For the Home

August 30

Our Home In Southern Living

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After a few years of sharing small peeks into our home, we finally threw open the doors for a full tour! Southern Living magazine featured the house in their September issue, which is on stands now, so all of the photos you see below were taken during our shoot with them by Hector Manuel Sanchez with styling by Lizzie Cullen Cox. It was a joy to share all of the hard work that was poured into this renovation by our amazing team. Every decision we made was intentional and purposeful and it truly feels like home. We fell in love with this house when we purchased it almost three years ago. The location and bones of the home were what drew us in, but we knew we wanted to make some updates to the layout and function, and add our own personality throughout. We wanted the space to be a reflection of our lifestyle and passions and to feel bright and cheerful, while remaining cozy and inviting.

southern living charleston home

The key people who turned our house into our dream home were our interior designer and friend, Olivia Brock of Torrance Mitchell Designs, our architect, Beau Clowney, and our builder, Tupper Builders. We started discussing the renovation with Olivia and Beau back when we moved in, and after finalizing our plans over about eight months, we moved out and rented downtown while the year-long renovation took place. In the beginning, a year seemed like such a long time to wait, but it actually flew by and we were back in the house in April of last year. Now, almost a year and a half back in, we’ve never felt more at home.

southern living charleston home
southern living charleston home

One of the things I love the most about the house is how happy it is. Olivia did such an incredible job using color all throughout it. As someone who truly appreciates the details and thought that goes into creating something, I loved seeing her visions for each room brought to life. She did such a fantastic job mixing in special antique pieces (many were sourced and found from John Pope Antiques) with new and custom ones. For the inside and outside of the house, we used Benjamin Moore Simply White, which Olivia suggested as the perfect white, and I have to agree. In our favorite and most used room, the kitchen, we used Farrow & Ball’s Parma Gray No. 27 on our cabinets and Tabarka Studio tile on our backsplash. We carried shades of blue into our “treehouse suite” guest room and guest bath as well, with details like a Caribbean-inspired blue tile and the guest room’s pale blue ceiling.

southern living charleston home
southern living charleston home

southern living charleston home
southern living charleston home

The dining room and formal living area hold two of the few pieces of furniture we brought with us from San Francisco: our vintage Milo Baughman burled-wood Parsons table and our Nickey Kehoe tufted couch. Since the delicate pink velvet fabric we originally covered our couch in was in less-than-stellar condition (unfortunately, it was not an ideal fabric to have on an everyday couch), Olivia re-covered it in a neutral, camel-colored fabric that I know we’ll love for years to come.

southern living charleston home
southern living charleston home

Our entryway is a true celebration of Charleston creativity–for example, the floor was hand-painted by local artist Suzanne Allen and the light fixture is from Charleston-based The Urban Electric Co. Walking inside is the very best way to be welcomed back home from travels, or to give out-of-town friends their first introduction to the city that is now our home.

The top priority for our master bedroom and bathroom was to create a relaxing retreat where we could start and end the day peacefully. I love the pattern play of our wallpaper, headboard, and accessories throughout our bedroom! Our natural light-filled bathroom, decorated in a very GMG-inspired pink, is the perfect place for us to get ready for the workday.

southern living charleston home
southern living charleston home

For additional sources of each room and to read some insight from Olivia and Beau, find our feature on the Southern Living website here or pick up the latest issue (with additional images), on newsstands now!

southern living charleston home

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