with this chair from Nandina Home & Design in Atlanta. She bought the portrait on the left at an auction 10 years ago and her mother bought the smaller picture at a yard sale.

Mary Allen was staying at a hotel in Buenos Aires that included a gallery. She saw this painting, called "Patagonia," after she checked out and thought about the artwork on the flight home. After she arrived, she contacted the hotel gallery, bought the piece and had it shipped to her.

The loft was bigger than she expected, which gave her a room for an area to watch TV and a table from AmericasMart Atlanta that displays Royal Doulton porcelain figurines that represent her granddaughters.

A portion of the loft in Mary Allen's Inman Park home is a sitting area with a sofa from Domestic Comfort, table from Nandina Home & Design and a padded wicker chair that she's had for years and is a favorite seat among her granddaughters.

A reading and art nook with a sofa from Nandina Home & Design overlooks the front of the home. The windows were designed by her architect, Adam Stillman, based on the home's existing facade and a photo homeowner Mary Allen gave him of a home in Ansley Park.

A nook in Mary Allen's Inman Park home created space for an office filled with family photos and artwork, such as a vibrant painting of dancers that she bought in Buenos Aires. The painting reflected in the mirror is by K.W. Henderson and was purchased during a black arts festival in Atlanta.

Mary Allen's eclectic interiors include portraits of men, women and children, including these pieces that she purchased while visiting Peru in summer 2013. The faces are soulful, she said.

Metallic wallpaper and a huge antique French mirror add drama to the powder room of Mary Allen's new home in Inman Park. The modern sink and faucet are from Porcelanosa, which also provided the master bathroom fixtures.

In her master bedroom, Mary Allen combines modern with French country by pairing a chic ceiling fan from Atlanta's Lighting Loft with a French-style armoire, headboard from AmericasMart Atlanta and a painting she purchased from a flea market.

Mary Allen loves being able to roll up the Roman shades and look out from her master bedroom to the garden she created at her new Inman Park home. She purchased the chair from a flea market, recovered it in a purple fabric and painted it green to provide a pop of color in the room that is painted Sea Salt by Martha Stewart. Allen plans to frame her mother's prom dress, which is hanging in a corner in the room.

Mary Allen's master bathroom features a marble floor, a shower with subway tile on the walls and basket weave tile on the floor. The modern bathtub and fixtures are from Porcelanosa in Atlanta.

Marble tile, limestone countertops and cabinets by Wood Cabinet Design highlight Mary Allen's master bathroom. The pictures reflected in the mirror are Gullah art by artist Jonathan Green, who was born in South Carolina.

A French piece called a trumeau, which includes a mirror and a painting, helps decorate one of the spare bedrooms that two granddaughters share in Mary Allen's three-bedroom Inman Park home. There's a matching trumeau on the other side of the door.

Two of Mary Allen's granddaughters helped her decorate one of the two extra bedrooms in her Inman Park home by showing her pictures of what they liked. She used turquoise paint, and paired existing headboards with a leather chair from HomeGoods and benches she purchased online. The artwork is from a gallery in Cumming, the chandelier is from The Big Chandelier in Atlanta and she purchased the fabric years ago.

A marble countertop tops a custom vanity, which was painted lime green along with a mirror purchased from HomeGoods. The Jack-and-Jill bathroom connects the two bedrooms Mary Allen's four granddaughters share when they stay with her in the three-bedroom Inman Park home. The framed pictures feature French scenes.

Mary Allen's granddaughters provided pictures of rooms they loved, and Allen tried to find matching red paint and used fabrics from Forsyth Fabrics. Her friend, Michal Taylor, made pillows and draperies that are throughout the home. Allen brought old French country-style chairs into the room, and a mirror from Decatur Estate and Way Back Antiques, which was repainted.

Some of Mary Allen's extensive art collection, including a portrait by South Carolina artist Floyd Gordon, sits on the floors after she discovered she liked seeing the artwork from that vantage point, too.

Mary Allen, a small business owner, moved from a historic condo building in Midtown Atlanta to Inman Park, purchasing a 1910 home that had fire and water damage and was torn down for her new nearly 2,000-square-foot home. The construction was complete in 2013, and she was able to incorporate existing furniture, such as the chairs and her oriental rug in the entryway, and custom-made items such as linen Roman shades.

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Mary Allen built a new home last year on the site of a 1910 home that she bought in 2011 and then razed. Adam Stillman was the architect and Cablik Enterprises was the contractor for the home, which is on this year's Inman Park Tour of Homes on April 25-27. -- Text by Lori Johnston

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