Designer Maggie Griffin Helps A Young Family Refresh Their North Georgia Farmhouse

Sometimes you don’t know what you’re looking for until it falls in your lap. This was the case for Staci and Mack Vinton, who weren’t actively searching for a home when they got a call about this 1979 farmhouse in the heart of Gainesville, Georgia. “I’d met with a real estate agent a few years prior and told him, ‘Take me into the country, and give me a few acres with a creek. Or put me downtown for the convenience of living there,’ ” says Mack. “When he called and said, ‘I have a house with everything you want,’ we immediately went to see it.”

After a brief tour, the couple knew it was meant to be theirs. “The house really found us,” says Mack. The property delivered on their town-and-country dreams: It stretches over 4 acres, and the neighborhood is within walking distance of the Gainesville square. “It’s just a little jewel right in the middle of town without feeling like it,” says Maggie Griffin, the longtime friend and designer enlisted to tackle the renovation.

The place came with plenty of charm. That’s largely thanks to the original builder’s preference for using reclaimed materials: He incorporated exposed beams and tongue-and-groove paneling into the structure and installed heart-pine flooring that was 125 years old at the time. “To me, even though it has been renovated, those elements help it feel established, warm, and full of character,” explains Maggie. “Staci and Mack’s love of procuring unique items fits right in.”

They brightened the gray facade with a coat of Benjamin Moore’s Bone White (OC-143), upgraded old windows and doors, and opened up the porch—and the view—by replacing the wooden picket railing. “You can hear the creek from the porch, but we wanted to be able to see it too,” says Mack. They also prioritized the lush landscaping. “We’re working to bring natural elements back to the creek and surrounding areas to honor the style of the house,” he says. See how the couple and their designer preserved the home’s historic feel while updating it with fresh touches.

Good Connections

To better suit their family’s needs, the couple converted an open-air breezeway leading from the foyer to the garage into a walkway meets mudroom. They also enclosed the porch in between to create a sunroom and then added cubby-like floor-to-ceiling lockers to serve as a drop zone in the hall. “It feels like a very natural bridge between the original part of the house and the addition,” says Staci.

Slowdown Spaces 

To cultivate conversation and quality time, the family opted to keep electronics out of the living area. “Without the distraction, it forces you to engage with the people in the room,” says Mack. The distinctive red-and-navy rugs were some of the first items they purchased for their home. Scored at an antiques auction, they’re ideal for hiding a multitude of sins. “I liked them because I would rather buy something unique that has a story to tell rather than something that’s perfect,” he explains. The cozy space is finished with collected art and the piano that Staci grew up playing at her grandparents’ house.

Fine-Tuned Touches

In the dining room adjacent to the kitchen, a handcrafted table made of reclaimed wormy chestnut anchors the open space while chairs covered in durable faux leather keep things fuss free.

Well-Considered Changes 

“They love to cook and spend a lot of time together in the kitchen, so giving them a space to use on a daily basis and to entertain in was very important,” says the designer. Although the team kept some elements—like the flooring and wood-paneled ceiling—as is, they used the heaviest hand in this room. They enlarged the footprint by 50 square feet and reconfigured the U-shaped layout to accommodate a large island. The new cabinetry got a coat of Benjamin Moore’s Antique Pewter (1560) to complement the tile backsplash.

Splashes of Color

Just off the kitchen, they added a built-in beverage station that is primed for hosting yet removed from the action to help maintain the flow of traffic. “One of my favorite parts of the renovation is the wet bar, where we hung a piece by local artist Colleen Leach against the sleek tile backdrop,” says Staci. The commissioned painting was designed to pull in shades found throughout the home. “The house has a very neutral palette with punches of color in each space to make everything feel a little different,” notes Maggie.

Old Meets New

For Mack and Staci, the primary bedroom addition with a vaulted ceiling felt too grand, and there was also a lack of closet space. They tackled both of these issues by borrowing 6 feet from the bedroom to install a walk-in closet. To help the room seem cozier, they used nickel gap shiplap for the ceiling and covered the walls in grass cloth. The headboard serves as their something-old element. “We’ve had it for about 16 years, but the wood itself was over a century old when I got it,” says Mack, who built the headboard with paneling (salvaged from a New York City brownstone) that he found at Scott Antique Markets in Atlanta. “It’s a piece of history that we put our own touch on.”

Singing the Blues

The previously renovated bath called for primarily aesthetic changes, which included repainting the vanity with Benjamin Moore’s Half Moon Crest (1481) and dressing the walls with Thibaut’s Cornelia pattern. “I was timid about the wallpaper at first because it’s a little more than what I’m used to, but Maggie thought I’d love it,” recalls Staci. “The minute it was installed, I saw how much the space needed it.”