“When you have small children, you can’t have this kind of house, ” Angela Mitchell says of the Lake Guntersville home she built with her husband, David. “But now that everyone is away at school, they come home and really appreciate it.” And, she adds, they will one day bring their own families home to the lake. “We designed it with that future in mind.”
The Mitchells’s new house is actually a major renovation of their old house—a 4,600-square-foot brick home—along with a two-story addition. “The old house had a cramped floor plan, and the kitchen and living room were too small, ” Angela says. “Plus, it didn’t take the beautiful lake views into consideration like we wanted. It was livable and large enough for us at the time with our three kids, but I never could make it ‘me.’ I didn’t have a great room for hosting our extended families.”
Angela dreamed and planned of making over the family’s home for years. “I poured myself into every magazine and design book I could find, and for two years I tore out every page I loved, ” she says. Her research revealed two homes in particular that she couldn’t stop admiring. “I loved everything about them, ” she says. “Both houses were designed by James Carter. I knew then that I wanted to hire him as our architect.”
James designed the Mitchells’s addition to include a great room, a home office, two bedrooms and bathrooms, covered porches, and a porte cochere. Birmingham interior designer Mark Kennamer, a Lake Guntersville native, was also brought onto the project in the early stages of the design collaboration. Together, architect and designer tempered the structure’s newness with antique building materials—rough-hewn beams, antique French white oak floors, fir posts—and a mixture of antique and new furnishings to give both the exteriors and interiors a timeless, well-lived quality. “The house is very traditional, but I like how Mark provided a relaxed approach to the classical design with the interiors, ” Angela says. “And he made it personal by really listening to my ideas and incorporating things that were important to me.”
For the Mitchells, having a central gathering place was a main priority. Their new great room is the perfect spot for entertaining groups both large and small. “We can have a simple five-person family meeting or host a big group of extended family and friends, ” Angela says. “Either way, the great room is equally as comfortable.” And although the large space—three-rooms-long with 12-foot ceilings—could feel cavernous, it became cozy and welcoming under Mark’s deft hand. “The space is perfect for both formal and casual entertaining, whether it’s my ladies’ club meeting or a laid-back Auburn football game-day get-together, ” she says.
Angela says it is not just the great room but the whole house that “is livable without being pretentious. It is a marriage of the detailed design created by James and the perfectly layered interiors from Mark, ” she says. “This house has the grown-up feel I have always wanted.”
Meet Mark Kennamer
Mark Kennamer always had an interest in interior design. “I was helping people with their rooms back when I was in high school, ” he says. But it was his move to Birmingham after receiving his bachelor’s degree in interior design that really launched his career. He met his first client while working at Table Matters in Mountain Brook. That meeting led to more clients, and before long he launched Mark Kennamer Design in 2004. Today, Mark is inspired by fellow Southern designers Suzanne Kasler, Phoebe Howard, and Charlotte Moss. His home, shared with two cats—Honeychild Beyonce and Ray J.—is a “collection of things I love—antiques and abstract art, ” he says. A favorite piece is a Christopher Spitzmiller lamp that was a gift from a client. “I am blessed that my clients become friends, ” he says. “Our work is more of a relationship than a business transaction.”
RESOURCES
Architect: James Carter, 205.871.7873 • jamesfcarter.com Interior design: Mark Kennamer of Mark Kennamer Design, 205.413.6976 • markkennamerdesign.com Kitchen: designer: Cyndy Cantley of Cantley & Company, 205.324.2400 • cantleyandcompany.com antique wood beams, flooring, etc.: James & Company LLC Antique Timber & Flooring Collinsville, AL • 256.997.0703 • jamesandcompany.com Dining area: gold-framed intaglios: Mrs. Howard Atlanta, GA • 404.816.3830 Bedroom: South Hampton Queen poster bed in Chippy White: Mr. & Mrs. Howard for Sherrill Furniture sherrillfurniture.com Bath: sconces: Antiques & garden show of Nashville antiquesandgardenshow.com Trumeau mirror: Huff Harrington, Atlanta, GA • huffharrington.com
