Inside an Atlanta Industrial Loft

With a raw industrial space as her canvas, Atlanta painter and stylist Thea Beasley spent two decades shaping her most personal masterpiece: a study in the power of a pale palette.

The Artist in Residence

Twenty years ago, when Thea Beasley first laid eyes on her Georgia apartment, she was a young painter on the lookout for a "large studio to live and make art in." So she leaped at the chance to rent an affordable 3,500-square-foot loft in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta. Never mind that the unit's previous tenant, the local Board of Education, had divided the place into offices before vacating—in the 1960s. "The landlord thought I was crazy," Beasley recalls. "But the old girl had charm, even if I had to struggle to find it."

In this photo: Beasley stripped away layers of paint to reveal her walls' mottled plaster. A 1930s cabinet—composed of 80 cubbies—hosts an array of natural objects: shells, nests, antlers, feathers. A friend drew the charcoal illustration above the vintage bamboo chair. The trim is painted White Heron by Benjamin Moore.

 Kitchen

After ripping out all of the dropped ceilings and flimsy partitions, the artist was left with five generous rooms—none of which contained such basic amenities as a closet, tub, or stove. She saw possibilities, however, in what most would deem liabilities. Unrestrained by the usual residential conventions, Beasley introduced a clawfoot tub and a clothes rod in one room—now an incredibly spacious dressing area. In another, she installed countertops and a sink in the corner, then hung open shelves above them, creating a kitchen that blends seamlessly with the living area and library beyond.

In this photo: Beasley picked up the wicker chairs at a yard sale and stitched the sink skirt from alphabet-patterned fabric. The wooden bull's head is African. The walls here, in the bedroom, and in the dressing room, are painted Creamy by Sherwin-Williams.

Bright idea: A few pieces of framed art turn open shelving into an exhibit.

Living Room

The only rule Beasley refused to break? Her own—about maintaining a subdued palette. "That neutral background allowed me to layer on whatever interested my eye," she explains.

In this photo: Aidan Gray wingback chairs, upholstered in cotton and burlap, complement a sofa Beasley found at a Paris flea market. She fashioned the coffee table (painted in Gothic Arch by Benjamin Moore) by cutting a farm table down to size, then painting it warm gray. A wooden stool from a Toronto thrift shop elevates a shadow-boxed heron. The Mongolian-lambhair pillow is by West Elm, the tie-dyed cushions by Kevin O'Brien.

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