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Southern sanctuary A Buckhead blogger makes her home a place to sip and savor By Giannina Smith Bedford
Photos by Sara Hanna Photography – www.SaraHanna.com
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he’s the personality behind the Southern lifestyle blog “With a Southern Twist” (www.withasoutherntwist.com). She’s also the president of Op5 Creative, a marketing communication and design firm. So it’s safe to say Wendy Shannon is wellversed in everything from home entertaining to Southern art to top-notch wine. Her husband, Tim, a buildingproducts representative and owner/ partner of Larimer/Shannon Group Inc., shares in her passions. So when the duo (married 28 years) purchased their West Buckhead home in 2004 and decided to make a few upgrades, they wanted to create a gathering place for friends that conveyed their mutual zest for life. But that doesn’t mean their décor styles were in sync. “Tim is more eccentric, the bold outdoors type, while I’m more traditional,” Wendy says. “Because we’re different, [our home] is different, but it still works and it’s beautiful.” Because the Shannons purchased the two-story brick home, built by John Willis Homes, while it was still being framed, they were able to choose custom finishes like the ebony kitchen cabinetry, black interior doors and oak hardwood floors with a Jacobean finish. Wendy says they liked the four-bedroom, fourand-a-half bath residence’s open layout, which is ideal for entertaining. “It had a huge kitchen and pantry like you’d typically see in a much larger home, which was perfect for me since I love to cook and entertain,” she says. As soon as they purchased the home, the couple finished out a portion of the basement level with a foyer, guest bedroom and bathroom. Nearly six years later, they hired Peachtree Hills-based interior decorator Amy Morris of Amy D. Morris Interiors to help them convert the remaining unfinished basement space into a wine room, make over the mudroom and
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Top Left: Wendy Shannon enjoys a glass of wine in her remodeled lounge. Left: The Shannons' 3,500-square-foot home.
spruce up the breakfast nook. Spruce it up she did—it transformed from a traditional nook into a St. Regislike entertaining lounge that showcases Tim and Wendy’s traditional-meetseclectic style. Centered around a circular painted wood table from Redefined Home Boutique in the West Midtown Design District, the area is adorned in a natural palette of oranges and browns and features a custom fabric pendant light fixture that makes a sophisticated statement. Morris surrounded the ta-
March/April 2012 | Simply Buckhead
ble with tufted ivory chairs from TCS Designs and had a curved banquette finished in burnt orange wool custommade to fit the space perfectly. “Tim had seen a banquette at a retail store in town and he really wanted a banquette in the lounge, but it had to be a curved banquette, which you just don’t see,” Wendy says. Morris placed two oversized mirrors from Ballard Designs against the back wall and fronted them with dark brown chairs from Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams to create a welcoming
seating area. “We love the kitchen and especially love the new ‘lounge,’” Wendy says. “The new lounge has made the entire space feel bigger, but most importantly, it’s more usable. We love to sit around the new table and have a glass of wine, a more casual meal or read.” The adjacent mudroom also got some attention with modern geometric-patterned wallpaper and antique mushroom prints found at Scott Antique Markets. “[The mud room] is where they enter every day, so we just