The late afternoon sunlight pierces Dan Carithers' Atlanta home like a laser
beam, bouncing off his prized creamware collection and casting shadows across
the living room, which is strewn with Continental antiques. The nationally acclaimed
designer admires the effect with pride because he planned every detail of these
poetic, light-drenched interiors, as he does all of his decorating projects.
When his gracious Buckhead home was remodeled, seven sets of French doors were
added so that nearly every room opens to the garden. A new garden design became
the centerpiece of the remodeling project, with charming views placed deliberately
on axis with the house.
"I landscape from the inside, not from the street -- I don't live in the street,"
says Carithers in his shoot-from-the-hip style. "So often, people have a pretty
garden, but they can't see it or enjoy it from inside." He is as sentimental
about his yard as he is about the house, and he executed the garden design with
the same take-charge precision and impeccable style. Scattered like tokens throughout
the verdant green-and-white-themed garden are old-fashioned plants and vintage
ornaments, such as statuary, architectural fragments, obelisks, and benches
-- each representing a personal memory.
"Originally, this area was just a bog," says Carithers of a horseshoe-shaped
outdoor room. Undeterred, the designer picked up his drafting pencil, designed
a new layout, and transformed the backyard "bog" into a supremely civilized
garden space.
With the help of Atlanta landscape architect Spencer Tunnell, Carithers mapped
out a design that included several formal rooms anchored by informal boxwood
parterres. The goal was to create a garden that looked as established as the
house, which was built in 1937. "I chose Spencer because of his great affinity
for old gardens and classical design," he says.
