DESIGNER TERI THOMAS gets to know her clients well. It’s the key to her tailored approach to interiors. And she designs every room and every home to reflect the people who live in it. “I need every job to feel different. I do not want my interiors to look like anybody else’s,” says Thomas.
“I don’t want people to walk in and immediately know that I’ve been there, because I want my client’s life to show. My goal is that it’s individualistic. That it’s their home. That they feel like it’s special for them.” Thomas, a native Charlottean, lived in an older home in Myers Park for nearly three decades. Over the years, she reworked it many times to reflect her family’s changing needs—and just like her work for her clients, always with an eye for personality and curation. “That’s what I do,” says Thomas. “I want your home to feel like it has all those things about you. I don’t want to walk in and have it appear like it all got done in one day. I want it to feel layered, like a life has been lived there.”
With their children grown, Thomas and her husband Paul Haddock were ready to downsize. It was time for her to take her own advice: Keep what you love. Let the rest go. “Sometimes I just have to flat-out say, ‘I know that you love that, but not everything can work in a different-scaled environment,’” says Thomas. “You must be thoughtful about what transitions scale-wise. Your big old dining room table with four leaves that seats twenty-two people is not going in a condominium. Nor do you need it.”
The couple settled on a top-floor condominium in a new complex just around the corner from their former family home. Thomas got to work on the under-construction space, making creative structural changes to customize the layout. Then came the harder decisions, like what to keep in the new, smaller space.
“Having lived in an older home all my life, it was exciting to be able to move into something that was new and that we could design the way we wanted,” says Thomas. “I just brought everything that was meaningful to us. The art was very meaningful. The antiques were meaningful. We took all the stuff we liked best and we let the rest go.” The result is a colorful, richly textured home full of Thomas’s favorite things.
“I certainly have a more contemporary sort of mixed feel,” she says, with a glance across her living room. “It’s amazing how much one pretty, old piece of furniture can do for a room.” Thomas adjusted the layout so that the front door, which originally opened to the living room, leads into a multipurpose room instead. Cozy and wrapped in warm browns, the space pairs vintage furniture and lighting with luxe, textured Phillip Jeffries wallcoverings and a painting the couple bought during a trip to Santa Fe. “When you leave this room and go into the hallway, you come out into this big, white kind of space. I wanted it to be a juxtaposition,” says Thomas.
In the living room, Thomas made several changes to the original plan. She raised the height of the ceiling, designed the brass fireplace to be a dramatic focal point, and added recessed bookcases along the wall where the front door would have been. Ample seating allows for easy entertaining, and unique pieces such as a chess set Thomas found at a Paris flea market, a 1960s glass-top coffee table, and a chest from Thomas’s grandmother add interest and layers of memories.
The design for this room started on the floor, with the angora rug that also lived in the couple’s former living room. “I’d never seen one like it,” says Thomas. “Before we decided to sign for this condominium, I made sure it would fit.” The living room opens to the dining area, energized with bold color from the upholstered banquette and a painting byNew Orleans artist Tony Mose. The lighting was a find from Lindsey Adelman Studio in Brooklyn, and the table and chairs are vintage. “While I wanted a dining room, I did not want to dedicate half of this room to a dining room table I was going to use infrequently,” says Thomas. Using the banquette allowed her to minimize the footprint of the furniture, which is deceptively small. The 1950s Italian table accepts a leaf at each end, which maximizes the space. “I think I’ve seated sixteen at that table,” she adds.
Thomas says of the hallway, “I wanted it to feel like you were going somewhere. So that it’s special.” The wallcovering has touches of gold to reflect light, in contrast with the black console table that Thomas and her husband bought on their honeymoon in England. Although the lighting is new, a Louis Philippe trumeau mirror from the 1850s gives the space an aged, bohemian feel.
Pattern and texture meet again in the kitchen. A dramatic tile backsplash behind the stove and hood reaches to the ceiling. The leathered countertop looks—and feels—like petrified wood. “That’s why I turned it down and did the waterfall edge,” says Thomas. “It feels tailored to me, but it does not feel dark.” She found the pendant lights in Paris, while the pottery is by a North Carolina artist. Both pieces were gifts from her mother.
In the primary bedroom, walls and trim are painted Oval Room Blue by Farrow & Ball in a high-gloss finish for a chic but calming effect. “It is such a pretty blue to me,” says Thomas. “I love the combination of a sort of turquoise blue and lime green that’s in the carpet.” The headboard is embossed leather and mohair velvet. “I was in Paris when we were working on this condo, and I had no idea what was going on that wall,” says Thomas, gesturing at the midcentury wall unit and desk. “And there it was. And now it’s here. It’s a 1960s desk made of Italian rosewood.” She designed the custom window treatments to add interest and texture but refrained from using too much pattern, which would have disrupted the room’s serene feel.
Thomas’s home is proof that what a person loves can work together—even a mix of vintage, antique, and contemporary finds in different styles. She can often be found at the front of her home, which sits right on the street. “I sort of gravitate to the hubbub,” she says. “I like hearing the cars and seeing the people walk by.” She has brought energy and vibrance to this personalized space, just like she does for her clients.
“It’s such a wonderful creative process,” she says. “It’s collaborative; you work with the architect to see the vision through for each individual client. That’s what I’m looking for every time. The soul.”