Shannon Joy’s kitchen floors are a reminder of her proudest moment as a homeowner.
When she bought the two-story foreclosure, the kitchen presented a challenge: two layers of laminate floors. She had to remove them before she could install new floors. Joy pulled up the baseboards and removed every bit of the laminate. The work took a month, but the floors were ready for a contractor to come in and lay down the new hickory wood floors.
“It was a huge project pulling all of that up. I didn’t ever think I was going to get those done,” she said. “I still have those pictures where it was day-by-day seeing it installed. I was so happy.”
For other updates to the home and personal touches, she has focused on finding her own sense of style and bringing in some budget buys.
Snapshot
Residents: Shannon Joy
Location: Powder Springs
Size: 2,030 square feet, three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths
Year built/bought: 1998/2011
Architectural style: Traditional
Renovations: In 2014, she renovated the staircase leading to the basement, by adding a glass door from the home's main level, closing the basement and garage off with a pocket door, and painting the stairs and walls. She also repaired the slate stairs leading to the front door. In 2013, she replaced linoleum floors in the kitchen and foyer with natural hickory hardwood floors.
In the kitchen, Joy’s updates included adding glass tile backsplash from Floor & Decor and stainless steel appliances. She selected kitchen lighting from the Home Depot and Reclaim It Atlanta, which sells reclaimed building materials. She also updated the tile floors in her master bathroom with items found on clearance. “I always try to get something less than I can afford. That way I can always make it like I want it,” Joy said. “I can spend that additional money.”
Contractor: G & H Enterprises
Design consultant: V. Bradley Designs
Interior design style: Traditional. "I tend to like traditional but I also like color, little pops of color," Joy said.
Favorite interior design elements: Bargain finds, such as Montagna Belluno 6-inch square tile that she found on clearance at the Home Depot and used in her master bathroom, and sconces in her basement stairway from Reclaim It Atlanta. Also, her dining table, which she bought about 15 years ago, was priced about $3,000 in the store, but she found it for about $1,000 at a Sears clearance center.
Paint colors: Behr's Blackberry Mocha (powder room), Behr's Gray Timber Wolf (hallway bathroom), Sherwin-Williams' Cupola Yellow (foyer)
Resources: Wall art and accessories from Etsy.com and World Market; flooring, lighting and other materials from the Home Depot; lighting from Reclaim It Atlanta (operated by the Fuller Center for Housing of Greater Atlanta and Charitable Connections); fabric and fringe for custom-made kitchen curtains from Fabric & Fringe Warehouse in Marietta.
Decor tip: If you're struggling with choosing colors for rooms in a home, base your decision on what will look best in a room based on the furniture, accessories and lighting, instead of just selecting your favorite colors. In her powder room, she selected the paint color, called Blackberry Mocha, based on the artwork she wanted to use in that room.
For the Private Quarters gallery of Shannon Joy's home, click here.
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