By Madoline Markham Koonce
Wellon Bridgers gasped the first time she walked inside the home on River Bend Road last year. She’d known the Cahaba River was behind it, but when she saw the way the entryway opened up to a wall of windows overlooking the river, she was taken aback by its beauty.
Next, she entered the dining room and could envision her family of six eating dinner there every night. Not too many months later, that’s what they are doing in their new home, but not without Wellon, an artist, first adding her stylistic touch to the property.
Since that first day, Wellon has been impressed by the good bones of the spacious one-level Mountain Brook home, which she learned was designed by the first licensed female architect in Alabama, Helen Davis, in the 1960s.
“She had this amazing sense of scale and flow,” Wellon noted.
The Bridgers are only the second owners of the 3.5-acre property, and Wellon was sure to leave as-is its original brick floors in the main living spaces, original intricate brass doorknobs and some of the original wood paneling after they moved in.
They did, however, complete some renovations to make the more than 60-year-old home more functional for their family. Before moving in, they converted a grouping of hall closets into a larger pantry and the garage into a new master suite that boasts a view of the sunrise over the river each morning. They also replaced wood paneling with sheetrock and wallpaper with paint in some of the living spaces, constructed new floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in the living room, and installed hardwood floors in the four children’s bedrooms on the right side of the house in place of carpet.
The home’s exterior is unassuming, with a simple wood design that Wellon had painted a custom color she calls River Bend Green, a dark black-green.
“I think that’s part of why I love (this house),” Wellon said. “It doesn’t have a flashy feel.”
Wellon struggles to name its architectural style. It’s not quite a rancher and not quite a mountain house, and it has a California vibe to Wellon. Whatever it is, Davis designed it to show off the river views behind it and to hug the contours of the land beneath it, and Wellon has furnished it recognizing the different looks it can hold.
“It can have edgy bold, black glossy paint vibes but also holds antiques and things from the Congo as well,” she said. “It all works.”
While she had never seen a home quite like this one, Wellon is no stranger to renovation projects. This was technically her fifth in the past several years. She has chronicled the renovation and selling process of the others, which are in Homewood and Brookwood Forest, on @dwellcreations on Instagram, and she has a sixth one underway on Dover Drive.
“I inherited my mom’s restless creativity, and I really love houses and seeing the potential of homes and how they can become the best version of themselves and take on their own personality,” she said. “There’s also a special almost spiritual side to it, too, of being able to really enjoy them, a sense of dwelling. It’s not just where you live, it’s where you dwell.”
Putting Experience to Work
One idea she’d been saving for years was using Calacatta viola marble, which she had installed atop dark wood cabinets with brass pulls in a fully renovated kitchen in the River Bend home.
“It works perfectly for this house because it plays off the deep reddish browns of the wood,” she said.
She had metal worker Justin Cordes build custom shelving in the kitchen to display their collection of pottery by their friend Joel Shaw of Eugene Sailor Studios.
Another long-held vision of Wellon’s came to life in a gallery wall in the living room. Over the years, she’d been framing art she and her husband, Stephen, collected in high-gloss white frames. Although they’d been scattered around her previous home, she’d always envisioned them all on one wall in a collection.
One photograph now placed on the top left of the wall captures a reflection in a rain puddle in the Republic of Congo city where they adopted their children, Daniel and Leila, through Mwana Villages, an organization where Wellon also serves as the U.S. director. Other pieces are by Birmingham artists A.K. Hardeman and Tara Stallworth Lee, photographers Mark Little and Shanequa Gay, and others.
The Bridgers have more projects planned for the house and one day will renovate the children’s bathrooms and add a new covered section to the back porch.
Wellon has her art studio set up in the unfinished basement but plans to build a light-filled studio space overlooking the river – a fitting view to inspire the landscapes she paints that depict light in darkness. She’s wanting to paint a sycamore tree with white bark that she can see glow in the sunset across the river each evening.
The river view is one Wellon had dreamed about for years while her family was living a few streets over and she’d take daily walks on River Bend Road. She and Stephen had kept their eyes open for listings until they’d heard this one was for sale in 2023 and were able to buy it off-market using ARC Realty’s Ashley Brigham, a friend and the real estate agent who works with Wellon on the buying and selling of all her renovation projects.
Now that she’s settled into River Bend house, the more Wellon talks about her new home, the more she conveys her awe of the beauty around it.
“We are perched overlooking the river tucked in among the moss and the woods,” she said. “This feels like such a privilege for this to be our home’s view. To be able to look out and to see trees everywhere is so cathartic.”
“You can hear the river running when you are outside. It is so, so peaceful.”
