HE STARTED PULLING A THREAD,” SAYS ARCHITECT AND INTERIOR designer Shawn Alshut, co-founder of Studio A2, when talking about the renovation of a Sandy Springs home that was completed during two phases and completely reimagined the interiors.
The project, much of which was a down-to-the-studs renovation, started with a problem posed to both Alshut and her spouse and business partner, architect Edward Alshut. “The homeowner was having issues with the maple wood flooring laid when the home was newly constructed,” Shawn Alshut says. “When we began to propose solutions to the floor issue, we suggested other improvements, and the homeowners got excited about how their home could look. The husband travels worldwide for business and often stays at Four Seasons hotels, which increased his expectations considerably.”
The architects knew the homeowners would not be happy with simply replacing the flooring and instead, at the homeowners’ request, designed a new upscale, contemporary concept for the interiors to match the owners’ sophisticated taste. The goal was to bring a sense of luxury into the main spaces and the primary bedroom in phase one of the project. “We grew into the project as it became obvious that the floor couldn’t be saved,” Shawn Alshut explains. “We upgraded conventional details and materials for more refined finishes.”
The award-winning Studio A2 husband-and-wife team were well equipped to usher in a new aesthetic for the upscale family home. Their diversified portfolio, built over decades, includes both residential and commercial projects across the country that span a range of design styles. Their personal and professional collaboration began as students in the Master of Architecture program at the University of Texas at Austin. Shawn Alshut also is educated in interior design, illustration and photography, while Edward Alshut shares design, fine art and photography expertise with their clients.
“We are comfortable working in contemporary, transitional/traditional architecture and interior design,” says Shawn Alshut. “While we speak both languages, our goal is to provide a feeling of comforting interiors, no matter which language is spoken. Contemporary design and comfort are not mutually exclusive ideas.”
“Our contemporary approach to this home has a strong base of darkly stained oak flooring, white walls and ceilings, and accents of stone, textured wallcoverings, wood veneers and lacquered glossy panels,” Edward Alshut adds. “The materials bring variety and richness to a refined palette that you might see in an art gallery or a Four Seasons hotel.”
The home’s transformation reveals itself immediately upon entering the foyer. “The original entry had an overlooking balcony that allowed views straight through to the living room and up to the second floor, so it never felt like a defined space of its own,” explains Shawn Alshut.
To redefine the arrival experience, the Alshuts reimagined the traditional front door, replacing it with a two-story glass storefront to announce the double-height foyer. They replaced maple treads on the stairway with custom-stained rift-cut white oak in a rich, dark finish. The standard maple handrail and balusters also were removed in favor of a sleek glass and brushed stainless steel system. Their most impactful intervention, however, involved the balcony. Rather than allowing it to remain a visual corridor across the upper level, they transformed it into an architectural feature that establishes the foyer’s identity. Clad in dark-stained rift-cut white oak panels, the balcony face now screens direct views beyond it, creating a more intimate and defined entry hall while making a distinctly contemporary statement. The newly articulated bridge-like element also created space for a sitting area overlooking the living room, adding both function and visual interest to the second floor.
The design duo replaced the lighting throughout the home, bringing in contemporary fixtures, increasing the Kelvin numbers to change the color temperature and shifting the ambience. The resulting cool white light is bright and energizing to balance the sleek lines, neutral palette and minimalistic molding details in the more modern interpretation of the interiors.
In the reimagined entry hall, they hung a contemporary version of a classic double-tier chandelier. “We included many references to classical lighting, which is appropriate for creating comfortable spaces,” Edward Alshut says. “The Luceplan Hope sculptural foyer chandelier contains individual Fresnel lenses, which are used in cinematic lighting.” Fresnel lenses multiply the reflected light and add sparkle in a room. In addition, the top of the stairway’s new textured stone wall received LED wall-wash lighting for architectural effect.
Chandeliers and pendants in other rooms change the statement from uneventful to distinctive. A mid-century modern artichoke fixture in the breakfast area, for instance, holds court with red leather upholstered chairs with sinuous curves and showstopping fine art splashed with red. A woven wallcovering provides a neutral base that holds the sophisticated, edgy design together. “We also used recessed lighting, controlled by dimmable switches, to accent artwork and architectural details throughout the home,” says Edward Alshut.
