Matt Stinchcomb loves coming home to his “refuge.”
The former football player, wife Jenny and their three kids moved in after a construction process with some unusual moments. To create the informal, casual look the Stinchcombs were seeking, they had the hardwood floors distressed with chains and golf clubs.
“They would beat up the floors,” Jenny said. “It was so loud but it was so cool.”
The process added character to the Duluth home, based on a design from the 1700s.
“Where we live in the house is, like most families, the kitchen, and the kitchen and living room, they kind of blend into one another. The living room and the kitchen, they’re very much accessible to one another. At the same time, it’s not one big room,” Matt said. “If we want to be in the backyard, it’s so easy to get in and out of the house.”
Snapshot
Residents: Matt and Jenny Stinchcomb, and their kids, Janie Kate, Addison and Whitt. Matt, a former Georgia Bulldogs and NFL offensive lineman, is a college football analyst for the SEC Network and ESPNU, and a managing partner with Seacrest Partners in Atlanta; Jenny is a personal trainer.
Location: Duluth
Size: About 8,100 square feet, five bedrooms, eight baths
Year built: 2014
Architect: Blue Door Architecture
Builder: Pilot Builders
Architectural style: The home was inspired by U.S. President John Tyler’s Sherwood Forest Plantation, which uses a Virginia Tidewater design and is the longest frame house in America (over 300 feet long), according to the Sherwood Forest Plantation Foundation. “We like the simplicity of his home,” Jenny said.
Favorite architectural elements: Simple front columns, and the stone chimney and stone base around the home
Interior design style: Coastal and comfortable. “We wanted it to feel like it’s a house that you can live in and not seem like your grandmother’s front room with the vacuum cleaner tracks in the carpet,” Matt said. “It’s simple enough to where I think it can look presentable, and at the same time, comfortable.”
Favorite interior design elements: “I wanted every room to be interesting and tell a story,” Jenny said. She’s incorporated pieces from as far back as their great, great grandparents along with $5 chairs and reclaimed items, such as a door from an old church in Georgia.
Favorite artwork: Four paintings by Atlanta artist Steve Penley, of Jesus, Thomas Jefferson and florals. “You can view them up close and they look differently than they do from 10 feet way, and they do from the side. It’s almost like having three, four, five paintings in one because it’s such a unique approach,” Matt said.
Resources: Furniture from Scott Antique Markets, Ballard Designs, Pottery Barn; lighting from The Home Depot, Pottery Barn and Bramble Co.; floors distressed by David Bailey; cabinetry by Custom Wood Interiors
Landscape designer: Willow Oak Landscaping
Favorite outdoor feature: The pool, which was inspired by the look of a watering hole, Jenny said.
