HISTORIC HOME RESCUE & REDESIGN

A 1920 bungalow gets a new lease on life.

Discover how this 1920 bungalow got a new lease on life.

When home restorer Jim Ogletree saw the 1920-built bungalow in Griffin, Georgia,

he knew it would be his next restore-to-resell project. And when Bill and Jan Cooper saw it, they knew it would be their next home. They brought in local designer Jennifer Eanes Foster, founder of Eanes Foster Design, Inc., to give the rooms a fresh and respectful redesign.

“It is so fortunate that the house fell into Jim’s care because he is a true craftsman and appreciates the home’s history and finishes, which were mostly untouched since it was built,” Jennifer says. “My clients, the Coopers, purchased the home from him a few months into his renovation, so we were able to select the lighting, paint colors, stain colors, countertops, etc. My clients loved the character of the house as well as the walkability it offered to downtown shops and restaurants. I came into the project when Jim had started repair work and demoed the wall from the kitchen and former butler’s pantry to enlarge the kitchen footprint. So I came in very early on, but after a little demo had taken place.”

“Combine the old and the new—you don’t have to have a home that looks like a replica of the time in which it was built.”

Jennifer recalls her first impressions of the home. “The natural light was amazing, and I noticed the openness of the floor plan,” she says. “With older homes, the rooms are often closed off from each other, chopped up, but in this home the wide openings with French doors and lots of windows gave it an airy, open feeling.”

BUILDING CHARACTER

Jennifer also took note of the abundance of character in the home: the window and door trim, crown molding in the common areas, double French doors in the sunroom and living room/dining room, historic tile in the bathrooms, carved wood mantels and solid oak doors. So much was original to the home: the brass and glass hardware, the wood floors, the sunroom’s black-and-white tile, the kitchen’s white floor tile (to which Jim added a black-and-white pattern) and the tile in the bathrooms.

The Coopers had some general requests for the interior design. “They wanted it to look classic with an element of fun; elegant but welcoming, inviting and comfortable—a furniture layout conducive to entertaining,” Jennifer says.

Jennifer was able to envision how to make the homeowners’ requests become a reality. “Although the home is smaller than their previous one, I wanted to design the rooms to feel spacious enough for entertaining but still provide a cozy atmosphere when it’s just Jan and Bill,” she says. “I wanted the rooms to have a nice flow and to feel like any piece of furniture could be picked up and moved to another room when entertaining and still look good.”

DECORATING DETAILS

Once the renovations were done, Jennifer was able to dive into the decorating. “With all my projects, I start with the idea of a classic, welcoming, elegant space. Not too formal, but with a nod to traditional elements,” she says. “If you start with that as your foundation, you create a space that is timeless. And then you layer in pieces that have meaning to your client, like the barber stand that belonged to Bill’s grandfather, their daughter’s childhood portrait, an antique quilt handmade by Jan’s grandmother and a favorite rug from their previous home. That personalizes the space.”

Scale and pattern are always in Jennifer’s mind when she purchases room elements. “I select large-scale upholstery pieces that will lend themselves to work with lots of different styles, patterns and colors,” she says. “So, over time, you can change out a pillow, or add a wonderful new piece of art, and it still all works together. I kept the large-scale use of color and pattern fairly neutral and simple. I added pops of color and pattern in smaller areas, like the club chairs, pillows, rugs and art. The one room where I differed on scale and pattern was the tiny powder room. I thought that space needed a ‘wow’ factor. Powder rooms are perfect to go bold with a wallpaper and make a statement. It’s not a space that you spend lots of time in and would grow tired of a strong pattern.”

NEUTRAL ACCESSORIES. Jennifer kept the furniture and rug on the front porch neutral to highlight the bold colors in the haint-blue ceiling, creamy yellow brick, red/brown window trim and red paver floors.

|ABOVE LEFT| STYLISH STORAGE. This is a piece the clients had that Jennifer decided to paint the same red as the window trim and place on the back porch to house the TV and serve drinks.

BLENDING OLD AND NEW. The home’s entryway showcases a mix of old and new, traditional and contemporary elements, Jennifer says. The rug is an old Turkish Oushak paired with a contemporary piece of art. The pendant light and antique console table are traditional but paired with modern gilded table lamps. |OPPOSITE| FASHIONABLE FLOORING. The home’s original black-andwhite tile floor takes center stage in the sunroom. “I selected fabrics to re-cover the chairs, ottoman and stools that would complement the black-and-white floor,” Jennifer says.

|TOP RIGHT| PRICELESS PORTRAIT. In the hallway outside the master bedroom, Jennifer hung a portrait of the homeowners’ daughter over a traditional chest.

|TOP LEFT| FIRESIDE SEATING. Two chairs flank the original mantel in the living room. “I wanted to add texture with linen chairs with a custom jute trim on the skirt,” Jennifer says. A contemporary rug and cocktail table are juxtaposed with the more traditional architectural elements of the fireplace, she says.