TURNING THE PAGE

A light-filled revival of a 120-year-old Athens, Georgia, home opens a new chapter for a mother and her three kids

- BY KAITLYN YARBOROUGH SADIK

When Kim Noland decided to take on a complete renovation of a 120-year-old home in Athens, Georgia, she had a fresh start in mind. On the heels of a divorce, she desired a welcoming place for herself and her three children—Mary Abbott (now 14), Caroline (12), and Trip (10)—to begin a new phase, and the house was ready for its own sequel. “It felt like exactly what we needed,” she says.

For Noland, a Texas native who has lived in Athens for more than 17 years, staying close to her current neighborhood was of paramount importance. “My kids have so many friends who live nearby, and they love to walk to the bakery and chocolate shop,” she says. “It’s just a great place to grow up.”

The Craftsman-style home was one of the first to be built along a historic street in the Five Points area, just blocks from the University of Georgia’s campus and the scenic row of sorority and fraternity houses on Milledge Avenue. It instantly grabbed Noland’s interest, as she had been looking for “something to preserve.” She tapped Tami Ramsay of the interior design firm Cloth & Kind, who had worked with her on previous projects, to team up again for this undertaking.