A creative artist-builder couple transforms a red brick ranch into a neoclassical gem.
George Cooke and Bonnie Beauchamp – Cooke are the perfect pair. Not just in their 23-year marriage, but in the art of creating a home. Born and raised in Buckhead, Bonnie is a well-known Atlanta artist represented locally by Huff Harrington Fine Art and Huff Harrington Home as well as galleries throughout the South and West. George is a general contractor and developer with White Oak Fine Homes. Together they’ve renovated two homes in Buckhead. The second (and current home of 17 years) is where they raised their two teenage boys, Tristan and Kyle. When they purchased it, however, it barely resembled its current state.
Cooke enjoy the challenge of renovating a home, and have plans to
tackle a new project in the near future.
“It didn’t catch my eye at all. I cried,” Bonnie says of George’s decision to buy the untouched 1950s-era ranch in 1997. “ He saw the bones, but it was a mess.”
George admits the home with avocado green appliances and shag carpet wasn’t the ideal abode, but it had the right architectural symmetry for a renovation and was in the right location—a family-friendly Buckhead neighborhood in the Morris Brandon school district.
“It was everything you would expect in an untouched 1950s ranch house,” he says. “But the balance and symmetry were right. It was a good starting point.”
Combining their artistic creativity, building skill and a desire to create not only a spacious home for their kids, but also one that could appropriately display their prized pieces of art, the Cookes transformed the three-bedroom, one-story red brick ranch into a four-bedroom, two-story dream home. They didn’t do it all in one fell swoop, however. The neoclassical-style residence with a slate roof and party-worthy patio was accomplished after three different renovations.
Phase one took place before they moved in and included adding a second story with two bedrooms, a laundry room and bathroom. The couple purposefully designed room sizes and wall spaces to accommodate their growing collection by Georgia artists, many of whom are former classmates of Bonnie’s from the Atlanta College of Art (now SCAD Atlanta). They expanded the kitchen and gave it a facelift with new appliances and budget-friendly cabinets. The Cookes also merged the original first-floor master bedroom with one of the guest rooms to create a master suite. All this took place while Bonnie was “really pregnant” with their second son. In fact, she moved from the hospital after giving birth into the just-finished residence.
About five or six years later, when the boys were a little older, the Cookes were itching for another redo. They dove right in, adding a slate roof and, this time, gutting the kitchen. Maple-stained cabinets, a cooktop island and builder-grade appliances moved out so new white cabinetry, shimmering, black-speckled white African granite and professional-grade Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances could move in. A more entertaining-friendly sitting area was also built to replace a breakfast nook.
“We really had fun on that second one. We knew we were going to stay and we wanted to make it more for entertaining,” Bonnie says.
But the itch to renovate returned again in 2008. This time, Bonnie and George expanded the footprint of the home by converting the back-of-the-house carport into a family room. They also built an art studio— of reclaimed antique timbers, discarded construction materials and cypress paneling— for Bonnie in the backyard. What was once a sea of concrete behind the house became a porch and a bluestone dining/ sitting area complete with a fireplace and a bubbling pond. Eventually, George also built a “designer” chicken coop to match Bonnie’s studio, which is home to the couple’s two chickens, Ginger and Mary-Anne.
Step into the now 4,000-square-foot home and all three renovations blend seamlessly together. Although the Cookes can’t attribute their interior design to any one designer, they worked mostly with Andrea Henzlik of Andrea Henzlik Design and Karen Ferguson of Harrison Design to achieve the final product. In the second and third phase renovations, they also had the architectural input of Rick Hatch from Harrison Design.
The intimate formal living room invites guests to sit in two custom orange leather chairs or on the late-1800s Sheraton sofa that once belonged to Bonnie’s grandmother— that is, if the Cookes’ three pooches, Peanut, Sugar and Barbi, haven’t already taken up residence on it. Everywhere you look is art, art and more art. A large Todd Murphy painting of two somber faces, titled Truman Capote, dominates the formal living room. There is also a mixed-media work of acrylic and graphite on paper by Carolyn Carr; a work by Carr’s husband, Michael Gibson, that combines oil on board with a sculptural element of clay and wire; and, of course, pieces by Bonnie, whose process includes applying a layer of molding paste and dirt or sand with her hands and finishing it off with acrylic and oil paint. One of her favorite subjects is horses. Step into the adjoining dining room—outfitted in a colorful striped rug and blue walls—and you’ll meet Bonnie’s Peacemaker, a painting of a 19th century Colt revolver that she gave George for his 50th birthday.
“I wanted a collectible gun with history and any piece with an exciting backstory is about $15,000 to $20,000. I wanted to own a piece of history,” George says.
“He had his eye on one and I just couldn’t do it so I painted him the gun he wanted,” Bonnie says. “I didn’t even know I could paint a gun.”
The kitchen, with its neighboring sitting area, is one of the Cooke family’s favorite hangouts. Here, pops of red accessories accent an eclectic folk art collection that includes a painting of red guinea hens by artist John “Cornbread” Anderson (which George framed with trimmings from antique timber beams) and a painting of an angel’s wing above the stone fireplace that Bonnie created while in college. The timber mantel is home to one of the couple’s ceramic face jugs, but the full collection (picked up at art shows across Georgia) is in the former-carport-turned-family-room, where each piece sits eerily staring into space from the white built-ins. Surrounding these are works by a variety of collectible Georgia artists, including a portrait of Bonnie painted by Michael Taylor while they were both in residence at the Hambidge Center in North Georgia.
The art show continues in the Cookes’ master bedroom where walls of silver automotive paint are a soothing backdrop for a painting on paper by Cuban-American artist Rocío Rodríguez and a multi-media piece from 19-year-old up-and-coming local artist Wood Adamson.
The only place on the Cookes’ property where you won’t see artwork at every turn is the outdoor living area, which, ironically, is where Bonnie retreats to create her masterpieces. As a couple, the Cookes’ biggest masterpiece is, no doubt, their beautiful home and while they’d love to continue adding on to it (a garage, to be precise), they are running out of room. Instead, the dynamic duo is looking ahead to a completely different renovation challenge.
“Now that we have one son in college and one about to head off to college, we are considering a new construction project,” George says. “We are thinking contemporary and modern as a new adventure.”
We can’t wait to see.
STORY: Giannina Smith Bedford
PHOTOS: Sara Hanna
Bonnie and George’s top 5 tips for starting an art collection:
1. Buy what you like and buy in the moment—don’t worry ahead of time about where a piece will be placed, or its size, shape, color, etc.
2. Find a common theme that is meaningful to you—we began with artists that Bonnie went to college with at UGA and Atlanta College of Art, then expanded to include all Georgia artists.
3. Go to the many nonprofit art auctions, such as the Hambidge Center Auction at the Goat Farm Arts Center in late May—you can find established or emerging artists that can build your collection.
4. Don’t be afraid to move your art around—as new pieces are added to a collection, other pieces can be moved or can take a “rest” off the wall for a while.
5. There is no right or wrong way to build a collection— more than anything, have fun and take your time … an art collection is a journey, not a destination.
