photography: Carlos Emilio
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Atlanta interior designer Caroline Willis knew precisely which colors she would use in her new home: soft, neutral tones that were "perfect for smaller spaces." There was just one problem. She couldn't find a home to buy. Caroline and her husband, Brice, had recently married and already put in two offers on houses in the Buckhead neighborhood, only to pull the plug on both contracts at the last minute. Caroline was starting to panic.
Then she tried surfing the Web and stumbled across an ad for a 1927 cottage. "I fell in love with it the minute I saw the outside," she remembers. With a charming front stoop and a beautiful garden—complete with white picket fence in front—Caroline knew she'd found a winner. She and Brice bought the cottage in 2002. Because the exterior of the house was in such good shape, they were able to focus their energy on the interior and stay within budget by transforming the spaces with paint and fabric. The open floor plan of the living room flowing into the dining room and kitchen was exactly what Caroline wanted to make sure her neutral colors would transition well from room to room. 
She started her redesign by making careful choices about when to save and when to splurge. In the living room, she slip-covered a beat-up leather armchair with an inexpensive white canvas, then paired it with a more expensive silk throw pillow. She employed the same technique with curtains, opting for a heavy, pricier silk drape in the formal dining room and lighter, more affordable linen curtains in the guest bedroom.
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