A Buckhead blogger makes her home a place to sip and savor They

SIMPLY stylish
home
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
S
24 Left: The Shannons' 3,500-square-foot home.
They take every opportunity to sip, savor
and reap the bounty of the good life.
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
felt like it needed to be a little more special and welcoming and more cocoonlike,” Morris says. As a result of its dressing up, Wendy says she now refers to the
“little jewel box” of a mudroom more
grandly as the west foyer.
As for the new wine room, it exudes an
Old World feel that makes you want to
linger. It’s framed by a custom stackedstone wall with a built-in wine grotto
and tasting table purchased at Interiors
Market. It’s also kept at a pleasant temperature—no sweater required. “We didn’t
Top Left: Wendy Shannon enjoys a glass
of wine in her remodeled lounge.
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
Above: Large windows
in the lounge provide
an abundance of
natural light.
s
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
Right: The home's main
level flows between
the foyer, living room,
kitchen and lounge,
making it ideal for
entertaining.
March/April 2012 | Simply Buckhead 25
SIMPLY stylish
home
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NEW YORK POST
want that air-conditioned-space wine
room,” Wendy says. “I think it’s great
if you have a lot of wine to store, but
it’s not very functional because you
don’t want to go into a 55-degree room
and sit and have a glass of wine. The
stacked-stone wall gives you that feeling that you want of a wine room without being cold.” Adding to the room’s
relaxed, yet regal ambiance is an oversized bench from B.D. Jeffries, rustic
ceramic jugs and a framed drawing of
an old gate.
During the wine room build-out, the
Shannons also spruced up the basement
foyer. Today, guests walking downstairs are greeted by two reupholstered
chairs and a colorful koi oil painting
by Greenville, N.C., artist Sally Sutton
that Tim and Wendy purchased at the
Tyndall Galleries in Chapel Hill, N.C,
their home before Atlanta.
In fact, much of the Shannons’
art pays homage to Southern artists—from oil paintings by North
Carolina native and Savannah resident Lori Keith Robinson (purchased
from the Chroma Gallery in Savannah) to pieces by Hallettsville, Texas,
artist Patsy Evins, which they bought
at the Augusta Art Exchange Gallery
in Augusta. One particularly notable
piece is a painting of three little birds
on a branch on the brick-red wall of
the formal dining room. Purchased
from Buckhead’s Anne Irwin Fine
Art, this small, eye-catching work was
done by Ellen Granter, the illustrator
responsible for the cover image of the
New York Times bestselling book The
Help. “We love Southern art and have
collected pieces that we love that are
throughout the home,” Wendy says.
“It’s not all crazy-expensive either, it’s
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just stuff that we like. We like moving it around from time to time to
get a whole new look.”
When it comes to getting a new
look, Wendy already has her future
sights set on redoing her master
bedroom. In the meantime, however, both she and Tim are thrilled
with the results of their room-specific upgrades and take every opportunity to invite friends to sip,
savor and reap the bounty of the
good life enjoyed “With a Southern Twist.” n
March/April 2012 | Simply Buckhead
Clockwise from left:
Wendy Shannon loves to host
multi-course dinners with wine
pairings in the large dining room,
which is painted brick red and
adorned with a bird painting
by The Help illustrator Ellen
Granter; the basement wine room
combines Old World touches like
a stacked stone wall with a more
modern light fixture purchased at
Interiors Market on Bennett Street;
Tim and Wendy Shannon view
the wine room as just another
place for guests to congregate
over wine and cheese.
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entertaining tips
1. Buy fresh flowers – But buy several varieties
of flowers that work together and complement
your home. When purchasing from a specialty
food store, ask for fresh flowers directly from their
cooler, then have the floral department add water
to a floral sleeve so your flowers have water until
you arrive home. They’ll last a lot longer.
2. Serve wine in a wine glass – This sounds simple,
but based on the number of your expected guests,
make sure you have plenty of red and white wine
glasses. If not, it might be time to stock up or
rent glasses if necessary—even Target has a great
selection of wine glasses. And, if one breaks during
a party, you haven’t lost an expensive crystal piece.
3. Label food – I like using place cards to label
appetizers and buffet items so guests know
what they’re eating in case they have dietary
constraints or food allergies. Also, guests like
learning about food, so make it fun by labeling.
4. Have great music playing – I like to pick a
great digital music channel like Adult Alternative
or Smooth Jazz.
The designers transformed the Shannons' generic mud room into an elegant
foyer done in unique wallpaper, plush fabrics and antique prints.
5. Serve mini sweets – As a Southerner, you
have to have desserts, but over the years I’ve
found that those who eat dessert just want a
mini indulgence. Offer desserts that can easily
be picked up and eaten—candies, cookies,
brownies and/or cakes and pies cut into smaller
pieces. If I purchase desserts, I like to pick up
extra seasonally themed sugar cookies from the
bakery so I can send parents home with a treat
for their children.
TM
Major funding provided by the Fulton County Board
of Commissioners under the guidance of the
Fulton County Arts Council.
March/April 2012 | Simply Buckhead 27