Photos: Brookhaven couple design their home with comfort, community in mind

Private Quarters

Photos: Brookhaven couple design their home with comfort, community in mind

Ryan and Shena Simmons built their 2500 square foot house in 2013. The DeKalb County home has four bedrooms and three and a half baths.

A table from West Elm provides an attractive drop point in the Simmons' foyer. Art created by Shena Simmons ties the color gold into the space. She created this piece several years ago by layering painted poster board to create a fish scale motif after seeing a similar artwork on Pinterest.

An upholstered storage bench is a stylish and functional solution for the foyer of Ryan and Shena Simmons' home. Topped with pillows from Pottery Barn and West Elm, the navy and gold color palette starts here and draws you into the rest of the house, where the homeowners have used dark blues and hints of gold paired with clean lines and classic pieces to create a cohesive transitional look.

Shena Simmons' favorite piece of furniture in her home is her farmhouse dining room table from RH. While most of the home's decor is transitional, Shena added the table for a hint of farmhouse style, pairing it with chairs from Pottery Barn and Wayfair and balancing the look with a more modern light fixture from CB2.

Shena Simmons topped a navy rug from Overstock.com with a cowhide style rug from Cost Plus World Market to create a layered, soft look in her living room. Going on advice from SwatchPop!, an online interior decorating service, she also created a decorative tableau on her blue tufted ottoman, stacking a gold woven bowl from CB2 on a book and a gold print tray from Crate & Barrel and filling the bowl with mossy spheres from Target.

One of the biggest determining factors for homeowner Shena Simmons when she's picking out decor for her home is if it's practicality equals its beauty. While white couches would match her aesthetic, soft and sturdy brown sofas make more sense for her living room, and go beautifully with her other functional decor. SwatchPop! helped her figure out how to combine function and style to fit their lifestyle and preferences.

The white kitchen table from Room and Board provides even more seating in the common area and creates a more casual dining area for the Simmons family.

Clean lines and white counters give the kitchen of Shena and Ryan Simmons' home a light, airy vibe. The pendant lights from RH offer a vintage silhouette and balance the dark wood of the stools around the island to compliment the deep blues, browns and whites in the rest of the common areas.

"What we try to do in our home is make it as inviting as possible," said Shena Simmons. The kitchen, which flows seamlessly into the living room and dining areas, is where gatherings happen. With a large island and stools from Scott Antique Markets, the kitchen is perfect for entertaining.

A collection of art prints from Society6 form a gallery wall above the desk in Shena and Ryan Simmons' master bedroom. Completing the gallery wall is a framed sketch of Shena and Ryan done by Shena's sister, Gracie Stewart.

The downstairs powder room is another space where homeowners Shena and Ryan Simmons used decorating advice from SwatchPop! The art, table display and geometric shelves all add style to the room while tying into the navy and gold palette found in the rest of the main floor. "It used to be kind of like a really sad little bathroom," said Shena, "We added those gold shelves. They're fun and they added the modern zest that we needed."

Selections from Shel Silverstein's poetry create a whimsical focal point in 6-year-old Aubrey Simmons' bedroom. Pink printed bedding and pink curtains from Pottery Barn Kids combined with a sparkling chandelier to create a frilly and elegant room.

White paper mache safari busts from RH hang over the bed in Landon Simmons' bedroom, pairing with art and stuffed animals to complete the animal theme. Landon's bedding, including glow in the dark dino sheets, are from Pottery Barn Kids.

White paper mache safari busts from RH hang over the bed in Landon Simmons' bedroom, pairing with art and stuffed animals to complete the animal theme. Landon's bedding, including glow in the dark dino sheets, are from Pottery Barn Kids.

A collection of art prints from Society6 form a gallery wall above the desk in Shena and Ryan Simmons' master bedroom. Completing the gallery wall is a framed sketch of Shena and Ryan done by Shena's sister, Gracie Stewart. Text by Shannon Dominy/ Photos by Reann Huber

"Our entire family spends a lot of time in the master," said Shena Simmons. "We have a big king bed, and the four of us will sit up there and watch movies. It's just a really inviting space to me." The Crate & Barrel bed and bedding from Crate & Barrel and Bloomingdale's make for a comfortable place for the family to relax.

Geometric blue and white bedding from Crate & Barrel and dark blue drapes bring homeowner Shena Simmons' signature navy into the master bedroom, but the soft walls in Sherwin Williams' Mindful Gray make the bedroom more serene.

Shena and Ryan Simmons live with their two children, Aubrey and Landon, and their two Westie dogs Doogin and Dexter in Brookhaven. Shena is the founder and owner of Stewart Simmons women's apparel, and Ryan works in market insights at Chick-fil-A.

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Ryan and Shena Simmons built their 2500 square foot house in 2013. The DeKalb County home has four bedrooms and three and a half baths.

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