Alton Brown and Elizabeth Ingram's Love Story Began with This Marietta, Georgia, Apartment

Carson Griffith
Updated

A few years ago, as a form of congratulations on a job well done, mutual acquaintances started calling Elizabeth Ingram to tell her that Alton Brown liked a number of the restaurants she had designed in Atlanta—which include Beetlecat, Marcel, Superica El Tigre, and now, Golden Eagle.

But there was just one problem: "She didn't know who I was, so that was meaningless to her!" Brown good-naturedly laughs. That may seem hard to fathom for anyone who has ever tuned in to the Food Network in the past two decades: Brown is the creator and host of Good Eats, and host and main commentator on Iron Chef America and Cutthroat Kitchen—and from there, his culinary-based curriculum vitae continues. But this month, in front of friends and family in Charleston, he'll add one more title to his résumé: that of Ingram's husband.

Perhaps Ingram's initial ignorance in regard to Brown was due to her own level of success: In the restaurant, bar, and residential design industry, Ingram has been a highly sought-after designer for as long as Brown has been on television; last year she even released her own furniture line, which includes elegant stools, chairs, and sofas. Despite her revolving door of projects, Ingram found time to attend a signing Brown was holding for his book, EveryDayCook, in October of 2016.

"Materials don't lie. Decorations change, but great materials never do," says Brown. In the dining room, Ingram paired a vintage table and chairs from Brick + Mortar with an area rug from Moattar. The vintage light fixture was repurposed by Ingram, with similar styles on her website.

Brown gave Ingram his card, initially hoping to enlist her help in redoing the living area of his office. But soon, he had a bigger need for her services: the renovation and decoration of a corner-unit apartment in Marietta, Georgia, which Brown says he bought without knowing what the interior looked like. "I closed within ten days and I was like, 'Oh my God, I may have made a really bad decision here.'"

In a twist of fate, however, the purchase may be one of the best decisions he ever made. After emailing Ingram to let her know "there may be an upgrade in our working relationship: from a small apartment in an office to a big loft," the now-couple embarked on a seven-month renovation—and the start of an accidental courtship—that began in summer 2017.

"We hauled ass," says Brown, who was an omnipresent part of the project, but away filming for portions of it.

"I started really responding to the idea of having a bathroom that was basically a glass box, and it's truly a remarkable piece of craftsmanship," says Brown. The shower wall tiles are from Ann Sacks Savoy Collection; the tub is Kohler's "Tea for 2."
"I started really responding to the idea of having a bathroom that was basically a glass box, and it's truly a remarkable piece of craftsmanship," says Brown. The shower wall tiles are from Ann Sacks Savoy Collection; the tub is Kohler's "Tea for 2."
Photo by Chandler Bondurant

But the distance, when it was there, didn't defer a relationship from slowly blossoming between the pair. "We benefitted from Pinterest, text, and getting to know each other that way," says Ingram, and Brown agrees: "She dropped a lot of lines from obscure movies that I love, like one from Blade Runner one day," he says.

Brown's ability to let Ingram forge ahead in the design process and the pair's aptitude to work collaboratively together also helped a romance burgeon between them. "Clients that hire you and want to wrestle over every detail are missing the point, unless you're just being a personal shopper," explains Ingram. "And he's too busy for that. He trusted me as a professional and as a creative professional, which he also is."

"Elizabeth is a very good listener, and she learned a lot about me," Brown says, speaking now as both client and fiancé. "She never goes into a place and does her own thing; it's always mission-oriented. She brings her sensibility—whether it's a restaurant or a residence—and she really tries to make it about the person occupying that space. Her taste was never really mentioned. It's more about her trying to align it with what my taste is."

This, according to Ingram, is the philosophy she follows when designing residential projects versus a commercial space. "With a restaurant, it's more me trying to tell the story of what it is, or weave a tale of what the story of the space is. Residences are a little more difficult because people will say, 'I want it to be serene or comfortable or pretty or relaxed.' So I will ask questions like, 'What do you like to collect?' or 'Where have you traveled?' or 'What are your interests?' Because obviously, if it's their house, they need it to be their house. It doesn't need to be another Elizabeth Ingram house."

But it did eventually become Ingram's house—very literally, in fact. She now resides in the three-bedroom loft-style apartment she initially designed for Brown. "At some point, meetings turned into dates," he says. "I'm not going to lie—and I can't put my finger on when it was—I started looking forward to seeing her more than the space."

"The kitchen was a lot of problem-solving. Don't think it wasn't nerve-racking designing a project for Alton Brown!" Ingram says, with Brown adding: "Once she Googled me!" The island table, which the couple has nicknamed "The Beast," is custom, as are the stools, which were made with materials from Puzio's Iron Studio.

