Private Quarters: Danielle Rollins

Home and Garden

Photos: A look inside the Buckhead home of the author of “Soiree: Entertaining with Style," Dec. 2012.

Danielle Rollins grew up in Dallas, Texas, where hay wagons covered with Christmas lights and living nativities were part of her Christmas memories in the Lone Star State.

The historic Buckhead estate, built in 1929 by architect Philip Trammell Shutze, has hosted events and fundraisers whose guests included celebrities such as designer Oscar de la Renta.

Giant nutcrackers at the home's front are part of the family's favorite decorations and are appreciated by neighbors each year.

Renovation of Boxwoods won a 2008 Shutze Award from the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art’s Southeast Chapter. The changes included (according to the award information at classicist.org): updating the kitchen, breakfast room (shown here) and keeping room, and adding a mud room, side entry, stairway, wine clear, home office, butler’s pantry and bathroom.

Rollins doesn’t shy away from displaying her holiday spirit, either. “I still have a little bit of that childhood in me that wants to have things magical and festive and pretty,” she says.

The green marble floor of the entrance hall may appear non-traditional, but it's in keeping with the name of the house: Boxwoods.

The Chinese wallpaper - put up by the home’s original owner - in the “bird room,” which overlooks the backyard. “It’s my happiest spot in the house. It’s a glassed-in room with beautiful birds everywhere. It’s very indicative of the whole house.”

The gingerbread house is a replica of the historic home.

Steinbach Nutcrackers collected since Rollins' childhood are her own children's favorite things to put out each year.

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Danielle Rollins grew up in Dallas, Texas, where hay wagons covered with Christmas lights and living nativities were part of her Christmas memories in the Lone Star State.

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