SUZANNE KASLER AND WILLIAM T. BAKER CREATE A CASUAL ATLANTA HOUSE
Elegant meets eclectic in a Georgia family’s dream home.
At one of the early meetings with the owner of a gracious new English Arts and Crafts–style residence in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood, interior designer Suzanne Kasler sifted through a sheaf of inspirational tear sheets and sketches—a dream file—compiled by the client. Kasler says she quickly recognized the woman’s taste for “a kind of decorative minimalism” expressed by muscular furniture, sturdy textiles, and richly aged reclaimed wood—elements, she notes, associated with what’s often called the Belgian look.
“We’re a very casual, laid-back family, and Suzanne got that right away,” says the client, who, with her husband, an entrepreneur, had commissioned architectural designer William T. Baker to create the six-bedroom house to share with their three children, now ages 12, 19, and 21. “Our home is always full of kids—our own as well as their friends—not to mention animals. So one thing I said was, ‘No fragile and expensive antique carpets and no furniture that’s too good for us to sit on.’ We have two 200-pound, waist-high English mastiffs and a Chihuahua. Of course, the Chihuahua rules.”
To accommodate this frolicsome menagerie, Kasler devised interiors that offer a spirited take on traditional design, infused with a dose of modern practicality. Brawny oak paneling, crystal chandeliers, vintage Swedish campaign chairs, linen-slipcovered upholstery, and hardy sisals are all part of the mix. And did we mention the indoor basketball court with a black-lacquer floor?
“This house is all about juxtaposition,” Kasler says. “Town and country, formal and informal, elegant and rustic, dressed up and dressed down.”
That description applies to the architecture as well as the decor. Located on a sloping corner lot, the 17,000-square-foot structure features exterior walls of handsome Tennessee fieldstone, topped by a pitched roof of chocolate-brown cedar shake. The design pays tribute to the late-19th-century work of architect Edwin Lutyens, deploying a sweeping stone arch at the entrance, strong projecting gables with flush rakes, tapering chimneys, steel casement windows recessed into the masonry walls, and large transoms above French doors.
“It’s in a vernacular that speaks to our time because of the effect it achieves through form and asymmetrical massing rather than through elaborate details,” Baker says. “Younger homeowners are drawn to it because it conveys charm, not grandeur.” Kasler, who has collaborated with Baker on numerous residences, adds, “In an age when machines can produce thousands of pieces of furniture—even buildings—in a very short time, my clients still request homes that are personally, individually crafted.”
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