When Danielle Rollins transformed a pedestrian 1970s Georgian in Atlanta into her dream home, it was the beginning of a bold new chapter for both the property and the designer.
A curated rainbow of blue, tobacco, coral, and off-white unites an explosion of patterns in the living room. Sofas in a Prelle silk velvet, DeAngelis; curtains in a Cowtan & Tout fabric; wallcovering, Pierre Frey; artwork over sofa, Kelly O'Neal.
“I had just gone through a divorce and lost just about everything,” says Rollins, a lifestyle expert who specializes in both interior design and fashion. (She recently launched a clothing and accessories collection.)
The breakfast room's woven hyacinth dining chairs are a Rollins design; curtains in a Brunschwig & Fils fabric; pendant, Mallett; vintage wicker chest.
“When my book Soirée came out a few years ago, I was being asked to give talks on stylish entertaining, even though, at the time, I had moved out of my home and barely even had any paper plates!”
Danielle Rollins, wearing one of her own designs, relaxes in her Atlanta living room with her dogs, Bluebell (left) and Maybelline.
Rollins was determined to rebuild her life and set the stage for the future. “I bought truly the ugliest house, but it was on a great street for a price I could afford,” she says. “I resolved to turn it into a showcase for everything I wanted to do.”
Graphic prints and geometric floors energize the kitchen and service areas. Above: In the butler's pantry, the wallcovering and curtains are by Brunschwig & Fils; custom cork flooring, Globus Cork.
With architect Bill Ingram, Rollins embarked on an ambitious renovation, reconfiguring her new home's floor plan to include a showstopping living room - 40 feet in length - along with a new wing for her parents, who live with the designer and her three children.
The Gris de Savoie marble countertop in the kitchen is from Marmi Natural Stone; sink and fittings, Waterstone Faucets.
To ground the dramatic new spaces, she chose a palette of serene blues, with baseboards throughout the house painted peacock blue - her favorite color - for continuity. The sprawling living room is enveloped in Pierre Frey's timeless Toile de Nantes wallpaper, with its stippled vertical scrolls in a bold azure.
Kitchen stools, Serena & Lily; pendants and sconces, Circa Lighting; wall tiles, Waterworks; custom range hood and encaustic-tile floor.
The ikat-like print also adds dynamism to the art she loves to collect. “I often tell people, 'If you have Picassos, then you can have a white wall,' ” Rollins says. “Otherwise, the vibrancy of a background color or pattern can make your art come alive.”
Curtains and bed canopy, lined in a Lee Jofa chintz, are in a Brunschwig & Fils satin; headboard in a Rogers & Goffigon fabric; wallcovering, Schumacher; carpet, Stanton. A Louis XV chair is upholstered in a Scalamandré silk.
During the renovation, Rollins also planned extensive service areas, including a butler's hall with space for flower arranging, a china room, and a breakfast room with cabinets stocked full of silver, linens, and glassware.
Trellis-print walls, chintz, and a leopard-patterned carpet create a fanciful backdrop in the master bedroom.
“You know that old adage, 'If you buy clothing for a life you want to live, you're going to live it,'” she says. “I think if you buy the nicer china, you're going to use it. But you need to have a place for it, too.”
A sofa in a Lee Jofa chintz with Samuel & Sons trim and an armchair in a Kravet fabric are both custom designs by Rollins.
Romantic glamour reigns in the designer's master bedroom, where splashes of apricot, spots of leopard, and floral chintz set off the canopy bed.
An apricot-lacquered ceiling in the dining room casts a flattering glow. Antique Italian chairs in a Lee Jofa damask; tablecloth and bench with Samuel & Sons trim in an Oscar de la Renta for Lee Jofa fabric; curtains in a Fortuny fabric; walls, Farrow & Ball's Ball Green; ceiling in W-27, Fine Paints of Europe.
A set of ice-blue satin curtains - one of the few items she retained from her previous Miles Redd-decorated house - hang at the windows.
Rollins color-matched her closet's walls to her favorite lipstick hue.
“The main thing I learned from Miles is the notion that 'It's only decorating,' ” she says. “If you don't like something, you can always change it. And if you buy good pieces that you love, you're always going to find a place for them.”
The walls and upholstery in the master bath are in a Thibaut floral; bathtub, Kohler; fittings, Newport Brass; concrete-tile flooring, Granada Tile. Rollins in her powder room.
Meanwhile, a photograph of Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman presides over the master bath, which is furnished, in the tradition of decorating legend and fellow Southerner Nancy Lancaster, as comfortably as any sitting room. The photo is one of the first things Rollins sees each morning, empowering her to put on her virtual everyday power cape.
The powder room exudes old-fashioned glamour. The skirted table is in a Brunschwig & Fils satin; custom rose-gold wallcovering, Fromental; the lamps are made from vintage Baccarat candlesticks; 19th-century Chinese porcelain figurines, John Rosselli Antiques.
“I'm so thankful for this house and this project,” she says. “In the beginning, I focused on what my home needed. But in hindsight, the whole process gave back to me so many of the things that I needed, too.”
This story was originally published in the December 2017 issue of Veranda.
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