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| A Mix of Old and New |
| Lee Kleinhelter's eye for detail and vintage pieces transformed an Atlanta bachelor pad into a stylish home made for two. |
| By Beaty Coleman |
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| photography: Timothy Street-Porter |
In the living room, Lee pairs an old amber jug she found at a flea market with a modern acrylic coffee table by Jonathan Adler. The mirror above the mantel was a washbasin in its former life.
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When Lee Boren met Kevin Kleinhelter a little over two years ago, he was her contractor. She had worked for Atlanta interior designer Dan Carithers for three years, and with her talented eye for giving vintage pieces a modern look had decided to open her own design store, appropriately named Pieces. Kevin swooped in to convert the former bridal boutique, ripping out a modeling stage, building custom bookshelves, and painting walls and floors. Lee recalls that he always saw her at her worst—"my pre-store, freaking-out phase"—but about a year after the store's opening, they were engaged, planning a wedding–and, of course, remodeling Kevin's bachelor pad for life as newlyweds.
photography: Timothy Street-Porter
On the front porch, Lee and Kevin took down a railing, created symmetry with two windows, and painted the house brown to complement the stacked stone steps. |
"Kevin was trained as a landscape architect before he got interested in renovating and contracting, so the yard was really nice," says Lee. "But the house was definitely a ‘college' pad." There were plastic hollow-core doors, uneven floors, low ceilings, and a futon for a sofa. Lee and Kevin started the renovation at the end of March and finished the beginning of June—the whole process taking less than three months. Kevin's contracting experience allowed them to do a lot of the work themselves and add convenient details (a rolling barn door to the office) and custom touches (such as pine beams in the ceiling). "Because we did it ourselves, we made a lot of decisions along the way," says Lee. "The result was exciting because the time frame was so tight–it was definitely instant gratification." 
photography: Timothy Street-Porter
Lee and Kevin’s living space extends into the backyard. |
The only addition the pair made to the house was the loggia off the back. They extended the roofline to cover a patio that features an outdoor fireplace, making it useful for year-round entertaining. Inside, they simply rearranged the existing space. "The whole house goes straight back," says Lee of its shotgun style. "There's no clear definition of where one room stops and another starts, so flow is very important. I like the idea of perfecting small spaces efficiently." |
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