Private Quarters: Decatur home features indoor zip line

Home and Garden

Private Quarters: Decatur home features indoor zip line

The kid-friendly home features multiple play areas, including a secret room and walls to write on.

Patrick Lockman of Lockman Homebuilding built a five-bedroom, five-bath home with a basement for Colton and Kristin Ebersold in Decatur's Oakhurst neighborhood. The nearly 4,500-square-foot Craftsman-style home was completed in 2013.--Text by Lori Johnston

This playroom is all about action, with a zip line and swing for the three Ebersold children (Calla, 9; Avyn, 7; and Laurel, 5) and their friends. The homeowner reinforced the basement ceiling in spots to hold the heavy-duty swings, and they often set up obstacle course in the room.

A bookcase outside a guest bedroom in the Decatur home actually leads to a secret room where the kids can hang out. Mom Kristin Ebersold marks the kids' height behind the bookcase and has written favorite quotes for them.

When Kristin Ebersold's three kids asked her what they could do in the secret room built in their new home, she replied, "Whatever you want to do. It's your room." Then she sparked an idea by saying, "If I had a room, I'd do something that I couldn't do in other rooms." The kids decided to draw on walls, and their friends sign the walls, too.

Mom Kristin Ebersold loves writing notes to her children throughout the Decatur home, whether on a chalkboard wall or in their desks or on the back of doors.

The separate garage has a workshop for homeowner Colton Ebersold, an engineer, and an office space above. The Ebersolds bought a lot in Decatur's Oakhurst neighborhood in 2013 and worked with Lockman Homebuilding.

The Ebersolds were excited about having a sunny yard that would support gardening, and they've learned about gardening from Oakhurst Community Garden, part of the Wylde Center. Their Decatur yard has three small plots with tomatoes, sugar snap peas, collards, lettuce, broccoli, kale, strawberries and herbs. The property also has a variety of fruit trees and plants.

In Kristin Ebersold's home office, photo collages of her three kids give her reasons to smile whenever she's working at home. The office is next to the playroom in the basement.

Kristin and Colton Ebersold and their kids, Calla (9), Avyn (7) and Laurel (5) hang out as a family and have friends over to run the obstacle courses and swing in their Decatur playroom. The basement was designed as a place where their kids could "get their wiggles out" rain or shine, and the room has become a popular sleepover spot, too, Kristin said.

A chest that belonged to homeowner Kristin Ebersold's maternal grandparents serves as a coffee table in the living room. The couch and chair are from Macy's and decorative touches include a candleholder from Pottery Barn above the mantle.

Marble in a herringbone pattern is used for the fireplace surround in the living room, and the side table is from Target.

The SKY Chairs - made in Minnesota - are favorite spots for the Ebersold family to sit and read on their Decatur screened porch, where they often eat dinner and do crafts.

The Ebersold kids will eat in front of the fireplace during cooler months, when there's usually marshmallows being roasted for s'mores. The screened porch extends the living space of the Decatur home built by Lockman Homebuilding.

Cubbies in the main hall make it easy to store winter and summer items, just by moving up and down the polka dot bins for each season. The kids also can unload their backpacks and jackets on the hooks, then everything can be closed behind doors.

The Ebersolds' home is filled with storage spaces, with the kids' dress-up clothes hidden underneath the window seat in their playroom. A rug offers additional padding to the hardwood floors that are found throughout the Decatur home.

A piano joins play kitchens and building toys in a more subdued playroom on the main level of the Decatur home.

Although the Decatur home has a Craftsman style and traditional interiors, artwork made out of pieces of colorful folded paper and framed by homeowner Colton Ebersold's grandmother in the 1960s adds a retro modern look to a hallway.

Bookshelves living the upstairs hallway were built to a specific size to fit Kristin Ebersold's scrapbooks with photos and mementoes that document her kids' lives. Even the kids like going through the books.

In her son's room, Kristin Ebersold took a used desk and painted it, then upholstered the chair. Inside the desk, she wrote messages for her son.

The Ebersolds have family antiques in their Decatur home, including a bed made by Kristin Ebersold's great-grandfather now in one of her daughter's rooms. The walls are painted Sherwin-Williams' Lemon Chiffon.

The kids' bathroom is personalized with a framed piece of art made with pastels by Ebersolds' oldest child, Calla, when she was in the second grade and her class was studying the decline in the honeybee population.

Even in the kids' bedrooms, antique furniture is used, such as a roll-top desk purchased at an antique store. A quilt from Pottery Barn adorns walls that are painted Sherwin-Williams' Impatiens Petal.

There's ample windows and a frameless glass tile shower in the master bathroom, which is painted Sherwin-Williams' Sea Salt along with the master bedroom. The granite countertops are from Master Stone Crafters.

The Ebersolds included built-ins throughout the design of their house. They enjoy having a designated space for almost anything, said homeowner Kristin Ebersold.

White cabinets, beveled subway tile backsplash and honed granite countertops keep the kitchen from feeling dark and closed off, along with glass Capri One Light pendants by Kenroy Home. The kitchen is outfitted by Bob Bailey's Appliance, Master Stone Crafters and Kitchen Gallery of Stone Mountain. The induction cooktop is cool to the touch and easy to keep clean, Kristin Ebersold said.

1/25

Patrick Lockman of Lockman Homebuilding built a five-bedroom, five-bath home with a basement for Colton and Kristin Ebersold in Decatur's Oakhurst neighborhood. The nearly 4,500-square-foot Craftsman-style home was completed in 2013.--Text by Lori Johnston

Today's Gallery Headlines

Jimmy Carter ‘forever’ stamp

PHOTOS: 2025 AJC Photos of the Year

Coca-Cola first ad

PHOTOS: Coca-Cola ads over time

Alonzo Herndon

PHOTOS: Philanthropists leave mark on Atlanta

gainesville, thomas county central

PHOTOS: Thomas County Central pummels Gainesville for 5A state title