Nan Haverty sells the HGTV Green Home in Serenbe!

Nan Haverty sold the HGTV Green Home at Serenbe!  She is a co-founder of the Serenbe community nestled in the woods of the Chattahoochee Hill Country, recently incorporated into its own city, and now recognized as the greenest city in the United States.

I went down to shoot the house right before Christmas and was so impressed!

The idea behind the home, designed by Kemp Hall Studios, was to create a "modern farmhouse."

This is the formal entry.

I love these stairs.  They reminded me of the stairway in the vampire's house from Twilight (amazing modern home).

The kitchen is located in the heart of the home.  The cabinets are made of Hickory wood and were constructed in Atlanta.  The kitchen was designed by interior designer Linda Woodrum.  The dining area flows seamlessly into the living room.

The tile is a mixture of travertine and glass, and the floating display shelves make the space really interesting (see right side of this photo).

I love the wood slat walls here...

and all the natural light from the sliding glass doors that open to an outdoor sitting area.

This is a view from the porch into the kitchen.  Sliding doors throughout the home make it feel much larger than it is and make it an indoor/outdoor space.

The patio off of the kitchen offers an open air space for grilling and eating.

To the left you can see the doors to the kitchen, and to the right you can see a large family room.

I love the fireplace in the family room, because on a day like today you could have the doors open and the fire going.  It serves as both a glassed in and open porch.

This orange study located on the main level is right up my alley.  I love the interior design.

The master bedroom is located on the main level.  It opens to a fenced in area with lounge chars and the cutest dog house I've ever seen.

Can you see Nan's cute little dog, Channing, who joined us for the photo shoot?

He got tired and decided to take a snooze in this custom-built dog house.

Finally we end up in the master bath with a walk-in dual shower and Carrera marble.

This bedroom is located upstairs...

and this art area/children's work station is built into the hallway leading to an additional bedroom.

This cool bunk room is at the other end of the hall.  Since I was curious, I climbed right up to the top up there, where there was a tv with a PlayStation, two beanbags and of course the pail attached to a string for snacks.  I got so jealous.  I would love to hang out up there!

Congratulations to Nan Haverty for selling this amazing HGTV Green Home.  She was Beacham & Company's  Top Individual Agent Company-Wide in 2011.  Nan has a "Town and Country" approach. Whether you are buying or selling a starter home, lot to build a custom house, large estate, intown condo or townhome, Nan has the expertise to service all your particular interests and needs.  Nan utilizes a global network of listings and highly qualified buyers allowing her to perfectly match exceptional properties with the people who will take refuge within them. Understanding Town and Country living makes her unique.

...

Now, you can WIN a Matouk candle AND a Matouk Bath Bar from Gramercy Fine Linens.

Buckhead bedding boutique, Gramercy Fine Linens & Furnishings, has partnered with luxury linen master Matouk to open the first-ever pop-up shop in Atlanta’s bustling Westside Provisions District.

Matouk by Gramercy Home, is a collaborative temporary boutique located in the former Ann Mashburn space, featuring bedding, bath and tabletop accessories by Matouk along with a well edited mix of gifts and monogramming services by Gramercy. The pop-up shop will remain open throughout the holiday season until February 2013.

The pop-up shop will be located at 1198 Howell Mill Rd, Atlanta, GA 30318 and will be open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.shopgramercy.com.

You need to go today!  I have this "White Garden"candle and "White Garden Bath Bar" right in front of me, and they smell amazing!  I'm so tempted to keep them for myself, but I will give them to one lucky reader.

To win, click here and tell me which room in the HGTV Green Home that Nan Haverty sold is your FAVORITE.

Contest ends 1/10/13 at 12PM EST.

Thank you all, and good luck!

Serenbe is Cool, So is Valentine's Day

I can hear it now...  "oh, your Valentine's Day was just so great because it was your first one.  Wait until you get older, Valentine's Day is the worst." Well... whatever.

It was my first Valentine's Day with Jimmy, and it was perfect.  Couldn't have been better...  so sorry to all you guys who hate Valentines Day.  You can stop reading now.

If you Love Love (Ginny Branch), you can read on...

