Southern Comfort

Follow the brick-paved walkway past the columns of Tennessee fieldstone, the wrought-iron fence wrapped in climbing jasmine, and the blooming crape myrtles. You'd almost swear the Craftsman-style door you're about to knock on is the entrance to a refurbished house in a historic part of town. And Ed Hatcher is okay with that assumption.

“When we first started building in this vernacular, the chief inspector for the city informed me that people had been calling and asking for the name of the builder who was remodeling these old homes,” says Hatcher, whose eponymous firm has carved a niche doing small infill projects in Smyrna, Ga., a once sleepy suburb just 15 miles from downtown Atlanta. “They could not have paid me a higher compliment. Our goal all along has been to create something that looks like it's always been here,” he says.

Hatcher Homes' newest enclave of 11 dwellings on 3.6 acres doesn't disappoint. Situated on a parcel formerly occupied by two dilapidated farmhouses and a vacant brick ranch home, the Cottages at King Springs have a nostalgic charm that even the most devout modernist would find hard to resist. Exposed rafter tails, painted window grids, and natural stonework count among the homespun details Hatcher's faithful followers have come to love. (Would-be buyers often stalk the builder's Web site and pounce the moment a new neighborhood opens.)

But step inside, and any pretense that these are creaky relics made “quaint” by ancient radiators and chipped plaster disappears. Open floor plans, recessed lighting, and energy-efficient materials (all homes are certified as EarthCraft homes, meeting a green building standard similar to the Energy Star rating) reveal the truth: As old fashioned as they may appear on the outside, these 21st-century dwellings are cutting edge to the core.

ESTABLISHING ROOTS: Native plants such as crape myrtle, blooming cypress, japonica, and camellia temper the hardscapes of lots that rest close together. Sod strips on driveways add an extra dash of green.

With a staff of eight, Hatcher produces about 20 houses per year in his hometown and refers to himself as a “boutique semi-custom builder.” He developed his first neotraditional residential project about six years ago and was hooked. Soon after, he began partnering with Dale Peek, an architecture school classmate whose six-person firm, Peek Design Group, is located the next town over, in Acworth. The pair surmised that the Arts and Crafts aesthetic was making a comeback, but that there were limits to the degree of authenticity buyers really wanted.

“We learned that people absolutely loved the feeling they got driving through the neighborhood and seeing architectural styles that reminded them of their grandparents' house or of the little town where they grew up,” says Peek. “But once they got inside the house, most buyers didn't want to follow through with the Stickley furniture and the 1920s trim.” Rather, they wanted their comfy, overstuffed couches to fit in the space. And they especially didn't want dark, claustrophobic interiors sectioned off with superfluous walls.

So the duo took a detour from tradition, recasting the 15 floor plans in the Hatcher Homes portfolio to match the contemporary lifestyles of today's buyers.

In the Morningside plan (the model home for King Springs, which was snapped up within a month of its opening), that meant ditching a formal living room in favor of a casual great room that spills into a sociable kitchen. Hidden behind paneled wainscoting and a site-finished, engineered floor of red oak is pre-wiring for an eight-zone sound system, plus security cameras wired to cable TV.

Figuring out how to engineer wide open spaces inside a traditional skin required some creativity, Hatcher says, particularly in a house with a footprint measuring 32 feet wide by 70 feet deep. Because the house was built on a raised slab, HVAC mechanicals couldn't go underground. Instead, they had to be incorporated into the framing between floors. A key challenge was devising a structural system that would support the open floor plans without compromising air distribution.

“We didn't want any columns in the middle of the room, so we used open web floor systems with glu-laminated beams,” Hatcher explains. “A typical engineered floor system can be cut out for duct penetration, but it doesn't give you the same flexibility as an open web truss system. A web truss isn't solid, which makes it easier to weave mechanicals through it.”

The hallmark of every Hatcher Home is an artful interplay of traditional form and modern function. An intimate dining room spares no expense with its chair rail shelving and double band of crown molding (complete with cove lighting tucked into the second layer of crown); but the dining room is scaled back in size to make way for a casual breakfast booth and butler pantry that connect the dining room to the kitchen.

