David Walker’s historic home came into his life by chance. “I lived in a house down the street previously, and I was out for a walk on a sunny February morning,” he recalls. “They were having an open house, and I just kind of wandered through.” Although the Birmingham, Alabama, home, which had belonged to its original owners since its construction in 1950, was in serious need of an update, David saw past the dated surface to the gem underneath. “The lines were simple, the house had good bones, and I just felt like it could be a really cool, simple, updated, more contemporary home,” he says.
In the years following the purchase, David—an experienced interior designer—and his husband, Clark Underbakke, have worked to uncover and enhance the home’s strongest…
