Private Quarters: Showcasing history in Druid Hills remodel

Home and Garden

Private Quarters: Showcasing history in Druid Hills remodel

Jim and Gloria Boone couldn’t wait to start their life together in their renovated Druid Hills home. They were married in the living room before the home was finished, shooing painters away just hours before their June 2009 nuptials.

The 1.14-acre property gave the Boones the ability to expand the back of their Atlanta home, adding more than 1,650 square feet, and to grow their outdoor living space with a bluestone porch and patio. Frank Neely designed the rear porch French doors and the Gothic front and mud room doors. -- Text by Lori Johnston

Leaded glass room dividers also are original to the 1918 home in Atlanta's Druid Hills neighborhood, and custom moldings were added in the renovation. The Boones made sure to find a place for a 1908 Schiller upright player piano, which Jim rescued from an uncle's barn and had it restored in 1992. Two Donna Pinter paintings are above the piano.

Original mahogany columns separate the three contiguous front rooms - living room, music room and dining room in Jim and Gloria Boone's renovated Druid Hills home, which was built in 1918.

Oriental rugs are among the furnishings the Boones previously owned and brought into their renovated home while the double-pedestal table and chairs are from Mathews Furniture Galleries.

A double-pedestal table and chairs (Mathews Furniture Galleries) and a sideboard (14th Street Antiques) add to the traditional feel of the dining room, with walls painted Aura's Mysterious. The chandelier is a light fixture that Jim Boone has owned for 15 years.

The new kitchen, designed by Frank Neely, is outfitted with a Wolf gas stove top and GE Monogram refrigerator, double ovens, microwave and ice maker (Howard Payne Co.). The Miele dishwasher, pendant lights, and the sinks in the kitchen and butler's pantry are from Expo Design Center.

The walls of windows and double French doors designed by Frank Neely in the breakfast room and den makes it feels as if the couple is sitting outside, especially when they open the windows to the patio fountain.

An existing round table found a new home in the sunny breakfast room, painted with Benjamin Moore Aura's Mesa Verde tan. The windows can open to the outdoors, where there's a patio fountain.

The renovated Druid Hills home has all new walnut-stained oak floors. The Boones were unable to keep the original floors - dating to 1918 - because they were not level.

Original leaded glass in the Druid Hills home is an elegant way to divide separate the living room and dining room from the music room. The walls are painted with Benjamin Moore Aura's Coastline.

The interior window treatments and colors for the home were selected with assistance from Wallace Bryan of Trinity Mercantile and Design Co. in Decatur.

The renovation added a new master suite, which is spacious enough to have a seating area and fireplace with a marble hearth, to the rear of the second floor of the Druid Hills home.

As soon as people walk into Jim Boone's home office, they see his collection of maritime items including a ship binnacle and a framed poster from a maritime museum. The home also has pieces by Currier & Ives and painter John Bentham-Dinsdale (Wally Findlay Galleries, New York).

U.S. Navy veteran Jim Boone collects a variety of maritime artifacts and memorabilia, which decorate his home office (walls painted Aura's Gray Gardens). The rum barrel is a replica of those used in England during World War II and there's a photograph inside of Royal Navy sailors lining up for their daily ration of rum, Gloria Boone said.

Navajo blankets, runners and rugs anchor the home office, which is filled with maritime and other collectibles, including Steinbach German nutcrackers on the ledge.

Intricate glass pieces by Dale Chihuly and Hans Godo Frabel are used to accessorize Gloria Boone's office in her renovated Druid Hills home. The walls are painted with Benjamin Moore Aura's Meditation, which is the same color chosen for the mud room.

The couple's art collection includes a painting by Spanish artist Martin Frias above the limestone fireplace in the den, which has walls painted with Benjamin Moore Aura's Coastline.

Frank Neely designed the entertainment unit in the new den, which has an oriental rug and furniture they previously owned, and walls painted Benjamin Moore Aura's Hot Spring Stones (like the kitchen).

For what Gloria Boone calls her "plum jewel box," she chose Benjamin Moore Aura's Chambourde for the powder room walls. The couple found the Asian artwork on the floor at an antique market in Atlanta's Cheshire Bridge Road area.

The stairway (using Benjamin Moore Aura's Hot Spring Stones) is original to the home, leading from the third-floor attic to the basement gym. Frank Neely designed the new tower that encases the stairwell, which is beautiful when viewed from the outside, homeowner Gloria Boone said.

The master bedroom is new, but the furniture was previously owned by the couple, who moved from Sandy Springs and Suwanee when they got married in 2009, just before the renovation was complete. The walls are Benjamin Moore Aura's Waynesboro Taupe.

A Kohler freestanding tub is the centerpiece of the new master bathroom that Frank Neely designed for the second floor of the home. The walls are painted Benjamin Moore Aura's Himalayan Trek.

Interior glass doorknobs in Jim and Gloria Boone's home, on the Druid Hills Home and Garden Tour May 2-4 are from Masterpiece Lighting (along with the oil-rubbed bronze, window and cabinet hardware).

Colorful collections in Jim and Gloria Boone's Druid Hills home include Southwest art objects such as Kachina dolls; other items include Navajo rugs and baskets.

A ledge in the stairwell to the basement displays turned wood objects from various regional artists and assorted Southwest artwork.

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The 1.14-acre property gave the Boones the ability to expand the back of their Atlanta home, adding more than 1,650 square feet, and to grow their outdoor living space with a bluestone porch and patio. Frank Neely designed the rear porch French doors and the Gothic front and mud room doors. -- Text by Lori Johnston

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