The couple was engaged in April 2018, a little over a year after they wrapped up work on the apartment. "At some point, did you start thinking you might live there?" Brown asks Ingram directly. "Yes," she admits, but still, ever the professional, she designed the space with Brown in mind. Is there anything Ingram would have done differently, had she known she, in fact, would be inhabiting the apartment one day? "No, there isn't," she says.

Inside the Georgian Apartment Elizabeth Ingram Designed for Alton Brown

In the light-filled master bedroom, Ingram draped the windows with curtains made from fabric from Rose Brand. The custom platform bed and headboard are her own design.
"When you buy everything brand-new, it feels very disingenuous. You want to at least imply some sort of story or history, create a sense of timeliness," says Ingram. In the sitting area of the master bedroom, the vintage credenza and vintage peacock chair were acquired from Brick + Mortar, and the vintage side table is from Swung Home. The sisal area rug is from Myers Carpet.
When discussing the couple's (slightly voyeuristic) glass shower in the master bedroom, Ingram admits: "I use it, but he doesn't!" Still, both parties love the final result, which they call a "glass box." "The way we did it, it looks a certain way: the steel and the structure of the gridwork," says Ingram. "I switched out all the doorknobs so that kind of flows throughout."
The Euphorbia plant that lives inside the master bedroom is from Lush Life Floral & Greenhouse.
The custom vanity and sink were designed by Ingram, using a sink from Elegant Earth, a brass stand from Puzio's Iron Studio, and walnut drawers from Subeau. The painting is from Museum of Wonder, which is a former taxidermy shop and artifact room.
The stairwell chandelier—designed by Ingram—is one of Brown's favorite things about their home. "Elizabeth assembled it from 12 or 13 chandeliers and hung it from aircraft line and rope like one, as if you threw a rope into the ocean and pulled up one massive chandelier," says Brown, adding excitedly: "It's like a train wreck of a chandelier." Or, as Ingram calls it, "a gigantic beautiful nightmare." "It weighs like, what? 300 pounds? So all the aircraft line had to be wrapped with hemp rose, but it perfectly suits the very simple steel rail and dark walls. And it's all LED because we haven't figured out how we're going to change the bulbs!"
The kitchen was obviously a high-stakes room, when it came to the design process, as Brown spends so much time in there. A vintage counter from Bobo Intriguing Objects was paired with a custom zinc sink from Handcrafted Metal.
The unusual block that resides in their kitchen was dubbed "The Beast" by the process during the design process. "I wasn't going to suggest Alton Brown have that for his kitchen," laughs Ingram. "Are you kidding me?" But as Brown tells it, he had a lot of "crazy ideas" that Ingram was willing to work with, and hence the Beast was born.
"The kitchen was a lot of problem-solving," Ingram says. "Don't think it wasn't nerve-racking designing a project for Alton Brown!" Adds Brown playfully: "Once she Googled me!"
"The kitchen was a lot of problem-solving," Ingram says. "Don't think it wasn't nerve-racking designing a project for Alton Brown!" Adds Brown playfully: "Once she Googled me!"
Photo by Chandler Bondurant
The corner-unit apartment, once part of a former sock factory, also has ample outdoor space. Ingram paired a vintage chair and ottoman from Atlanta Auction Gallery with a console table of her own design and a table light from Hammer and Spear.
"In the living room, she realized immediately how important books are to me," says Brown. "I had taken her to my apartment, she had been to my office, there were books everywhere." Ingram decided to encase these in custom bookcase from Subeau with custom bookcase lights from The Big Chandelier. The vintage neon sign is from The Neon Company, and the sofa and chairs are of her own design (she used wool bouclé fabric from Maharam on the chairs).
Hand-torched and -wired wood paneling serves as the backdrop for a vintage Belgian bread cabinet and a print by Michelle Martin.
Hand-torched and -wired wood paneling serves as the backdrop for a vintage Belgian bread cabinet and a print by Michelle Martin.
Photo by Chandler Bondurant
The paint used in the hallway is Aura from Benjamin Moore, and complements the vintage door hardware Ingram selected from Architectural Accents as well as the vintage floor runner from Brick + Mortar.

That's something—like so many things—the couple agrees on. "Quite frankly, I think we'll be a good married couple because we already know what that collaboration looks like," Brown says. "Even if it hadn't ended the way it is ending, it would have been a delightful process. I love this loft."

And he's not just saying it because the woman he hired to design it will soon be his wife, either. "I've never lived in a place where in the beginning of the day, I don't want to leave, and at the end of the day, I can't wait to get home. And it's not just because of who is going to be there."