Text by Tiffany Adams
Cheerful hues and meaningful treasures greet you the moment you step foot into Kate Evans’s Birmingham, Alabama, home. “The biggest compliment I can receive is, ‘Your house makes me happy,’ and, for me personally, color makes me happy,” she says. With a background in advertising and print styling, Kate’s talent for décor is inherent. “I always say I like to help others fluff. I’m not a decorator, but I like to help people make their home theirs,” she says, adding that she does so with a budget-conscious approach that often incorporates vintage finds as well as family heirlooms.
This natural ability was key when she and her husband, Hunter, began to build a home in the Lake Wilborn neighborhood to share with their three children, Henry, Mial, and Rhen. Kate started with a fresh palette of white for the walls and then began to incorporate green at the entry. Her love of this particular color was inspired by her grandmother’s house, which embodied the hue. “She even wore a lot of green,” Kate notes. “I thought, everyone’s house is blue and white; I want to do something different,” she adds.
While her fondness for green came from her grandmother, Kate’s mother instilled the value of timeless collections in her while she was growing up in Albany, Georgia. The practice rings especially true when it comes to the holiday season, with ornaments given to her by her mother and aunt adorning trees, along with similar collections Kate has started for her own children. Each year, she begins decorating for Christmas before the trick-or-treaters arrive. “It’s my goal to have a tree in every room,” she says, noting she follows the tradition her mother started with her by placing a tree in each child’s bedroom.
With ribbon usually being the starting point for her holiday décor, this scheme unfolded from a chartreuse dupioni silk selection that can be seen on the front doors’ wreaths and garland. As green is key in the home’s everyday design, the same chartreuse appears on the living room chairs and dining space’s banquette and cushions. Nearby, the predominately white kitchen features pieces from Kate’s majolica collection that hang artfully over the sink as well as tailored boxwood wreaths that dress up the barstools for the holidays along with fresh pears and poinsettias, all in the signature hue.
Deeper into the home, an area that was originally designated as the dining room on the floor plan was transformed into a den—a decision the family felt would better serve them in this season of life. The space, which is a favorite after-school hangout for the kids, is enveloped in Benjamin Moore’s Lehigh Green, a richer rendition of Kate’s favorite hue that creates a cozy, inviting feel.
Blue accents are also introduced in this more private space, a theme that continues into the primary suite. “I fell hard for this Lulie Wallace fabric,” Kate says, pointing to the upholstered headboard in her bedroom. “I knew it would work with the home’s green touches and create a calming space.”
For Christmas, Kate decorates the full-size tree near her bed with a silver angel collection she started for her daughter. “It’s a bit more tailored and elegant but also nostalgic,” she says.
After living in their home for a couple of years, the Evanses decided to finish out their basement to create another space for entertaining. Kate wanted to create a moody vibe with Farrow & Ball’s Hague Blue covering the walls, trim, and ceiling. “I was ready to move away from the white in much of the upstairs,” she says. “Plus, there are windows, so it’s not what you typically think of as a basement.”
The space is completed with meaningful accessories, including an Elvis bust Hunter’s parents gifted him as well as pieces from Kate’s parents’ Dickens Village collection that makes an appearance for the season. “When everything is new in a house, there’s nothing to talk about,” Kate says. “So many pieces in our house have a story.”
