The Mod Couple

A pair of New Yorkers creates  an oasis of contemporary chic amid a bland landscape of traditionalism. Story by Angie Bennett mosier    Photography by Brian Woodcock

There's nothing strange about a homeowner compiling a wish list when looking for a house. Take for instance Rob and Shannon Gini, thirty-something transplants from New York City. They both have worked in the fashion industry and are the picture of metropolitan chic. Shannon's personal style is a mixture of vintage couture and classic prêt-à-porter-think Mia Farrow in the early '70s. Rob's obsession is functional art and domestic design. This couple merged their love of style and design when they started dating, and the Big Apple's flea markets and smart shops were the fueling stations for their fixation.

 
Once Rob and Shannon decided to get married, and later start a family, they began fantasizing about a house that looked like the modular California case study houses from the '40s and '50s. But the West Coast is not only expensive, it is also a world away from Shannon's parents who live in the South. While a contemporary home in California might have all the modern conveniences that make homemaking a snap for a new mother, says Shannon, nothing can take the place of a new grandmother who is just a phone call away and eager to help. So a decision was reached to move to Atlanta to find a neighborhood where their little boy, Arden, could grow up in a place that was part big city, part serene Southland.

OUR ATLANTA: The Ginis assumed that they would have to give up their dream of finding an angular, contemporary home, since all they had initially seen in Atlanta neighborhoods was ultra-traditional home design. Rob started doing some research and soon found that the wave of money and business that flowed into Atlanta in the '40s, '50s and '60s led to the fashionable, nouveau riche embracing Hollywood trends and Scandinavian style. To Shannon and Rob, this meant that they might actually find the stylish vintage home they had envisioned (and maybe unearth some amazing deals at tag sales held by the unknowing, grown children of aging hipsters).

CASE IN POINT: Once the Ginis got to Atlanta, they were surprised to find little pockets of neighborhoods, built in the '60s and filled with some pretty wild architecture. Blocky split-levels with flat-roofed garages, brick, ranch-style homes with plate glass windows and blond wood floors, and the always shocking A-frame-a ski chalet in the heart of Dixie.

STREET SMARTS: Not long into their search, Rob happened to drive down a side street in a Doraville neighborhood when he saw the house: white brick with an angled roofline. Most of the houses on this street were fairly basic designs or had been changed drastically from their modern lines to "fit in" more. Not this one-it was a beacon signaling a family to come love it, angles and all. It wasn't for sale, but Rob took a photo and rushed home to show Shannon.

LET'S MAKE A DEAL: Over the next few weeks they would drive by the house to have a look, until one day Rob decided to approach a worker in the driveway, where he learned the owner was about to make drastic changes to make it more marketable. The Ginis immediately contacted the owner, stopped the renovations and struck a deal. The Ginis, found the house to be structurally good, so what remained to be changed was strictly cosmetic.

Case study Facade
The couple wanted a house that looked like the modular case study houses in California from the '40s and '50s when they found it: a white-brick house with an angled roof line.

Room for Living
The front hallway is open and bright, leading to a grand living room flooded with light from a wall of windows. The curves of the Gini's cherished Noguchi coffee table soften the masculine lines of the George Nelson sectional. The art that hangs on the wall is a mixture of colors, shapes and textures, and many pieces were purchased inexpensively simply because they appealed to the Ginis. One such $100 dollar painting was later found to be a Remo Farruggio and worth about $1,500.uncovered treasure.

The bright sunroom in the back at one time housed an enormous hot tub complete with cedar decking. The Ginis spied a Danish-looking lounge chair and ottoman while on a weekend shopping trip to Lakewood and bought the set for $275 simply because of the aesthetics; upon returning home, the couple found the exact chair in one of their reference books. "The Lamino Lounge was designed in 1945 by Swedish designer Yngve Ekström, otherwise known as 'the poet of Swedish furniture,'" says Shannon. "The chair is worth $1,500-$1,800 and the ottoman an additional $500-$700." That lounge now sits in the revamped sunroom along with their coveted Kofod-Larsen 1950 Plyback armchair; another backyard bargain.

Dining by design
The Ginis scored deals on home décor at yard sales and the Lakewood Antique market, such as the "Sputnik" chandelier that hangs over their Paul McCobb dining room set. They paid a mere $10 for the chandelier, which they had seen in New York and online for $350-$400.

Boyish charm
Arden, the Gini's young son, stashes his collection of well-read vintage comic books on the shelf of the side table of his Heywood-Wakefield bedroom set. No doubt Arden and his little brother, Liam, will both learn to spot and respect great art and design as they grow up in the mod space that Rob and Shannon have created thanks to their love of collecting.