American Beauty -- How a professional remodeler turned an item on the IRS auction block into his American dream
by Alyse Harral/ Photography by Emily Followill

Excerpt from article --
Being able to see the potential in something is an essential quality in any good contractor. But realizing the grace and beauty in a certain dilapidated structure in Lake Claire -- with its windows boarded, chimneys caved in, and the entire house painted military green -- well, that took a visionary.

Warner McConaughey, principal of the renovation firm HammerSmith, had been keeping his eye on the houses in Lake Claire for a while. This eclectic neighborhood near Inman Park, with architectural influences from post-Victorian to 1950's bungalow, appealed to Warner, and it was close to his Decatur office.