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.
For Jim, the wedding marked “a new beginning for our lives and the house.” On May 2-4, the Boones’ reconstructed house, originally built in 1918, will be on the Druid Hills Tour of Homes & Gardens. They hope visitors will include those considering remodeling projects.
“I would want them to be inspired,” Gloria said.
Snapshot
Residents: Jim and Gloria Boone and their miniature poodle, Axel. Jim is a consultant; Gloria is retired from the executive search industry.
Location: Atlanta's Druid Hills neighborhood
Size: 5,308 square feet, four bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths
Year built: 1918
Year bought: 2007
Architectural designer: Frank G. Neely Associates in Atlanta
General contractor: Lisa Turner, owner, Angler Construction, and co-owner, Trinity Mercantile & Design Co. in Decatur
Consultants: Wallace Bryan, Trinity Mercantile & Design Co.; Holly Brooks and Eric King of King Landscaping; Michelle Bray of Bray Electrical Services in Decatur; Closets and More; Trotter Co.
Renovations: Construction began in early 2008 and was completed in July 2009. The structure was gutted to the studs and reconstructed in accordance with DeKalb County Preservation Commission guidelines for the Druid Hills Historical District, as well as the recommendations of the Druid Hills Civic Association. The front exterior had to retain its original appearance, so the three contiguous rooms on the lower level and the three front bedrooms on the upper level were architecturally unchanged. Much of the home was torn down around the original three-story staircase. A back addition created a new den, kitchen, breakfast room, butler's pantry, food pantry, wine room on the first floor and added a master suite, closets and laundry room on the rear of the second floor. The electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems are all new.
Cost of renovations: About $1 million
Architectural style: English Tudor
Favorite architectural elements: Columns and trim on the new porte cochere; half timbers on the exterior; wall of windows and French doors in the den and breakfast area; and custom baseboard molding, picture rail molding and five-panel doors.
Interior design style: Traditional
Favorite piece of furniture: The 1908 Schiller upright player piano, which Jim's mother learned to play as a child but had fallen into disrepair. They have a photo of his mother sitting at the piano when its restoration was completed in 1992, when she was 82.
Favorite artwork: Pieces by Atlanta artists Scott Upton (Thomas Dean's Fine Art), David Swann and Donna Pinter; Santa Fe painter Jim Rabby; Spanish painter Martin Frias; Atlanta photographer Emily Robinson Cook; Austin artist Emily Galusha; California printmaker/ceramicist Shirlee Frank; French impressionist Jaline Pol (Hanson Gallery Fine Art, Sausalito, Calif.).
Favorite collections: Glass art by Dale Chihuly and Hans Godo Frabel; turned wood objects; Steinbach German nutcrackers; and Southwest art objects such as Kachina dolls, Navajo rugs and baskets.
Favorite outdoor features: The back porch and patio, and the backyard landscaping including a round, stacked stone patio.
