Outside, it has all the hallmarks of a traditional English cottage: limestone-washed brick, a cedar shake roof, half-rounded copper gutters. But inside, this home’s Old-World charm gives way to a delightful burst of color and pattern that’s surprisingly playful and modern.
“These are not showy people,” says Frank Smith, the residential designer who worked on the plans. “They’re elegant, and they wanted an understated look.” For Smith, that meant keeping proportions in check and using every inch of the home’s less than 5,000 square feet efficiently. As such, Smith differentiated the primary living areas from what he calls “gray space”—space that’s not meant to be seen but is still important for living. Living areas are laid out in clean lines with hidden gems filling the gray space. “I love hiding spaces like home offices,” he says. “Even from the foyer, you can’t see the stairs, so no one is distracted from the sightlines.”
Modern touches include ten-foot ceilings and large windows in the dining room that bring a contemporary feel and “a huge piece of drama,” says Smith. Designer Amanda Patton Swaringen adds that “the dining room is one of the biggest wow factors in the house.” She and designer Jaime Tokarczyk from Carolina Design Associates LLC were pulled in at the project’s outset and began selecting colors and fabrics while it was still in blueprints.
“The owners loved traditional elements mixed with cleaner lines—but not too clean,” notes Swaringen. They also embraced color and pattern, and wanted their home to feel warm and livable. “They said, ‘We live in our home. It’s not a showplace.’”
One of the first things Swaringen and Tokarczyk did was inventory the homeowners’ previous home before it was razed to build the current cottage in its place. “They didn’t want to start over with a clean slate because they loved their belongings,” says Swaringen. “It was important to them to use some of their antiques, but we also added new furniture, textiles, and rugs that complemented them.”
The homeowners’ few specific requests, usually one element in each room, became the driving force behind the design. In the dining room, it was handpainted de Gournay wallpaper panels; in the kitchen, it was the Lacanche range, which Swaringen andTokarczyk had refinished to match Roman shades, fashioned from drapes with a beloved pattern that hung in the previous home. Despite intentional statement-making rooms, including a plum-hued high-gloss scullery and a cheery green library, the overall aesthetic is classic and timeless—a multifaceted showpiece where this family can live comfortably ever after.