This Georgia Home Rings With The Jovial Spirit Of Country Living

Details

Entryway with open door, antique...

The foyer of this Newnan, Georgia, residence by designer Susan Bozeman features several treasured antiques from her clients’ personal collection. To complement these, she inserted a Turkish Kars rug from Keivan Woven Arts and a Formations Cubic lantern sourced from Jerry Pair. White oak from Olde Savannah Flooring extends underfoot.

Living room with fanned stone...

The designer reupholstered the living room’s fireside armchair in a Mark Alexander fabric. Popping against the pine shiplap paneling crafted by Carl E. Smith & Sons Building Materials Inc. are twin sideboards from Holland MacRae paired with Gregorius Pineo lamps and Formations mirrors.

Living room with shiplap walls,...

Bozeman set a neutral tone in the living room with Benjamin Moore’s Feather Down. A Paul Ferrante pendant hangs above a Cameron sofa—both from Ainsworth-Noah. The latter wears a Mark Alexander fabric and supports an antique Suzani pillow from The Nicholson Gallery.

Dining room with wood ceiling...

In the dining room, Rose Tarlow Melrose House dining chairs don a Schumacher textile. Bozeman appointed the host chairs with nailhead-trimmed leather from Jerry Pair, where she also sourced the iron chandelier.

Vignette with glass hanging lantern,...

Suzanne Kasler’s Morris lantern from Circa Lighting illuminates a niche filled with the owners’ antiques. A Roman shade of Robert Kime Ltd. fabric extends below a tramp art-style valance by Fred Reed Picture Framing, Inc.

Light-colored bedroom with soft textiles,...

The couple’s bedroom is anchored by Kerry Joyce’s iron Simone bed. Beside a Lee Jofa floral drapery sit roll-arm chairs reupholstered in a fabric by Cowtan & Tout, which also made the wallcovering. Montagne Handwoven produced the rug.

Green floral bathroom with honey-colored...

Floral grass cloth by Cowtan & Tout covers the powder room, its woodwork trimmed in Benjamin Moore’s Cromwell Gray. Architectural Interiors fabricated the vanity, which features hardware from Whitechapel Ltd. and a Waterworks faucet.

Children's bunk room with lively...

The bunkroom is bedecked with Thibaut wallpaper and flat weaves from Keivan Woven Arts. The bobbin chair was reupholstered with Osborne & Little wool. Overhead is a flush mount from Circa Lighting.

Screened porch with rustic fan,...

Bozeman updated the screened porch’s log-framed sofa and reeded wicker armchairs with Perennials and Schumacher textiles, respectively. A rustic fan from Circa Lighting spins above the striated rug from Eve and Staron Studio. The assorted fireplace stone was sourced from Dirt and Rock.

An almost tangible aura of history pervades a newly built residence in Newnan, Georgia, and that’s precisely what the owners—a couple who loves nothing more than opening its glass-paned front door to greet loved ones—had hoped for. Following several years in a more rural part of the Peach State, the duo decided to bid adieu to a large horse farm and embrace a smaller footprint along with the ease of town life. 

Building from scratch meant their new home would be defined chiefly by what they brought to it: the jovial spirit of country living along with a museum-quality collection of Southern decorative arts. “They wanted to be surrounded by the things they love,” the couple’s designer, Susan Bozeman, explains. “This house would feel familiar to them, but also fresh.”

Originally inspired by a residence general contractor Henry Cole had already erected in the area, the couple worked with him closely to create a custom home of their own, deferring to residential designer Mitch Ginn to draw up the personalized plans. Cole and Bozeman’s collaborative adaptation pays homage to vernacular architecture—seen in the steeply pitched roof, sash windows, louvered shutters—with equally considered interiors. “It’s a very traditional home, so the size and scale of the details, like columns and trim work, were especially important,” notes Cole, who is quick to credit colleague Tito Castillo, along with local builder David Luckie, for the project’s masterful execution. On the exterior, three varieties of Pennsylvanian stone, cedar shingles and a slate roof lend the façade gravitas; indoors, white oak floors, rough-sawn beams, a fanned-stone fireplace and pierced banisters “give a nice rustic look,” Cole notes. “I like how the shiplap isn’t uniform, and has some random gaps,” he continues. “It adds to the historical feel of the house.”

To layer the soft spaces the owners desired, Bozeman looked no further than the family itself. Cherished objects and antiques—many of them heirlooms from the wife’s mother—set the tone from the entryway, where they receive pride of place. “The Blazing Star quilt, tiger maple Windsor bench and Southern huntboard in the foyer are some of our favorite pieces,” reveals the wife, who was equally delighted that Bozeman hung her inherited carved eagle over the front door, just as it was in her mother’s home. Farther into the house, exceptional collections of artisanal pottery mingle with 19th-century children’s chairs (now utilized by the homeowners’ grandchildren), antique hooked rugs and avian decoys aplenty. The more you look, the more you see. 

An existing red patchwork rug was a nonnegotiable for the living room, where it provided the foundation for Bozeman’s design. “Because it says so much, we kept the upholstery fabrics to solids and textures in oatmeal hues,” the designer comments. Adding a built-in bar to this space was another key component. “It’s a focal point for the room,” she adds, pointing to a horse painting and carved wooden dog plaquettes accenting the feature, which nod to the couple’s love of animals. The designer went with a more subdued palette in the dining room, inserting a tall cabinet from the clients’ former farmhouse as a conversation piece. “Susan understands how to mix things in such a sophisticated way,” shares the wife, whose collections of pewter and ceramics—including Southern face jugs—were tempered by metal light fixtures with a forged look. “Iron talks so well with folk art,” explains the designer, who also collaborated with Cole to disguise the kitchen appliances within decorative millwork.

Considering their clients’ love for entertaining, the design team took care to deliver a screened porch to extend the living area, creating the spot where the couple now begins and ends each day. Bozeman opted to furnish this space with an uncontested Southern classic—wicker furniture—while the couple’s open-air grill pavilion boasts another nostalgic addition: the swing bed. 

Gracious outdoor living areas continue toward a distinctly Southern garden. To keep with the property’s period charm, landscape architect Will Goodman fashioned stone terraces and brick-lined beds where landscape designer Keith Robinson planted hedging and seasonal color. Here, in a sunny spot, a dramatic faux bois bench brings in another historical note. “It makes me smile every time I see it,” reveals Bozeman, citing the pleasures of curating a house replete with meaningful objects and stories. All told, “I love when a client appreciates the items they already own,” she notes. “It makes a project that much more rewarding.”