Featured Homes
Small Spaces: Fire and Ice
In a Buckhead townhouse, designer Tish Mills creates a quiet retreat for a spirited homeowner

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LIVING LARGE IN SMALL SPACES: The challenge of maximizing a small space can be quite a task, but that didn’t stop designer Tish Mills from giving her client everything she wanted when the two set out to give a Buckhead townhouse, which hadn’t had a facelift in 15 years, a new look. After seeing her work three years ago at the Atlanta Symphony Associates’ Decorators’ Show House, the homeowner knew that Mills was the designer for the job. Her task: to reflect the client’s outgoing personality yet still make the 1,400-square-foot space a serene retreat after a busy day of work as a hotel executive. The result: an updated, chic look Mills calls “French-meets-1940s Hollywood glamour.”

At their first meeting, says Mills, the homeowner “was wearing a top with ginger, gold and red, and it looked so pretty against her skin tone and hair.” Using the blouse as inspiration, the designer presented the client with the vibrant color scheme. The homeowner, who entertains frequently, was thrilled. Before Mills started the project, the floors were Brazilian cherry hardwood and the walls were subtle variations of white. Mills picked up those warm and cool tones with markedly different color palettes upstairs and down. The fiery shades that now ignite the first floor are favorites of the homeowner, who originally suggested a neutral scheme. “The opposite was true for the master—it had to be cool, serene. The day Tish presented the colors, I named the palette ‘fire and ice.’ ”