A real Christmas treat unexpectedly came my way yesterday. While in Atlanta for the weekend, I decided to make a quick visit to this year’s Alliance Theatre Christmas House held at The Mansion on Peachtree. This beautiful boutique hotel/residence has a 127 hotel rooms and permanent residences on 42 floors in the heart of Buckhead. It also boasts a 15,000 square foot destination spa. This beautiful classic building sits right on Peachtree just a couple of blocks north of Lenox Square. 
Even though photographs were not allowed, I managed to snap a few, hence the so-so quality. Better than no photos, right.
This was my favorite bedroom and I wish the picture showed how luscious the color was on this bedding. A rich champagne with white accents. The two pillows in front were a stunning white cutwork fabric to die for. This bedroom was very small with only the bed and a couple of night stands, possibly a small chest. It proved a tiny room can be filled with elegance. Just beautiful!
The adjoining bath… so pretty. Love the mirror.
Another bedroom…. love the fabric hanging behind the bed and the lantern over the table. Most of the beds were dressed more simply like this one. One of the beds I didn’t photograph was so simple, it was plain! As in, let’s just throw an old fashioned bedspread on the bed, but not a lush beautiful spread. No, this was a plain sage green fabric with tucked in pillows a la’ 70’s hotel room. Not my favorite look, can you tell?
This room was so sophisticated! I wish I was able to photograph it better, but it was rather small. You are looking at an oversized silverleaf mirror leaning against the wall with orange Hermes boxes stacked in front. So elegant.
A sofa nestled up to the window with a great view of Buckhead.
Here you have a better view of the mirror…. how about that chair! This is where I want to sit, read and sip a glass of wine. Oh, and open all those yummy boxes filled with presents for me…me…me!
This lovely room was designed by Phoebe Howard, my “design crush”. It was difficult to capture the elegant essence of this room while trying to take a quick photo before the showhouse police caught me. There were actually two sets of bookcases on each side of the mantle with antique leather bound books, white pottery and Albert Hadley room rendering displayed very simply. Her look is so refined. Soon I will dedicate an entire post to this fabulous designer. Check back for my Phoebe Howard post. {Love her!}.
Also in the room were these beauties. A luscious tone on tone fabric covered these classic chairs.
Beautiful vignette in another room. This is a Jim Thompson silk that is to die for. I recently design a living room using a very similar silk in blue, champagne and taupe. I’m sure this was five times {at least} the price, but the look is almost identical. These were actually portieres. Remember those from Scarlett’s green velvet dress on Gone With The Wind? Portieres are curtains that are used in doorways instead of windows.
OK, this was the craziest/interesting thing in the show home. A black lacquered mirror with tiny LED lights inside that were reflected and appeared as if you were looking into a tunnel or cylinder in the wall. You felt as if you could climb right in! It was wild! This room was designed by Hutton Wilkinson and was the most high end room in a high end condo. Also, the most unusual. I wish I could have made pictures of the rest of the room, but couldn’t sneak any more shots. BTW, if you are interested in the lamps, $18,000+ each!!!!
No wait, THIS is really the craziest thing I saw. A lovely lighted SNAIL under the table pictured above. What can I say… a lighted snail…. really?
This was the decoration in the elevator lobby. As you can see, even though this was a Christmas show house, very little Christmas décor was actually shown. Understated and elegant was the look, which was really nice as it showcased the beautifully executed design of the three condos I toured. The Christmas Show House runs thru Dec. 12 and is well worth the trip. It will be featured in a future issue of Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles magazine, hopefully the December issue. I’m not sure they could produce it that soon, so it could possibly not be shown until next season.
I hope you enjoyed this little tour. Be sure to watch for the magazine to see the rooms I didn’t photograph.
Reesa
