The Porchfest home profile project was produced by University of Georgia students in Lori Johnston’s journalism seminar on home and garden writing and Katie Marages’ vernacular architecture course. The students interviewed homeowners, researched the residences and neighborhoods, and captured photo and video of the homes. The residences featured will host bands during Historic Athens Porchfest on Oct. 20.

Writer Alison Miller’s Athens home is riddled with rumors of its previous lives. The gable-ell and Craftsman-style house is tucked deep in Buena Vista Heights, on a road with little traffic and quaint homes.

Miller’s neighbors have shared that the home on Buena Vista Avenue once hosted bands including R.E.M. and Widespread Panic, with the latter allegedly signing a record deal on the home’s back porch.

“I think it was just that kind of a place where it was, like, there was music and people and just like people coming and going,” Miller said. 

Since the late ’80s, the home has slowly and carefully been transformed into one suitable for a family, undergoing many renovations. However, eager to preserve such a rich history, Miller has tried to maintain the home’s original character as much as possible, which she describes as “Athens, townie, comfortable.”

They wanted to make it usable “without violating the historical feel,” Miller said. 

The home, which was built in the 1940s and is on a 0.24-acre lot, will be featured as a part of the Historic Athens Porchfest on Sunday, Oct. 20 for the fourth time. The ambient improv jazz group, In Sonitus Lux,  will play on the front porch beginning at 3 p.m.

First glance 

The exterior, along with its stand-alone garage and bedroom unit, are both painted in the color Cavern Moss by PPG, an earthy green that complements the trees and shrugs that surround the house. 

The front porch provides the first taste of the eclectic style of the home. The outdoor space welcomes guests into the home with rocking chairs, plants and an array of other knickknacks. 

Around the back, the family built a stand-alone garage with an extra living space above that they rent out on Airbnb. Those renovations finished in summer 2023, just in time for guests to book the room for the University of Georgia’s football season. 

“Most weekends it does stay pretty busy,” Miller said, adding that guests also visit for weddings or parents weekend.

A large island with quartz countertops separates the central living room from the kitchen. A framed piece of flooring, found during floor renovations, decorates one of the countertops, serving as a homage to the home’s history. 

“There’s like, several different types of flooring in this house, and it kind of shows how it’s evolved over the years,” Miller said.

The now three-bedroom, two-bathroom family home has undergone many transformations over the years, adapting to the needs of those who inhabit it. When Miller and her family moved into the home in 2018, there was a fourth bedroom that they decided to tear down to create the combined central living room and kitchen after noting its rare use. Miller says the next phase of renovations will probably come upstairs where her office and two bedrooms reside. 

Jill Ward is majoring in journalism at the University of Georgia.

Three Living Rooms, Each With a Personality of their Own

The home’s front porch will host musicians at Porchfest, but inside the 1,957-square-foot home, history unfolds around every corner, and each room serves a distinct function.

Behind the front door is the first living room, which Alison Miller calls the “no TV room,” setting the tone for the home’s eclectic style. It preserves the original wood flooring, and the walls are painted in Pearly White, which continues through the interior. The space features a sectional couch, a dining area and a built-in bar just before the kitchen.

Above the dining table hangs a photo from the Millers’ Hawaii trip, suspended by antique wiring and attached to the original picture molding, a historical detail that interior designer Emily Hoffman-Smalling felt was essential to preserve, Miller said. Vinyl records are displayed above the sectional as a tribute to Athens’ renowned music scene, a design detail also crafted by Hoffman-Smalling.

The second living room, located just off the kitchen, offers a distinct ambiance from the first. A walnut record player console custom-built by Miller’s friend from Austin, Texas, anchors the room, flanked by gray swivel chairs from Article. A tan leather couch from West Elm sits across from the console with three paintings that hang above, which the Millers commissioned from artist Ella Sams, inspired by family trips to national parks. 

The room’s greens and blues echo the home’s cool-toned palette, accented by custom-sewn green curtains crafted by Miller’s mother-in-law using fabric from Spoonflower.

Emily Slepsky is a journalism major at the University of Georgia.