On the second floor, a tiled vestibule just off the master bedroom splits into separate his and hers bathrooms—each with its own walk-in closet. Windows in the closets allow natural light to flood each dressing area for optimal fashion coordination. All that space could have been used for an extra bedroom, but buyers demonstrated a strong preference for the closet concept.

At 3,469 square feet, the Morningside plan is plenty roomy, but nary a square inch is wasted. Shed dormers peeking out from the roof pitch lead not to the attic crawl space you'd expect, but rather to a spacious media room complete with a home theater and wet bar. Built-in shelving, display niches, and functional alcoves throughout are all part of the infrastructure. A mudroom just inside the garage—what Hatcher calls a “backpack nook”—provides storage space for coats, bags, keys, purses, and cell phones.

DISCERNING PALETTE: Elevations at the Cottages at King Springs feature brick and HardiShingle siding with accented wood trim, sashes, and window strapping. Both exterior and interior paint colors were selected from Duron's Historic color line.

“In the '60s and '70s, Japanese cars started to make headway in the U.S. market because they had little conveniences that no one else had thought of, like cupholders and change drawers next to the steering column,” says Hatcher. “That demonstrated an awareness of how the vehicles were really being used in the real world. We've tried to incorporate the same concepts into our houses. What is the space under the stairwell used for? Perhaps it can hold a mini-pantry for the kitchen or a series of little bookshelves for knickknacks. This is stuff we think about.”

Equal attention is paid to balancing beauty and utility on the outside. Exterior elevations are accented with no fewer than five colors per home. Generous wraparound porches break Craftsman tradition, adding a significant outdoor dimension to the living space. And, as with other Hatcher/Peek projects, the Cottages at King Springs reflect a New Urbanist ethos, with short setbacks in front and garages hidden in back (garages occupy only a small corner of backyards measuring 55 feet wide by 130 feet deep).

“One thing we did right away with King Springs was surrender an additional 10 feet [on each lot] to make room for streetscape improvements,” Hatcher notes. “We tore out the old sidewalk, which ran almost flush against the curb, and laid new concrete 8 feet off the curb, with trees separating the sidewalk from the street.”

NEW REVOLUTION: The original Arts and Crafts movement rejected formal Victorian parlors, conservatories, and servant quarters in favor of more casual “living rooms.” Hatcher's Craftsman-inspired spaces dispense with walls altogether. Only a coffered ceiling delineates the transition from great room to kitchen.

Because the neighborhood is located along a busy commuter cut-through road, layers of hardscaping—stone columns, wrought iron fences, and natural barriers of native vegetation—were important in creating both physical and psychological buffers from the street. It's an aesthetic approach inspired by tradition, but one that deftly negotiates the realities of life in the 21st century.

“Most people want to drive down a street that looks like it's 100 years old, and yet they want the inside of their homes to reflect a modern lifestyle,” Peek says. “It's a paradox that we've embraced.”

Project: The Cottages at King Springs, Smyrna, Ga.; Site size: 3.6 acres; Unit size: 3,469 square feet; Total units: 11; Price: $550,000 to $680,000; Builder/ Developer: Hatcher Homes, Smyrna; Architect: Peek Design Group, Acworth, Ga.; Landscape designer: Georgia Landscape Contracting, Smyrna; Interior designer: Melanie Estes Interiors, Smyrna

Hatcher Homes doesn't like to see construction waste go to waste. A significant portion of leftover materials are pulverized and reused on the jobsite. For example, wood mulch made from lumber scrap is used to create temporary walking paths before hardscapes are installed. Spent brick and concrete are ground up and used for erosion control, as well as for truck entrances (in lieu of gravel pads). A pulverizing machine (called a “Packer”) equipped with a high-powered magnet pulls nails and other metal objects from reclaimed materials, leaving only pure byproduct to be pulverized. Fewer trips to the landfill means reduced dumping fees and a cleaner environment. “Every material with the exception of insulation can be reused,” says builder Ed Hatcher. “Even drywall can be ground up and used as a soil additive similar to lime that reduces acidity.”