Private Quarters: Decatur redo adds pool, style

Home and Garden

Private Quarters: Decatur redo adds pool, style

Renovating this 1952 Decatur home lasted nearly a year and cost about $200,000.

Michael Bush and Johnny Mitchell knocked down walls and opened up the interior during a nearly yearlong renovation to their Decatur home. The kitchen, dining room and living room combine to form a great room in the 1952 ranch, which was renovated last year and has many modern touches. -- Text by Lori Johnston

Homeowners Michael Bush and Johnny Mitchell tore down walls to open up the home during renovations to the ranch-style house, which was built in 1952. A stainless steel coffee table and side table provide contemporary flair to the living room, which also has a modern ceiling fan and Benjamin Moore's Metallic Silver paint.

Homeowners Michael Bush and Johnny Mitchell didn't raise the roof, but they raised the ceilings from 8 feet to 9 feet during the renovation of their Decatur home, which was built in 1952. The higher ceiling helped provide an open feel to the home.

A cow rug and chairs lend a rustic feel to the fireplace room, which is adjacent to the open living area in the Decatur home of Michael Bush and Johnny Mitchell. The chairs are from Horizon Home. The rug and colorful hand blown glass discs are from Blue Ridge, Ga.

A display of crosses collected from many trips highlights a wall leading to one of the three bedrooms of a recently renovated Decatur home owned by Johnny Mitchell and Michael Bush. They've been buying crosses for about 20 years and have many of them displayed throughout the house.

A cross collection that's been 20 years in the making highlights a wall leading to a bedroom. Homeowners Michael Bush and Johnny Mitchell buy crosses of different sizes and materials on their many international trips, including Italy, Greece and Germany, and display them in their renovated Decatur house.

The dining room table was a recent purchase and is the homeowners' favorite new piece of furniture because it mixes distressed details with a modern look, said homeowner Michael Bush. The stainless steel and chrome light fixture over the table is from LUX Lighting in Duluth and is their favorite one in the home.

White custom cabinets and backsplash from Porcelanosa (called Glacier Fabric White) contrast well with the dark island and granite countertops in the kitchen, which includes a farmhouse stainless steel sink and Viking appliances they bought off eBay. The refrigerator was a particular bargain at $4,000, at least 50 percent cheaper than the retail prices homeowner Michael Bush found elsewhere.

Two paintings by Peter Max adorn the wall leading to the kitchen and dining room. They are just two of the many paintings and prints that homeowners Michael Bush and Johnny Mitchell have collected throughout the years.

Homeowner Johnny Mitchell designs and builds dolls, which are displayed throughout the three-bedroom, three-bath Decatur home, including on shelves adjacent to a fireplace.

A wall, compete with a custom frame by homeowner Johnny Mitchell, was created to display colorful magnets purchased on their trips to different countries. The magnets were on the fridge in their former home, but they wanted a stainless steel version in this home and needed a new place to show off their collection, which looks like a "very unique picture," Michael Bush said.

A mirror behind built-in glass shelves reflects collectibles and art objects in the renovated home owned by Michael Bush and Johnny Mitchell. They display several collections throughout their home, including magnets bordered by a frame on a nearby wall. They buy the magnets on their many trips to other countries.

A wall devoted to local artists and artwork they brought home from many international trips dominate a hallway wall in Michael Bush and Johnny Mitchell's Decatur ranch home. They sometimes buy art from galleries, and sometimes from artists on the street in the cities they're visiting.

The guest bathroom is painted Behr's Tibetan Orange, a theme that's carried over to the silhouette of Golden Buddha, which is from Eazywallz.com. It's one of three bathrooms in the Decatur home, which was built in 1952 and renovated in 2013.

A painting of Athens, Greece, which was bought at a gallery in that country, highlights a guest room wall in the Decatur home owned by Michael Bush and Johnny Mitchell. It's one of many paintings that the couple has bought on their trips.

One of the master suites has a handicap accessible bathroom for homeowner Michael Bush's father, and later, possibly for himself and fellow homeowner Johnny Mitchell as they age. The bathroom has custom cabinets and tile from Spartan Kitchen & Bath in Smyrna.

A mask collection helps decorate the master bedroom, which features a chest and mirror from Macy's. Homeowners Johnny Mitchell and Michael Bush have been collecting masks for about 10 years, often buying them on their trips to France, Germany and Austria, among other countries.

The master bathroom features a freestanding tub purchased online and a chandelier from overstock.com that reflects early-morning sunlight that comes from the long window. The reflected sunlight casts rainbows around the room and into the master bedroom, homeowner Michael Bush said.

Homeowner Michael Bush said the laundry room was about the size of a closet before he and fellow homeowner Johnny Mitchell remodeled the 1952 home, tearing down walls and increasing the size of the laundry room. The couple's taste in art continues with this painting of a cow in the laundry room.

The screened-in back porch connects two master suites, one of which was added to the 1952 Decatur home during a recent renovation that lasted nearly a year and cost about $200,000. The porch, which has ample room for seating and a table with chairs, leads to the backyard, which includes a patio and pool.

Michael Bush loves the sound of the water from the fountains in the pool that he and fellow homeowner Johnny Mitchell had built in the backyard of their Decatur home. Bush said the yard was the perfect place for the new pool, which can be seen while entering the front door looking through the house.

There's plenty of entertaining space on an extended patio that wraps around two sides of the new backyard pool at the three-bedroom, three-bath renovated Decatur home of Johnny Mitchell and Michael Bush. Hi-Definition Landscape helped transform the yard and Atlas Pools installed the pool.

Johnny Mitchell, left, a hairdresser, and Michael Bush, a senior analyst at Macy's, recently remodeled their three bedroom, three-bath ranch home in Decatur, expanding it from 1,560 square feet to 2,200. The home was built in 1952 and Bush and Mitchell bought it in December 2012, but because of the renovations, didn't move in until November 2013.

Homeowners Michael Bush and Johnny Mitchell enjoy growing seasonal vegetables in these raised beds in the backyard of their three-bedroom, three-bath Decatur home. The bed corners are from Gardeners.com.

The exterior, driveway and yard also received an overhaul during the renovation by Gary Collins of Southland Contracting Services to the Decatur home owned by Michael Bush and Johnny Mitchell. The driveway was changed from straight to curved, more than a dozen trees were removed, and a carport was added to the front of the three-bedroom ranch.

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Michael Bush and Johnny Mitchell knocked down walls and opened up the interior during a nearly yearlong renovation to their Decatur home. The kitchen, dining room and living room combine to form a great room in the 1952 ranch, which was renovated last year and has many modern touches. -- Text by Lori Johnston

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