Marn fell in love with Chattanooga while her two sons were boarding at McCallie School. She later moved to Chattanooga, embracing the convenience and style of downtown living. Today, energy efficiency, cutting edge technology, and contemporary interior design come together in Marn Ball’s Walnut Hill townhome.
Marn and her builder, Mike Moon, collaborated on and completed a custom design that is as energy efficient as possible. With Happy Peterson of Your Better Half, a newly formed company to help busy professionals with domestic details, they planned and executed the interior design that provides a place of peace and tranquility with special features that define Marn’s life and unique style.
Now, this eco-friendly home features both can and accent LED lighting, thermostats which can be remotely or automatically adjusted as necessary, window shades that open or close automatically depending on time of day and amount of sunlight, and kitchen cabinets made from lyptus, an environmentally friendly eucalyptus variant.
The three levels of the townhome, each serving a different purpose, have common elements that create cohesiveness in design. Polished travertine, a form of limestone deposited by mineral hot springs, is used for flooring throughout the home. White wood trim, varying hues of green wall color and artful accents aesthetically unify the spaces. An avid art collector, Marn’s favorite pieces are displayed throughout the home.
An elegant foyer, featuring an abstract, marble torso in a wall niche, welcomes guests to the first floor common areas. The travertine floor continues into the formal dining room where the centerpiece is a beautiful 86-inch round custom-made walnut table. Gracefully, a glass beaded waterfall chandelier drips from the ceiling over the table. Highlighting the elegant functionality of the home, a wall-to-wall built-in storage cabinet at the rear of the room features a lustrous translucent, gold onyx top, illuminated underneath by LED lighting that bathes the top in a soft gold light. A painting over the wall cabinet depicting a graceful ballerina in a low curtsey is a focal point of red color, as is the painting which hangs over a burl walnut chest picturing a field of bright
red poppies.
The open floor plan of the kitchen and living room is the heart of Marn’s home. The kitchen and living room areas are separated by a textured, silver-veined granite bar, allowing Marn to serve and interact casually with her guests as she prepares food and drinks. The kitchen appliances are sleek stainless steel and cabinets house the refrigerator and freezer drawers for smaller, easy-to-access food storage. All cabinetry throughout the home was designed by Classic Cabinetry and feature “close quiet” drawers.
Above the commercial stove is a French hood and behind is a glass tile backsplash with multicolored peacock patterned mosaic reflecting delicate and diffuse colors. Beautiful granite countertops provided by Stone Services surround the kitchen.
The kitchen cabinetry makes a stylistic transition into the living room with built-in ivory colored painted and glazed cabinets finished with dentil molding. A recessed counter and wall space displays Marn’s favorite photographs and art.
Guests can retire to an inviting sitting area in the living room, grouped around a fireplace with a flat screen TV over the mantle. A custom-made tufted ottoman with metallic embossed reptile-patterned leather serves as a coffee table. A multicolored, copper-enameled undulating sculpture is displayed as a conversation piece across the top of the fireplace, just below the mantle.
The furniture upholstery is a mixture of textures and patterns with a common color palette of beiges, browns and oranges. The furniture includes a claw footed sofa in beige linen, a kilim fabric covered swivel chair, two chocolate brown mohair upholstered club chairs and matching ottomans. An antique oriental rug under the furniture compliments the upholstery fabric with its soft orange and beige tones.
The ultra-modern first floor powder room is covered with a silver, wood-veneer wallpaper in a starburst design. The contemporary decor includes a vanity with silver, x-shaped, wooden mullions over glass front panels, marble countertop, and a black glass vessel sink.
The second floor houses the laundry room and Marn’s sons’ rooms. Colorful and fanciful family photos and drawings, including Marn’s three dogs, are displayed on the hallway walls, giving this floor a cozy feel.
Although Tanner and Tate live away from home, Marn still keeps the rooms prepared for their always welcomed visits. The boys’ bedrooms use neutral tones, and patterns and fabrics are seamless continuations of the style from the rest of the house.
The third level, which houses the master suite and office, is where Marn retreats from the business of everyday life. Her bedroom is decorated with pieces from her art collection, including paintings and groupings of fluted, multicolored glass bowls. The bed with a tufted, bronze leather headboard and leather frame is draped with a luminous damask duvet accented with pillows in a mixture of textures and patterns of crushed velvet, brocade and paisley print. Placed at the foot of the bed is a functional as well as decorative custom-made buffalo leather chest trimmed with pewter nailheads and encased in glazed metallic Alder wood.
With the push of a remote control button, a flat screen TV emerges from the leather chest. The TV can be turned 360 degrees so that Marn can enjoy the TV either in her bed or while relaxing in a chaise lounge in a cozy corner across the room.
The master bath combines ultra- modern conveniences with functionality. The vanity cabinet, with baked-applied cast iron sinks, has a gold, transparent glass top accented with LED strip lighting along the back edge and toe kick lighting underneath the cabinet. There is also a warming drawer for towels and pull up garage-style doors that hide toiletries. Surrounded by split face stone, Marn enjoys her soaking tub, which provides therapy mood lighting. The shower, embellished with colored glass tiles on the recessed rear wall, has a pebble floor and ceiling, and a glass panel over the double glass doors can be closed when Marn wants to enjoy a steam bath.
Not only is the interior of the home lovely, Marn and her guests can also enjoy outdoor living and views of downtown from one of the three wraparound porches on the front of the house, each furnished with contemporary cushioned teak chairs and chaise lounges. At the rear of the house is an enclosed patio for more secluded, intimate entertaining. There is also an apartment suite above the garage located at the rear of the house.
Marrying older things with the new, Marn’s home is urban and contemporary, while remaining warm and inviting. The combination of design, technology and energy efficiency has produced beauty, convenience and sustainable modern living while elegantly displaying Marn’s style in her personal sanctuary.