Location: Set on a wooded lot in the Five Points neighborhood of Athens, Georgia, this home is perched on the high end of its lot so that the kitchen and living space overlook a creek below. The owners have two daughters and a son. “They are a super fun family,” Tami says.
The before: Well, there was a whole tree to remove. “This was the biggest challenge,” Tami says. Besides indicating one end of the kitchen island, the tree trunk also acted as a support beam for the second floor. “It was massive,” she continues. “It had a pot rack attached to it as well.” Structural engineers removed the beam and replaced it with a 20-foot steel one that was tucked into the ceiling, opening the kitchen up to the living room’s views in the process. “Doing this made the room feel huge and allowed for a larger island with more storage,” Tami says.
Thankfully, the adjacent living area wasn’t as big of an undertaking. “We removed some built-in angular seats that were in both corners of the room,” Tami says. “This alone made a huge difference in the layout.”
The inspiration: The intention was to complement the outdoors without mimicking them too much. “It needed to be livable but elevated,” Tami says. “The clients love blue and green and that worked so well with the treehouse-like experience of the space. We used a variety of other colors, like ochre and a reddish pink, and texture in the form of oak cabinets and a natural rug.”
Square footage: Roughly 500 square feet
Budget: “We had to get very nitty-gritty on all the final details around the architectural changes we specified, so that the builder’s construction budget was apples to apples,” Tami says. “Once that was nailed down, we worked with the client to develop a realistic decorative budget.”
