On my recent visit to Atlanta, I had determined to finally meet the two owners (Dan Berman and Randy Korando) of one of my favorite Buckhead shops, Boxwoods, which has become a household name in town. Both a garden&plant resource and home accessories mecca, it is so well curated that no one can ever leave empty-handed. 

It was actually their garden that I was planning to see one morning after identifying a time that worked for both of us. But little did I know that my sister, Neale, and I were going to be stopped in our tracks by the house’s witty and cleverly conceived interiors, a house that I’d long admired every time that I had driven by.

Thus, this post will be one of the few where the interiors take center stage and the garden takes a back seat (Dan and Randy will understand…their down time is now spent in Madison on that new garden). Clearly they are a dream team, with a talent that goes beyond “interior decorating” to incorporate that other art, set design. To quote them, Dan concentrates on function and Randy sticks to form, which has transformed a Northwest Atlanta home into a charming (with a capital C) English abode. Just the reworking of a simple stairwell is a reason to rejoice, nothing ho hum here!

And as you see above, with the faux stone, it all starts with the treatment of the walls (Randy’s handiwork)…from limed wood…

to paint surfaces that give new meaning to trompe l’oeil…

(to include textured linen, leather, and stripes of all widths) even upholstery nails to give the semblance of paneling in a bathroom with paint-applied “suede.”

Of course, upholstered walls are on the list of wall treatments, too.

Then you add the antiques and collections, displayed with an enviable “eye” for creating vignettes (below, on another upholstered wall).

Pillows from Boxwoods, of course.

Note the cut out in the day bed’s back pillow to accommodate the mirror’s design.

Did I remember to mention the dining room, just inside the front door?

With this little peek of the garden from the second floor as an introduction,

take a quick stroll with us through their green environs. Conveniently just a few steps from the kitchen, drinks can be enjoyed here (the wall is mirrored for a “fool the eye” effect)…

or down in the patio.

But what I really wanted to see was the “folly” that winks at Atlanta’s celebrated classical architect, Philip Shutze. Dan and Randy have truly captured his Italianate aesthetic as well as his affection for expressing a “fictitious history of feigned antiquity” (helped along by the Atlanta weather).

What a morning, what a home. With warm thanks to you both, xB