WELCOME (on the cover)
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The study of this award-winning home in Buckhead was a collaboration between designer Betty Burgess and architect D. Stanley Dixon. Photographed by Erica George Dines on March 25, 2010.
nytime I go to the Florida Panhandle, I can’t help but smile when I see a large number of Georgia license plates in local parking lots. With so many cars from Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, Douglas and surrounding metro counties, I feel like I could be at the Buckhead Home Depot instead of somewhere along 30-A. In many ways, the Panhandle is—for Atlantans—what the Hamptons are to New Yorkers, what Lake Tahoe is to San Franciscans. From Pensacola to Apalachicola, the Panhandle is Atlanta’s home away from home. Because of the extended lead time required in publishing our magazine, I was hesitant to address the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in last month’s issue; I was certain it would be capped by now. But yet another production cycle has come and gone, and the problem persists. Let’s hope by the time you are reading this, the gusher has been plugged and clean-up eΩorts have intensified. In the meantime, there are miles of unspoiled beaches in Florida and they need tourists now more than ever. One website, healthybeaches.org, provides real-time information on the status of beaches across the state. Please go, visit and spend money. At some point, well-trained volunteers will be needed to help with clean-up eΩorts. When that time comes, I’m certain a number of Atlantans who vacation there and have second homes in the area will chip in to assist. After all, that’s what neighbors are for.
Clinton Smith Editorial Director twitter.com/clintonrsmith
this month’s contributors
ERICA GEORGE DINES is an Atlanta-based photographer who has photographed interiors and gardens for a variety of national publications, including Better Homes & Gardens, Southern Accents, Coastal Living, Cottage Living and Metropolitan Home. Photographer of the popular book Private Gardens of Georgia, she is currently at work on another tome documenting foodways across the South that’s slated for publication later this year. For this issue, Dines photographed the story “Perfect Pitch,” which begins on page 68.
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ATLANTAHOM ES MAG.COM
HEATHER J. PAPER previously worked at Better
ELIZABETH R. RALLS is a writer and editor who
Homes & Gardens, where she served as editor of Decorating magazine and managed 20 special interest publications. After 16 years with the company, Paper left to pursue a freelance career that has included writing for a number of national titles. She is the author of The Decorating Idea Book, Decorating Ideas That Work and Green Decorating & Remodeling. Paper wrote two of this month’s stories, “Perfect Pitch” and “Secret Garden,” which begin on pages 68 and 90, respectively.
learned how to decorate, entertain and garden on the job, thanks to spending more than seven years covering the shelter industry for Southern Accents, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles and The Atlantan. Currently a “Retail Therapist” for MyHomeIdeas.com, her work has also appeared in Flower, Improper Bostonian and Sauce. Ralls penned the story on residential designers Frederick Spitzmiller and Robert Norris, whose firm is celebrating 25 years. The story begins on page 84.