With shared sight lines, the kitchen, living room and dining room read as a single open space. The architects treated the space cohesively, specifying sleek Poliform cabinetry walls for the kitchen and echoing those with a lacquered fireplace surround in the adjacent living room. “I love how the kitchen cabinetry reads as a part of the architecture,” says Shawn Alshut. “You can’t tell the difference between the cabinets and walls, so the pantry door disappears.”
“We relied on our highly capable contractors to implement the design of a white piano-lacquered-and-paneled wood wall as the surround for a modern linear gas fireplace in the living room, as a takeoff from the Poliform kitchen cabinets,” Edward Alshut adds. “A white marble hearth cantilevers off the back wall, while the overall design adds verticality to the space.”
The architects removed traditional molding, replacing it with clean-lined recessed aluminum reveals where the walls meet the floors. “By eliminating baseboards, there was no trim to hide any imperfections, which required exacting fabrication and build-out by the contractors,” notes Edward Alshut.
Using some of the homeowners’ existing pieces, such as a B&B Italia Charles sofa and ottoman in the living room, Studio A2 worked in new accessories, rugs and furniture with simple lines. Full-height drapery panels soften the impression and filter daylight.
They moved on to reworking the private spaces, including the primary bedroom. “The bedroom was large but unstructured,” says Edward Alshut. “Where once there was just a TV on the wall, we designed a true media wall with custom wood veneer panels, using Bang & Olufsen speakers as a sculptural statement.” They took advantage of the rambling space to tuck in a reading alcove and a focal headboard wall of fabric-wrapped panels.
During phase two of the renovation project, Studio A2 reworked the primary bathroom. As they did with the initial project launch, the homeowners contacted the architects to solve another issue. “Knowing they would not be satisfied with anything less than the quality they had in the rest of the home, we suggested they consider upgrading the entire space,” says Edward Alshut.
“We picked up on the same vocabulary in the primary bathroom as existed in the rest of the home,” Shawn Alshut adds. “We also were able to provide additional storage to make the bathroom function better for them.”
Bringing the room down to the studs, they upgraded to a freestanding Picasso tub in the middle of the room as a sculptural focal point, surrounding it with Spanish porcelain floor-to-ceiling wall tiles in white and floor tiles in black.
Another Luceplan Hope pendant with prismatic Fresnel lenses hangs above dual floating vanities located across from each other. They are topped by Robern luxury mirrored medicine cabinets with integrated lighting that reflect light back-and-forth between them. Inline cabinets provide a seamless look in the wall panels. The new features and cabinetry provide the homeowners with the storage they were lacking. “We used the highest-quality plumbing fixtures, including AXOR faucets and a Hansgrohe showerhead worthy of the Four Seasons,” notes Edward Alshut.
The architects love the way the finished bathroom turned out so much, it made them turn their gaze homeward and rework a couple of their own bathrooms. “You know the story of the barefoot shoemaker’s children,” Edward Alshut says. “We specified this home’s refined finishes beyond what we have in our own home, which suddenly made us interested in renovating our personal bathrooms.”
The homeowners are thrilled with the resulting refined and contemporary look. “Our experience collaborating with Shawn and Ed was both professional and personal, and the resulting work greatly improved the quality of our home and our family’s daily living,” the homeowner says. “We were delighted the project also won a Gold Award from the American Society of Interior Designers.”
“We appreciate the opportunity to be involved in something so inspirational,” says Shawn Alshut about the project, which began as a fix and ended as a fabulously reimagined home. “The homeowners challenged us to meet their high expectations. All great projects are dependent on exceptional clients.” *
Dana W. Todd is a professional writer specializing in interior design, real estate, luxury homebuilding, landscape design, architecture and fine art.
During phase two of the renovation project, Studio A2 reworked the primary bathroom. As they did with the initial project launch, the homeowners contacted the architects to solve another issue.