We started our weekend by going to see Trey Anastasio (lead singer of Jimmy's number one love, PHISH) perform with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.  It was a great show.  Trey preformed many classic Phish tunes such as YEM and Divided Sky.  He also preformed some songs by the Trey Anastasio Band.  It was interesting hearing all the songs changed form their traditional arrangements into orchestral pieces.  I liked Water in the Sky best.  It was such a beautiful song.

Another highlight of the evening was this violinist's sweet Prada shoes.  I was captivated...

A couple in the back got engaged dring the show, which was such a special moment.  Trey congratulated them and dedicated YEM to them, where he teased "Here Comes the Bride."  I am into romantic stuff, so I thought was was really special.

Speaking of romantic things, Friday Jimmy sent me these beautiful flowers...

Didn't he do a great job?  Along with the flowers came tickets to Willie Nelson.  NO WAY!!!???!!!

Seeing Willie Nelson was on my bucket list.  Did you know he is 79 years old?  Can you believe it?  I had never seen him live and was dying to see him when he was at the Tabernacle.  Jimmy surprised me with tickets, and we went Sunday night.

Since seeing Willie Nelson was such a huge deal for me, I was fairly panicked about what I could do for Jimmy that could even come close to matching that.  Luckily I had the stroke of genius to call Nan Haverty, one of our agents here at Beacham & Company.  Nan and I do a lot of work together with me photographing her listings.  Her husband helped develop Serenbe, which is a sustainable community in Palmetto, GA.  There is a great town square with wonderful food and shops.  There is also a wide spectrum of real estate and a horse barn with ample acreage.  I asked her a for a HUGE FAVOR.  I asked if it would be ok for Jimmy and me to stay in her house at Serenbe for Valentines Day.

9015 Selborne Lane is currently for sale and is absolutely breathtaking.  I was so thankful when she said Jimmy and I could stay there!

That just left one more thing I needed to figure out, a Valentine's present for Jimmy.  I thought and thought about it, and solicited help from all of his friends (sorry-- I am very annoying).

I was so excited about Jimmy's present I almost couldn't stand the ride to Serenbe...  As soon as we walked in, I put in on the breakfast table and made him open it.

A record player?  WHAT?!?  I know!!!  Isn't that an awesome present?  I know what you're thinking, "How could someone who loves music that much not own a record player?"  I was confused myself.  After exhaustive research I settled on this Hype record player from Urban Outfitters.   Pros: it's portable, it has built in speakers, it has an AUX out so it can be plugged into surround sound, it looks cool.  Cons: It's fairly cheap and can break easily.  It was the best choice for me at the time, and Jimmy thinks it was the right one, SO YEA BLAYNE.  In addition to this record player I gave him my entire collection of records, which has taken a lifetime to build.  It includes classic albums by artists such as: The Beatles, Grateful Dead, Pure Prairie Legue, The Marshall Tucker Band, and Jimmy Buffett.  Yea, I know, I am an amazing girlfriend.

It seems Jimmy thinks so as well...

See how happy he is?  I know.  It's pretty cute.

After present opening time we went to The Hil Restaurant, which was amazing.

Yea for Valentine's dinner!

These were homemade potato chips with Vidalia onion dip!  yum.

After dinner we went back to Nan's house where I got excited about how beautiful it looked at night, so I took a few pictures.  You can see Jimmy walking on the porch in that picture if you look closely.

Isn't that breathtaking?

This is a view of the pool house from the house at night.

This was the view this morning outside my room to the pool house.  Doesn't that look peaceful?

While Jimmy packed the car, I walked around to the front of the house and took this picture.

And then walked up to the front porch to see this view.  I could have stayed forever, but alas, we both had to get back to work.

I made Jimmy stop the car to get this shot.  Photographers say that the best time to take pictures are at dawn and dusk.  Since I make it a rule to only be awake for one of those times, I was taking full advantage of the light this morning...

We waved good bye to these guys as we pulled away...

and caught our last glimpse of the country as we made our way back to the highway.

Cheers to an amazing first Valentines Day Jimmy.  I'm so in love with you.

-Blayne

P.S. Nan, thank you so much for making this little trip possible.  Your home is so beautiful, and we were so lucky to get to stay there!  You're the best!

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